[tcsned]

I love the '80's but probably because I was on tour for most of it! My faves are tainted because of the "I was there" factor, but here are a few (sorry dates are not my strong point!)

'83 Saratoga show. Great Scarlet/Fire and one of my favorite Dew's of the '80's
'85 Greek. The one with China/Rider, Terrapin and the encore of She Belongs To Me. The board tape is a great mix and this is one I listen to rather often.
'85 Richmond. They put it out on Dick's Pick's because it was insane that night.
'85 Hershey. Another fun show, although somewhat short. I also like the quality of the mix on tape/cd. And a good Dew!
'85 Cayuhoga. Under-rated show imho. It was fun and a great climate.
Hampton '85-'89. I don't think I saw a bad show ever at Hampton! Highlights were when they did the "formerly the warlocks" and seeing them jam on "so what" or try "stir it up" but it was all good.

+1 on the '85 East coast shows - didn't go to the Greek that year but was at Richmond, Hershey, Cuyahoga, & Hampton - of course having about 20 of my friends get popped in Richmond soured the experience but the show was fantastic. Was at every Hampton show from '84 on and while some were better than others all were great. I went to more shows that year than any other - and flunked out of college and started playing in the band that I am still in today. Jerry's voice was a little rough but his guitar playing was spot-on.

One thing that I have noticed from going to a bunch of shows as well as playing a couple thousand of them is that shows that had great live energy don't always translate to tape and visa versa. I have very fond memories of my early shows from 82-85 some are great on tape, some not so much. It's funny, the scene was kind of a drag by '89 and while I probably went to 20 shows that year I didn't enjoy them as much but have been surprised at how well they sounded listening to them years later. Goes to show that you don't ever know . . .

[javalina]

That is so true about it sometimes doesn't come through on tape.

[tigerstrat]

You gotta listen to the Scarlet>Fire from 3/31/84 if you haven't before. The transition jam is amazing.

That is definitely a fascinating one! Great, high energy versions of both tunes, and the transition just about slips into free Space, almost stopping completely at at least two points. Very cool.

[krzykat]

6-30-85 best shakedown ever

[tcsned]

6-30-85 best shakedown ever

HA! I was just chatting with some friends on Facebook about that show. 25th anniversary of that great Merriweather show a couple of days ago. Last year for the Dead there, went in 83, 84, & 85. Somewhere I have a great audience recording that me and some friends made with some nice Telefunken and Neumann mics into a 4 track - lost track of it over the years. Badass Shakedown.

[tcsned]

6-30-85 best shakedown ever

Listening to it now

http://www.archive.org/details/gd1985-0 ... sbeok.shnf

[tigerstrat]

6-30-85 best shakedown ever

that one is legendary and for good reason. a couple of other BOAT Shakedowns (off the top of my internal catalog):

12/5/79 Chicago
10/17/82 Santa Fe
9/12/81 Berkeley
4/26/83 Philly
7/15/88 Berkeley
8/20/83 Palo Alto

[tcsned]

6-30-85 best shakedown ever

that one is legendary and for good reason.

Not every song holds up as well on tape as they did in person but that Shakedown was one of them. I seem to remember Red Rocks having a pretty good one from that year too.

[Maybeck09]

Red Rocks 9-7-85. Very hot show. Last day of a threesome-2pm afternoon. Very Festive crowd. Liquid everywhere. Equipment down, Logger Song, Sunny first set, during break the clouds and stormy winds roll in just in time for a second set opener Shakedown>Crazy Fingers that was totally fitting for the weird trippy weather. The Shakedown rocked and holds up pretty good on tape. As the set went on the sun came back out for Samson and space into Mr. Fantasy>Hey Jude Coda>Mr. Fantasy was so real and alive-both Jerry and Brent just went nuts! The tapes are a little uneven perhaps because they used big towers of speakers that year and the wind really blew the sound around-which added to the effect of hanging in a rock watching your band on a beautiful Colorado day. My favorite concert ever.

[Pete B.]

6-30-85 best shakedown ever

Listening to it now

http://www.archive.org/details/gd1985-0 ... sbeok.shnf

Those opening seconds are great... Jer practices his descending Dmin arpeggios right out of the open and 5th fret chord positions, doing the "half-step below the note, then the note" thing, then he kicks it off and uses the open position descending Dmin arpeggio, only now it has the Shakedown mojo.
Nice.

Open Dmin:
E|--1--
B|--3--
G|--2--
D|--3--and/or--0--
A|-----
E|-----

Sounds like he runs one of these:
E|--0--1-----------------------------------------
B|--------3-----2--3------------------------------
G|--------------------2------1--2----------------
D|---------------------------------3-----2--3--0--
A|-----------------------------------------------
E|-----------------------------------------------


Maybe what he plays in the final moments of the Intro lick:
E|--1--0--1-----------------------------------
B|-----------3--2--3--------------------------
G|--------------------2--1--2-----------------
D|-----------------------------3----0----------
A|--------------------------------------------
E|--------------------------------------------

5th fret Dmin:
E|--5--
B|--6--
G|--7--
D|--7--
A|--5--
E|-----

Sounds like he runs this before kicking the intro:
E|--4--5-----------------------------------------------------------
B|--------6------5--6---------------------------------------------
G|---------------------7------6--7--------------------------------
D|----------------------------------7------6--7-------------------
A|-----------------------------------------------8------7--8--5--
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------

[tcsned]

Red Rocks 9-7-85. Very hot show. Last day of a threesome-2pm afternoon. Very Festive crowd. Liquid everywhere. Equipment down, Logger Song, Sunny first set, during break the clouds and stormy winds roll in just in time for a second set opener Shakedown>Crazy Fingers that was totally fitting for the weird trippy weather. The Shakedown rocked and holds up pretty good on tape. As the set went on the sun came back out for Samson and space into Mr. Fantasy>Hey Jude Coda>Mr. Fantasy was so real and alive-both Jerry and Brent just went nuts! The tapes are a little uneven perhaps because they used big towers of speakers that year and the wind really blew the sound around-which added to the effect of hanging in a rock watching your band on a beautiful Colorado day. My favorite concert ever.

I remember the sound swirling around in the wind - I thought it was just my warped perspective at the time. It's comforting to know it was real or at least you were in the same state

I remember a fire down in the flatlands that was visible from the seats. I also had some friends who had passes and in line to get in John Barlow was there and they wouldn't let him in. Hell in a Bucket was playing and folks from the line were telling the security guy - "hear that song, he wrote it!" I think that was the second night. I also had some wild times in the Chief Hosa campground. Those were my first shows away from the east coast and a very memorable trip. I did my most heavy touring from 84-86 and I have a special fondness for that whole period before "In the Dark."

[tcsned]

Pete - It's funny, I find myself subconsciously playing those little riffs before the tune when we play that song. That version of Shakedown has stuck with me a long, long time.

[mijknahs]

9-5-85 encore:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cArAXRO7oq0

[jonarobb]

Whoever suggested that 3/31/84 show, thanks so much. It was a trip to the past to listen to that. I was at thos Marin County shows. As tough a ticket as it was I got in every night. Fakes were still in their infancy and it was amazing what you could do with a safety pin and some scotch tape.

Those shows still stand as some of my favorites. I hadn't heard this show on tape all these years and forgot what a smokin' unit the boys were in the spring of 84'. About a week or so after these shows was a hot gig in Vegas and then back east if I remember. But yeah, there are quite a lot of shows from the 80's which are just absurdly good!

[mijknahs]

You gotta listen to the Scarlet>Fire from 3/31/84 if you haven't before. The transition jam is amazing.

That is definitely a fascinating one! Great, high energy versions of both tunes, and the transition just about slips into free Space, almost stopping completely at at least two points. Very cool.

I'm glad you liked it. Seems like an "under the radar" show. But I've loved it since around '85 when I got the tape (actually the tape I first got had soundboard "highlights" from 3/31 and 4/1).

The Help>Slip>Franklins from the next night 4/1/84 is also one of my favs. Great Slipknot. The Samson that follows Franklins is also one of my all time favorite Samsons too. I've learned some good licks from that version.

Jim