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Reviews

Grate Recording of Strong Performance. The Previous Review Stated Bobby Gets Extra Cheese Points For His Vocal Flourishes. Ahh But To Much Cheese Takes Away From The Spice. Between Looks Like Rain And Sailor-> Saint, I Find Myself Becoming Lactose Intolerant. I Sure Don't Deny His Guitar Or Vocal Talents. Though Around This Point In The Band's History It Became A Little Hard To Take. The English Have A Term For It. Hard Cheese Is Tough To Swallow. Just My Opinion, We Have To Take The Bad With The Gouda.

Minglewood starts us off strong but with some balance issues that get ironed out quickly. Phil is prominent and Jerry has a nice touch of gain. Jerry throws us right into a satisfying Sugaree. Not to be outdone, Bob launches directly into a soulful Rooster. TN Jed on the heel of the rooster is deliberate and punch drunk. Cassidy gets nicely energized with moments of weirdness during its flight. The show went up a clear notch during this bit. Jerry turns on some gain for the Loser solo, and maintains it in the follow on Brent tune, Far From Me. It doesn't go straight into LLR as deadlists.com suggested, but it does come next. Interesting effects at the beginning probably the highlight. Bob gets extra cheese points for subtle spoken word between song lyrics, dropping the F bomb and improvisational ranting. Whatever it takes, I guess... as we transition straight into China>Rider (which deadlists also didn't list). And, it worked, btw, as C>R starts snappy and just builds from there. The transition jam is fun driven, before they move into Rider I'm sold, the actual transition moment finds them in the X factor zone. Phil makes the Northbound Train.

PITB's familiar notes come out with a good tempo. Brent is strong in the jam, as is Phil. Jerry is up to the task after about a minute in, weaving nicely. The jam is somewhat short lived as they clearly head into Crazy Fingers. It has the solid, cohesive outro jam that is so critical to its success. They through in a non-thematic jam reminiscent of Rider. This descends to a ship lost at sea, and the Sailor(s) are ready. Brent's piano sound is apt. Deliberate and tasteful Sailor is capped off with the antithesis in a Bob rant before going right into one of the most energetic Saints I've heard. Cymbals usher in the serious jam segment where the whole team unites to bring us X factor before the satisfying crash down. Jerry takes over as soon as they stop with the NEW tune, Touch of Grey. In the esteemed power slot, it crushes in its 7th performance! My favorite version even includes a little, strange outro jam before the drummers claim the spotlight.

Wheel rolls nicely out of space to resume the vox, and Phil is to be heeded. After a unique outro we find ourselves stumbling onto a spinning ball of a similarly nascent (to Touch) Throwing Stones with the rougher lyrics. Nice work in the solo, different from what we'd get later in the song's career. This melodic yet powerful jam brings me back to X again. Bobby goes for a set closing NFA, but Jerry pulls out a Black Peter. Love the song, love this rendition, the bridge is powerful and the outro is smooth. Bob opts for Sugar Mags because you can't end a show with Peter. The drummers are particularly on fire here to close the set out, with a Lesh carpet bombing prior to and throughout SSDD.
Double encore treat for us after what's already a lengthy show. They keep the energy pushing into the crowd with a raucous Satisfaction. Baby Blue to follow keeps with the theme of the night, success.
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Performance Summary
After just being good in the first few songs, they really moved into great early with Cassidy. The 2nd set with double encore doesn't let up. The nascent Touch of Grey and Throwing Stones are clear highlights. Classic Show.

Sound Quality
A-. Balance issues are sorted out quickly in Minglewood. Overall, I needed to turn Phil down. There is a minor hiss.

Listening to this SBD, I finally get it! This show is fantastic! Phil was really present, as was the rest of the band. There's that great relaxed Grateful Dead energy with an underlying explosive drive. This recording does the trick.

Thank you, Mr. Miller for another phenomenal upgrade, and, in this case, for convincing me that this show is worth all the praise and recognition I've been reading about these past 21 years.

Reviewer:FriendUs
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October 12, 2011 Subject:
Where I First Tripped on Probiotics

It opened up my mind like a yawning cat

I shan't trade the memories of this delightful concert for anything, except perhaps more probiotics

Hey Charlie!
Hats off to you for throwin' this out in 24 bit. It sounds super sweet! One of the best quality soundboards I've heard from the Brent era, who is by the way, on fire this show. Right from his first organ solo in Minglewood. You know he's feelin' it. The sound is dirty and grindy just the way I like it but not to much gain like you typically find on 80's SBD recordings.
Another Brent treat is the extra verse he sings on Rooster, always a bonus for me. Not to mention the rest of the guys voices all sound really good this night as well. The Tennessee Jed has almost a 70's feel and sound right from the start.
Well this is how far I got so I may write back when I finish listening to this 80's jem. Charlie, thank you! Hope fully my rating doesn't change after I finish. Lovin' this show!