horrible show but I got a blow-job in the parking lot before the show.magical.five stars.amazing night.

I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else but I recall this as the weakest of any of the show I ever saw the Dead play. I was taping in those days and attributed part of the problem being that Bobby's dog, Otis, had died earlier in the day.

33 years (!) ago tonight I was there, fully “prepped” for this show at the fabled SFCC, and never forgot how terrible it was. The song selection was interesting, but the overall sonic experience was, how do you say, not “like a Swiss watch” - something was terribly off. (I remember only one other show I saw that was also really off - a Greek, probably that summer, when at the end Phil said “you guys will clap for anything”.). In any case, this Charlie Miller sound is fantastic and the Archive brings back memories of a wonderful period in life when we could see these shows - good, bad or ugly. Still on the bus!

since the show was in downtown SF, but the word on the street was that Bob had to put his dog down earlier in the day and wasn’t stoked to do the show. The other memory from this night is when I turned to walk out at the opening notes to US Blues, the first and only time I ever left a GD show early. And who do I see outside the venue making his way to our pre-arranged meeting place? My buddy Keith, who up to that night had also never left a show early. Not sure if the dog story was true but I thought of it several times during the show as a possible explanation for what was going on.

This show has more lyric screw ups than I can count!! End of Jack Straw.... Samson..... and on and on. Was it because they were still only a couple months back from Jerry's coma? Was it, as someone suggested below, that someone dosed the water? Or was it just one of those nights where the proverbial Swiss Watch's gears were a tad out of sync? Definitely not a lack of energy as tempo was flying.

At the end of the day, having been to a least one show every year [other than 1975] since 1974, and having heard some God awful nights - - especially down the final stretch from summer '94 through summer '95, I'm going with it was just one of those sloppy nights where the gears were a tad out of sync. Wasn't there, but the audience tapes I've listened to suggest an electric atmosphere at the venue. So I'm thinking folks had a good time no matter the sloppiness. And I always got a kick out of Bobby nailing the lyrics to Desolation Row, then stumbling through a tune like Jack Straw..... So if I were to rate it..... probably 4 stars for set lists [a few interesting song placements].... 4 stars for energy.... and 2 stars for playing/lyric screw ups [for the era..... playing was great compared to the home stretch].

So hate it or love it.... be happy it happened and that we were a part of what made it great.

See you at Dead & Company.....

Jerry sure did like Push Comes to Shove, didn't he.

Context is always good.
The boys were still on the comeback trail after Jerry almost kicked at end of Summer of 1986 tour.
Personally I felt like it was not until like mid 1988 somewhere that they got their mojo back.
They got mixed up with the Dylan-Dead thing which was good for Dylan but not so much for the Grateful Dead.
To me that basically detoured the summer of 87 while the band gave I.V. drips to the corpse of Encino Man - Mr. Dylan. (and then Bobby wanted to sing like Bob Dylan???)

Vocals are off on Shakedown.
But i like Brent's singing in there.
GET BACK- I wanted any BEATLES cover they were willing to attempt. Did they just wing it. YEAH,
Peggy O-always nice, Jerry not super firm on it but the tune is so sweet.
WALKIN BLUES-Not a big crowd favorite but really has the same vibe as MINGLEWOOD... A good vehicle for Bob and his take on the blues.
THE ROSES- Jerry is picking some great tunes.
ALL OVER NOW-Someone calls for a rocker and this is Bob's choice.
ROW JIMMY-Vocals pretty weak in spots,
Jerry picks it up towards end with bounce.
ESAU- Always liked this tune lots of imagery when dancin and just about everybody had a different take on the tunes meaning. It would vanish from the set list and I don't think it ever returned?
Drummers get busy with this tune.
BIRD SONG-Good choice
They sound somewhat stagnant,Tempo?
You would think this would be easy for the band but the time off is very detectable right here.
Cool little Bird calls mixed in.
Perhaps Garcia with Midi effects?
They actually finish up the Bird Song strong
JACK STRAW-Now that is a surprise! Not to many a set one closing with Jack Straw!!!The crowd seems rather in shock? I was looking for some kind of roar?? They have a better groove here,
This is a fast paced Jack Straw-full speed ahead!
"We can share the women, we can share the wine"
You catch Bobby closing it out while Jerry is still on his final riff, stuff like that just takes tour time to get together.

Set 2 When Push Comes To Shove -> Samson And Delilah Black Muddy River He's Gone -> Spoonful -> Drums -> Space -> Eyes Of The World -> Black Peter -> Around And Around -> Sugar Magnolia Encore U.S. Blues

Well to open 2nd set with PUSH -kinda goofy, SAMSON to BLACK MUDDY that is a good contrast.
Did JERRY sing 'Can't tell my pillow from a bone'.
You can tell they did not spend much time in rehearsal before this show? Which is strange because they nailed this tune late 86.
In a way this song could have been played instrumental and would have been just fine.
Garcia ends up relegating it to the encore slot.
The thing I love about Garcia is he doubles down after that difficult BMR with HE'S GONE.
Hear BRENT trying to lift Jerry with some good backing vocals.
He's Gone>Spoonful-they could tack Spoonful to just about anything
>EYES-out of SPACE may not be perfect here but it is a good change of pace from the standard tunes they usually use coming out of space.
Jerry has a seeds and stems moment to start with vocally but they do O.K. with this especially for coming at it from about a minutes worth of jam off the drums.
The rest of the set list and encore are pretty standard. Oh, well i know I was just thankful to have shows to go to because if the Dead scene had gone under in 1986 there would have been a huge void in my life.
I will give it a 4 for effort.

There were still better days ahead for
THE GRATEFUL DEAD...

...but i couldn't. the set list looks cool. post-space Eyes, Get Back, Black Muddy.

But the playing is sub-par. The Shakedown is full of Jerry slurring the words as is the Black Muddy River. Some shows want to have fun but just don't get there. This is one of those.

Sound quality is great, though.

When the last something something hits the something...

You know when your watching a movie that is so unbelievable bad that at some moment it becomes good(?), well this is the Grateful Dead's concert version of that. This is so bad that at some moment, lets say during Peggy 'O this show actually takes on a honest, homey gloss to it. Now everyone take off your Rose Colored Glasses, ok, this may be the worst The Dead have ever displayed but that OK because they have given so much to us, so very very much of themselves to us. Also, being a professional musician this show makes me feel a little better about myself. Thanks for extending me 30 seconds of your time. lstern62

Haha, This show had me laughing. Someone must have dosed the water jug backstage (I'm serious), because both Jerry and Bob are slurring and forgetting words in all the songs I could bear to listen to. Listen to Samson And Delilah -- Weir usually knocks those vocals out of the park -- not this night. Oh well, listen to enough shows and you'll find a poor one. Still love the boys even when they screw up.

What I can't seem to understand is how all you smelly hippies praise each and every show the boys did. Let's face it, the 80's were terrible and 90's hardly any better. Jerry sounds like a moose on a flatbed truck on this one and Brent, well, Brent always sucked at keys. I done said it before, Brent ruined this band. I saw 8 shows in 87 and all were total complete wastes of an ass. I saw Robert Hunter at this show, could see him backstage just a shaking his head like "man, what a total effing mess this is"? But no matter what punks and hippies continue to hold these era shows like they were the holy grail or something. Let me tell you, as a person who was at tons of these shows, they sucked donkey balls. I only went for the acid and even that sucked by this point. Last time I saw a good dead show was in 74 and after that, the drugs and womans got em all kinda screwed up. you people need to get a life. and what, no dark star? who cares, right? dark stars from the 80's were a like a freight train colliding with a empire state building

I hate to break up all the bashing going on, but do you guys all remember that just a few months before this show, Jerry was in a coma!! He had to learn to play guitar all over again! The band had only been performing for a few weeks when this show was played. Give them a break.
As for the version of "Get Back", c'mon people, thery're playing "Get Back" for God's sake! I was there with a close friend who's now gone, and we were just blown away! To be honest, I didn't even remember the chipmunk sounds at all till I listened to the tape.
Don't be so critical, be happy there were shows at all after 1985.

As longnstrange points out below, the stars system is meant to gauge sound quality, and here it is top-notch. Five stars for Charlie for bringing this to in crystal-clear form, so we can see 27 years later just how crappy a Grateful Dead concert could be, to the point of being painful. I knew there were some clunkers out there, and have even attended a few. The sound quality and transfer are perfect. God bless ya, Charlie. We love you and all you do.

-q

Go pound sand if you don't think they at least played a rippin' Jack Straw to close the first set.

I'm kind of surprised, because usually I'm fairly critical, definitely not one to say the Grateful Dead can do no wrong. I didn't think it was a BAD show at all, especially the first set. Garcia is dragging his feet and they sound like they need practice in the second, but I've heard way worse and seen worse rated way higher. A lot of magic moments, actually. I'm listening to one now, end of Eyes. Nice guitar and everything. Just not the most solid show.

So the Dead do a sloppy but spirited version of a Beatles song which they only performed once ever. I thought that was part of what made them so endearing.

I listened to a bit of this show out of curiosity; It is, after all, regarded as one of the worst ever. I couldn't get through all of it but that Get Back is hilarious in a Schadenfreude sense. I actually laughed out loud. The Around->Sugar Mag is cringe-inducing. I just can't give a show one star so I'll justify the second star by saying the playing wasn't all bad.

gee, i sure would have enjoyed this show; yeah, the high vocal effect is a bit tough to chew, but the novelty of the effort on the song overcomes the strangeness of the sound, and hey,
ain't it supposed to be a bit strange?
i enjoyed listening to those words that Jerry could remember, and i haven't heard much to compare on any level with what was achieved live...this was the height of polish i say, and i dug the jam outta drums, no space, where did it go?

Sound is great, but the show is not. Black Muddy River is so bad that it's unlistenable. Sounds like Jerry is drunk--forgetting words, slurring his speech. Terrible.

Vocally this show is atrocious, no doubt. The Bird Song is pretty dire as is of course Get Back, youch! Actually every song is pretty bad vocally and Healy's sound effects don't help matters. The band was right to fire that clown. But instrumentally this show is passable. The jamming and playing is, if not spectacular, fairly creative. So I give this show a kind two.

If you really want to hear something truly awful check out the Boreal Ridge Ski Resort show on 08/24/85 or my vote for worst all-time show: Campolindo High School on 05/16/69.

This is a GREAT RECORDING. Is this a crappy show? maybe. Could Bobby EVER carry a tune? maybe not. The deal is, you can debate these things because the RECORDING is great. Yuk, actually to this performance, but what the hell?! this is one of the clearest tapes around. Five stars for the most acurate reproduction of a clunker ever made.

can carry a tune i been hearing him do it for years,good show,good sound quality

bless their hearts.

So I've been on a hunt lately for the worst shows ever played. Everyone has their favorites, but this one sure does come up a lot. It's a fun listen for the horrific novelty of the Get Back, but believe the naysayers - this is one really awful trainwreck of a show. If you're not convinced, just listen to the Around 'n Around. That is a truly painful listen. But it does get bumped up to 2 stars for the Get Back.

So Bob fucked up their only version of 'Get Back', one: who cares? two: atleast their trying a new Beatles cover, and mixing up the setlists. It's never enough for "nit-pick" heads. When the setlists are normal, it's too boring for them, if they try something new, they didn't do it well enough. Look at the setlist and (especially 2nd set) you'll find its a standout song arrangement for 87'.
First of all, more Jerry than Bob songs
6 Jerry songs, 4 Bob Songs
Next, a post-drums Eyes, quite a rarity. Even if it is short. AND five songs before the drumz segment. I think this is an overlooked show, atleast setlist wise.

Keep complaining, your on the archive for a reason. No one cares.

One quote. "Statements just seem vain at last." I ran into New Years 1985 the other day where you were upset with my rating for that show. We are the only two reviewers on the show and your review is basically about how my review just can't be "correct" in your mind's eye. Well, screw off! Then we have the the October 1980 shows where you lambast and dis every show they play except one--that of course you recommend as the only acoustic show they played that month that is worth your time. I just cringe every time I see that you added the same review to every show in the whole month!!! Every show!! Your reality is not mine or anybody else's. We may have all shared some experiences, but trying to one-up your fellow Heads is just tacky and tasteless, Dude. Your "rule" of no attendance-no review allowed is all the evidence we need as to your genuine nature.

As far as playing the tune this is not bad, but it is clear that Weir cannot sing this tune in the key that they are playing it. His voice is reaching for the high notes and he just doesn't get them. It makes the whole song sound like a bad garage band playing.

The long winded guy is a poser. This show is by no means polished but it well makes up for it with a interesting flair and originality. How can you even suggest any sort of comparison to a 70's or even early 80's show? This is or was a fresh new approach to the same old songs very unique. It's one of my faves. And San Diego geek yeah I was there and I remember it distinctly, you just don't forget. Not bragging or anything but 211 shows still makes you a newbie.

Where to start? I was there but it was so forgettable that I had to use several means of deductive reasoning (since most of my analog tapes are either in storage or for some of these middle period shows are missing from my collection of the ~211 attended shows) to determine that among these Chinese New Year's (Gung Ho Fat Choy) and the following shows at Mardi Gras, if I wasn't not confusing with the previous and subsequent years as to whether I was actually there or not? Well I'm sure I was, but it is very strange to me that I can hardly remember "Get Back" since not only will something rare make me appreciate the show! So much so, that much later when I was trying to quit seeing Grateful Dead because they were so stubborn in refusing to play anything but the same stuff until eventually they started to diversify more (even though when one compares to like Pink Floyd for example, who mostly played the exact same songs at most every show, Grateful Dead were very diverse.) I very clearly remember when they played "Revolution" at one of those before New Year's (I believe I have to check the date?) shows at the Civic in 83? And upon listening to this, albeit perhaps a bit "harsh" vocally as some of you folks said (perhaps the key?) I thought the "Get Back" alone was pretty good especially Brent on keyboards. But I do commend the few of you who were actually there, since not only do I rarely ever review a show that I wasn't actually at, unlike these ignorant jokers who not only weren't there but no matter what they do is wonderful! So in my humble opinion it wasn't "Get Back" that was so bad about his show rather, mostly the very numerous lyric flubs in many tunes and also the extremely boring short second set song list, even though Olatunji was there!
Now I have been known for two things, one back during the shows themselves, to be a very harsh critic yet I distinctly remember one time after a Greek show telling someone who was hard on me for being so, of how I could so greatly acknowledge how absolutely amazing that particular show was, so in this sense it is great to see that some others can see that sometimes the band can suck! On the other hand, I agree with that guy (in principle) who was saying something about how Grateful Dead weren't perfect when we say them! (The way I describe this same concept is as follows) unlike a band like for example again Pink Floyd, E.L.P., or Genesis that is, when one would see them live (all of which I did several times each) that even though they did do some improvisation they were so structured that if they made a mistake one would be hard pressed to notice it, and yet even though Grateful Dead often made mistakes they took the risk such that when it was magic it really was magic, if nowhere else nightly in the Percussion and Improvisation (which as I've said elsewhere I refuse to call "Space" since there is no air in space) sections!
Secondly, I've also been known to inject from time to time my personal experiences, but unlike some folks here I try to use them in a limited sort of way that has some direct bearing on something about the show in question like historical context or as I do here in relation to other shows I've seen; so in this light as I said above if something slightly unusual happened I usually remember it, be it a song or a guest or something else, so again it is surprising to me that I can hardly remember Olatunji being there? I do remember that I'd seen him more than once with Grateful Dead and this must have been it since I remember for obvious reasons most distinctly, when I saw him open at the New Year's 91-92 show since I had a backstage pass and since he was blind when I was walking along with him and his guide when he was talking to me he held my hand! Nevertheless, I pretty well remember most if not all the times I saw other such guests such as Airto (and sometimes) Flora Purim, Branford Marsalis etc., since not to brag, but I saw nearly every appearance that each of these artists guested with Grateful Dead!
Furthermore, I not only firmly agree (even though I wasn't there) that 73-11-11 was one of the all time absolute greatest shows ever, but for those with all due respect, gel brains that think some of these performances were so terrific like with "Fernario" (I mean I had to listen to this Fernario over and over again and it still did nothing for me) for example I would kindly and strongly urge them to check out for example 77-6-4 (even though the guy said "in this decade"). Moreover, similarly for "Row Jimmy" 79-12-28 (and for the entire show of 79-12-28 as well) or in the case of "Shakedown Street" how about 79-11-25 or numerous others like perhaps 81-9-12 (and again this entire show)!
I hate to be a know it all but trust me I do know what I'm talking about even when it comes to shows like this one for which I can hardly remember! So if it wasn't for my enjoying "Get Back" that I can't give this a 1, thus a 2!

Augy
San Diego

A serious frog got into Jerry's throat at the beginning of Eyes. Sounds like he cracks up because of it. Not a bad listen, certainly for the era. I liked the first set better than the second. They've forgotten most of the words to their songs by now, but -- really, who cares --we know them. It's all good.

My bumoer sticker used to say Thank you Jerry.
Now it says Thank you Charlie!
I think you deserve the credit for these delicious remasters

GET BACK!!!

hAHAHAHAHAHA!