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Poster: user unknown Date: Aug 13, 2022 2:42pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Which is the worst of the worst?

There are three shows often mentioned as the worst ever played(in chronological order):

Woodstock
https://archive.org/details/gd69-08-16.sbd.cotsman.15205.sbeok.shnf

Boreal Ridge
https://archive.org/details/gd1985-08-24.sbd.walker-scotton.miller.106196.flac24

Soldier Field
https://archive.org/details/gd1995-07-09.sbd.miller.114369.flac16

Not exactly the same lineup, but I have to add one more:

Greensboro
https://archive.org/details/thedead2009-04-12.cmx4v


I should add, IMHO, even in the "worst" there are bright spots. And conversely, even in the "best" there are botches.
This post was modified by user unknown on 2022-08-13 21:42:20

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Poster: Dudley Dead Date: Aug 14, 2022 7:48pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

I'll go with Soldier Field . The bad is so bd, and there will be no chance for recovery .

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Poster: user unknown Date: Aug 15, 2022 8:20am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

Even Soldier Field had it bright spots. Various reviewers point to "When I Paint My Masterpiece" and "So Many Roads". Though not the best, those two stand up pretty well when you consider it was 1995. Personally, I would recommend "Black Muddy River" and "Box of Rain". It may be sentimentality that leads me back to those. In BMR, yes Jerry's voice is frail, but for those lyrics maybe it should've been done that way every time. And I recently read, and then discovered for myself, that Jerry sang "last muddy river"(in the first chorus). Was he planning on calling it quits? Did he know? And did Phil ever sound any more engaged, or poignant, on BoR?

And The Dead, in Greensboro, did a pretty good job on "He's Gone". They opened with "The Music Never Stopped", but it did change. Overall, that day I was unimpressed with the song selection and the unmistakable ABB vibe.

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Poster: Dudley Dead Date: Aug 16, 2022 2:23pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

Yes , I agree with User's " even in the "worst" there are bright spots." It is with what we know that would follow that gives it that extra painfulness . Garcia's last song sung with the Dead being BMR is, as they used to say. "heavy" beyond belief .
It sure sounds like he wanted to do Morning Dew, after Unbroken Chain, but Bob jumped to S. Mag. Now if Garcia's last song with the Dead was Dew ...Wow .

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Poster: wlg3 Date: Aug 16, 2022 8:34am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

7/7/86 is also down there, though it did have the Satisfaction.

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Poster: user unknown Date: Aug 16, 2022 3:51pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

They should've dropped Good Lovin' when Pig died.

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Poster: RBNW....new and improved! Date: Aug 17, 2022 3:40pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

they did ....for a while

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Poster: Finster! Date: Aug 24, 2022 5:03am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

"when you consider it was 1995"
How good is it really if you have to add a disclaimer?



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Poster: Mooding Date: Aug 17, 2022 12:21pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

If you don't care about 'the worst' being a complete show, you may want to give this a listen. Truly some of the worst performances ever.

https://kboo.fm/media/84099-warts-all-trainwreck-special

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Poster: Mandojammer Date: Aug 17, 2022 2:05pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

I see two songs from 1984 in there. I did a quick check of my notes from "The 1984 Project" and here they are. If anyone cares. Here they are even if you don't care.

6/27/84 Merriweather Post
'Why Don't We Do It In the Road'

m. Why Don’t We Do It In The Road – This was an utterly ridiculous two minutes and 51 seconds of stupid. Instead of “no one will be watching us” it should be “no one should have to listen to this”. No further comment.

11/2/84 Berkeley Community Theater
'El Paso'

c. El Paso – Pipe organ keys combined with chimey predator keys don’t work. Bobby’s vocals sound horrible. There’s a lot of playing instead of vocals, I think Bobby is lost. He crashes and burns at 4:30 with a completely blown verse. The wheels are really wobbling – after a decent start with Jack Straw, they seem to be struggling. The instrumental work is solid, the vocals are not.

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Poster: Finster! Date: Aug 24, 2022 5:33am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

6/27/84 was my 3rd show.
3 weeks freshly removed from HS graduation.
I'll grant you that Do It In the Road does not hold up well on tape...
But in the moment, this Beatle freak was absolutely ecstatic...
Fun as hell, and while I can't speak for everyone, isn't fun what we were there for?
As horrible as it sounds on tape, I still to this day listen with a smile :)

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Poster: Mandojammer Date: Aug 24, 2022 7:45am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

Funny thing is, 6/27 was ranked as a Top 3 in The 1984 Project. Further proof that they could really lay an egg with one tune, but deliver the goods with the rest.

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Poster: SomeDarkHollow Date: Aug 24, 2022 11:06am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

And the ratio of Egg to Gem increased over the years to the point that I was going almost entirely for the people instead of the music. Sure, I saw some really good moments into the 90's (like the Loser in Albany) where I almost thought "They're Back!". Almost. Still had a blast though at every show I went to. Now the last show I saw of theirs in Phoenix at Desert Sky pushed that one to the limit. Yuck.

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Poster: billydlions Date: Aug 25, 2022 9:21am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

We could probably start a new thread about “when did you know the boys no longer had it (without any hindsight)”? I suppose WT will chime in that he knew back in his days but I never knew any better until I saw a show in 1994 (my first show since 1991). I’m happy to say I still thought the band was great while I attended all those dog shit shows (in Cliff terms).

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Poster: SomeDarkHollow Date: Aug 17, 2022 1:08pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

Perhaps the coolest thing posted here in years.

I am truly jealous of this individual.

Of course, I tend to celebrate the negative, so there's that.

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Poster: Mooding Date: Aug 17, 2022 2:16pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

Aw gee shucks. Thanks kindly.

Assembling things like this special keeps producing the show interesting after 20+ years.

But some of y'all helped way back when I first pitched this here.
https://archive.org/post/1109888

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Poster: Diamondhead Date: Aug 17, 2022 4:18pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

You were a man ahead of his time. There were some fine examples there. Deadheads are the best critics. 😄

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Poster: user unknown Date: Aug 17, 2022 1:30pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

Well there is a H2H on the list.Should we revive one of the several dead "best H2H" discussions to include the other side of that coin?

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Poster: SomeDarkHollow Date: Aug 17, 2022 1:53pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

There you go spoiling a perfectly good example of Dead-bashing with a glimmer of positivity. I'll have none of it.

Don't make me repost my "why I hate donna" thread.

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Poster: user unknown Date: Aug 18, 2022 1:17pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

Elvis liked her.

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Poster: stratocaster Date: Aug 18, 2022 4:43pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

a few times

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Poster: SomeDarkHollow Date: Aug 19, 2022 10:24am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

Great.
Now I've got an all new nightmare of another Donna screech.

Perhaps that's what inspired my all time favorite Bobby lyric:
"Did you ever waken to the sound of Elvis and Donna making love? You guess from their cries you were listening to a fight"

Colonel Parker was not amused and made them change it
This post was modified by SomeDarkHollow on 2022-08-19 17:24:23

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Poster: Scrim Date: Aug 18, 2022 10:44am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

No Hey Jude? The 80's versions aren't pretty, but 1969 makes my skin crawl

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Poster: Mooding Date: Aug 19, 2022 3:32pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

Couldn't include everything I'd pulled / produced.

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Poster: palomaresonthomassss Date: Aug 17, 2022 7:48am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

It is really helpful for me. Thanks for shaing it.
Regards@apkranchlooo.

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Poster: SomeDarkHollow Date: Aug 17, 2022 2:01pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

We have a winner. You are the worst of the worst.

End of thread.

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Poster: stratocaster Date: Aug 17, 2022 5:27pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

Boreal Ridge is the worst for these reasons; the heat, the bad sound and a very crabby Jerry. Everything was bum rushed. The Day Tripper is a farce. I will admit that the China Cat is actually pretty damn good. In 1985 they were Truckin along playing hot shows, for the most part, so Boreal Ridge was the exception and not the norm, like Michael Jordan scoring 8 points with 10 turnovers.

I was at Soldier Field and we all knew 1995 was brutal and exhausting and Jerry was way off his game with some rare moments of juice. To that end, I thought 05-19 Vegas (not even the topless showgirls could save this one) or 06-15-95 Highgate might be worse from 95…However, go back a year to 06-25-1994 Vegas…and this show sucked bigly…super hot and I could see Garcia sucking wind and he was looking walleyed…they did save face with a good performance on 06-26

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Poster: ColdRain108 Date: Aug 18, 2022 3:22pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

"I could see Garcia sucking wind and he was looking walleyed"

That quad bypass surgery was way overdue...too bad he used opiates to mask the pain that should have sent him running to the cardiologist.

I was at the boring-as-hell ridge show. Hacky sac in the parking lot was more fun. Camping out in the Sierras after the show was way more fun. We were some of the first to arrive - which meant we were the last to leave as they stacked the parking lot so that you couldn't get out until everybody else left.

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Poster: Dam779 Date: Sep 28, 2022 4:56am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

EuroTech solid HVLP applicator with plastic cup and solid body for longer tool life Anodized body for corrosion protection Coated internal passages Chrome steel needle and fluid tip Smooth end for quicker and easier cleaning.
https://sprayerguid.com/best-primer-spray-gun/

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Poster: RBNW....new and improved! Date: Aug 13, 2022 3:14pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

does the "bad day fishing is better than a good day at work" type rule apply to these shows and more ??

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Poster: user unknown Date: Aug 15, 2022 2:15pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

3 outta 4…maybe

OK. Yea even a bad “The Dead” show is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick
This post was modified by user unknown on 2022-08-15 21:15:59

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Poster: grateful phishmon Date: Aug 28, 2022 5:44pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

My $0.02, coming from someone who got more than his share of craptastic, boring shows out of a mere 38 attended between 1981 and 1995.

I can't rate the all time worst; however, I can give the worst three that I attended, and they all have to rank pretty high for suckitude.

3/24/86 - Philly Rectum (Spectrum)

Just a look at the setlist and runtime of the songs says it all. Perhaps because the opening Feel Like a Stranger was a little out of sync, they avoided jamming like the plague the rest of the show, cutting Scarlet short to play Touch, then a weak second set Looks Like Rain, then an equally weak GDTRFB. Boring.

6/23/92 - Star Lake Amphitheatre, Burgettstown, PA

Even less jamming than 3/24/86, at least after the Help>Slip!>Frank opener. Tired sounding overall. These two shows are pretty much tied for the bottom.

3/14/93 - Richfield Coliseum, Richfield, OH

Not as bad as the above two, but still pretty dreadful. A Touch of Gray, Samson, Long Way to Hear This, Corinna to start the 2nd set. Ugh. Made even worse by the fact that it was supposed to be the 2nd of two shows at that venue, but the Blizzard of 93 intervened. You'd think they'd throw down to make up for it, but no, they saved the good stuff for the Capital Centre. At least there was a well-played Terrapin and a gorgeous Stella, so the show wasn't a total disaster.

BTW, I can't put any of the four shows I caught in 95 (the three Philly shows and the Pittsburgh show) on my "worst" list -- at least they tried, and there were some interesting moments in all four (not least of which the debut of Unbroken Chain!).

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Poster: Fallbrook Red Date: Aug 22, 2022 2:47pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Which is the worst of the worst?

Anything performed after 1978 was pretty much unlistenable for me. The third San Bernardino show where the Angels were waving their pollsticks around in a threatening and bellicose manner was a personal nadir as was anything ever played at Irvine Meadows. Listening to Brent sing and emote was like pulling a scab off of an open wound. He might as well have been wearing oven mitts when compared to Keith and later Bruce's sublime and lyrical melody lines, somewhat ham fisted and crude.