Jerry Moore(tRIP), thanks so much for this awesome recording of this awesome show!

Last of a great 4-day run in Boston, first East Coast run since the hiatus. This show was on lots of Head's tapelists, since it was FM-broadcast (I think it was my first or second '76 2xC90). It sounds so different than a '74: Jer was playing his Travis Bean TB500 through a Mesa-Boogie on this tour - a set-up he would drop by the year's end. Now we have lowest gens, plus six tracks appear on Road Trips 4-5 (though not necessarily the show's best; you still need the FM sources). Probably the least consistent show of the run, but with big standouts.

First Set. Samson is a super treat, early-'76 style, with the pre-LP lyrics: fons et origo. Row Jimmy drags tonight, though Jer's mid-'76 tone is nice. Coming early, Music Never Stopped is relatively short, relatively perfect. Brown-Eyed is good, but '76 staple Big River is a slammer- every player great. Friend of the Devil has amazing Keith, but Jer doesn't completely grok. Mission is a welcome rarity, though this isn't the best one. It's the 3rd of just 5, all in June. The rest is average '76 but for the mostly-sweet Looks Like Rain: Jer again has a unique mid-'76 tone and approach for Bobby's song and Donna is okay, though this tempo is draggy.

Second Set. The Wheel as a set opener - and it has an ending. Fun, as is the U.S. Blues inside a Sugar Mag, but the set as a whole is average to less so for a '76. The exceptions are: Cassidy, brief but exacting; and Comes a Time. New at the time, being somewhat unique and with an incredible ending makes this a remarkable version. Dancin' is consistently good in '76, but the encore looks better on paper.

1st Set:  B
2nd Set: B-
Overall = 3¾ stars

Highlights:
Samson & Delilah - unique mind-blower to start
The Music Never Stopped - many good ones in '76, but this is short & perfect
Big River - another '76 staple, but this really aces
Cassidy - brief & exacting
Comes a Time - with a unique and incredible ending

SOURCES: The moore_berger_100328 is missing The Wheel. The remastered, mostly improved source is the 143168_fm_warburton_smith, except it has a 10sec cut in High Time (and some blips), an 11sec cut in Let it Grow, and dropouts in Wharf, so you still need the first source. They both have the channels switched and, like all FM sources, some distortion. The d1000e_warburton_smith_miller is a f-o-b AUD, with a quality ahead of its time. Mission, Wheel, Comes a Time, & Sugar Mag>U.S. Blues>Sunshine Daydream are on Road Trips v4n5.

Samson & Delilah is one of my favorite tunes. I can say without hesitation that I enjoyed this song totally and completely live.
I can remember one show at MSG being in the seating that runs behind the stage and the DEAD always kept speakers aimed in that direction. They hit a mid-week Samson which was a rarity by the late 80's. I swear i thought the drummers alone were going to bring the entire Garden to the ground.
As for this show Samson was pretty much brand new and the radio broadcast would probably have been the 1st time many had heard the tune.
I was thinking about this show going out over the radio. You would be surprised how many tapes had their origins from these radio shows. They were good quality and become instant classics.
My best buddy settled up in Connecticut and did an unpaid internship for one of the local DJ's, which got him access to all sorts of musical goodies including promo stuff that got handed out like candy to Radio Stations.
For whatever reason those radio stations up in the Hartford area played less hits formatted AOR rock then the stations in N.Y.C. So I would hear some really cool music whenever i would go up to visit my friend.
In fact when the Dead played Hartford in 85. i got to visit the radio station. I was hopeful Garcia would be showing up but that did not happen but I did get to meet the Lich and that was pretty cool. He was a big fan of Journey but not so much the Dead. I took my friend to his first Dead show. It was not an over the top show and I got so high I got lost in the bowels of the Civic Center at one point.
Row Jimmy is a great counter-balance to the rowdiness of Samson. Always felt like the line "Come back step, like to walk on air "
when it came to dancin to ROW JIMMY.
Some folks have commented on how basic these initial MNS are. They don't go very far a field sticking pretty much to the album version.
I loved this tune. The flow of it was such that my smile just got bigger as the song progressed.
Caught a version at the outdoor Meadowlands and the Dead played it thru a torrential rainstorm and i will tell you there was so much rain that the first row of the upper deck became a gigantic pool of water easily waste high. By the end of that tune i had lost all concept of reality. (REALITY DID RETURN WHEN SECURITY ALMOST THREW ME OUT FOR GETTING JUST ABOUT NAKED WHILE TRYING TO REND MY GARMENTS)
Anyway, back to Boston 6/12/76 Nice MUSIC, sounded like the Band was happy with it as well.
B.E. WOMEN- something about this tune that helped
me rise above what ever might be weighing me down at the time.
In later years I would get pretty emotional when Jerry pulled this out. All these memories would come flooding out. From family to friends, lovers and enemies, small things in my life , big things for my Nation. The breath in my chest, The Universe on display.
"Let's do?" I like hearing that! No set list..
BIG RIVER- I have said it before but this is a tune that I had to really go back to 1973 and listen to. Just to see how hot it was. Because by 85 it easily got lost in the double shot of Cowboy tunes that Weir would bring almost every night.
This is scorching hot, ever try to stay on this beat. Nice to hear Keith all over this, Nice recording everybody seems well represented in the mix.
"We haven't done the Wheel in a while" Bob Weir
Mission in the Rain- Had a good friend, she was a Quaker, very gentle soul. I wanted to be more than friends but alas it is always a ladies choice with whom she would walk life's road.
Anyway she moved to Frisco and she loved this tune. Funny how certain tunes remind me of certain people. I can remember hanging at her place when Standing on the Moon was getting airplay and there i was SOMEWHERE IN SAN FRANCISCO ON A BACK PORCH IN JULY.
When Jerry digs into the lyrics of Mission especially "No matter what goes down, The Mission always looks the same" He transcends the song in a similar way that Bob Dylan could transcend a tune.
Not sure if everybody will get that reference but listen to Dylan on JOEY from the DYLAN & DEAD recording there is a certain point where Dylan is bringing those lyrics like he is Joey Gallo.
There is a whole bunch of banter. i love recordings when you can hear the band going back and forth, cutting up, and it is nice hear because they share it with the crowd and of course by extension everyone out in radio-land.
Looks Like Rain- Much improved with Donna in the mix. I wonder if it was tough for Weir to share the spotlight on this tune. Anyway cool that he did.
Versions in the 90's in giant hockey rinks with canned thunderstorms kinda took this tune away from its basic simplicity. (plus it was a train wreck waiting to happen bogged down in the Second Set.)
Pretty good here. Gives me like a warm fuzzy errr
feeling-yeah!
They seem really loose again, Garcia noodling.
Mr. Announcer gets in a plug..
Oh, yeah-FOTD could pick that up pretty quick.
Slowed down, had to be a surprise. I know I went to see Dylan with his band in Home-dale N.J. and DYLAN launched into one of my absolute favorite tunes by him SHELTER FROM THE STORM--Well he did it at MOSH PIT SPEED-- I don't remember anything else about that concert but that blew me away.
This slower FOTD has a few things going for it
1) You have time to let the story wash over you while you are dancin.
2) it is kinda going pretty well, UTAh is a pretty cool place, He has a Girl- that is almost always a good thing!
3) The jams are laid back and they can invest in them.
Jerry's guitar work and Keith sounding like Professor Longhair.
4) As the tempo builds it begins to hit you, this is another in a long list of GD tragedy songs,
Sheriff-Jail ////Child-Does Not look like Me ///
Friend= DEVIL
Lazy Lightning-Phil drops the first notes then Garcia noodlesit, Weir counts it off. Another one of my favorite GD tunes. really if you got headphones listen to Donna on the high end of the back ground vocals while Phil is just pounding the bass line. Seriously this is classic.
Weir is throwing down lyrics while Donna is like LIGHTNING!!! MY LIGHTNING TOO!!! and then Phil hits the bass and we are off to Supplication.
Do you know what Supplication is? mainly referenced in the Old Testament, In it's purest form it is to call upon the Almighty , to bring before G-D a petition.
Well here it relates more to the chemistry between a man and a woman. This is an absolutely sultry tune.
When Weir gets to the lyrics this is After Midnight folks, this is Solomon and his beloved.
"Heed my SUPPLICATION!!!"
They turn up the audience but no need you can hear folks woofing it up.
Some pretty trippy audience interaction and Garcia noodles to the dude making the 'eye, eye' sound.
i used to call that moment close to the edge of pandemonium. Garcia brings the balm of HIGH TIME.
All I can say about this tune is don't get the intro mixed up with 'Too Lay me Down' but once the lyrics came I was stoked either way.
Very blessed to have gotten 'High Time' live a few times. A song that i always felt the lyrics led the tune. So if you wanted to stay with the tune you had to dance to Jerry's lyrics that is not an easy thing to do.
Donna is in the deep end of the pool here. She does very well on the gentle parts of the song. I dare anybody to sing with the high tempo side of this tune.
She has to kick it into another gear.
I don't really hear anybody else going for the back-up vocals perhaps Weir somewhat on the up-tempo.
Jerry's story telling ability is unmatched.
I just feel a rocker PROMISED! Another tune that was so much fun live. I was at the Carolina show with the Power Failure mid song and when they got the electricity flowing again they picked up the tune at the exact spot they had stopped due to the loss of amplification. MIND BLOWING!
Jerry subtle on his backing vocals here but they leave the stage mics ringing at the end of the 1st set.
Set Two- CASSIDY-No clue they did this as a Set Two Opener?
This is one of those tunes that got more opened ended over time. Especially when they would play it near the end of Set one and in proximity to another open jam tune.
Seems like some slight static absolutely no jam to close.
JED-I heard it! Oh yeah. It's coming. Not many times this made it into Set Two.
you know the obvious thing to do would have been to play St. Stephen- so give the band credit for just playing whatever they felt like at the time. LET IT GROW played almost every night they seemed to really like it unhooked from the entire WEATHER REPORT SUITE but oh, sometimes it felt like the babe , went out with the bath water. Anyway, it seems like this was much weight for LIG to bare especially without standards like Truckin, He's Gone and not sure how long until the next Morning Dew.
Let it Grow would really find a home as a 1st set closer!
Still how many times did i long for the entire Suite with a Here Comes Sunshine chaser.
They get a nice lead into Let it Grow which is surprising given that Cassidy and JED were not open ended.
They snag on the initial lyrics somewhat but i can already tell they are going to jam this something fierce.
They have no problem with sending the Let it Grow jam into any number of tunes tonight they choose Wharf Rat.
At one point Garcia sings 'True to Me" twice for emphasis.
and then they really go outside the comfort zone with COMES A TIME! and everything I said about HIGH TIME goes for 'Comes a Time' i did catch a few in the 80's and it was a special song. When i was first starting to tour in 85 they played it pretty regularly. And i caught the last one with Brent in 87 @ Roanoke. After the one in 87 they only played it 4 more times in the final years of the band.
Always saw this as a pure JERRY GARCIA ballad. Something that put him out there--- like some of his more introspective Jerry Band songs.
Perfect song for Donna Jean to accompany JERRY on. Wow! listen to Garcia play!!!
reminds me of Jukka Tolonen
or Nektar-Remember The Future
Dancin in the Street-i would imagine the re-work of this classic had to take a little while to grok.
Personally, I like it and just take it as totally different from the version they did with Pig.
I also really liked the version of Dancin with Brent. (Good example-Frost 1985.)
This is pretty involved as far as the rhythm section goes.
I am surprised they didn't send this into drumz circa 76-77 before drums became institutionalized.
Good show, Always really enjoy FM broadcasts
With the 1st set being just as dependable as Set Two.
(Beginning of Set 2 perhaps a little timid compared to the monster Samson opener)
Around x2, Sugar Mag>U.S.Blues>S.S.D
End the night all up-tempo.
back in the saddle & kicking donkey butt..
(have to agree with Mind Wonderin'.on the Sugar MAG sandwiched with a U.S. Blues, oh well better than just getting a lone USELESS to close. Fun to hear garcia laugh in the middle of U,S, Blues.
The announcer was thinking another encore probably listened to something from 70-73 to get primed for this show.

Feeling around in the dark and trying to find again their sea legs.

This is a passably good concert. Not a rave-up but totally adequate. Nice sound, nice recording. I love the Mission in the Rain song and played this show just to hear it, but stuck it out.

Will award it a 5 star rating anyway, though I do not express much enthusiasm. Read my other reviews of other shows. This one was a vacation for me. It was something to accompany my preparation of the evening's Child supper. Wild Turkey Surprise, no less. Threw the pooch the wishbone. He's over there in the corner right now yakking on it.

Bone Appetit, Julia!

Swallow that thing whole, Phaedo.

what a killer tune too bad it was so short lived in the GD repretoire and this one's my favorite of the 5 they played oh by the way the rest of the show rocks too

Hello. I have a version of this show from live dead .???. I really can't remember its been like 10 years or so um I also have 06-07-77. The audio quality for both shows are in my opinion better than what the archive currently provides, however there is some noise in the '76 show and I think it would be best if someone could play what I have at the same tempo as the archive material and make a new recording combining the two audio captures together into one harmonious representation of a live show, I tried this on my pc and I could not achive perfect phase sync but I did learn that AUD's and SBD'd sound best when played simultaneously. It really sounds like you are at the show when you do that!. IMO way better than each on its own.

all the way one of the best dead of that of year its has everything it changed peoples lives after this one things were never the same it became the 3 night shows no more 1 night stands getting tickets for this was pure luck the music hall was like no other venue the sound was incredible and I have this tape from my friend who taped the show on the radio from wbru which was feeding from wbcn .Jerry had his Travis bean it was supposedly billy birthday .