The music is highly energized and the earlier comments really fill in the picture of what was happening as the rain poured down during the second set and lightning was flashing everywhere - even hitting the pavilion - holy crap! This AUD tape rules with the full experience - LOVE hearing the crown react. Can you imagine a concert today continuing in such conditions??? For those who were there I get the indelible memories - I have my own from the previous summer in the pouring rain at Red Rocks (albeit w/o lightning!)

This show was absolutely phenomenal! Everything about it was great, except the rain! But I was lucky because I had pavilion tickets! I was dry! The rain was unbelievable! It caused massive flooding in the parking lot after the show. But it was all good. They played a hot as hell show! I got to hear them play one of the best Sugar Mags of all time! Nothing but amazing memories of this show! Thank you to whoever posted this, as it was the first time I've heard this recording! This is the first time I've listened to it since 1983. Amazing! Thank you.

many times to my 27yo son … Massaging our feet in the whip creamed like mud on the lawn. Lightning striking the pavilion. Not one person leaving…simply awesome! One of my most favorite shows ever!

How did this come back to me? My son found it on the web and shared it with me. His 1st show was at Hershey (Dead & Company) 2021. “Mom, I’ve been to several Firefly’s, but the atmosphere of A Dead Show is more than I could ever have imagined!”

Thank you Dean… we were near you, and I recall the sailor mic guy.

3rd generation deadheads in the making!

Thankful to hear this again 💜

Brents personifies the storm with his solo.

Reviews below me are amazing.

First show I went to.I lived near the Pavilion just on the other side of the old Renascence Festival grounds.3rd row in the orchestra pit left side.And the best mud slide competition since Woodstock!Also the good old days when one could give your ticket stub to a friend and they would go and get more friends in.We had the "pit" crowd spilling out into the isles.I think the Merriweather staff partied as much as we did that night.Or maybe someone just dosed em'.
This show was an oasis in the middle of the awful stuffiness of the 80's.The decade I turned my radio off for good and listened to only what I chose...and the was mostly the good ol' Grateful Dead!

It poured. The lightening was spectacular. Really thought people where going to die and amazed the stage electronics weren't impacted. It rain so hard, and I recall looking down at my feet. They looked like boats traveling uphill against a river of water. There were wakes from them because the water was gushing so fast. We laughed and froze. Going back to car, the park ranges had to divert traffic as entrances were washed out or blocked. I remember seeing 4 motorcycles parked near the creek, and all you could see was the mirrors sticking out above the water. We made it to the car and stripped off our wet clothes and marveled.

We were under the pavillion. Not getting wet (until afterward). Every time lightning would strike, we'd hear the roar of the lawn seats (swamp) coming rolling down, under the pavillion, and then the band would hear it, and they would roar it right back. It was so amazing. When the lightning struck and the lights went out, and there was this huge Fwoomp, pit Dah, and then I GETUP AND FLY AWAY, and then Phil goes nuts with the bass bombs...that was it for me.

Loved the Sugar Mag and Bobby's Eye ee Eye ee Ah for like 20 times.

We did Saratoga, both Merriweathers, and then Harrisburg with the tripped out Stranger...the best Stella Blue and the Harrisburg Deal. Harrisburg on City Island with the Orange Dove blotter. 83 was one of my best years on tour East coast, NOLA, Manor Downs, Red Rocks, Sante Fe and Greek Theatre.

This recording is a little fast, but I like it anyway.

anybody else notice? Many a couple cents sharp with middle C @ 440 Hz. Typical tape recording issues, which can be fixed, although it would slow the energy down a bit.

Yes I was there- (~):^) favorite non-music memory of people swimming in the flood created lake by the top concession stand. We fit 5 people under a golf umbrella and the rain still came through the umbrella. I must admit the concert from the lawn, which was almost empty by second set, seemed a bit drowned out by natures own prowess. Although, when the two elements came crashing together with lightning strikes and power outages, I knew I'd never forget.

Really? Between Bob Star and a four minute OO getting five stars?!?! 80s Dead had their moments I suppose. This wasn't one of them.

Even though this show was an absolutely fantastic event, I will definitely not forget the weather! As soon as the encore was over, we all took off for our car! We got there just as a flash flood hit the rest of the cars that were near us in the parking lot! But getting back to the music, it was a magnificent show! And I was wearing my poncho and hanging out on the lawn through all of that incredible rain while the band played on! The weather did not even dent the spirit of anyone that I saw! But the way that lightning would crackle through the PA system was the most awesome thing I can recall to this day! But it didn't seam to phase the band one little bit! As a matter of fact, it actually added a lot of excitement to the whole scene! Such an incredibly good time was had by all!

6/20/2013 ***UPDATED*** Happy 30th Anniversary to all you freaks who were at this show! Hard to believe it's been 30 freaking years since this gem. Yes, we are all getting a little Touch of Grey aren't we? Still one of my favorites. Give it a whirl and when in doubt, TWIRL!

For those of you who were not there - Read the comments and BELIEVE the passion behind them.

For those who were there - Remember this one forever!

I agree with many that have commented, that this was the most incredible experience of my Deadhead life. I saw somewhere between 95 - 100 (Lost count, sorry) shows myself. I was lucky enough to catch a New Year's show at end of '85 and also saw them once in an amusement park (Wonderland in Toronto anyone?), but this, by far, was the most mind blowing.

My best friend even ran away from home to go see this show! Rode a bus from Doylestown, PA and then hitch-hiked out of Baltimore. The whole story is amazing really involving spending the night outside the Sears customer pickup roof at the mall, hidden bags in the woods that we found after the show with lighters in the rain, etc. Another time for all that as I don't want to clog things up here.

THE SHOW! Oh my, what a show! I agree that the boys fed on the frenzied madness and energy of the crowd this night. For those who have never been to the Merriweather Post Pavilion I HIGHLY recommend it! If you are anywhere near that area go see a concert there, ANYTHING! It is set in the woods in suburbia and is just super cool.

I think this was only my 4th Dead show so I was still pretty new to the scene. The energy in the air was palpable. There was a buzz in the air (and in many heads) that is unlike anything I had experienced before, or since for that matter.

The first set was amazing in its own right, the playing was fantastic, the boys were grooving along with the crowd. It rained but we didn't care since we were in the pavilion near the left rear.

The second set was legendary. The RAIN, the RAIN, the RAIN! Wow I have never seen such an intense storm. I remember looking back at the "Mud People" over and over again, shaking my head. Many times it was like a waterfall coming off of the pavilion and you couldn't even see them. When it did slow down Mud People were sliding down the lawn a la Woodstock (the original one for you young folks) and it was total chaos!

China>Rider>Sampson was so freaking intense my brother blew a fuse. He kept asking my friend and I if we should go. We were like "Go? Go where?" His altered state couldn't stay there anymore and he left. The band then immediately started playing He's Gone (which was really creepy). I found out the next day he got so confused trying to get out he actually climbed the fence! He's the only one I know who ever scaled the fence to get OUT of a Dead show! LMFAO! The lightning strikes were absolutely INSANE and interrupted the sound multiple times, especially during Trucking, The Other One, and Wharf Rat. When you hear random cheers from the crowd during this show and you are wondering what it is, guaranteed it was because of a wicked lightning flash. While I am usually a fan of soundboards, this is a show where you should enjoy this clear audience copy and listen with your headphones. You can hear the energy build in the crowd as the night goes on, especially during lightning strikes. After Bobby does his "Aboriginee Rap" during Sugar Mag he says "So what do you think about that?" There is momentary pause and then this girl screams as her mind is completely split open as she processes what he just said. Absolutely priceless!

The next day there were cars under water, motorcycles under water, etc. Hell, I'm surprised there weren't people under the water. That place never recovered from that night. Neither did anybody who was there. That would be great to have some kind or reunion party like somebody suggested, it was THAT remarkable.

Peace!

Great recording, great show. The fat man plays Rooster like the blues God that he was. Soulful show.

The show brought me as close to the Lord as one may get. The scene was crazy and those biker dudes were flooded out due to four inches of rain in three hours. The lightning display was unusual? Having a recording from this show is true love. Truckin' etc Always live in the moment!!!!!!!!!

This show was off the charts. We came down from Saratoga thinking nothing could top that, so the universe thought it would shake us up a bit. What a show! After a while you just gave up and melted into the warm rain. Remember the guy with the watermelon halves on his feet, clumping around in the mud? All that mud wasn't our fault, really, it wasn't. It was just that that much water came down in such a short amount of time, and you had to put your feet somewhere... The intensity crested during Wharf Rat with the sporadic lightning and the crowd cheering in response at each flash, culminating in the awesome lightning strike on the concrete pavillion itself just before 'I'll get up and fly away', you can hear the crowd go whoa instead of cheering, and I swear Jerry sounds a little nervous after that one...Epic is all I can say. The experience is all, sorry that those that weren't there don't get it; myself very, very thankful to hear the tape so I can relive a tremendous show. At Saratoga Springs the band played the weather. At Merriweather Post Pavillion the weather played the band.

Nice sound, but it needs pitch correction. Jerry sounds like a chipmunk.

My buddies and I made the trip down from York College in a semi-new Cadillac. It was trashed by the time we got back to YCP. Too much mud!

Simply, one of the better recordings ever made.

And a performance of the highest order, from any era.

peace

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This was my second GD show after fall 82 I'm one of the first "Touch-heads" because they debuted the song as an encore that night at the Cap Centre.

Yet, this second one was different. The bus came by and I got on because of this show. Anyone that went to this show knows about the storm that showed up at the beginning of the second set and did not stop the entire time. Either the band played the weather - or the weather played the band.

Anyone remember walking through knee-deep water to get back to the cars? The bikers weeping because their parking spot was under water? T

Anyways, listen to 'Truckin' if nothing else. This is a band that keeps playing when the power cuts out, and Phil Lesh was pissed about that.

At least one other wonderful thing happened on June 20th, 1983. At Mercy Hospital in Baltimore (a mere 15 miles-less, as the crow flies-down the road from Merriweather), my mother heeded the doctor's orders to "PUSH!" and brought me kicking and screaming into the world. Many times growing up I heard my parents tell the story of the epic storm that rocked Maryland on the night I was born, but it was only after I had discovered the Dead that I found out there was more than lightning in the air that night.

I listen to this show every birthday, thanks Dean for improving on the less-than-stellar recording I had before!

...so good that you can feel the power and fun and chaos still touching you through time and space. This one is all about Phil's bombs and Bob's improvs, the crowd and the weather. Bob Star, Other One, Wharf Rat, Sunshine Daydream...unforgettable.

Listening to 69-77 always makes me wish that I'd been born twenty years earlier. This is one of the few later shows that makes me think being born just four or five years earlier would have been worthwhile, too. Oh well, keep working on that time machine...

No one there will ever forget. Best Wharf Rat and best Sugar Mag ever? Violent weather and a violent second set!

This is the best source. I just saved an upload since I thought a master tape in my possession was better, but it's not.

2nd Dead show ever, age 16, accompanied -- bless her -- by my German-born, non-Hippie mother and two teenaged friends. At 4 pm the sky was darker than night, adding to the glorious confusion of an early d*se of very powerful something or other. Sweet and strong first set (precious Peggy-O) and then. . . hell and heaven opened up. Rain, thunder, wind and SYF bolts of lightening. The band and the crowd went nuts. I felt like I was risking my life AND I WAS IN THE PAVILLION. Thank you Dean for your valor. The spectacle continued: a babbling brook near the venue became raging rapids -- ambulances, helicopters, 4 hrs of parking lot chaos and 5,000 people stranded overnight, though no one seemed to mind (earning a story in the Wash. Post).

The playing was apocalyptic. Rock thumpers like Sugar Mag took on a crazed, late 60s energy. We all thought, the boys included, we'd die happy! Check out the dream rap in sugar mag and you'll know what to think about, to think about, to think about that. . .

One year before my first Merriweather show (6/27/84) and 2nd show overall. This is a great show at an awesome venue for the Dead (I also saw both '85s and the two JGBs in '89). The Dead outgrew this place, but it still is a big part of the lore esp. for DC heads.

TLEO and Misc are awesome in the first, with the second being pretty much a total fest. Also, the recording quality is excellent--thanks!!

I really love this recording! I live about a half hour from Merriweather and I remember this show well. I was in the pavilion and looked back at the rain coming down and well...it was mighty. I'm surprised you weren't washed away in it. I'm glad now to have a great lawn recording of this made with my favorite microphones and tape decks. Oh and if you want the drums, just get it from one of the other two sources that has all of it, either the 7:48 or 7:50 and you can just edit out the first minute and 10 seconds because it is on this source already at the end of the Truckin' jam. You can just put it after that at the end of disc 2. Thanks for the wonderful show! It is really hot, by the way. First east coast Hell In A Bucket and second time it was played. Brings back great memories!

Oh my freaking Goodness, I have waited 25 years, two months and 5 days for this recording! I was right there with you, brother Dean, along with so many friends. This show was about as over the top as they got... Thank you SO much for bringing it all back...

Ex

If you haven't heard...

The overpowering energy of the first set.

The p.a. drop-outs due to lightning.

Bob Star and Phil bomb to start the Other One.

Lighting strikes the sound stage in Wharf Rat.

Bobby goes insane during Sugar magnolias, talking about some aboriginal view of reality, and screaming his way like he thought the next lightning bolt will strike him.

This is the best source of the bunch. A fearless, powerful show.

Beautiful! Thank you so much!
'dedicated or crazy'? thankfully for us, you were BOTH.

Thank you Dean for risking your life so that we could all listen to this gem. I prefer the sound of this recording off the repeaters to all the fobs now available from this show. It does not have the hollow pavillion sound typical of the outdoor fobs. I am not going to review the show because you should all know it note for note by now. This was a legendary event, the X-factor was dripping in large rain dropps throughout. Someday I hope the SBD for this and the Toga show would be released. I also wish that a video were around of these two shows as well. Until then this is as good as it gets.