This Scarlet Fire and the whole 4 night run are unreal. But this Scarlet>Fire, omg

Alabama Getaway followed by Feel Like a Stranger is a twice in a lifetime occurrence. This occasion and 5/2/80 when they opened the second set.

In fact, and the reason it caught my eye, it's pretty rare to hear both songs in the same set regardless of order - just 6 times of the 34 times both songs were played in the same show.

Nice show. Exellent remastered soundboard by sound guru Charlie Miller.

Came for the SCARLET>FIRE, ended up staying for the whole show.

First, a word on this S>F...I don't know where this one was hiding, but it's time it stepped out into the light. The Scarlet is good, the transition jam is funky and interesting, but it's the FIRE that really grabs you. Brent is just all over the first third, rippling and punching and filling with all kinds of calypso-themed riffs, just infusing this version with island rhythms....then Jerry breaks into the fore after the 2nd verse and rages this sucker right into a picture-perfect return coda. It's gold, and falls into my top 3 FIREs of all time.

Overall, this show has a very groovy feel...it's less speeded-out than a lot of its early-80's bretheren (e.g. check out the behind-the-backbeat groove on "Women R Smarter")...Brent and Bobby goof around with the cadence and tempo and it's clear they're having a blast.

Also, Garcia's vocals in this show, while '84 raw to be sure, actually hold together, and the effect is more Tom Waits-ish than the sad frog-in-a-blender pinchiness that accompanies most every post-'83 performance. he shines especially on the aforementioned FIRE and ALABAMA and again on an inspired HE'S GONE.

The SPACE is "Allah"-tinged which makes it more interesting than most and they finish up w/a fine T-STONES/NFA combo.

This is very close to a 5-star show (a bit of sloppiness in some of the first set prevents me from going the full 5) but the sound quality of the board is A-1 and pretty to hear.

you can't go wrong. I call this one a hidden gem despite the fair # of reviews here...I just never had it on my radar....now it's very much in the rotation.

A great gem - 1984 wasn't traded so much when I was at it, so this sound is somewhat unique to my Dead experience. The Scarlet>Fire may be my favorite, it's just so perfect, Brent has a vibe-synth going that works well.

Bobby and Brent say what sounds to be fairly dirty alternate lyrics to "Man Smart, Women Smarter" but the highlight for me is the 1st set. It is my favorite 1st set - best.minglewood.ever. best.bucket.ever. These are phrases you don't find yourself saying very often, if ever. Overall this is a great recording, band is on fire during this rare home-town performance.

I was at this show and the "Fire on the Mountain" and the "He's Gone" were some of the better I've seen, so this is definitely the better choice since the other copy cut severely. The acoustics of this building live up to Frank Lloyd Wright's reputation for building design.
Although it is not listed here as such on the other listings (plural) I dispute the claim of labeling the "Improvisation" as "Blues for Allah". My copy is in storage and I haven't listened to it in a long time but I used to listen to this fairly regularly and I don't recall hearing that in it but I'm gonna check it out!

Augy
San Diego