Two days after Steve Parish's wife died in a car accident. all the flowers from the funeral were on the stage. For me, my most intense Baby Blue, but maybe because I was there, and knew what had happened. I personally heard a DS tease at end of UJB, but I think it was just my heart/mind. Her's a vid of show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKIVaxVVApM

This show cooks like a fine rib eye!! Great sound and playing all around

2nd set is primal. We all know where Jerry was but fuck he still has it.

If you're struggling with addiction please get help, there is always another way!!!

Archive pretty much renders my 500+ live tape collection archaic. But I met great people making it and passing along 1000s of copies along the way.

I first started collecting tapes in late 84. I was broke so my collection grew slow. This show was one of my first tapes - it was a radio broadcast so it circulated quick. From the day I got it all the way thru Spring and Summer 85, I listened to it every day. Prior to this tape, I had never heard Bucket, Throwing Stones, or WmnRSmarter.

Best Shakedown ever? It's an excellent candidate and probably gets my vote.

If this show was televised, I saw it, and used to have a tape I made off the simulcast, great show IMO. And, 5 stars for Charlie, it sounds live and clean and balanced, and the boys rock out pretty good! Good image of that early 80's sound, too, on a uptempo night.

starting a new song quickly while crowd is appauding is not a segue!!! jack straw...not jammed into bird song...happens all the time on this site...nice shakedown...have a nice day

sweet show.

i think birdsong might be about Janis Joplin

Really good performance. Perfect sound quality. Thanks Charlie.

I hate to be negative but I saw almost all the New Yer's shows after the closing of Winterland (and that one on T.v. live) so I believe I know what I'm talking about! With a cople of minor exceptions each New Year's show after '81-'82 got progressively weaker!

Hello intrepid listener. You've wandered and strayed from your familiar 1973 or 1977 Deadshow territory and landed in - OMG!! The 84 Zone !!

You've heard terrible things about this year and so you're expecting a very sloppy, uninspired performance.
Ha ha, and again I say, - ha.
"Pal, get to know her, you'll like her".

It's an unfortunate fact that during the 1980's, the New Year's Eve show was NOT necessarily one of their better shows. Very often, the 12/28 or 12/30 show will be far superior.

This is not the case here, however. Everything is in abundance. All the ingredients for a magical show. Great song list, Jerry is in command from the first song, Brent is in fine form. Phil and the drummers are in the Primal Groove.

As I've said before, there are a handful of songs that I think really reached new heights of expression in 1984, and Shakedown is one of them.
And so obviously so here tonight. 17 thrill-packed minutes of pure ShakeFunk as the band begins to channel the late James Brown.
And Jerry's solo?? A man possessed, a man that plays like he's the happiest guy in the world. He soars, he stretches, he growls, he takes you down to the basement of funk.
(Wow, I'm still on the first song. I'd better move on to the rest of the show). Baked and batter fried with onions.

Setlists are a big factor for me in deciding on a top show. Look at this one. Except for Bucket and Throwing Stones, this could easily be a 1979 show. No bad Brent songs, no cowboy songs, and no Day Job. Except for Shakedown, it could be a 1977 show!!

Peggy-O is sweet and poignant, with a good vocal by Jerry. And with each song they just build on the vibe and gain momentum. Jack Straw into Bird Song at mid-set is a happy surprise, and the crowd responds in kind. Phil and the drummers keep Jack Straw at a freight train pace, and Jerry delivers the goods on a solo with plenty of teeth - listen to the crowd yell at exactly 4:20 into Jack Straw, I'm not making that up!!

Okay, you can talk about your 1972 and 1973 Bird Songs, and I'll heartily agree. But again, it seems as if Bird Song began a new life in 1980 with the acoustic versions, and then from 1981 to 1983 and 1984 just reached a whole new plateau. In 1972, Jerry is singing about a woman that perhaps he is still in love with. In 1984, with his appropriate amount of croak, he sings it as a man who was in love with a woman long ago, and brings a whole new complexity to the song, both in verse and in his soloing. This Bird is a real Phil fest too. his playing is superb.

Okay, where am I?? Hell in a Bucket is like a strong cup of coffee to bring you back to being in three dimensions. Jerry's solo is a triple shot of espresso, scorching! The first set is everything you want, a bolt of energy that leaves you wanting more, even if a bit short.

Sugar Mag is a bit frazzled with the crowd noise and balloons, but soon they settle into a 12 minute Scarlet that is at the perfect reggae-funk tempo for some serious jamming. Jerry floats on the air, singing high, mostly avoiding the wah pedal. A mellow jam ensues before they launch into Fire.
I'm not sure which guitar Jerry was using here, but all I can say is that often in the 80's Jerry's sound had too much of a metallic quality. Here you get more of a "wood" sound, earthy even with the wah effect. The drummers and Jerry just build off of each other near the end with fast flourishes and power chords - and look out - at 11:12 Phil drops the Bomb and the whole jam goes insane!! If you're not dancing by now, check your ass - the batteries may be dead.
A Terrapin would have been nice next, but I suppose Woman Smarter is the logical choice. Jerry does the Twang big time.

Even though many of the mid-80's shows were sub-par playing wise, ironically you could almost always count on Space to be extra special weird. Some folks don't go in for Space, I know. But if you're permanently brain damaged like me, you really get into them. This one is great indeed.
Beginning with a sort of atonal Oriental theme, the drummers enter with marimba type sounds and then the Beam and Gong show. If you've got a careful ear, you can hear Jerry and Bob playing around with the Spanish Jam modes and riffs early on, and definitely by 8:30 in Space, before officially launching into it. A nice, mellow Space that floats you into Meltyness. Garcia's finger runs in the Spanish Jam just sparkle, his fuzzed out long soaring lines eat the paint off your walls. Suddenly, after another mellow interlude we land in the Wheel. Phil really fills out the bottom here.
The Dead prove they still have plenty of post Drums energy, and deliver a hot Stones, Lovelight and Good Lovin. More Phil bombs during the latter. And then a surprise Uncle John's really brings the house down. This is an "old style" UJB in my opinion, with full harmonies, and the band jumps into the minor mode jam with full gusto, just like 1972, or even 1970.
Definitely one of the better New Year's shows of this period, and well worth adding to your collection. 1984, try it, you'll like it!

cheers,
Dr. Flashback :-)

Dark side Shakedown, folks. This is one of the edgiest out there. BIG, FAT SOUND. This one is for after midnight........One of my favorite shows in the whole wide world.

I was at this show, my only NYE pilgrimmage. It's sure be nice to hear this version. When will the streaming window become available?

Edit: Now I can stream it and it sounds great, for the most part. The Shakedown is a keeper as is the Scarlet->Fire. Weird vibes in air that run and Jerry's busted a couple weeks later in GG Park. (another) beginning of the end?