I must offer a rejoinder to the review below on this great matrix recording. This obviously learned deadhead tries so very hard to gives us an honest viewpoint on this show, and that's what we see, but its points are so utterly misguided, almost in a reverse image of its negativity. The first set is an upbeat dance party affairs, nothing too heavy.
The second set however, is a thunderstorm of curious delight as the band takes us on a very song-based but jammed out adventure. The first three songs, instead of being the high point of the set, is just a warm-up for what is to come. Here we can mention that the first half of the 2nd set has 3 of the greatest Hunter-Garcia ballads. Getting two of those before drums is great but three?? Normally they would have headed to drums after Spoonful, but Jerry pulls out an unbelievable version of Comes A Time that at the end leaves the band chasing each others cosmic tail. Bob feels a bit left out and they do Lost Sailor as the 6th song of the set which is a perfect mindfuck ending on a repeat of the last note smoothly into drums, which is solid and keeps the momentum going into a wonderfully trippy and beautiful space section. People who love 80s Dead know that Jerry and Bob did some really great improv jams in the mid-80s...but damn the slow build into the Saint that everyone knows is coming is so brilliant. Being the only time this commonly played pairing is split with the improv break is awesome enough but it doesn't leave you ready for the triple cover song knockout to come. Gimme Some Lovin was still pretty new at this point and this one is starts inside out and a bit off but is absolutely COOKING by the beginning of the first chorus and just lays waste, with Phil's LOVIN shout at the end. This drifts into the cover song of 1985, She Belongs To Me. Jerry plays a couple wrong notes here and there but it he sings the absolute shit out of it. This trickles into an utterly electrifying version of Gloria that burns the venue down. Weir's WAIT A MINUTEs holding the song back are amazing, snapping back on the finale for a crazy version of a song they obviously rarely practice. Totally Sui generis set capped with a perfectly perfunctory Day Job, one of the last versions the band would play. Good riddance and great show!

Charlie Miller was asked, "Do you have a favorite remaster where you have said: 'Damn! That show sounded horrible when it arrived, but now, hear how it shines!'?". He responded, "Dick’s Picks of 11/1/85". But I don't know if he meant he has tried cleaning up the SBD and stopped when DP21 was released, or was just comparing available SBDs to the official release. As for '85, it's not a top 10 show but maybe a top 20. It has a hot stretch but also a cold one. It did have an audience that was amped, erupting back and forth with the band (check the Berger AUD for proof), and if there's ever been a show crying for a matrix it's this one - though the weird mix of the First Set is evident in the AUDs as well. On the down side, this was a harbinger of things to come, with the Fed's Operation Dead End and the coming nationwide busts, courtesy of knee-jerk conservative politics and the social engineering of the age, that proclaimed weed was worse than, say, terrorism (along with an early example of scene-destroying gate crashing). Let's all breathe deep and keep kicking that era (and those sanctimonious freedom-rapers we've pushed past) into the dustbin of history. It's tough to describe today what it was like then, in Reagan's New America (when the PTB insisted the 50s were where it's at) - yet that also fomented the underground hipness of the scene, enhancing the discovery aspect and the feeling that you "were home"; which in turn made the band's popularity explode starting right here, in '85, for better and worse.

The second night is probably better, overall, with a better song list and flow (if not as rare - and the night before opened with a Space Jam into Werewolves of London). On 2/18 Samson>He's Gone>Spoonful went into Eyes and GDtRFB before Drums; but otherwise it wasn't expected that there would be a Comes a Time AND a Lost Sailor. I remember when this show hit the trading circuit and I put it off at first, thinking "where the fuck is Richmond? The good shows are always the Greeks, Red Rocks, etc.". I didn't know southern geography but sho nuff it was one of 85's notables; though my copy was low-gen with NR and pitch issues so I didn't get back to it until Dick's Picks.

Daddy may drive a V-8 'Vette
Mama may bathe in champagne yet
God bless the child that's got his own stash
9>5 & a place to crash

First Set. A little slow to catch fire but Jer has something a little different for Stagger Lee, the mix starts to settle out, and then comes the hot sequence that makes the show stand out. As hot as Jer gets, be sure to check what Brent adds to Big River. Brown-Eyed Woman is bottled lightning whipcrack taser sting. '85 often has good tempos - keeping Jer on his toes. When he teases Jack Straw at this point, it's the Dead so it could be too too crazy or a trainwreck. The excitement is palpable - even up against 72s. The same is true for Dough Knees, which Brent pwns, but it pulls up short like the rug's been tugged (check Phil as well).

Second Set. Starts above average, peaking with a clean He's Gone and then falling off into average '85 fare. After some phrasing from Brent, Bobby pulls into Lost Sailor. Note the split of Drums>Space before going into Saint. Bobby steers into it for several minutes before they give it to him and then it's pretty clunky until the end. Gimme Some Lovin' typifies the anti-climactic trannys in the 2nd set and Bobby bullies Brent off the beat - ouch! She Belongs To Me is likewise rough. Gloria is the 2nd of two in '85 (after one in '81 and one in '84) and the last until '92. How do you trainwreck a three-chord song with one long vamp? They bail. The US Blues-based arrangement of Day Job was close to being dropped (4 more in '86). Too bad - it's nice encore slottage, though Jer doesn't get the lyrics straight (try 10/14/83).

1st Set:  B
2nd Set: C-
Overall = 3 stars

Highlights:
Me & My Uncle - a sparking sequence starts to fly
Big River - the Jer apparoach I dig, Brent goes x-factor
Brown-Eyed Woman - uptempo excitement
Jack Straw - energy rolled on
Don't Ease Me In - caps it
He's Gone - delightful

SOURCES: There is no current clean SBD on the archive. The mccloskey.379SBD wasn't compressed correctly and the entire show has ringing artifacts and diginoise. But the oade-remaster.20416 is a fantastic AUD and the Tobin matrix amazing - the First Set is better than the official release (the entire show is on Dick's Picks #21).