... This is the recording of the night! Thanks Charlie for ditching that worthless institution called "The Taper's Section" to go straight to what we all knew and loved before Healy got conked on the noggin - the FOB!!!

This is a bright and crisp recording above everyone's heads (I assume stealth cane). And I'm guessing it was kept just low enough to not obstruct Healy's sight line. It's the kind of stellar stuff I really miss from the late '70s and early '80s, being as close and crisp as it is. This is a full range, fat-sounding production. It's amazing what twenty or thirty rows will do for a recording of these guys.

But to be perfectly honest, as much as I love this recording, it's a little TOO dynamic for my liking (yeah, too much is just enough!). To soften the very bright, tinny nature of this wonderful beast, I added a heavy dose of bass in Soundforge to soften the high end - which is rare. That change makes for very pleasurable listening. The other edit was Let It Grow. It sounded unnaturally fast, so I stretched it out 45 seconds to give the song a little breathing room. Seems much better now. This is a five star recording folks. Mr. Connor knew what he was doing, finding his way into or near the "sweet spot."

I consider this a great show for '86, though great for me is above average pre '83. Fun second set with a jumpy Bertha > Women to start off. Excellent Smokestack Lightning with a nice transition into He's Gone. I am also impressed for getting a good show after 1982 where Jerry's vocals sound half way decent. And the recording pushes this 3 1/2 stars up to 4 1/2 stars since I kept most of the second set and about half of the first.

Hey Charlie, I'd love to read the story of how you weaseled your way into position (unless you had FOB tickets) and recorded this evening.

I favor AUD recordings, and to my ears, this is the nicest pull of 6-30-86 I've heard. The Friend of the Devil and Cassidy really stand out here... and I've always loved a Mighty Quinn encore. Three stars~