We all had a great time. My memory of the show is a little tainted by the frog acid. Don't remember the heat. Don't remember the pigs. There were a few douchebags. I clearly remember Touch of Grey. We had a marvelous time.

This was my first show (my first concert in fact). It was also the the first time I dosed. My 16 year old mind was blown! Our car broke down a few miles from the stadium. Didn't really matter as we were not moving anyway. We pushed it off the side of the road and left it there. Once inside the show I was dumbfounded by the swirling colored skirts and pulsating tie dyes. The music seemed to wash over me in waves and it took my breath away. I lost my shoes. lost my friends. Found another friend. She got me home.

Back in the lot she handed me the Deadheads Handbook. I read through it on our way out of the lot while fireworks whizzed and banged around us. I remember thinking I had been let in on some amazing sort of secret that had been hiding in plain site under the guise of a regular old rock band.

I'm sure it was hot and yucky, but wow, what a listen I just had to this. Totally blown away. I only saw the Anaheim show on this tour, and for years afterwards I was kind of meh about the pairing. Time has a funny way of changing your opinion about things, and your state of mind. I haven't enjoyed listening to a show this much in a very long time. PLAY FUCKING LOUD! :)

I sang a little while and then moved on.

This show had a notorious reputation. It was triple-digit-hot inside the stadium (sending people to the First Aid tents), there were people unfamiliar with the scene who gate-crashed and spilled bad vibes on the unsuspecting Heads (who felt like a curtain was falling - the effect was quite serious), there were physically aggressive, war-mentality cops that thought they were society's arbiters, and busts. This made it oversold, uncomfortably crowded and the scenario was about to repeat itself (the TouchHead phenomena actually post-dates this show. In the Dark was not yet released. Touch entered the singles chart 15Aug and MTV rotation started after that). The band played a shorter time slot (though with the heat that was probably better for energy and tuned guitars) - one longer set, designed for what management assumed would be mostly Dylan fans. Nonetheless, it's an above-average performance overall.

At this point on the Dylan dates the Dead were playing one opening set (in the last half of the 6 dates they played two), but since it's nearly a 2hr set, condensing both sets to one, it's not much different than playing two one-hour sets. Either way, ticketholders would expect them to save some for backing Dylan. This was the opener of the Dylan/Dead tour and I can remember the excitement. Zimmerman wasn't really ready for prime time in '87 (or is he ever?). Seeing him at the time was about literally seeing him, not being impressed by his quality. I like Dylan - but I can also admit that he was often horrible live. As for the Dead, some songs fill the massive stadium and some do not.

The word at Red Rocks was that this was a dark show, with band trainwrecks. Not so, today - the opposite of you had to be there! Because they had woodshedded with Dylan, they were on top of it for a couple months and there are many great shows from July/Aug. The hassles of this day are long gone and the music remains. There would be five more gigs with Dylan (interspersed were gigs without). Given the quality of 7/26, they were just starting to gel!

Opener Touch of Grey is the only average song. It tightens up for Hellina - one of Jer's favorites in '87. You could tell he loved a Bobby song that he could dive into by the measures he took. West L.A. Fadeaway is a roaring, stadium version and Brent grabs that torch for Tons. You get Bobby Slide Practice™ for Little Red Rooster, but also Jer's brilliance. Box is sleepy but solid and Althea is surpsingly good, given the way I avoided this show's rep. Because Uncle John's sounds different than a year previously, and uptempo, you can point to the woodshed - albeit Mickey dated things for a couple tours with his new tech pad. After a solid Playin' Brent plays a UJB Reprise theme but the band doesn't bite. Drums>Space isn't the stadium-filler you'd expect and it takes awhile for Jer to get into Truckin' (Livin' on crack, vitamin C and cocaine... except crack IS cocaine. That's like livin' on weed and buds). Healy fucks with Bobby on The Other One, but then the Dead are supposed to be psychedlic, and it's pretty good considering this was the kumna rounyall era. Throwing Stones isn't the best '87 but it's strong enough (on In the Dark, the first iteration of the intro riff is cut). I can remember in '87 when a powerful version like this could bring tears as the whole venue shook. Yet today it's not a fave because it varied little, and though the message is more relevant that ever, with the Trump dismantling of the EPA etc., it seems a little on-the-nose from Barlow. Ah well, so it goes.

Overall = B- [Dead portion only]
3¾ stars

Highlights:
Hell in a Bucket - Jer-enthused
West L.A. Fadeaway - stadium version

SOURCES: The miller_101650 is best, but it's clearly not a soundboard. It's probably an FOB AUD, as Dylan didn't allow a tapers section or recording devices at the board. The chasing_wilma and Senn_lai FOB AUDs are good. Throwing Stones is a bonus track on In the Dark.

This Charlie Miller SBD is the best sounding version I've heard yet. I only listened to the Dylan set and the overall sound is adequate. I don't know if this is actually a Soundboard, but the bass is pretty fat and everything else is relatively clear. Dylan's vocals are somewhat unintelligible at times but I just think that it was the way he was performing at the time. He sounded rather lackadaisical.

The 3 star rating is for the recording only.

well, this is good, yet, I think thi sis the show where my friend shot up in the back seat of my car and then passed out for a while. BUT, the good news is he's not doing that anymore,and err that was in1987 I think?. I hav seen and witnessed a lot of drug use, but never play with Heroin or Alcohol, says Dr. Me. I can't rate shows that I used to have horrible tapes of, I be like wheres the screaming guy, so I gave it 11 stars, cause, drugs are bad. A far as I know its 3-4 stars but I have to ask my wife, she knows everything.

I wasn't at this show, didn't have to deal with the crowds or heat, but damn, musically this show is smoking!! I like how they played a lot off In The Dark but also the standards. In the first set, the Dead sound so focused, tearing it up at full speed. Second set with Dylan? Wow I still would have dealt with the heat and crowds to see this one!

I wasn't at this show so I can't rate the overall experience the 1 or 2 stars it seems to get. Sorry it was hot, muggy with bad cops and poor stadium sound, none of that affects this clean soundboard. I have listened to it several times and the band is playing great. I can't fault them for playing the new songs, and the Dylan set is played with great care. The sound quality is nice, thanks to Charlie Miller.

Yeah, it was disgustingly hot and muggy, as New England gets in July, and grossly crowded and backed up and riddle w/ cops, but there are a few gems in the Dylan set nonetheless, namely Watchtower, I'll B your baby, Joey and Ballad, IMHO. The Boys weren't really designed for stadium shows anywho....Jerry and Brent both rip on Watchtower though!!

I was at this show and I concur with some of the comments. For instance it was by far the worst traffic situation I have ever experienced, I’m too young to have been at Woodstock, but I have been to many concerts. Also worst 90 + degree wait in line to get in imaginable, the upside, they didn’t rip my friends ticket on entry, so he handed it through the fence to a miracle praying dead fan, made this guy’s day. Don’t blame this one guy for leaving early to avoid the traffic out, we were more fortunate to have a trunk full of fireworks to enjoy for hours after the show allowing the crowed to dissipate. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat just to see that performance of “All Along the Watchtower” Jerry’s solo provides a lifelong memory, not to mention a very rare Jerry on a lap steel guitar.

This was the only show out of 200+ that I left early from. It took hours to get into the parking lot so I waited outside and listened to the last 2-3 tunes from my car so it wouldn't take another 3 hours to leave the parking lot.

Plus Dylan was his usual self. I know all of his songs and words by heart and good barely tell what verse he was singing at any one time!

90 degree temps, humidity, gate crashing, drunk idiots, terrible cops, sell out song list, and ONE SET ONLY. Considered one of the worst Dead shows of all time. Glad you two below had fun but consensus considers it a total dud. Any other show in the year is better. The Pittsburg show a few days later is fantastic for example.

Two days before I was in Rochester for a great show (ate two tix-gave 'em way, figured Karma was gonna be great on the rebound) and as my college buddy and I drove back on the Mass Pike , we passed all KINDS of Deadhead vehicles on the way east to this show. Outside the stadium, a guy yells, "tix-$100" and i thought,"where were you 2 days ago!"
The venue (home of the Patriots!) was HOT! I remember at one point being squished between two (lets be honest)overweight gentlemen-really. It was CROWDED...I was about 30 yards away from the stage and the sound was great..and although the press afterwards talked about the
"risk" of playing the first batch of songs all off the "new" album, we in the crowd were diggin it-check the tempos of these songs (especially "Bucket"), the honest to goodness good vibes coming off the audience("Tons of Steel"! RIP Brent)...Jerry was really on it (LISTEN!) and I remember when ever he made ANY movement people were cheering, that's how glad everyone was glad to have him amongst the living.
As to this recording: it's an audience, sure, but juice it up to yer liking in the VBR eq section and WOW effects, and it sounds great...
I always wondered what the recording sounded like from the guy in front of me that had two small mics taped to his giant uncle sam hat, as he bopped around like crazy...I'll discuss the Dylan set on another post..the highlights? Jer on pedal steel, and the Knockin at the end with EVERYBODY waiving their hands in the air...Hard to believe this was over 20 years ago!!!

Great memories... Got in. Don't know how. But thanks to the clowns, it was a circus. Dylan was awesome as well.