Reviewer:
aaaddddffff333444
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favoritefavoritefavorite -
June 27, 2022
Subject:
HOT HUMID SHOW
It was a hot and humid day. I was solo for this show. I was in a purple tie die t-shirt that day and that was what the first aid workers were wearing. So people kept asking me for water which I had in a gallon jug and happily shared. I always enjoyed the JFK shows because it seemed I could get in at the last minute, as I did this day. Anyway I enjoyed the show and the atmosphere a lot that day. Being solo I was able to work my way up toward the front and was near the stage most of the show, meeting some nice people and sharing water and other things. It cooled down as the sun went down. I remember during Tangled up in Blue a lot of people singing every word along , and also Touch of Grey. The other weird thing that I had never seen before is people shooting off roman candles after the show. I guess a fitting end to a good day.
Reviewer:
natwashboard
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June 1, 2021
Subject:
weird uneven show/great aud
After two minor jewels in Roanoke (the hardest ticket of the tour, only sold via local agencies…I know b/c I tried my damndest), the Dead are back on I-95 and the big, wide, unruly JFK. At least that’s how I remember it in ’89 and it sounds like that here in ’87. (A quick search of weather history reveals a hot and humid day.) Anyway, this is a great audience recording and it improves as the show progresses. Aiko and Jack Straw are rock solid auspicious even and the sound is really dialed in by the beginning of Jack Straw. (Jerry’s guitar is a little on the low side in Aiko.). Sugaree was one of those songs where I would really be pinching myself and saying “am I really seeing the singer of this song in person??” And this version has that inscrutable quality. It’s classic. Scrubbing guitar is left to the last jam but it delivers. This isn’t Lewiston, but it’s a near perfect reading of Sugar. Minglewood through Brother Esau seems to suffer from some of the distractedness that appeared in Foxboro. The take a step backs are fun but sound dire. Good Push Comes to Shove. The second set part is a little rushed though solid enough. Space is great though and the whole post-drums is rockin’ like a good 87 should with a double Bobby rave up to conclude the GD portion.
I wondered what Bob Dylan was doing while the Dead were playing the Appalachian region and it turns out, he did not play any in-between shows. Perhaps he rehearsed the band he would tour Europe with in the fall. Who knows. (Mr. Dylan, feel free to chime in at any time.). Anyway, as I write this I am listening to one of those shows from October and it is above and beyond this one in almost every way. I don’t know why the so-called NET wasn’t dated from the fall of 87 and not 89.
The Dylan set opens with Tangled Up in Blue and an absence of the tightness of Foxboro is palpable. Ballad of Frankie Lee is a little tentative and quiet but that dynamic shift reveals the fact that there are so few of them. Dylan is singing loudly at this show, nearly shouting every word and the Dead are responding by playing loudly and with less finesse than they are capable of. John Brown is Monochromatic and Jerry struggles to find spots for fills. Simple Twist is nice though, a mellow, dreamy performance but then it’s back to shouting. By Queen Jane, the wheels are off the bus more so than any Dead concert really as someone shouts for the song to stop when Dylan sings through a chord change he had forgotten or wanted to excise from the arrangement. Either way, it’s a mess even the Dead can’t recover from and Jerry immediately steers into an incredible Gotta Serve Somebody which Dylan still manages to derail at the end. Joey is great and both Dylan and Jerry are singing their hearts out. If this isn’t the one they chose for the record, they should have despite it’s blemishes. Watchtower is solid and the Dead push their own arrangement and just kind of put their heads down and play it through. The Dead deserve the Touch encore they get. A weird, uneven show but a very long, sprawling one and on any given day, any given Grateful Dead show is worth listening to.