During my listen, I felt the Dead were really something different around the fall of 1977. And, by the time '78 rolled around, they were in fine form. Shame about Jerry getting laryngitis -- I am sure there would be case made that diminished some fine shows during January...although, what we have in February is quite brilliant. Specifically, 01/30/1978 and 02/04/1978 being the more fantastical of what I've heard.

I am beyond grateful for all of the work done by Jerry Moore, Joe Jupille and Noah Weiner mastering and uploading here. It does not go unnoticed! Lastly, I trust you (the reader/listener) will form your own opinions about the music. Finding what you love takes a very long time, and these people (Moore/Jupille/Weiner) stumbled their way into greatness...we could all be so lucky. Enjoy the music...

Happy New Year * Nick 12/29/2022

you must eq this show to understand what it is...the clapping needs to be trimmed down, and the bottom boosted, i have a little board with 4 band eq which really does the tonal trick. plus akg k240's...this always needs to be an option with the sketchy attenuated digital brittle signals predominating the internet. these tapes are all analog source however, and possess the goods if you can eq them

That jones gang reference may have something to do with the fact that they had just played in Canada and maybe had issues taking their stash across the border. Keith Richards had been busted recently up there so it may have been sketchy for rock and roll folks to be carrying. Just speculation. Good show here.

Is the Jones reference regarding that they were all jonesing?

Dave's Picks will have a hard time competing with this recording! Love This Recording of Eyes!!!
There are very few shows like this on the 'chive, it's in the Eyes, Man, you hear it in the Eyes. You could always tell a band by their Eyes...

This was probably the best show I ever saw. Yes, it was a "Gym" but with the bleachers pulled out from the rear, it gave a big open seatless dance floor with heights to retreat to when you wanted. Damn, the music was good! The energy between the band and the crowd was alive and the tempo all night was "up". Also, this was (according to DeadBase) the first time ever they played "Eyes" into "Estimated Prophet" instead of the other way around makes it even more special. Listen to that transition and it nothing like you've heard before!

I too, wish it was a Dicks Picks over the following night, but, maybe soon?

Think about it. But, only after downloading this show!


That was 2005, But, today is 35 years to the day, of the annivesary of this show. And it still reigns!!!!

Mr. Twoguitarchords,
You have hit the nail on the head, this was a very special evening and unexpected as tickets went on sale just a few days before the show, an open night between Rochester and Binghamton. The audience was not a Dead crowd, mostly coke snorting prep types, hanging out at the back of the gym (which, BTW, was the smallest venue I ever saw the Dead play--couldn't have been more than 1500 in attendance). But the real Heads were up at the stage (a very low stage at that, with no barrier between the stage and the crowd), and really connecting with the Band, and boy did they deliver! My 3rd show at the time on my way to 100+, but still in the top 10, maybe even 5. We were actually responsible for the Phil Jones Band introduction--we were standing right in front of him and cajoling him to speak all night (a real rarity at the time, we figured he never would!) and finally he gave us a glance and grabbed the mike and the the rest is thankfully all there on tape! How great is it that we get to relive these moments thanks to the dedicated tapers that documented this incredible scene.

because this copy is too hard to listen to, relative to other copies. Too much audience, too little band. Sorry, we have the archive, we can afford to be spoiled.

I love this show!!!!!!!!!!

I was stage crew too. deadneverdies - who is your dad? I guarded Jerry and Betty's room before the show. Sweet.

We always refer to this show as The Boys at The Gym.

My dad was a frosh @ colgate when the dead played and he was stage crew for them...wish I was there

Keith was really on point in Let it Grow, i gotta hand it to him. The show seemed to lack the crispy synergy of the may shows, but a great song lineup! eyes>est was really good, and of course stella blue, the long soft ballad coming through in the clutch yet again.

let it grow at the end of the 1st set is BLOWOUT QUALITY...

they flipped estimated and eyes, ok, but get this show for the post drums segment, iko played only 5 times this year, tentative at the outset, but really picking up in the final choruses, with donna and bobby getting splendidly into the act. enter stella, very dreamy, finally leading back to the nice playin' reprise.

too bad, it's a nice set list but this is only 3 or 4 star energy.... maybe they were just warming up for the shows to follow....

3.5-4 stars

Download the aud from this concert now! Blows the SBD away! Why? Because Jerry Moore was standing directly behind the soundboard when he taped this awesome show! Is he the SHIT, or what?????

I downloaded the soundboard, but after listening to Bertha and Good Lovin' (sounded a little muddled), I downloaded the aud songs, which blew me away!

Every time the Dead start a show with Bertha > Good Lovin’ > BEW > Cassidy, you know it’s a smokin’ show!

May be the most energetic and best-sounding Sampson and Cold Rain and Snow I've ever heard! This 2nd set just doesn’t let up! It is straight-away rock-n-roll until the end! The Playin’ > Eyes > Estimated > Other One is absolutely ridiculous! This Eyes is one of the fastest, most jammin’ Eyes I’ve ever heard! Garcia’s guitar is on fire during this song! No doubt the Dead excelled and thrived off the incredible intensity from the crowd in that small gymnasium. You will be jammin’ whether at home or in your car listening to this incredible show!

Every time I find a great show from 1977, then along comes another one (like 11/4) that just blows me away! Most of my downloads are soundboards, but this aud is off-the-hook people! Wish I could have been at these shows in 1977, but I was stationed overseas in Okinawa for most of the year, and then transferred to Yuma, AZ in late ’77, when I was in the Marines.

Oh, and the Johnny B. Goode is the most incredible rockin’ version I’ve ever heard this band play!! It’s the fucking SHIT!!

Danny from Northern Virginia outside of Washington, D.C.
East-Coast Deadhead
rfkrox44@hotmail.com

PEACE-OUT!

Take any damm song...From the begining to the end....Ladies and Gentlemen get ready for a treat.......Just listen to Bertha.....jerry's guitar will weep halfway...download it without a hassel

we were hitching a ride on the NYState Thruway to Rochester the next night, and the radio announced an extra show tagged on at Colgate so we got out and hitched to Colgate. Very very few people knew about this show, deadheads were out-numbered like 10 to 1. Tickets were being given away on the street.

We were able to walk right up to the 3 foot high stage on Jerry's side for Bertha. Durin that song, Garcia slipped on his guitar cord, right there in front of us, and almost fell down to the ground, but he reeled backwards and caught himself, and on his way back up he looked down at us with this Waoooooooooow! crazy melted face, and we realized that we weren't the only ones who were blottered, Jerry was very high, so i looked him in the eye and smiled and his eye-balls were rolling around in his head. From that point on, we got a lot of eye contact from Garcia and compainionship for the journey.

Shortly after i noticed that everyone in the band and the crew had sunglasses on, in November, inside at night, hmmm, they were all blottered, and thats a good part of the electricity you hear at this show, and the likely the reason Phil did the Jones gang rap.

The beautiful side of Garcia came out that night, during one song he picked me out and played the entire solo directly to me, eye to eye, and i had my nervous system rewired by that experience, and then a song or two later i see Garcia looking directly at a something during the solo, and i look over and see that he's giving someone else his solo, and that person is beaming back the love, very very high stuff, back when there was all that eye contact, and you could hear all the stage banter...

"...at one point we were all part of the Grateful Dead, and now the Grateful Dead is a part of us..."

5 stars

I was given a bootleg within 2 weeks of this show back in my first year of college at Penn State. I had never really been much of an afficianado of the Dead prior to that, though they were certainly in the mix of my acid-soaked high school years.

This show changed all of that. It soars musically. You can feel the connection of the band with the crowd in the small venue (the something-doesn't-work Jones Gang bit has carved it's own niche in history... "Julius P Jones" indeed! "mama, she was a good old girl" rofl)

Unfortunately, someone in Philo, CA ripped this cassette from me as I slept off a hangover back in 1982. (You know who you are... ha!)

crystal clear sound and beautiful versions of bertha, dupree's, playin, eyes, and estimated.

One of the few Dupree's that I really like. A great show/recording.

Jim

This is a great show,but better yet, its a great quality recording for an audience recorded show. I just noticed this is taped from directly behind the soundboard, which means they are hearing what the soundguys are.Very tight and snappy playing throughout. It's on!! Some nice pickin' by Jerry on Brown Eyed Woman, a very upbeat Eyes, a smooth soulful Estimated Prophet(nice vocals by Bobby), and really just a consistantly well played show with a lot of energy.

Like someone else mentioned, there is an enjoyable interaction between Bobby and the audience, and the Phil jumps in with some introductions that will be sure to give you a chuckle. Phil is the man! Great show, put a smile on my face!!

WE MISS THE GRATEFUL DEAD!!!! Thank you archive.org!

This is an excellent recording for an audience tape. There's just enough crowd to give the feel of being there.

Sunrise is one of the most underrated songs in my opinion. I love this song with tears streaming down my face. This version is very good, with a great solo by Jerry, and Donna sings it beautifully as usual. Donna had a wonderful voice when she was on key and not howling. I think she improved significantly after the hiatus.

Let It Grow is a fine version with Jerry trilling similarly to the 3/5/81 Music Never Stopped. (If you haven't heard that one yet, listen to the audience version.) The real meat of the show, though, is Playin' > Eyes > Estimated > Other One. Great transitions. Eyes is quite hot as is The Other One. Playin' and Estimated are rather noodly and not exceptional. Stella is embarassingly screwed up but has a nice solo at the end from Jerry.

An overall solid show.

No doubt, the Eyes is very snappy, tight and free wheelin' here and this aud tape energy puts you right on the floor. The thing I always liked about Eyes was that you got tons of soloing AND rhythem from Jerry (8:00 min mark here) in addition to some of Weirs best rhythem parts. The whole band hits 5th gear around the 9:30 min mark and just as Jerry has the aud in the palm of his hand a minute later, and takes a new lead on top of Weirs playing, he fades it almost as fast in favor of the final verse. Can't really complain- tons of great Jerry soloing throughout and the band did come together nicely- but I don't understand the wind down when the aud was full-on clapping as one. Guess it had to end sometime!

I thought the half version of The Other One was the song of the night here. Jerry starts soloing at :50 and ends around the 3 min mark. Some really incredible lines packed into this super short, one verse (the first) version. Not all Other Ones have to be 20 min from '71 or whatever. If you want to hear another killer, short version that has only the SECOND verse check out 4/6/82 Philly. It's just 2:53 min.

I was incredibly lucky to attend this show on a snowy night in Nov. My friend and I were standing (during the whole show!) around 20 feet from the stage. It was a very small venue, perhaps 2500 screaming Deadheads in all. The Dead were never better. Once they started Bertha, I think everyone knew this was going to be a special night. When they played Sunrise, we were all blown away.

In a way, it's surprising they waited so long to release a show from this tour as a Dick's Pick, from the following night. Now I'm bummed because I never downloaded the AUD from that show. But this show is no slouch. The excitement and energy is really unbelievable, you just have to hear it. From what I understand, this was a small basketball auditorium and the crowd sounds relatively small but very enthusiastic. Right out of the gates Bertha just smokes and you can tell the band is on. They really went through a renaissance in 77, pretty much the whole year they were kind of rediscovering their virtuoso garage-band status and the playing from this period really burns. Makes me think I'd trade my handful of late-80's/early-90's shows attended for one of these fall 1977 shows. Really no weak points here. The transition jam between Playin'>Eyes is gorgeous, and the Eyes is blistering. The Iko is something of a novelty, it sounds like it's going to be NFA and I'm sure the crowd was surprised. Stella is beautiful, with Jerry crooning at the end in the manner that he did much later in 94-95 but obviously almost 20 years younger, and his soloing is first-rate. Lots of funny interaction with the crowd, listen to Phil introduce the band as the "Jones Gang!" Then Bobby wishes them all a happy homecoming before the encore, as I'm sure it was indeed. Don't think, just download this amazing recording of a barn-burning show from what was one of the band's best periods, before they release it and take it down.