Got tickets from my girlfriend for my birthday. Had a college buddy along. We had a couple vials of H oil and just a tiny amount of cannabis. Scored some ooh-aah outside a couple hours before the show. I brought a homemade dead flag made from a full sized bed sheet. Stripes and a dead lightning skull where the stars should have been.

Was quite enlightened by the time we got in the stadium. We climbed to the top and smoked a bit of oil. Then I tried to run the flag up one of the flap poles around the top of the stadium. Got chased and hounded by security. Totally spaced out the vial and pipe, never to be seen again.

Zevon was amazing. His line about "saw Bob Wier and Jerry Garcia walking with the queen, and their licks were perfect" sent the crowd crazy!

The Dead came out and the loudness of Phil's thundering bass made me momentarily fear that the Mountains might fall down on us!

Friends I didn't know from the crowd kept us properly inhaled and the concert was just as good as it could be. I had a few people sign my flag, which was cool

I danced with a twirler and was sure I was in love. She signed my flag as Sugar Magnolia. Somehow we drifted apart during the music. I wonder from time to time what happened to her in her life.

One of the best shows I got to see, out of thirteen total

Sadly was not able to swing tickets for the second day.

Great, grate memory. Love listening to these recordings. Stirs up some old ghosts.

Instead of a single show in the stadium, they played two shows for the end bleachers. Seems small, but they had played two at Big Mac just 9 months earlier. Both early-afternoon shows were played uptempo and I'm sure there were echoes of the previous show here: locally legendary '72. They were billed by Fey, though not by the band, as "15th anniversary" shows - a bit prematurely since they became the Grateful Dead in mid-December 1965 (though they did play Big Mac in Denver on their Silver Anniversary). Not outdone, Bill Graham organized his own 15th tribute with the three-set shows that Fall. This show was commonly traded during the B & P era, though it seems most copies were high-gen and ill-pitched. Now the show can represent. The next day may look better on paper (and it's a great one too) but this date, with it's 3-song encore, has been considered one of the best of the band's 49 Colorado appearances (well, of the 45 that circulate); up there with 8/12/87, 7/8/78, 9/3/72 and a couple others. The first set is brisk and tight and the second set is noted for the unique Saint Jam. I knew a couple cats that swore this was the best show they saw. It seems to be lesser known today, probably due to being AUD-only. Use the newer sources, EQ, et voilà. If you took this 1st set and the following show's 2nd set, you'd have one of the early '80s top shows! Five songs are repeated the next afternoon.

First Set. They're not perfectly tight yet for Jack Straw - that's coming - but it's still an exciting start with a flurry out t'gate and Phil bombs. Friend of the Devil - now they're on. I haven't heard Jer play this exact arrangement elsewhere. By El Paso it's a helluva sequence goin' down, and by Mama Tried Billy has gone hypertempo. Jer goes with it and throws sparks. Ramble On Rose breaks the momentum but it snaps back with Passenger. Bobby goofs the "Could you measure" line and sings "Do you remember - erm - measure!". But that energy doesn't hold into Far From Me, the set low point (though that's relative), but here Jer switches effects to a different tone, and with Brent's help (who is having a great show) Jer snarls through Minglewood. Also uptempo, it's workable even with Bobby's Slide Practice™ (Boulder girls/T for Colarada). Loser has an insanely good solo and the Jer/Brent axis expands Feel Like a Stranger and takes it someplace. The cap is a coked-up Deal which, as good as it is, is even better the next day. 1st set is nearly two hours. Great ride.

Second Set. Set opener Bertha is average, but with a fun, rubbery solo. Things get going again toward the last minute of a wah'd Greatest Story. The staccato'd Althea is better the next day, though the false ending is kewl. The new songs then get shuffled in as usual. Not usual, though, is this Saint of Circumstance. Rendered uptempo, solid enough, but then Jer, in a classic Dead moment, spontaneously pulls everyone into a unique, way cool coda. Space is short and after a Miracle tease it's Not Fade instead. With the uptempo versions at these shows, a languid NFA sticks out. The next are average '80 (less so for Good Lovin'), but Alabama has a great end jam and a wonderful tranny into a bonus, hot hot Saturday Night. Brent ensures x factor. Apparently excited, even after the double encore, they come back for a second encore. This show is a grower.

1st Set:  A
2nd Set: B-
Overall = 4½ (HG)

Highlights:
Jack Straw - exciting out the gate plus Phil Bombs
Friend of the Devil - some unique sequencing from Jer
El Paso - helluva batch at this point
Mama Tried - brisk
Passenger - check Jer's second pass
Loser - insane solo
Feel Like a Stranger - some great stretches
Deal - Jer just magical
Saint of Circumstance>[Drums] - uptempo and then classic Dead jam. Must hear.
[Alabama]>One More Saturday Night - stadium-saucer lifts & Brent

SOURCES: The nak700_severson_miller_clugston source has brought much-needed clarity to what has been a hidden gem. It is pitched and patched, but has more AUD noise than the miller_88451. However the latter has neither the clearer highs nor the image of the Severson, and runs a bit slow, needing +1% pitch correction. A matrix of these two AUDs might be interesting. The mason AUD is okay; the munder and the sirmick likewise, but running too fast. A SBD would be nice, but then it wouldn't be a hidden gem.

Drove with my friend Bill Mullins from Boston to Colorado to see these shows. We saw the first show on the 7th and some of the second show on the 8th and then headed to Red Rocks to see Tom Petty. On the way home we stopped in Chicago and saw 2 Roy Buchanan shows and hung out in the dressing room partying with him and the band between shows. What a crazy 2 weeks!

I was going to CU at the time and so we went to the show. I remember how HOT it was that day. Actually my memories of that day are a more than a bit hazy.

A great show in it's own right! The audio quality for a audience tape is not bad at all. Quite listenable and a good mix.

That was a good day to be young and alive and watching the Dead outdoors in with thousands of dancing people. IF only I had a time machine! Well, next best thing. . .

A fantastic show. Unusually tight playing; the Dead rarely had it so together.

Gets 5 stars despite the just-OK sound of this AUD and the surfeit of first set songs.

I'm sorry, but 1980 was better than 1977. Unless you really enjoy hearing Donna's horrific squealing. And I don't think you do.

...we were on the field, smokin', dancin', totally enjoying the music! two days of dead... it just didn't get any better! Greg F. introduced me to Jerry... I still wonder about Greg, where he is, what he's done. The only downer for those two days was Zevon did the exact same routine both Saturday and Sunday...

that looks like a VERY UNINSPIRING set list..... whoa! VERY!!!

have not heard this gig.

A rollicking speedy show with Jerry pretty much pummelling everyone except good ol' Brent into submission with his energetic playing.

The version of Stranger is particularly nice. Deal promises to be the best version ever but sadly renegs on the second solo (I'd be booing, frankly).

Holy crap is this a great show! Hard to believe no one's reviewed it yet. Jerry is absolutely on fire from start to finish.

The recording also superb. Top-notch AUD, better than a SBD, IMO.

The only question is 4 stars or 5? If 5 is reserved for only the essential shows, then this is about 4 1/2. The recording is easily a 5. I guess that averages to 4 3/4, which rounds to 5. 5 it is.