This recording is not great at the start. Can't hear vocal, and a lot of Brent's keys. Hoping the mix gets better.

I'd like to share a fun story regarding this show.

The night of the show, I was temping in Manhattan in a midtown office building. My friend Rob and I decided to drive out to Lehigh WITHOUT TIX. Those were the days you could get a miracle in the parking lot. Anyway, Rob was late, as usual, but we got on the road and got to the university a bit before the show, but there was a long line of cars going in and we still didn't have tickets.

I decided to start looking, so I rolled down the window and started yelling "anyong got a ticket?" I swear, after the first two cars, someone shouted "How many you need?" I told him 2. He said he'd take 10 bucks, what he paid for 'em. Ran out of the car (we were creeping along at 5 MPH), over the the guy's car, gave him the money, got the tickets. Thanked him profusely, got back in the car.

When we got to the lot, I was giving Rob his ticket and realized the guy had given me 3 tickets! Obviously, I couldn't find the guy to give it back (hope it was an extra and not his). Anyway, we sold the ticket for 20 bucks to a very happy fan at the door. So the concert was free, and it turned out to be pretty darn good. Listening now for the first time since that night.

I saw a lot of upstate and western NY shows, as well as NYC and all around the northeast, including Barton Hall 77, and this is a good example of this period. It's early Brent, which was a change, but the Keith and Donna show had run its course, and Brent added a whole new dimension with the organ and singing in key. Solid 4 stars.

1st show of many. Sitting high atop the bleachers was the best experience. Only about 7,000 people. Danced all night.

This is the best of all the other recordings.

This was my first dead show. All I wanted to know after the show was over,"where was the next show" What an experience that I will never forget and has change my life for the best.

Definitely worth a listen..I'm giving this one a 3.5..Peggy-O and Music Never Stopped were very nice in the 1st set..and the Scarlet>Fire stands out in the 2nd set>>interesting placement of Never trust a woman followed by Lost Sailor>Saint..a solid well played show..so please GIVE IT A WHIRL!!!! Forever Grateful>Forever Dead!!!!!

I was following the Dead since 1976. I was going to college in the Lehigh Valley and saw the show at Lafayette (my first with Brent). This show rates among the top 5 (out of 100+ I have seen). I slept out for tix and although not on the floor I was about 5 rows up on Jerry's side of the stage. The energy of this show was just awesome and this recording makes me remember why I always thought is=t was one of the best I was at.

Althea and music are excellent. Garcia flubbing lyrics in the middle of Althea aside. Garcia's end jam in Music is AWESOME. PLEASE check it out.

Hey Now, Just found this show in "this day in history". Wow, Friend of the Devil still can bring a tear to a grown man's eyes. I like the simple pace and Jerry vocals tell the story quiet well! The band plays out the whole song,not just racing though it. Take a listen,these were days of Grate shows.
still dancing, still dreaming.

The first part of the first set is not particularly inspired, though it is clean. Cumberland Blues (which they had just started playing recently), is a highlight, and the rest of the first set is of higher quality performance-wise, and the set list is good. The Saint here sounds tired. A nice stretch of Sugar>Wheel>Black Peter. Not one of the top 1981 shows, but certainly not bad. (Try May 15, July 4.)

I agree with ALMS below regarding the audio. Some problems to start with, and Phil is nearly absent.

I have the complete SBD (This version is missing a lot of it). I'll upload them soon...cm

Sound issues aside (and it's not all that bad) this show has some outstanding moments of inventive and exploratory jamming.

Check out Brent's punchy fills during a smoking Samson and the spot-on transition from Scarlet to Fire. it's preceded by one of my favorite out of Scarlet jams--one that's not afraid to go all over the place before landing down hard into a really really hot fire. Excuse Jerry the usual mess-up on words in verse one and from there it's a beauty. Enjoy!

Had that long before the second set and always emjoyed that - dont care to much abt the sound issues this was a great show and better than the Lafayette College show from '79 in nearby Easton.

"Lineage sounds suspicious.
I downloaded the lossless files, but when I burned and listened to them I noticed that the sound is good, but you can hear that watery sound effect that one gets when music is coverted to WAV from an MP3 format."
This one has been discussed at db.etree and the conclusion was that this source does NOT have an mp3 generation. Go to http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=2215#comments

To my ear the non-soundboard recording is much higher quality: crisper, better high-end. The soundboard sounds muddy to me. YMMV, but you might want to do a test download and listen of one song before grabbing the whole show. (The other version is here.

BTW, is was the first show of an amazing three-show East Coast Tour. It's worth getting the whole thing.

hey now - This was my first show, I was a freshman
at Lehigh, camped out the night before the tickets
went on sale. Got great seats and being the dork I
was I lugged my camera into the show too. Surprisingly I was able to take some decent shots!

Anyways, I have an original (1981) copy of an
audience tape made by one of the guys at the then
Sig Phi. I've checked it out against the file on
here and they are as identical as can be up to
tape cut at last 20 seconds on my copy.

I downloaded the lossless files, but when I burned and listened to them I noticed that the sound is good, but you can hear that watery sound effect that one gets when music is coverted to WAV from an MP3 format.

This was my 1st Dead show but unfortunately, I was too young (and too drunk) to really know what I was seeing. My only memories of it are the Fire on the Mountain. Despite my naivete, it was enough to get me to go a 2nd show, and that show got me to a third show which led to a 129 show ride that went on for 14 more years. Thanks to Jimmy and Warren, that ride now continues. Check out the Stabler Arena Phil & Friends show from 11/17/01.

Being able to d/l a soundboard of this show 23 years later is like being a kid in a candy store with a $100 bill. Of all the GD shows I've seen, this is the only setlist that went 23 songs, 18 of them before the Drums. I bet I never saw another show with more than 18 songs TOTAL from 82-95. That said, some versions of the songs played are a little shorter.

This soundboard does sound pretty darn good. The levels are a little low during the 1st set, which tends to reveal the cassette master's tape hiss, esp. during the quiet parts. But the chorus of snakes isn't so loud that it makes this recording unlistenable. 2nd set levels run hotter and the tape hiss is less noticeable.

The audience splices where the soundboard master was missing are done quite well. I encourage you to download this recording. There is some work involved after download though. Most of the track markers are off and some are off by a mile. I adjusted every track marker in the 1st set and over half of the songs in the 2nd set. The entire 1st set will fit on an 80 minute disc so there's no need to break it up. I ended disc 2 with the Sugar Mag and started Disc 3 with the Sugar Mag. What's a little overlap amongst friends? Download and enjoy. This one's a keeper.

THANK YOU TO ALL INVOLVED WHO SEEDED AND HOSTED THIS FOR DOWNLOAD. YOU FOLKS ARE AWESOME!!!!!

Yea I Was There. Just great all the way. The BEST Music Never Stopped EVER !!!!