This fall tour features many strong shows and powerhouse playing from Jerry. This night in the Meadowlands features some of that as well as off the track abandonment.

I scored a ticket a day or two before the show and ended up 20th row on the floor. This may have been the loudest GD show I ever attended. The sound was so loud and distorted that I almost retreated to to the seats opposite the stage.

The highlights of this set are all Jerry moments and it begins with an up tempo Help On The Way. The band flawlessly moves through the quick temp changes with ease and pulls of a masterful reading.

The SlipKnot! has mentioned in earlier reviews is dark and unrelenting and as the one they played in Worcester, although I much more prefer that one. This particular version is actually more like three separate pieces of music than one continuous piece as they each stand on their own.

The Franklin's is a powerhouse and the band approaches it at breakneck speed and joy.

Women are Smarter is hot and the band continues pleasing this NY crowd. The ending is hilarious as Healy puts on full sound effects on all three crooners voices to end the tune.

A cosmic debris moment for sure.

Terrapin is poetic but Jerry's straining voice worsens and as we all know would only continue to get worse through the following year. The bridge is excellent and worth repeated listens.

The post space features a short and sweet Other One with a train wreck transition only saved by Bobby's famous whistle into Truckin'.

The Stella Blue is a fine one, as Brent's playing is quite good and the surprise transition into GDTRFB is note worthy and cooks along until the very end in which Jerry makes a tactical decision to end the song on a power note rather than the traditional soft landing.

To me its another laugh out moment but you got to applaud the man for trying.

Brokedown ends Jerry's post space tri-fecta, how many shows did that ever occur at?

Jerry struggles with the verses, which added on top of her worsening vocals, is a heavy cringe moment to end a good show.

Happy trails.

when he mention's The spotlight was on Jerry's pale fat arm for opening of Terrapin.
He was probably proped up by a popsicle stick on his sitting stool to boot.

}}}SpaceyourhelpslipfranK{{{

i agree with the previous reviews. this was my first show and i was pleased then as i am now listening to it. good show, great sound quality.

remembrances:i had been listening to the dead for a few years previously and was psyched to be going. i knew they did iko iko but had never heard their version, only the doctor john version my father had on a 45 that i listened to repeatedly. i was elated when they opened with it. they played all my recorded faves: help-slip-frank, brown eyed women, might as well, goin down the road, etc. the other surprise of the nite was how fat, bloated, and unkempt jerry was. i hadn't seen any recent pics before the show and i could tell he was dirty and greasy even from my nosebleed seat. it was shocking at the time. i remember thinking that i was glad to be seeing him perform before his apparently impending demise. needless to say, this though re-occurred to me several times over the following 11 years. i was forced to leave my school backpack with a stranger in the parking lot rather than miss this show, due to the notoriously bad security at the meadowlands. they wouldn't admit me to the show with my backpack of school boooks. however, it was right where i left it after the show, an uncommon act of kindness for reagan's 80's, but not for the dead scene, as i was pleased to keep rediscovering for a few years to follow (until roughly '87).

I've heard and seen in print a lot of undeserved flak about this show. A review came out in Relix a couple years ago that would give you the idea it was a slopfest, specifically mentioning that GDTRFB "ended in a trainwreck."

Nothing could be further from the truth. I've always thought this was one of the best shows I ever attended, and this crispy board bears me out. Sure there are some clunkers, mostly verbal, but this is an intense, high energy, jam-filled second set. The Slipknot dominated by Jerry and Phil, rips. The Terrapin was my first and best - I'd never heard a peak like that in the middle, and the outro jam was pretty sick as well.

The Other One>Truckin' sequence is highly intense, with every band member making significant contributions. Sure, Bob screwed up the whole first verse of the TOO and the usual spot in Truckin', but who cares? If I could change one thing, I'd just have them skip Truckin and spend that time jamming out of TOO. BTW, the track cut off really should come about 2 minutes earlier, as they are clearly in TOO by this time, rather than at the Phil bomb, which is followed immediately by verse 1.

As for the Goin Down the Road, this was one of the hottest versions I've heard outside of maybe a 71 NFA medley. The ending was a bit messed-up, but it's unfair to call it a train wreck.

If you wanted a note-perfect show in the 80's you could choose from any number of bands - Styx comes to mind. I was grinning from ear to ear the whole day after this show, although part of that was knowing I had the next night and Syracuse to come.

The Help is among my favs because of it's spaceyness, they went out there. I was peaking before the second set and told my buddies I wanted to hear help and Terrapin and they played both. I remember Jerry's pale fat arm was spotlighted as he strummed the opening chords to Terrapin, it was heavy. They lost it after the break. Wonder why(!)