The thing that drove me most nuts about GD 87/88 wasn't really that they weren't jamming so much, but that they weren't jamming on their jam tunes! It was frustrating to see them walk off the stage so soon into the second set. 5 more minutes of PITB and I would have been a happy man. (Compare this PITB to 4/17/83 for instance). Yes, we were all grateful to have them back, and the playing was much more inspired than 1986, and Jerry was playing guitar quite well, peaking in '89 (IMHO), but this was just another example of Grateful Dead Lite. Definitely less filling! Oh well, they shine on the rock tunes. Decent Dew for sure. (Check out 6/27/84). 30 Dews between 87/88, some definitely are gems. Grateful for that!

There are some silly 3 star reviews that I will never understand. This show includes an EPIC Morning Dew and that alone makes it rare and noteworthy. Yes, a show can reach an exalted rank by a single song, when the song is Dew.

But let's go deeper. Killer Bertha>GSET>Pocky to open the show and such a great way to get people on the move. Big RR b's is always awesome and somewhat rare. A wonderful Cassidy that is both focused and deep. All-time great version of LL Rain - thunder and vocal crescendo. Uncle John's Reprise....hello??? Finding another one from the 80's is very hard indeed. Plus it is the last one ever. Then every single song post Space is tops.The Dew is a top 5 version - Jerry sings his heart out in each lyric, not just a few lines. The Lovelight is better than great. Jer and Brent back up vocals - are you kidding me? Like that is standard fare - not! Plus the Bobby breakdown in the middle? (wait a minute, wait a minute).

This is grade A Grateful Dead in any era and an A+ late 80's show. Period. The new Miller 24 but sounds great but sill has the occasional static. Not sure what that is. This is a show and a Morning Dew I have heard dozens and dozens of times since FM copies started to circulate right after the show. It just gets better. I listen to just about every Dew I can get my ears on and this is still a favorite. Just gave 7/15/88 a listen. This one wins again.

Bobby's signoff of "manyana" says it all for me - the next night was my first show, and the hottest of the Meadowlands run.

Yup...my first show as well; Do you remember the cattle chute!?! And went with a guy named Garcia whose first show it was as well! And the clowns!

THE BUS CAME BY AND I GOT ON.... THAT IS DEFINITELY WHERE IT ALL BEGAN FOR ME...
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So many thoughts...

The main on is 'Turned On!'...

I had to hear this show once again in honor of Jerry's death...

Whether this was a good show or not is on the eye of the deadhead, and this deadhead says it was awesome!

I love the Bertha to open, knew I was in for a good time right away (Skull and Roses baby)!

Cassidy was indeed something special for this long time Kerouac fan...

Shakedown to open set 2, what else do you need to be said...

Of course, the Dew was incredible as many have stated as well...

Listen to the boys get all into it during the Lovelite... good stuff!

I remember the Speakers in the Hallway, the freaks in masks, teh smiling faces and the feeling of being very comfortable and around people that seemed to share a special glow... THE GRATEFUL DEAD!

WHAT A FRIGGIN' GREAT BAND TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO EXPERIENCE AND BE A PART OF!!!!

I give the show a 4-star rating because only the true great shows should get a 5 (5/8/77, 3/1/69, Great American, etc.)

Here's to Jerry - has it been 13 years already...

I hear plenty of audience noise.

I have to agree more with the three star reviewer below than the one who gave a "Yes!" to every song. I was there, and my impressions were that this was a good, solid show, but nothing earth-shattering, except for the Dew. After listening, I think it was even less than that. This was a sub-par show, even by 80's standards, until the Dew. The first set was pretty standard, but highlighted by a superb Cassidy that is not done justice to by the recording. They got very quiet and spooky to start the jam and then built up to a rousing peak.

Shakedown suffered from the typical 80's repetitive low-end rambling by Jerry. LLR made my jaw drop at the time, but listening to it today, it's just average. The middle jam of Uncle John's is nice, until it goes on too long and Jerry repeats himself. There's not much of an end jam to this version - they go pretty quickly into PITB. Jerry picks up the intensity on the Playin' jam, but then gets a bit lost, and the band almost stops playing, waiting for him to lead them back into Uncle John's. In 77 or even 82 they would have jammed Playin' out, balls to the wall, without worrying about how or if they would get back to Uncle John's. Forget the setlist - I'll take Aiko, Saint of Circumstance, He's Gone played with intensity and purpose (and with a nice long jam out of He's Gone into Drums).

After a ho-hum space, Wheel>Gimme Some Lovin make a nice pair. Gimme Some Lovin was a nice break from all of the Truckin's and Miracle's they used to do in this slot. Check out Jerry's two note transition into the Dew. Morning Dew itself was excellent, spine-tingling, intense, wailing, and basically everything you could ask for, although it didn't have that little bit extra that separates the all-time Dews (5/8/77, 9/18/87) from the merely great ones.

Two stars for most of the show, upgraded to three stars for the Dew.

Dude's got alot o' time fer them there reviewskis and he types em like a cheetah.

I forget how many mop ups before this show....
Good show
NY energy
Good recording
Good after the Hampton tuneup

What the hell is that "static" noise you catch starting in West LA?

IMHO

Jaguar boy fer president instead of Hillary?

anyone hear phil's "sunshine of your love" riffs right before queeen jane? crowd seems to respond...i was there but don't remember that. this was (and is) a very good show.

very good (not great) sound.

Hey Boyarde, give them niggas a break man, K ?......You may have spanned big of ground, but have you stepped on more fertile soil since he's been gone ?......Honestly ?
Peace.

Oh yeah, i almost forgot....................Bertha sounds smokin to me.

My second favorite of the '88 Meadowlands Run. What a Party! 3/31/88 being my 1st fav!

Jboy - you need to tell us idiots about Unbroken Chain's 11/4 and 15/4 sections. You're such a sage.

How come none of the Hampton shows from the 26th to the 28th are available for my listening conumption? Oh well...and I hate jumping out of chronological order.

1st Set: A pleasant undemanding "Bertha" opens up proceedings. "Greatest" features some woozy wah-wah's from Jerry to elevate it above standard. Alright, let's keep this party hot and bothered by jumping right into a "Hey Pocky." Good times are abounding. "West LA" quickly faded from my mind. Unfortunately, the sound quality on this tape is less than ideal as the performances lack specific nuance. "Queen Jane" is thinly sweet. Yes, I have not heard "Big Railroad" in a long while though this version lacks a snappy bite. "Cassidy" and "Ease" are both fine, but nothing special to end this fast-paced but non-distinctive first set.

2nd Set: Well, we're in a bustling yet somehat decaying urban area which can mean only one thing: "Shakedown". It's a good time but does not venture into any weird or especially bad-ass areas. "LLR" is nicely handled, but you can find a version like this on at least 10 shows a year. "UJB" is polite and easy on the ears though there's nothing spectacular here. Instead of reprising back into a chrous reprise they instead venture into tight "Playin" land. After 328 seconds they transfer back into the "UJB" reprise. Well-handled if not as exciting as it appears on paper. "Drums" passes by without much to mention thoigh Jerry does a fine job of constructing "Space" so that it weirds me out while maintaining a grip on the future, the earthy, grounded "Wheel." It gets tighter as it goes on leading to a highly expectant 'Da Bomb' "Gimme." Well, it's not that, but you're guaranteed 4 1/2 minutes of tight semi-heated rock n roll. Oh, Jerry's really pulling the tenor in his voice for a lilting loving "Dew." Nice climax, but nothing thunderous. Wow, tonight is a treat!, as they're extending the set with a little "Lovelite." It's a small dandy.

Tonight's encore is of the "Muddy" variety and is the approrpriate way to cool off after such a heated finish.

3 1/4 stars

I understand the 3/27/88 show being taken off because of the Dead download release, but the 26th and 28th are gone now too?

At any rate, somebody put Hampton back up if possible.

This show is the best of the Byrne's, but the quality of the in-house FM is full of static, just like I remembered it a dozen years ago.

This show was amazing. For those of you who've never been to Brendan Byrne, to get to the venue you have to cross the NJ TPK in a wooden cattle shoot with no windows. Every freak in the universe must have been in there tripping out, sell doses, playing guitars, wearing masks making faces. Truly weird. It gave me that oogly feeling in my stomach .. or was that the drugs. I dunno, but this show was awesome. It was too perfect. I remember Bob was using the pink (G&L?) guitar that night. The Pocky Way was amazing and yes, girls were falling down dead over the LLR. Nobody seems to know this besides old heads, but this was, at least on the east coast, one of the last tours where they had big PA speakers every thirty feet or so out in the hallways for dancers. Apparently, they had to stop because people were either walking off with them or turning up the volume and pissing off the concessions vendors. Ahh, those were the days.

This is an extremely hot show but there is an annoying static on the second set. I downloaded and have only listened to once because it is just too annoying. If you don't mind sound quality this is a 5 star all the way, if you mind quality you will be highly disappointed.

Every one of the nice 80's touches here, and Jerry's swinging from the trees , Bobby is truely switched ON..and Brent on LLR ? OMG ...Was that really Brent ? Some very sweet keyboards for sure ...and the thunder and lightning and dancing bears , oH mY!!

The Omni's LLR of 3-24-88, which along with this version just tonight, filled all the bills for me . Thanks to the archives , and to all for mentioning these shows. I'm in heaven with this DL.

When I download a concert I first write down all of the songs. Then I go through each one. If the song is worthy of putting on CD I write yes next to it. If it is really good I write yes *, really really good then yes **, etc. Rarely, if ever, does every song have a yes next to it. Not this concert. This might be the first time. Every song except drums, not really a song, has a yes next to it. Most of them have one to three stars next to the yes. In other words this concert was awesome. The sound of the recording is also great.

I have reviewed the songs from this concert over a week period. A couple of days ago I was listening and was so happy with it, so many yes and *s I thought something was wrong with me. I must be in a great mood, I was grading too easily, something. So I went to another concert. I went back to it last night. It just continued on. Yes ***. They were so on fire. It was a concert we all lived for. The reason Deadheads followed from city to city. For me, the reason I saw them each time (only one concert per time) they made their way back home to the Bay Area, for many years four times a year. And on top of this wonderful concert is a great, inspired, Morning Dew. For those that are stuck in the 70s Dead I ask you to listen to this concert. You will thinkyes.*.*.*unbelievable. 5 Stars!

what a beginning to getting on the bus..my fav show of all time !!!and what a show!!! i was so baked that i thought weir was singing the
hey-pockey-way!! i remeber these egyptian lookin dudes who had this giant globe/ball with them and through the whole show they would hold it up and spin it around and around !! need shit !

the show was fantastic ..what more could you want for a 1st show !!

bertha>greateststory>hey pockey way non stop ..you knew then it was gonna be a fun night !! also everyone was buzzing about predicting that they would play mornin dew tonite and i was like how do they know that ? silly deadhead trips are for kids ! hehehehehehe
the shakedown to open the 2nd set is fat !! check out the killer harmonies ..everyone is in sync !!! now to the LLR...best version ...period !

i never seen so many chics crying !! very weird!
and then ujb>playin>ujb just freaked me out..when they reprised ujb , i was screaming they already played this tune what gives !!! silly deadhead tripps are for kids !!

gimme some lovin was killer -all brent !!!

morning dew !! weel everyone was right!! sick sick dew and the lovelite to follow ..weir was like oh yeah ..take that and that !!!!

i love the grateful dead !! you guys are the best!!!

OK,This is a kick ass LLR,Im not even gonna find a better argument for any other.LITEN TO WHAT MICKEY ADDS TO THE END OF THIS SHIT.OHH AND BUY THE WAY I DONT EVEN LIKE THIS SONG

Throw me in the jailhouse and have the courtesy to let me take this show with me. I wont repeat whats been said already, but what a fine, fine show.

Well, I read Joe Shlobotnick's post about Looks Like Rain from 3/24/88 and when he said there was a better one I couldn't believe it. I just got done listening to this version and I must say, it's quite the work of art...I can't say what my favorite Looks Like Rain is overall, but what I can say is that this one is near perfection....i almost burst out crying because of the beautiful harmonies I was hearing....just listen and hear for yourself.

LOOKS LIKE RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!5 star show.One of the better 88 shows.LLRAIN is just beautiful!

Great show, I got it a while back and played it constantly until it was STOLEN by some very cruel theives. The Bertha> Greatest Story> Hey Pocky Way is one of my favorite openers, thank you Jonathan Aizen for reconnecting me with this show!

The second set to this show is an old favorite of mine from my cassette days. From the opening Shakedown to the "just exactly perfect" Black Muddy River encore, this set just has all sorts of great things going for it. The LLRain is phenomenal, of course; the UJB is tight and has some great fills from Jerry, and the Morning Dew (while a bit short) has a real roof-raiser of a final buildup. If I had to choose one set from 1988 for that old desert-island question, this would probably be the one.

That said, the show is in desperate need of a new digital transfer. Every single copy I've heard since I started collecting CDs has been plagued with the same digital static that is rampant on the copy here on the Archive, and I'd venture to say that it's all from the same original digi transfer. There was never a static problem on my old cassette SBD, which leads me to believe that there has to be a clean copy out there from which a new transfer could be made. If so, I hope that somebody with the means to do so... does so. This is too good a show to be left this way.

Good lord... Jerry adds some of the tastiest licks I've ever heard on this Looks Likes Rain. Bob really lets it all hang out vocally... the entire show is great, but this song really puts it over the top.

this show is fantastic....Bertha>GSET>Pocky>West L.A. is a hot start, and Big RxR rocks...
Great Shakedown, awesome UJB>Playin' combo (my favorite version of this venerable duo), tight version of the Wheel, smooth transition into Gimme Some Lovin', and then....
well, let's just leave the rest to you....