Was the sound mostly. Certainly not the long jams. Rather, the 80's had the following advantages:
1) Brent instead of Keith on keys
2) Brent instead of Donna on high harmonies
3) Jerry on Tiger! As much as I love Wolf and the TB's, Tiger was Jerry's best guitar ever IMO, hands down.
On to the show: Foolish Heart is a good early version, and you can hear the development over say, Buckeye. Althea and Candyman are also very nice. Let It Grow is the piece de resistance of this night. This one's not as ferocious as some, but Jerry keeps finding new wrinkles, and here's what I mean about Tiger -- the slow interlude could never have sounded so sweet on any other guitar, not even Rosebud. By the way, there's a comic moment just before Candyman - I won't spoil it.

Box of Rain opens the second set, and then Victim. Once again, big improvement over earlier versions, though they haven't figured out a segue yet. Then comes Crazy Fingers, with Jerry displaying some of his most creative and sweetest guitar ever. Playin' is typically short for 88 and goes into a fine Uncle John's with a pretty little outro jam. Drums 1 is actually a vibrophone solo by Mickey accompanied by Bill. Space -- turn it up and sit down in the sweet spot on the line bisecting the speakers -- a true highlight here.

GDTRFB is nothing to write home about, but it's followed by a searing Watchtower, after which one might have been hoping for ... but this isn't 9-18-87, and Jerry instead delivers Believe It or Not. A good ballad, but he doesn't take it to the next level. The rest of the show, other than a passable Blackbird, is pretty standard.

Very solid playing. They were on this night. And what is it about Blackbird that makes Brent crack up. He laughed so hard on the Alpine one as well.

Great show from a year that I tend to avoid. This show came highly recommended and I can saw I was not disappointed at all.I happen to love Believe it or not and this is a powerful rendition with Jerry giving it his all towards the end. What a treat that Blackbird is!
The only down points of this show is that completely flat Throwing Stones and Healy's space-rodent vocal-effects during GSET.

What does it mean when jerry and bobby are wearing those shirts?

this was a great show there was a free show in san fran and i meet wavy gravy sitting out side the show drinking ojay and smokeing a cigg. he asked me if i wanted to go in and i stated why go in bobby is wearing his pink shirt and jerry is waring his black pocket shirt. i could hear the show. and it was the most peaceful show i ever been to. i also meet polly my dream girl

Recording sounds great...

Foolish heart starts off a little slow, but then it really picks up. Great first set with a strong Candyman and Victim. The end of the second set is the best. coming out of space with GDTRFB is worth the download alone. The real treat is Believe it or Not (jerry's vocals at its absolute heart-breaking best), Throwing Stones, and NFA. After hearing this on GD hour, I fell in love with this show. A lot of great jams, but a lot of great slower songs too.

And it's the summer tour. What a great show from a year that gets overlooked, unjustly I might add. Dave Gans recently played this show on the GD Hour, and I've been a fan ever since.
First of all - this is not 1974, or even 1977. This is 1988. But if you can let go of your pre-conceived expectations, and get back to your Zen "Beginner's Mind" - you're gonna love this show.
Getting all the SBD's for 1988 has been a real delight for me - so many hidden Easter egg gems of shows that I would have never sought out to collect before.
The Greek of course, is always special. And tonight, from the first note, the X factor is there. The magic, the unspeakable, ineffable something that makes the music more than just playing the notes. It's here tonight.
Not a weak moment (or a bad Brent song) to spoil the first set. The Let it Grow closer is inspired. Garcia never runs out of ideas, and the sound quality again, is just stunning here.
An excellent, and I mean excellent vocal by Phil kicks off Set Two with Box of Rain. No Bobby harmony? Or was his mike off? Just Jerry and Phil doing a duet - interesting. Victim is full of pathos and dark mystery, with searing guitar lines from Jerry. Things are getting melty and floaty already. Then the notes of Crazy Fingers begin to bubble through your brain. Nice etherial keyboard from Brent. Garcia's solo soars like a hawk, bends like Gumby and sizzles like a sparkler. Crazy winds down into a carousel of spinning colors and changing images, waterfalls of notes - before morphing into PLayin. Not a long version sadly, but wow what they pack into 6 minutes! Swirling keyboards from Brent, trippy dancing Wah from Jerry - hold onto your brain!!
The Uncle John's has 1970 spirit, has the touch. It has the myth, it has the soul of the song tonight. The right mix of darkness and joy that this song requires.
Space is, well, a mix. Begins with some straight unfiltered guitar solo from Jerry, then quickly gets weirder than sheet, when the midis kick in about 3:00 in. Let me put it this way - it's kinda like having your brain sucked from speaker to speaker, left to right, like one of those old Road Runner cartoons. By 6:00, you can feel your eyeballs becoming One. Great Space if you like this part, and have some shrooms!!
Post-Space kicks off with - not a bad Brent song - but surprise! A hot GDTR from Jerry. A good sign, and whew!- they FLY down the road on this version (see also 3/27/88). Great B3 work from Brent here.
Then Garcia blows the roof off with a blistering version of Watchtower. Plenty of Phil here too.

And then - the real reason I fell in love with this show. The Believe it Or Not. Suddenly - it's a Jerry Garcia Band show. Jerry delivers a soul-wrenching rendition of this all-too-rare song. You can almost hear Merle and the backup girls here. It's all Jerry's show now - "I've done time on the upswing, done time in defeat. Making music together, in a world time forgot. Let me show how I love you, believe it or not."
gotta pause here - something in my eye.

The rest is all, well, like rolling down the Interstate hwy at 80 mph in a convertable with Hunter S. Thompson at the wheel, with this show blasting out of the stereo. NFA is a fire-breathing dragon. And the Blackbird>Brokedown encore - how rare and how perfect to close this last night at the Greek.

Maybe one of my top ten for 1988, maybe not we'll see. But this show leaves you wanting nothing, except more 1988!! Definitely one to add to your collection. And did I mention how good the sound is?? Ha ha.
enjoy,
Dr. Flashback :-)

1st Set: It takes Jerry's voice a couple of minutes into the heavy "Foolish" to reach professional show-level ripeness. Easy listening busyness late three/early four. "Greatest" is a bit too mellow and slow for my liking. "Althea." It plods along carefully, but it feels equipped with a walker...not a good thing. Hopefully, the show will pick up with "Uncle." It does, and "River" adds a couple of rumbles as well... nothing blisters - but it certainly moves. Considering summertime is among the colder months in Berekeley, (Twain: One of the coldest winters I've ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.) there may be a chill in the air adding to the already jitter-y stomach as this is the last night of a, what must have been, a highly thought of first two gigs. "If you're talking ti the bass player, he's tone-deaf and has been for years." (Bobby) Somebody on my right speaker said, 'asshole' Of course Jerry has the right spirit: "Don't listen to Weir, he's been crazy for years." "His lights are moving but nothing's..." tape cut - shucks... it sounded like Bobby, but humor seemed too full of levity to be BW. Anyways, it's time to pay the pauper, aka "Candyman." It stirs and makes me bemoan my own indulgent lifestyle and/or lack of a 'productive' day. Well, listen to "Annie" 'the sun will always come out..' in LA that is. Next day - hello... second night of the week I got more than eight hours of sleep which is like a record for me...Lo and behold, I'm almost fully refreshed. "Let" is polite and dignifed. Jerry's intuitive tone is that of 'Sketches,' but the version does not want to derail from that station.

2nd Set: "Box" is fine, but it lacks any variance. Not a standout version. Now it's time to head out to more adventurous territory. Bobby sounds thunderous as he queries if he is the "Victim or the Crime." Nice, but why can't it segue from madness to sadness ala "Crazy." Not a standout reading but there are some pretty lines all throughout the 6's with Brent's subtle synths (late 6's) providing dimension and Phil's bass providing groundedness. It builds to a cresendo around 7:18. It naturally connects to some "Playin" Phil is perfectly driving the song over the drummers beat. Without any effort they head into unchartered lands that stops too soon to enjoy the communalism of "Uncle John's Band." It moves very nice, thank you very much. It sounds as if part of "Drums" was clipped as we're already at Asiatic influences. After the weirdness of "Space" passes, we get the pick 'em up riff of "GDTRFB." I like that it stays spacey during the first fifteen seconds. Of course, it's quite enjoyable, if short - less than five minutes plus a full minute breakdown. I guess that's Bobby calling for the "Watchtower." It starts out hesitant but gets mean quickly and should be played loud for full enjoyment. Take a listen to these men rocking out as the clock turns to the fourth minute. Honestly, they make "Believe" crunch and shine, but the song isn't worthy of the spotlight ballad slot. Jerry really sings the shit out of the song during the 6's and 7's. Awkward start for "Throwing" and the version's only fair... Of course we're seguing into "NFA" it's well-intentioned but can't quite reach above-average status. Five minutes of "NFA" chants lead us into..

A repeat of Alpine, "oh god" someone cries out. "Blackbird" less focused than last time though some pleading voices allow for sympathy. And of course a lovely "Brokedown" will be closing out this run.

3 1/2 stars

Absolutely one the best shows around.

good show great let it grow..2nd set opener with victum>crazy is also good

David Crosby once said that the Dead are an eclectic Ragtime band.This Foolish opener supports this !I was with my buddy who was taping the show.My first and only Greek show.We just came from the east cost.We saw S.P.A.C.,Oxford,Buckeye,Silver stadium.THIS SHOW BY FAR IS THE HOT ONE FROM THAT SUMMER.VERY NICE FM,S ALSO FROM THIS RUN.DOWNLOAD FOR THE FOOLISH AND THE LET IT GROW.THIS LET IT GROW IS JUST F'N MONSTEROUS!!!!!!!