Thanks for connecting me to my birthday show! Feeling every bit of it!

During a tour with Quicksilver (Tour of the Great Pacific Northwest), this is the third night of a Portland run at two venues. We don't have the first show. The middle night was officially released, though this is the better show. We also have nothing from the following night, at Southern Oregon U in Ashland. The more-complete SBD did not come into circ until 2009, though still probably not the whole show. We're possibly missing a Pig song opener (Viola, Love Light, Alligator) or a Morning Dew or Clementine. Or maybe they played for just an hour (less likely). As was typical of the band in this era, if you bought their album before the gig you would have recognized nothing. It's a good recording. Bobby has sometimes mentioned that Neal Cassady died (in Mexico) while they were playing this show, but it was actually the next day. They didn't find out about it until later; personal news traveling slowly from other countries in the '60s.

Our tape starts at Cryptical. As they melt into The Other One they are not at their peak powers, but it IS GOGD. The reprise of Cryptical has a cut @5:14 (w/an additional 10secs cut on other sources). The beginning of It Hurts Me Too is missing maybe 10secs. The first real notable is Born Cross-Eyed. This is perhaps the most solid version, and the ending is odd (which is good). Note the zero audience noise, which is puzzling. It was played only in the first half of '68, 12-35 times (there are missing tapes & setlists in this period), of which we have almost nine. A sorta-Malagueña tuning follows, then a Good Morning Little Schoolgirl that's missing the first few secs. There are a landslide of these in '67-'69, so you can be discerning, but it's above average. The first few secs are clipped again on Dark Star – someone was riding the pause button (so, maybe on battery power). It wasn't happening that much this night as they tapped into Dark Star, so they don't do a lot with it before bailing – granted this is still pre-florescence, the 6th we have. China Cat is just the 4th one, and still in the key of E. The seg in is great, and although 2/14 is my choice of the early ones, this is sweet. The Eleven, also the 4th, hasn't developed yet and still has lots of repetition. They almost go into Feedback, but not quite, then the tape runs out.

Overall = C+   3 stars

Highlights:
Born Cross-Eyed - top version, cool Phil ending
China Cat Sunflower - great seg in and still E

SOURCES: The miller_97346 is the upgraded SBD and the most complete (has Schoolgirl). The abe_4989 runs slow and has the songs out of order. The jools_14987 is way too slow (needing +4% pitch correction).

Several thousands of miles away, while the Dead were performing, Neal was on his final walk along some railroad tracks.....

and the most hilarious rendition of Born Cross Eyed I've ever heard. Not a bad recording.

If you read my review of the 2/2 show, everything I said goes ditto for this show. Amazing recording, great mix, and stellar performance. These 2 should be released as a 2 CD set. In some ways I find them even more enjoyable than the 2/14 show that has already been released (although that one's a 5 star must as well!)

The Eleven just smokes along crashing into a ripping feedback. Gorgeous.

... and that is certainly saying a mouthful. Specifics have been covered already by the previous reviewers, so let me just second that. New Potatoe Caboose will blow you out of yer seat. Dig the blues leads Jerry treats us to on "It Hurts Me Too". If you like the blues, you'll love the blues as Mr. Garcia weaves us a musical basket of tears that lasts longer than the 4 minutes playing time, this one will stick with me for awhile. Oops! Don't leave out the NASTY harmonica break!

God Bless The Grateful Dead

The Archive is the best thing to ever happen to me in terms of music (except live shows, duh!)

I hate to say it but I think I like this performance better than the previous night (besides the Clementine). Great to hear the band working through the arrangements of some of these tunes. I especially loved NPC and a rare Born Cross-Eyed. Excellent 11 also. One of the shortest Dark Stars you'll ever hear.

As always, thanks to Charlie Miller

the night before is great, i'll agree with that. and it has the best Clementine of the only 6 played, but for my $$ this night is actually better. Great TOO>Potato to kick things off, and great DS>China>11 to end, esp. 11, which sounds like it has a little more wings than the others of this early '68 period. recommended, along with 2/2, of course.

...but, that said, this is one great show! An Other One suite with the debut of the "standard" lyrics kicks things off and includes a very good Cryptical reprise (the best of the tour) and segues into one of the best New Potato's of the tour. Schoolgirl is my favorite version to date with fantastic harmonica work by Pigpen and a different take on the "box back knitties" rap. The Eleven-> Feedback that closes out this show absolutely soars, one of my favorites. Charlie Miller has made this sound fantastic and added a track or two to make this more complete. Solid A

I've never enjoyed this show quite as much as the previous night's performance, but though a touch of hiss still remains, this is indeed a significant cleanup containing some very special music.

Neat Thirteen Jam style outro during Caboose and the China/Eleven Jam features some very sick leads from Jer. (98+ pts)