This is not a terrible recording for 1972. I enjoyed listening to it. Some kid asks the taper in Stella if he's recording and going to make a bootleg

Does Anyone Else Hear A Very Familiar Guitar In Big River. Listen Carefully To The Count Off. I Believe You Can Hear Another's Voice At The Beginning An End Of The Tune. My Ears Are Getting Fuzzy These Days. So I Bow To Others Opinion. It Seems There Is A Counter Rhythm That Is Not Bobby Throughout. You Tell Me. As Far As Rating For A '72 Audience It's Quite Good. 5 Considering The Source.

I like this show more than a couple others from around this time. There's some very pleasant bursts of energy (huge peaks, really) in the big numbers , e.g., Bird Song, Morning Dew, Playin, Dark Star (sadly, no China->Rider or Wharf Rat here). The comparisons to Veneta are deserved and these versions of the aforementioned songs have many moments of equal power. I think it's also one of Jerry's best sung shows in a period when he was singing and playing very well indeed.

For the singing, the Dew, Dark Star, and especially the Brokedown stand out. For the playing, everything, including a scorching solo in a suprisingly up tempo version of Don't Ease Me In.

Ned Lagin contributes some sublime (and occasionally subliminal) sounds on a few tracks:

http://nedbase.blogspot.ca/

"During Set II, Ned played on "Dark Star" > "Brokedown Palace". Ned played a Wurlitzer electric piano and Crybaby wah-wah when he joined the band on stage for "Dark Star", and after which he and his piano exited the stage. This was the first and only time prior to 1974 that he sat in with Keith Godchaux playing acoustic piano."

I'm pretty sure I can hear some of that wah sound on at least the first half of Not Fade Away, too. But if Ned says he wasn't there ...

The recording here is really low on bass. The partial soundboard is also low on bass. Phil is definitely there, playing plenty of notes and sounds like he's bringing the goods to the rest of the band, at least based on how well they are playing (the Playin jam from around 14:30 seems very Phil driven and he's all over the Dew and the Dark Star ... you just can't really "feel" him!). Is it just a coincidence that the sondboard has the identical mix, more or less? Nobody on the recording is screaming "More bass!" or "More Phil!" so we have to assume there were more vibrations in real time than survive here... I wonder if the low sound on the board is a result of the crew trying to get Ned plugged in?

I do highly recommend checking out the partial soundboard (with the Dew, Playin, Dark Star->Brokedown and a few others) because it is an extremeley nice recording other ... than the strangely faint bass. The vocals are more distinct, for sure.

There is intermittent clapping and conversation on the recording, mostly benign or welcome. The Playin, the Greatest Story and the Dark Star benefit from it, I think. The loud talker at the beginning of Stella Blue is amusing ... the first time, anyway (and note how things quiet down quickly). Donna's singing in Playin' and Greatest Story plainly excites the crowd - no detractors within earshot! And, yes, some people inevitably lose their focus after the first jam in Morning Dew and start gabbing during the quiet part. That will never change.

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Also got to see Santana, Traffic, NRPS, & Hot Tuna (with Commander Cody) among others, in my year in Beantown. This is a typical early 70's show. The sound is decent but not A+. Very listenable. If this is one of your shows it's worth having. At this time I want to congratulate the Fenway Faithful on a job well done, and I'm a diehard Yankee fan. Sitting in the bleachers in '72 smelled a lot like a Dead show. See you in 2090.