This was one of the top 5 hottest Dead shows I ever saw (out of about 70 between 82 and 92). Yes, there are some ragged moments vocally (words and otherwise), but the energy is/was off da hook and for me that is far more important. WangDang was a breakout or close to it (at least rare at the time), and therefore notable. Jack Straw and Birdsong were also first set highlights, but there were no weak links. As is most often the case, they really stepped up their game in the second set. The entire pre-drums run was just rockin, especially Bertha. And if I recall correctly, China Doll was not in rotation much or at all at that time, and I think it was a big deal because Phil sang on that one (had his own mike), and that was a first in several years. I dont think much more needs to be said about the St Stephen rendition, except that the ragged moments were nothing in comparison to the energy coming from the stage. And the energy coming back at the stage when the crowd recognized and appreciated the song, was never topped at any other show I attended (matrix or aud a must for this show). In my opinion, the Stones that followed might be the best rendition they ever played (before it got all locked down in the jam section). The rest of the set finished just as high energy and it was a night I will never forget. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that as luck would have it, I had a large bag full of original St Stephen t-shirts I made the night before with some friends tucked under my seat that were to go on sale after the show. Holy crap what a cosmic coincidence!!! They had a border of roses with a SYF scull in the middle. But instead of the lighting in the center of the skull there was a three color rainbow in the yin-yang shape (blue and red on either side of the rainbow with the two dots). the rainbow came spilling out of the scull jaws and spread into a pool below. It said on top: "One man gathers" and on the bottom: "What another man spills." needless to say they were an almost instant sell out. but the next night, I couldn't get a ticket, and outside the show, some asshole cop ripped open my bag of shirts and threw them into the crowd/street. and of course it being NYC, everyone grabbed them and ran. People asked me how I knew the Dead were gonna break out St Stephen and my reply was: "how did the Dead know I made the shirts the night before?"

This show is definitely a favorite of mine. The set list is pretty unique and well played, and the show is energetic. The Wang Dang>Straw opener is a nice combo(they played it on 9/2/83 too). Wang Dang is definitely in a different key, but it works out just fine. Bird Song is another first set highlight. Jerry’s vocals aren’t bad for the time, and the jam is exquisite. I find myself getting lost in it. It’s almost hypnotic, with Jer’s soaring leads and Bob’s wide strokes. The Bucket>Day Job isn’t too bad either.
The second set starts with a speedy China>Rider, which isn’t too bad, but it’s a little too fast. I believe one of Jerry’s speakers goes out after, which allows for them to regroup. The Bertha>Jam>China Doll is the highlight of this show for me. The Bertha is definitely one of the better versions of the 80s. Jerry’s playing is especially nice. The jam after is very out of left field but very well played. It segues perfectly into an emotional China Doll, which is one of my favorite Dead tunes. It’s played very well; I love when they jam it out at the end. The Drums>Space is nice, though not particularly noteworthy. I believe there are some bird sounds in Space though. The post-Drums portion isn’t better than the pre-Drums, but it’s not bad. The revival of St. Stephen at this show is definitely fun, but this is one of the sloppier versions I’ve heard. It’s not bad though, definitely not a trainwreck. The Throwing Stones>Touch of Grey isn’t very noteworthy either, but it’s well played. The encore of Johnny B. Goode isn’t one of my favorite encores, but it’s energetic and very well played.

Overall, this show is a 4/5 in terms of the actual show, but this source is a 5/5. It’s a very open sound, but everyone is heard perfectly. Very similar to a Matrix recording. Great show!

Went to this show with a bunch of friends . Before the show we all shared what we hope to hear . My friend Adam said “ I want to hear a St Stephan . We all kind of chuckled as they don’t play that anymore . He stuck to his guns . Adam and I made down to the first row during drums . With Jerry no more then 6 ft away we hear hints of it coming out of space . They go I to St Stephan and the Garden erupts like I have never heard before or since . Adam and I still talk about that call of his to this day . If anyone has pics or a video I would love to see them . Probably be able to spot 17 year old Paul And Adam .

Went to this concert. My friend JK had to give me a ticket. As no one else wanted to go. Not my 1st GD but certainly unexpected. They played St Stephen for the 1st time in 10 years and never hearing the song before it was not a big deal to me. Had a great time...my friend on the way home on Metro north to Rowayton CT was pulled of the train by 3 NYC cops for rolling a spliff. They taunted him, but let him go 10 seconds before the door on the last train out of NYC closed.so ll was well.

I found a ticket outside just before the show for $10. After driving to Manor Downs from Miami for the last show of the summer tour, we drove northeast for the fall tour which was only a few weeks away.
After Richmond with the Sugar Mag fake into Good Lovin' and the Stephen soundcheck at Greensboro, we settled into NYC for these two shows. I raced to Penn Station after this show to find a pay phone to call my dear friend Mark Way and let him know they had played Saint Stephen.
He drove down from New Hampshire for the second show which was arguably better that 10/11.
Babatunde Olatunji opened the second show with Nigerian dancers in full dress. It was spectacular...

Me and one of best and closest friends [to this day]were the few from our traveling road show made the 900 mile trip to start down to richmond and if you heard any of that show you would agree, like we did, was well worth the trip. Ha-Ha. 1ST set was every day songs but played way of the hook if you doubt go listen. On the way i say to my friend Crazy fingers will come back tonite so we eat a few handfuls of fungus and Day job>playin'in the band>crazy fingers it was easily 40 minutes into the drums. The stage was set for the rest of the tour and what a tour it was. MSG a couple nites later and i will not say 1 word about the 2 shows just listen. A couple of cat's who reviewed this 10/11 show spoke the truth about Garcia and his persian habit. Persian will put you to thee perfect place of all places. The drag is you cannot put the tin foil down. YOU CANNOT. Although it will take over all aspects of your being and your wife and kids and bank accounts.My point is alot of people say jerry is gettin' high,he doesn't look to good and he doesn't talk to the crowd. What did these people expect him to say.When the lights went down and phil came on stage on his side, weir took center stage [at least then he did] and when Jerry walked out from behind his stack and gave that wave and smiled that started my very psychedelic journey to wherever it was that nite. And ya know what i wouldn't trade those nites back then for anything.There were no angels amongst us and to hear people trash jerry because he was getting high in a way they didn't understand those people were not getting out of the music what was being offered to them maybe it was a little deeper than they could swim. I miss those nites soooo soooo much.

Mad props for recording digital and FOB in 83. Pretty awesome stuff. This does capture the sound and the atmosphere very well. Thirty years ago today my first show. Thanks for having a smoking copy up here on Archive for me to listen to.

This Silberman recording is NUTS! His work on this tour is unimpeachable. Click the link for his name and listen. Thank you, kind sir.

I don't know if it's even possible to list the best audience recordings made of the Grateful Dead, but this one has to be somewhere among them. It's sooooo damn good. He's in that spot where you can barely here the audience (I understand this might be a negative for some), yet you still get the ambiance of the venue. (Call me crazy, but MSG has proven again and again to be one of the great venues to record open-air.)

And hey. This Fall '83 tour is smokin'. Truly. Forget the Persian, forget the post-76 downhill slide, forget the caveats about Jerry's voice and lyrics that get mucked. Give 'em a listen. Warts and all: great energy and great communication among the boys. You can hear them listening to each other. And that ain't nothin'.

I love this show, from the sloppy Wang Dang Doodle to the Keep Your Day Job, which, by the way, for an oft-trashed 'throw-away' tune, rocks. This Birdsong is one of my favs. Bobby gets this nutty-crazy-mind-warping sound during the jam with whatever envelope filter he's using and Jerry has an orgasm all over it.

The second set is plain rollicking fun. (There are problems with the sound system during the China > Rider, starting during the transition, which manifests itself as some fairly heinous popping -- careful with the volume here. We later discover that this is due to one of Jerry's speakers having just "barked its little heart out.") I love the jam after Bertha which gives way, wonderfully, to China Doll (Jerry's voice only fractured and just a little nervous from the fall). Skeletons banging 'round in the closet during drums, and a delightfully creepy space (turn off the lights). Then the first St. Stephen since '79 and the last of three they would ever play.

This is a very, very good show, supremely well recorded. I will add the word pristine. Get the Shorten files, convert, and play it LOUD.

Average show, good sound, but it'd only been 5 years since Phil had sung on stage. If you listen to "Bid You Good Night" from The Closing of Winterland, he is singing along with the band. Cool Stephen breakout, but I can't hear the crowd when Phil starts to sing, well I can, but not as loud as I'd like. For something like that, I want to HEAR the crowd. Like 3/20/86 Box of Rain or the 1st Unbroken Chain or the Attics breakout, those crowds are incredible to hear.

Not the boest show or even the best Stephen, but yo'all are missing the point. I've been to many Garden events and show and nothing beats Phil steeping up to the Mike duirng Stephen after a what? 9 year absence. That's the whole joy to this show. It was loud when they broke into Stephen, as loud as I've heard the Garden but the roof blew off when Phil stepped to the mike for the end of the song. One of my most memeorable nights as a dead head ever. (It may have ben louder when the Rangers won the cup in '94, but not much).

WOw- take a listen to this- it is a cassidy like jam before the final verses of the song- it starts at the 5 minute mark- this was before they added that "smason and delilah" type instrumental which would be the final form of the song

Somehow scored 4th row seats for this. First St. Stephen in 5 years and what's most remarkable about this show is the crowd reaction upon hearing those opening notes. This recording captures very well the WAVE that swept thru MSG when they busted out the Stephen. To be perfectly honest, though, listening back to the show, it's not one of the better played shows of this year. I'm not saying bad, just not at the level of some of the killer Hartford shows, for example.

Well worth the DL for the audience energy from Stephen.

stream both versions of st stephen and youll see
why.fuller sound spectrum and audience noise in all the right places make this one the keeper.

There were more good shows than bad. Look at the spring and summer tours they were smokin'.
I think people sometimes mistake the sound of the recording for bad playing. 1983 seems to be a spottier year for good clear sounding audience and crisp soundboards compared to 84 boards and 85 aud.'s and sound boards. As far as the playin, They were on fire most of the time. This recording sounds pretty good, I like the show more than the recording. I also believe that persian habit did help, those solo's and jams were blow outs, over the top. They way he sang every thing was affected by that and I think its sad to say but in my opinion he sounded good all they way around except when it caught up with him by 86' and it detoriated him faster in the later years it worked against him. In the begining it was all fun and games for big Jerry and to me it sounded like it from 77-85 and in some real killer spots of 87-88. Finally hot as hell in 89 through summer 90. Unstopable ! (I take that back Vince Welnick from the tubes slowed them down quit a bit.) No complaints fom me in 1983. Take it any day over 1993.

This was my first show ever in NYC maybe my 10th or 11th show ever. I hitch-hiked down to some old friends houses near philly and we took the train up to the shows then I left there and hitch-hiked up to Hartford. Definitely a fantastic fall break from college. I have never heard before and after a crowd that loud when St Stephen was played. The energy leval in the halls after the show was some of the loudest ever as well. The crowd was definitely louder than the band. This show will always and forever stick out in my memory even as I age.

For those who enjoy the highest quality aud recordings for their ability to put us back in the crowd, this is one to get. I am of the opinion that a few shows in 83 rank as the strongest for that decade, even with Garcia's escalating "persian" habit. Also, the scene had not yet grown too big so this was a very experienced crowd. This was also when I got on the bus (Worcester 10/21/83) so I tend to be a little biased.
Owner of one of the first digital recorders on tour, Silberman is also responsible for the 4th row FOB recording of the Worcester show on 10/21.
A friends' older brother attended and dosed for this one and commented that the Jerry led space went on and on until most of the crowd was actually sitting down and quietly listening. When the 1st notes of St. Stephen appeared, everyone jumped up all at once and started screaming. Although the Stephen is not on the level of the late 60's/early 70's, or even 77', it is still a rush to hear the appearence of and reaction to the unexpected.
Other highlights- an absolutely killer Bird Song, a fast and furious China / Rider, and a great short jam which arises out of nothing and leads us into the China Doll.

How about that shit. I didnt even know they played saint stephen after a certain period (after '79 maybe)....its some good stuff too check it out...recording isnt so bad either...i give it 5 stars just for this