I had a cassette of the second set of this in college (c. 85. 86) that I nearly wore the hubs off of. The second set just flows beautifully and I keep coming back to this set over and over again.

From beginning to end my personal all time favorite show. Favorite Dew ever, favorite Essau ever, fav all-time Jed, and BEW. Cant say it enough. listen to the energy on the audience recordings

This is a very nice recording and a good '84 show. Brent stands out really well. Don't hesitate to get this.

(there are a couple small drop outs and other peskies, but it doesn't detract from the show.)

I cannot get away from this Dew - I know there are others out there and I've heard more than a few of them - all good! as this is my fave tune but this one in particular as an entire song from start to finish has blown me away time and again -- Jerry's voice is f'n SOULFUL as hell and his g-play is STUNNING at least to me --- I wore out this XLS out when I had it as a High Schooler and played it at 7:30 in the am on the way to school - full blast - the entire bus stone quiet -(yo Bus B!)Anyway - 4:25 -5:10 is just a beautifully distorted taste of what's to come -- and for me my favorite jam I have ever heard bar none --- brings visions of a train ---at 8:05 some quiet light picking from Jer reaching high and low in a thoughtfully slow pace the trains pullin out! - Phil threads around him nicely (the whole way but is best heard in this part) and as they move forward Brent comes in at arnd 9:55 as the engine Jerry's fueling (damn Brent had GREAT time and knew when to accent Jerry) and this train is cruising nicely! at 10:09 like a horn in the distance there's Bobby's guitar line (warning of danger!) but Jerry's driving and stoking that muthf'n engine and Brent's Hammond is screaming give me more RAMMING SPEED!- so at 10:32 Jerry starts HOWLing- I am FREE and we are GOING THERE and I am TAKING you with me - Brent's Hammond screams back NO MORE! I can't take it at 10:43 the engines gonna blow HIT the brakes! but the BEAST in Jerry decides no mercy will be given and Holy S&%^ we can barely hold on- Jerry is BLAZING THE TRAIL - at 10:56 WHOOOAH here comes the CRASH! I can see the pile of metal we are about to become BUT No!Cap'n Trips hits overdrive with a wink at 11:02 and sprays the crowd with cosmic sparks to prepare us for the giant CHROME AXE he pulls out to split our heads with at 11:10 -- WHEEEEEW ..... like most everyone else on here the Dead were an engine that took me physically (all around this land) and mentally ( hello 'cidney!) to other places - this f'n version sure does it for me hahahahah....peace!

little Playin' reprieve. I don't think I've ever heard that done before after all these years of listening. How wierd? Heard plenty of Playin' reprieve's/reprise in and out of songs- Uncle Johns, Dew or whatever but, never caught that at the end of Terrapin jam.
Killer versions of TLEO,Let it Grow and a monster Dew. I agree with the comment on Stranger. I've been big on this version since the tape trading xls days. The one right up the road in Philly(strong 3 night run) is pretty another good Stranger. My personal favorite versions of Stranger are from the 1989 tour. In the spring-Omni,Michagan,Milwaukee-hot and 2 from the summer-Giants 7-10 has a real good one and Alpine Valley has some brillant Brent & Jerry inter~play. Hampton in the Fall is one big highlight and Stranger still stands out. Thats a killer version.

ps. my brother below you were lucky to hit Spectrum '83 must of been a bast. Thats another one of those venues that turn into a UFO.
These dates and the Spectrum to follow are some top notch Dead.
4-9-83 Hampton
4-10-83 Morgan Town
4-12-83 Bing
4-13-83 Vermont
4-15-83 Rochester sound isn't that grate on Archive.
Merriweather and Saratoga '83 are also in the good as it gets range.


}}}hAPpY tRAils{{{

As a newly minted Phillyhead (Spectrum 83) this venue was a laaiiid back treat - and became my favorite indoor east coast venue. Highlights for me are the end of Terrapin (beautifully distorted Jerry scale riding and nice feedback- when I saw it I did not want it to end), Nice Brent and Jerry driven Touch with a few killer speed rolls, and just a smokin' Dew with a GREAT extended ending. Jer's voice is soulful and matches his strong and thoughtful six string attack - CRISPY -check out the night before too -Great Memory- Peace.

Great Touch of Grey the way it should be played ahaha and fabulous morning Dew the Jam out at the end is as they say here in italy: strepitosa!

This show and the one before it at Hampton were two decent shows at probable the most laid back venue ever. Having attended every Hampton show from '83 - '86 (prehap '87), It seemed like the city it self got into the groove. I remember prefering this nights performance over the 13th. I'm a sucker for "Stranger". By the way, when I down loaded this show, the "Stranger" SHN is corrupt. Both when extracted from the .ZIP file and the .SHN itself. Got the VBR MP3 instead.

Over all I give this show a 4-. Rating partially influenced by experience.

Been waiting a while for this one as I used to have it on tape years ago. I'll put this Stranger and Let grow up against any other version from the time period. The first set is one of those that looks normal but each song is played really well. I recently got the 4/20 which is great, but this is still one of my spring '84 favs. And the recording here suits me just fine, Jerrys guitars sounds crisp.