The thing I'll always cherish about this recording....at 9:55 into drummssspace Harry loses his mind!

I used to have a tape of this show, and this may in fact be the same recording. The tape I had was mislabeled a year later than the actual date; there were no Crypticals in 1986, so I had a fun time trying to locate one on the archive before I got set right, let me tell you. What struck me about the show back when I was listening to it in my late 20s was the advent of Cryptical at an '80s show, but more so the amazingly psychedelic Drums/Space, with the birdcalls and other rainforesty noises and other crazy effects, very fun to listen to.

All in all, I don't think the whole show merits a download, and the second set is barely worth the trouble, as it has a typically mid-'80s hectic energy and sloppy attitude about it. Still, it remains a very interesting set, and this is a very crisp and full AUD recording.

In my experience with Dead shows, they often tailored their sets to the venue, area or weather...and this is a prime example. We drove up to Cincinnati from Lexington,Ky, enjoying a beautiful sunny summer afternoon. Riverbend Ampitheater is set up so you can see the boats behind the stage and are looking across the river into Ky. 1st set the weather was perfect...then the storm clouds built up across the river. A torrential rain storm began during the break, with cloud to ground lightning strikes that made us wonder if the Dead would come back out at all. Of course, they did, during the hardest part of the rain for a scare the bejeezus out of you 2nd set. Enough has been said about the songs themselves, but the circumstances surrounding their performance is what stands out to me. I mean, when they sang "if I had my way, I would tear this whole building down" in Samson, they meant it! It seemed as if they were egging on the storm, daring it to do its worst...thundering drums echoing the actual thunder.And they wanted more. Smokestack Lightning during lightning...I mean come on!!!! Then Cryptical (REALLY?!?!) I remembered the Drums>Space as a frightening experience. WOW!!! You will be hard pressed to find a better show than this, in my opinion. Dick's Picks/Vault are you hearing me? I feel very lucky to have witnessed this one!

Regardless of the usual "My favorite show of '85 can beat up your favorite show of '85" banter, this is a swell show and well worth the download. I really like the Cryptical and back again journey. As far as Garcia sounding "old" ...There's an endearing "long lost uncle who watched too many Walt Brennan movies" quality to that voice. Everybody wants to pick on Old Gimpy.

-CT

ANYONE EVER HEARD OF A VIDEO OF THIS SHOW PLEASE CONTACT ME AT THIS WEB ADDRESS

GRATEFULDEAD2778 AT YAHOOCOM

i especially dig jerry's noodling in space>comes a time.

This show had so much HIGH energy starting with the HEADS and then moving to the BAND. I only missed the Alpine Valley show during this stella summer tour and night after night the BAND just smoked!! I love the second set awesome selection of tunes.

Well bigpink, to tell you the truth, you probably caught one of the better shows of the year. Jerry always sang like an old man and that is why we love him, contrary to what you believe, the singing on this show is pretty spectacular considering the year. Jerry's playing isn't all too bad either. This show is mid-eighties so jerry's playing still has a crisp edge to it that was slowly lost as the late eighties came along. I think you need to kick back, put on a pair of nice headphones, and reconsider your rash review. Either that or start listening to Phish.

Minglewood and let it grow are two of the best I have ever heard and the whole first set rocks even with jerry totally flubbing tleo. Ripping second set -

I went to this concert in 1985 after a friend wanted me to go. I knew almost nothing about them, but for the next 10 years I listened to them all the time. After using lossless to download this concert, however, I was disappointed. The recording quality is poorer than I would have expected for a 1985 show. Whether it's the recording or their actual playing that's bad I'm not sure, but they sound sloppy and disoriented, especially Garcia, whose singing sounds like a tired 70 year old man. His guitar playing did not sound too graceful either, but more forced and noisy. This is the only concert from 1985 I have listened to but compared to their earlier shows from the 70s, they just don't sound like the same band.

This was a great show! Every song is played with heart! Everybody's smokin'! Great energy! The sound of this aud. source is really good, other than the little glitching in U.S. Blues. If, for some reason, that is too much for you to bear than just skip the encore. I mean how many tapes have you heard in the last 30 years that had the encore missing etc... This show is a MUST!

i agree its a better copy than the SBD. Great 2nd set. its cool to know this show was in the same town were i live.

Great show!!! The sound board version does not make the muster in my opinion...This Nak300 classic does. It is quite good considering it's not done up-front and is full range...at least as far down as NAK's will go. I will listen to this tape, I would not have for the SBD that sounds like listening to the show through a pillow. Good summer outdoor Amphitheatre sound.