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 was at this concert. I was 15. I saw alot of Dead shows from '82-'92 and I think this show was without question, the single best dead show of the entire 80's. Taken within the aesthetic context of how they sounded then, this show was a divine triumph. and believe me, it felt that way then, not just in retro-spect.

Is he even playing cause I can't hear him.

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

GRATEFULDEAD2778 AT YAHOOCOM

this is top notch mid-eighties Dead, fortunately I have this on disc, because some TIGHT ASS SUIT DECIDED THAT WE SHOULDNT BE ABLE TO DOWNLOAD THE VERY SHOWS i WAS RAISED ON. I SPENT THOUSANDS (not to mention passed on a full ride to Hopkins) to follow and tape this band, for them to deny me access to sbd's is fucking appalling. But that is ok, ya see you money hungry pricks I burned hundreds of your precious sbd's before the ban so ANYONE who would like to trade u can reach me at selbydad@yahoo.com oh yeah this show rocks

Fun tour, great show. What I most remember, aside from the ripping second set, was heading out (after chanting for about an hour in the amph.) and following a dude, draped in a Steal Your Face banner, who had obviously had a religious experience, chanting "God is good, Grateful Dead!" Yeah baby, God is good, Grateful Dead. Peace.

Well - I went - and they rocked that nite! Just remember walking down to about 40 yeards from the front and just being hit by the energy. One of those shows that happened from the first warm up note - the band were hot - listening to the Comes A time (never heard it before that nite) just blew me away - Saw about 35 shos - this one was as good as they get! Don't let the set list fool you - they are hot tonite! First became a Deadhead in 83 in Ventura County Fairgrounds - 2nd show during Terrapin/Drums/Space/Morning Dew - they took me on a journey into areas that I never knew existed - and the amazing thing is that they still do today. Listented to a Fire the other nite on a plane - everything going along nicely - then Jerry just goes beserk on the guitar and I am hanging on to every note - love it - anyway - you can tell that they still get to me! And get me to where I want to be!

Great show. Bobby had alot of energy that got the band going that night. Him getting a turn in Iko was great, still can't exactly figure out what he is saying. Minglewood " bluegrass fillies" was great as well as good lovin.

My God Comes A time alone will knock you out. Jerry's singing straight from this heart. I like some of the reverb on his voice.
ps listen to the Aiko,He's Gone and Cyrptyical jams. I know everyone has their own opinion but, you should give these ohio 85 shows another listen. As I said before the Dead were like the 85 Bears unstoppable.

When i read the reviews for this show I said, "wow I gotta get this one." It turns out that I already have it. When I found it in my collection I saw that i had written on it "worst show ever." I figured i would give the other reviewers the benifit of the doubt and listen again. maybe i missed something.
I Didn't

I have about 400 Grateful Dead shows and other then Woodstock this is by far the worst show in my collection.

This is not to mention that the source i have is far superior to the one posted.

Well we all see through different mirrors i suppose.

This is the first soundboard I ever got and I wore it out!! I made 4 or 5 copies for myself as I played each till there was nothing left!! I had been to shows and was really into the Dead but this tape got me HOOKED and I finally "Got it". Made me a Brent fan for life!! His keys are my favorite part of this show. If your a Brent fan GET THIS SHOW as well as the countless other shows from this great year! Garcia's vocals are ragged but he makes up for that with his jamming. Great show with a really crisp sound. Brent is just the MAN!! A+

I have yet to find a good SBD of this smokin hot show, there has to be one out there somewhere but where? The AUD tapes sound better but this show has a lot of Healy effects that don't come over as well on an AUD tape. One good thing is you hear Garcia and the vocals in the mix, the bad thing is the "pillow" is covering up the symbols and Phil.

Anyway, if you are not a fan of Healy echo pass this one up. I happen to like that stuff for a change of pace and that's one reason I like this one so much. The whole second set is fun including Bob getting a turn on Aiko and I love the vocal jam at the end of He's Gone. Excellent post drum segment including Comes a Time makes this a must have for '85 fans.

i just had to give this show 5 stars because no one else had. this show is so good from start to finish. first set highlights include one of my favorite minglewoods. the let it grow is also hot. i concur that the second set is where the magic happened. it rained for this show, and the lawn turned into a slippery slope. i think lawn tickets were ten bucks. the dead broke the attendance record at riverbend with 9,000 very satisfied heads

I had a copy of Set II and wore it out. Gald to see it here.

I've always enjoyed the 2nd set of this show. I first got a tape copy of it in high school ('86) and have always liked the clarity and separation of the instruments, especially in "The Other One" (Brent is great!) Jerry's voice is rough, par for the course in '85, but it's better than a lot of other shows from this year. "He's Gone" through the end of the set is a fun ride, with this version of "Wharf Rat" being a personal favorite (again, Brent's keys display remarkable emotion.) A tight and energetic "US Blues" is a nice capper.

One of my favorites from '85.