This was my second show, okay I became part of the 'In the Dark' crowd - apologies. the 7th was my first. I drove up from Florida not knowing what to expect. The scene was great and this was one of the smaller venues I attended (Kaiser being the other) in the 80 shows I managed from 87-95. I am glad to see more seasoned heads speak to the strength of the second night. I was blown away by the music, the scene, the whole thing....sure you can relate. In retrospect, I saw the goods this second night...Crazy outta space and Comes a Time...didn't see my second comes a time for 30 shows. Of course scar-fire is tight. I have only 87 on to compare the music to (that I witnessed) but in retro Roanoke was solid. I was 'in' after these two, Landover two months later, Kaiser in November and then 30 shows in 88...so there must have been something cooking at the Roanoke Civic Center those two July nights...!

So for reasons that remain obscure, my friends Human Cake, Drew Boner, and I decided to do all of the East Coast/Midwest GD Summer tour of 1987. At the last minute Drew Boner included two pain in the ass underage girls, one his new girlfriend, and a couple of dogs (the four -footed kind)in our plans. Unfortunately, it was his bus, so our objections to this new arrangement were futile. I ordered most of our tix from GDTS, tho' I'm having trouble remembering how we got our tickets for Roanoke, as these two shows were added late, possibly mid-tour?
The whole tour was a harbinger for what was to come in the future for the Grateful Dead, and in many ways the end of an era. The Alpine shows were their usual bouncy fun. Now it was on to the Stadiums, hmm...We were stopped at the border crossing over from Detroit to Windsor due to border guards' insistence that patchouli was actually hash oil, and thus missed the Toronto show. Strike one. The first stadium show we hit in Rochester was actually quite a good concert, and left us with high hopes for the Dylan and the Dead experiments. Well, the less said about those the better-there were some moments here and there, but both the Dead and Dylan sets were sub-par at best. Top that off with truly obnoxiously rude and unruly crowds at 80,000 seaters, and the concurrent release of "In the Dark" and the scene began to crash and burn. Strike two.
However, tucked away in that turning point in the Dead's history were at least three gems. The Pittsburgh show was excellent, and then the two in Roanoke were equally as good. This night, the second, was truly something special, one of my very favorite shows of the mid-eighties. Truly inspired setlist, excellent playing, high band energy, and the sound system sounded great in a smaller than usual venue. Truly a great time had by all! Highly recommended download.

I havn't written a review on the 'chive in ages, but I keep getting really hung up on this show so I must.
The overall sound and feel of this show is truly unique; people that simply won't bother with certain eras are missing out. While there isnt much in the way of incredibly exploratory jams, there are plenty of great high-energy moments, esp scarlet>fire, and others already mentioned. Love this Dupree's, lyric flub and all.

However, for me, the true power of this show comes through in the way Jerry delivers the slower, heavier songs of the show: he's gone, crazy fingers, comes a time, black muddy river. Especially on Comes a Time, his soloing and singing is haunting, even depressing, but at the same time has this palpable uplifting sense that "its all OK". Something about a man that has been a full blown drug addict for around a decade, an infamous spiritual leader to a generation for two decades, and nearly died of a diabetic coma the year prior singing and playing this way just knocks me on my ass... heavy sh*t, people!

Jerry had this uncanny and unrivaled ability to create these incredibly powerful, nigh-spiritual musical moments without really expending a lot of his own physical or mental energy; but rather, just by being himself...or showing us that side of himself.

This show provides a treasure trove of these "Jerry moments". Truly classic and timeless stuff.

I was there for both nights - and what a run. This show in particular was spectacular, literally from first to last note.

This was right when the Dead released In the Dark - I mean right then - so I remember a bunch of people going to some event at their hotel, and a guy showing me a copy of In the Dark signed and given to him by Mickey. Kind of the Golden Age, before all hell broke loose with the MTV/Touch of Gray fans that busted the scene at its seams.

I have deep deep memories of these summer shows, starting in the early 80s through, say, 89. And as I said: these two were a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

My girlfriend went to Virginia Tech - we dosed then got a ride from some other heads to the shows, taking bong hits in the back seat of the car as the driver raced like a madman over the rolling hills of Virginia. I literally felt transported into the opening scene of the Grateful Dead. It was one giant hallucination of light and speed and music and nervous energy.

We were high then entire run. First night we climbed into the arena's cage-like wall covering and actually watched a good part of the show from the ceiling, looking down on the band.

This night, we dosed heavily and it was a peak for me in more ways than I can describe. Back then everyone wanted to hear Dark Star. Always, always, always. "Play Dark Star." After experiencing the first to last notes, it dawned on me that Dark Star was entirely unnecessary - that everything important and good about that song had leaked out of it into the playing of these cosmic cowboys. That, regardless of the names of the songs, the entire show had in fact been one giant Dark Star. Liftoff achieved - velocity achieved - next stop, Pluto.

When you are as high as that, and you hear Comes a Time, you never forget it.

During drums, my girlfriend and I went under the bleachers - why? Dunno. It was like entering another world. I saw crazy fairy tale animals dressed in medieval costumes, including a fox-like creature that guided people between worlds, like a Robin Hood character.

During space, we sat crossed legged facing each other, hands together, waving in a timeless cosmic wind.

High as kites. I will never forget it. One of my favorite shows of all time.

God bless the Grateful Dead. There has never been anything like them; never will be again.

this was a treat to listen to, wish i was old enough to have been there. Dupree's is great, don't know to many live performances of that song. Sugaree is magnificent, and even though i'm not that much a fan of the song, hell in a bucket was also great. The highlight for me was the scarlet>Fire. Listen to Jerry rip!
Peace!
~^|\_@|@_/|^~
~<->/<->\<->~

this was a 20th birthday show for me and the trip there and the shows were incredible ,i had seen about 50 shows at this point and i kept thinking to myself is it the fact that a lovely girl gave me a free ticket or is it the liquid i took or is this one of the most spectacular performances the dead has ever done or what jerrys guitar playin seemed flawless the vocals were spot on ill never forget it 23 years later and its still etched in my memory like it was last week

I was there, tooling down w/Tom from Rutgers via Pittsburgh in my ancient '72 Hornet with a c-clamp holding the broken motor mount together, taking the slow twisty roads up and down through the mountains, finally reaching Roanoke....what a set of shows!! The people going crazy during Fire that one of the other reviewers was everybody's reaction to Jerry's flying, fanning hands during that solo....he was RIPPING and everyone just grooving on it goin' "Holy Sh*T!!!"
...at least that was my interpretation of it.....after the show we waited for the hood of the car to stop lookin so wavy and then hit the long road back North....I enjoyed these two shows more than the Pittsburgh or most of the surrounding Dead/Dylan shows...they were well played, and there was less than 50,000 people there....

I'm not a huge fan of this recording, it's eq-able to "decent" & thus the 4 stars. The show itself I love. I'll have to go hear the Beyer version, FYI I am about to seed the Miller sbd that just surfaced, over on bt.etree.org.

I second every positive thing written about this show. The energy was utterly volcanic, absolutely the highest of all the shows I saw. For me the highlight was actually Crazy Fingers, not the epic S>F or wonderful Comes a Time. There were only a couple space > Fingers shows and the other I know of has terrible vox. This one is very well done and makes a great transition from space. Down on the floor our hands were all covered in glowstick juice - yes, now I know it's toxic - making crazy fingers, floating in air...

Thanks to other reviewers Brucejuice, Neumanfish, and others for providing background and setting for this fine show.

As for the lack of bass and the boominess of this recording I suggest you run this show through maximum amplification to at least two major speakers. Dial up bass. Use your loudness feature. Check your volume knob. If you can't turn it all the way up, there's something wrong with your hand. Honor the music with quality stereo and by all means please share the gift of high decibels with your friends and neighbors.

My college roomate turned me onto the Boys with this show and the one from the night before. Before getting put in a dorm room with him I had never heard the Grateful Dead other than Truckin' and Ripple on the radio. It didn't take long to discover that, yeah, these guys are cool. Thus began the downward spiral in my college GPA and the upward movement on my car's odometer. It was all worth it!

When I found this site, this was the first show I got and the 7/7 show was the next one. I had long since had my tapes of them eaten, respliced and eaten again so I was very happy to get new copies. The Scarlet/Fire and Crazy Fingers are both what I judge other versions by because they are truly epic. A must have...yeah, I am biased but trust me, you won't be disappointed.

I love when he broke out that preacher shit. You didn't hear him get like that too much in the earlier part of the 80's. He was getting more wild vocally in the 87-90 period. I guess the new guy stuff was finally wearing off.

I wasn't lucky enough to have been there, but this has been one of my favorite shows for years. Garcia is just pearlin' it! Pure beauty.

Certainly one of the best shows I ever saw. I really think the move into the stadiums hurt the band's performance and the fans experience. It was great to see them in a little out of the way venue. We had 2nd level seats opposite the stage on the back wall and they were fantastic seats.

Smokin Sugaree! The band must have been casting glances at each other, 'what got into Jer?"

As for Roanoke - "In an apparent drug related incident, a naked man dove through the window of a police cruiser." That came from the local newspaper at the end of a paragraph describing various schenanigans including the placement of soap in the town fountain. The bubbles you know.

>was anyone else at the days inn motel?

My bro and I were there!! lol. what a great time. That poor little town took a major beating :)

it's true that 87 was not the most "jammin'" year, but this show testifies to its power. well played, concise. and this was one of the shows where it seemed like EVERYONE was tripping. was anyone else at the days inn motel? it was an all-night party with maynard the security guard (or whatever his name was) being real uptight about what we were up to, including someone's dog jumping in the pool. he calmed down real quick when someone started playing "me and bobby mc gee" on acoustic guitar and a kumbaya singing circle started. he got that far-away look in his eye, sang along, and the rest of the night was ok.

the sound quality is ok here, crisp but not enough bass and a little distant. could be the hall.

jboy, keep your dayjob.

My favorite show. I've had this source for a while, and I love it. However I just got the other available source (Beyers), and on first listen it sounds clearer and less boomy than this source. Either way it's a great show!!

Wow this was a great show, the Let it Grow was hot to end the first set. The scarlet>fire was hot! Great song selection out of space, was this the Sugar mags where Bobby went on top of the speakers? I had a very ragged copy of the second set, can't wait to hear this one. This show and the Toronto show were the highlights of the tour for me. Wowsa!

Beautiful and Masterful Dead. I absolutely love hearing how silent the crowd is for the comes a time. IMHO, this is one of the best back stretches the Dead ever pulled off in the 80's. This is actually a very good sounding audience as well. 4 star show, 4 star sound.

1st Set: Some fiddling about, and everyone knows we're in for a "Hell"ish ride. Bobby's spewing out convincing venom; it's a good version. Its lifemate "Sugaree" follows in a solidly constructed version that contains plenty of this week's 'humph.' Kinda a fetal, hesitant groove opens up the first "All Over Now" in a while. It's giddily pleasant, but not a keeper like some barn-burning ones in spring '79. "Dupree" has got some unqiue 7/8 (?) percussive progressions, and wah-wah Jerry that elevates this one out of the 'standard.' Funny bit where Jer loses himself; btw, when's the last time they played this golden nugget? "Good Times" sounds akin to an individual angrily mourning a lost love. "Masterpiece" is hopeful. The opening chords of "Big" are always a 'call to attention.'It's brisk, but not 'attent' hut,' the whole time. Hmmm...wonderful call with "Let." Jerry's notes at 3:00, wonderful cohesive jamming at 6:20-6:50, Brent's timing 9:50-10:30, are all hilites. This song has just the loveliest end perfectly accenuated by the fact that it's played most often at the end of first sets.

2nd Set: Hmmmm...this is the intro to the 2nd, and the crowd is already unfied in a "NFA" handclapping chant?! Will that tale be told...stay tuned and find out. Silence, band on stage, audience tense over what selection will be offered after a 45 minute wait. Certainly, to some, prayers were answered by the ease Jerry has constructed "Scarlet's" timeless opening chord melody. Jerry's filling the crowd with tizzies during his twisting work 2:50-3:20 into "Fire."I want to be at Roanoke Civic Center 5:35-6:00 where there's a curiously incredible burst of energy. Three rims sounded for a nanosecond, akin to a transference into "Playin..." nahhh...it's those wacky voices again. Totally hot 2:50-3:35, though Jerry's transitional notes are not effortless...you can feel him glaring down at his stroke-afflicted 'retooling/relearning' fingers... That being said, 4:25-5:05, there's power exacberated by the maestro's behind the skin. Everyone kinda is subliminally prepared for the descent into "He's Gone" so no surprise that there's hand-clapping when it's arrival is pronounced. One cannot escape the vocally gruff solemnity. "Drums/Space" are what they are... Hmmmm, what a great call. Instead of veering towards the minor-league "OO" we've been accumstomed to recently receiving, they take a pastoral detour through your "Crazy Fingers." It's only decent but suffiently sad, and twirlicious from 6:50-7:30. Oddly silent, but the rave-up to "Truckin" immediately makes its presence felt. Not overwhelmingly powerful, but certaining interesting when Bobby purposefully stutters his way to "Get out of the door...Sometimes the lights..." Another delicacy is put forth with "Comes" which is touchingly felt. Bobby is rock-star center with a joyous "Sugar."

Tonight's encore is of the summation variety. Since new songs have not been plentiful tonight, it should come as no shock that we'll walk along the "Black Muddy River."

Another very fine gig at 3 1/2 stars, rounded up to 4. (If these were the final shows in Roanoke, they went out 'on top.'

As a side note, I've been to Roanoke once, in 1998 to welcome DMB back on the road as it was the opening show of the "Before these Crowded Streets" tour. The show was negatively memorable for the overcast then downpouring skies, and the unruly and physical crowd who chose to mosh during "Two Step." Suffice to say, despite these 18 year old shows, there's very little drawing me back to the Southern Virginia territory. (It's so far from urban civilization.)

Maybe the best of 1987? This show gets slept on due to all that Dylan and Neville bros stuff the summer of 87.
This venue is so small!! Almost like winterland. For me, this one and the 2nd two Greeks are the highlights of the year.

I started listening to the Dead in 1980 at the insistence of my Uncle Frank. I was 11. And I was hypmotied. Frank started supplying me with shows when I was a youngster - and I was hooked.

But 8 July 1987 was my first show - and I'll never forget it. By a fluke, Ticketron accidentally started selling tix about a month before they were supposed to - and I happened to be in a mall right by a booth when they put up the sign in my hometown of Lynchburg, VA. Got front row center. Wrote a bad check and had to beg my sister for funds to get into the bank before it cleared. She saved the day.

The show was unstoppable. But I wasn't. Smoked far too deeply on something passed through the row - and had to be lifted out during the first set by many friendly heads. Back in action about 20 minutes later - but it was scary going for a while. If you were there, you might have seen my scrawny ass being handed over people in the front.

What a show, though. Utterly amazing. Granted, I'm biased, but wow. What fun. So glad to find it online. Peace.

So it is very hard to make the statement I have, there are so many shows but I have to rate the energy at this show as the highest, The civic center is a 10,000 seat theater which was one of the smallest they played west of CA. We had been waiting for the Scarlet/Fire for two weeks since the Canada shows. It was a hot weather tour with many of us looking a little baked. I remember this day well. Heads were everywhere trying to get tickets, the holiday inn across the street was like a triage center of people taking baths in the bathroom & basically creating havoc due to the mass amount of people showing up without tickets. I would say this is when I noticed this problem for the first time. East coast shows are more aggressive in nature & sometimes much bigger shows in number of songs & sometimes energy. We were sitting stage right just about level with Brent. The stage was small & the mezzanine came almost to the back of the anvil cases which were behind the amps. I mean you could jump down onto the stage. The first night a jerry walker was standing on these anvil cases above Jerry & we just watch this guy for 5 minutes until stage hands realized he was there & tackled him & dragged him off to the worst show of his life.
They opened up this show nicely; we knew we were looking a big show from the line up the two weeks before. The energy was so high in the audience, it seemed the right people made it in & were all focused on the band. The energy in turn fed the band & provided the catalyst for a splatter show. Jerry was so on, period; he looked great & had woken up on the right side of his buzz that night. The DupreeÃÂs & the Big Railroad blues were hard to see & most welcome. I remember the Let it Grow having allot of flowing energy & making us quite happy. Second set is when it all happened. The lights went down & the boys took the stage fiddling around with their instruments in the usual way, jerry looking at bobby, Brent & jerry smiling, Phil looking around then jerry started the Scarlet & the place exploded with cheers. We were so pumped, as the Scarlet progressed after each verse the crowd cheered. You can here this in the audience tape of this show & was the only time I remember this happening. The cheers went on for sometime until the middle eight of the song & this pumped up the band, On one of these cheers I remember Jerry looking over his shoulder at the crowd & shaking his head then looking at Bobby. They knew we were ready & they brought their A game. JerryÃÂs lead in the Scarlet was right on no hesitation big powerful leads with chords added allot of dynamic & increased the energy until they created the music entity we know as "the dead". The next songs fell into place well Fire was great with an echo on the back wall of the hall. Estimated had allot of power & into a slow down of HeÃÂs Gone was still refreshing & helpful. Coming out of space we had a hard time getting a handle on the next tune. Jerry went into Crazy Fingers which was strange out of space & very ethereal. Bobby next took us into truckin with bobby stuttering through some of the verses which really help push the energy of the song exponentially into a jam; as the song wound down we heard the smokestack lighting but was quickly retuned into what sounded like wharf rat but turned into the last Comes a Time with Brent This was so sweet. The place became very quite as Jerry took us to this special place in his repertoire of music. Everyone caught their breath & just let Jerry tell us this story. I look at my friend, Karen, as the Comes A Time was ending & she just looked at me & said ÃÂSugar MagÃÂ, IT was a jamming Sugar Mag & we ended the show on such a high note. The encore was Black Muddy River, which at the time wasnÃÂt such a let down as some think. They hadnÃÂt been playing it long & we enjoyed so much before it that I didnÃÂt notice. Great Show with Great friends. May the Meatless Hotdog People Live long & Prosper!

this is great stuff - think the scarlet>fire is great but not in the top 10 three are so many better versions that said there are some really nice points and the second set in particular is hot although i liked the all over now and let it grow. 4+/5-... not sure what was happening in the crowd that night but boy were they into it...

I have been waiting to get a hold of a clean copy of this for a long time. It's a power show... At least check it out. Highlights: Entire second set... Excluding black crappy river...
Craig in SF

wow!! what a great show there is so much energy. I had a tape of the second set and its is one my favorite tapes ever. Scarlet Fire is one of the best of the 80s maybe the best ever. Garcia is hitting every note and so is the rest of the band. do yourself a favor and download this show.