It is all about the Shakedown and the incredible Space in GDTRFB! Taped the show from the live broadcast using a boombox while we were inside then wore it out over the following months.

Big fan of Let the Good Times Roll
and her more romantic sister-
'Do you want to Dance'

Nice 1st set with blazing
and I mean Garcia blazing Let it Grow!

I saw a comment about Sugar Magnolia but what happened to the Black Peter? It sounds like they just gave up on it???

Always liked how if Garcia
had an issue during a set.
He would do his best to pay audience back double
China>Rider
That is a super huge double shot.

Great Sound on this recording.

"I know you rider"
Last helicopter out of Saigon
April 30, 1975

I like to hear the perspective of young Dead Heads as their perspective is not diluted by their experience at a show or on a
tour, etc. Your point of view is as relevant as anyone else.

My 1st shows were at the Kaiser in March of 88 and these Frost 88 shows were my 2nd set of shows.
Of course, I think these shows sound great.

I find my self enjoying different years, depending on my mood.
I just listened to a Weir, Robinson and Greene at Boulder, Co during 2013 and I think it sounds top notch. So, just trust yourself. "If you get confused, just listen to the music play."

I was on tour in the early 80s too. The way he uses the word "gay" tells you everything you need to know about this schmuck. It sucks getting old huh?

The early and mid 80s were WILDLY up and down. His description of those shows and tours is as disproportionately positive as his opinion of the latter Brent era is negative. I also was at both these and the '85 Frost and sure at least the first night of '85 was better but those shows are NOT flawless and anyone with a decent ear can hear what I mean. The same goes for almost every tour after Spring '77, there are ups and downs, sometimes more up, sometimes more down. There were some crazy great tours in that early Brent era and some monster shows but also plenty that were redundant, sloppy, croaky, sleepy, faded and nodded out...but ya know what, I loved every one I saw and treasured them all.

All that being said, there was a real element of staleness in '88 generally. Especially if you were on tour enough to see exactly how stagnant the song rotation and performance styles were. '87 got by on raw energy; I enjoyed a lot of the '87 shows I saw compared to the '84-86 era especially. But by '88 that energy had flagged, and the creativity hadn't really come back. Did the band getting paid have anything to do with that? Your guess is as good as mine. That creativity returned starting in '89 and was fairly sustained for a year-plus. Talking shit about the insane, brilliant mindfuck that is the Miami Dark Star is not a great way to make yourself look like a clever Deadhead.

As for these shows, the Frost was a magical place that elevated even the mundane to a higher level. I even preferred it to the Greek as it was less of a pain in the ass to deal with getting in and out of. These two nights were well above average for the year and I had quite a good time both nights. China Rider encore is no joke! That didn't happen much!

Four stars for the latter Brent era. Three or so without grading on an era curve. Five for the memories.

this guy is mean there are plenty of hot shows after the coma everyone gets old this show is smokin'

Had a good time at these shows, my last at the Frost, '85 being the first, I wish I had caught the China>Rider opener in '83, but I saw it at the Kaiser at Mardi Gras '86, the only real Mardi Gras shows with Nevilles in tow..following years never captured the spirit and fire of the Feb '86 shows.

Anyway as anyone who was there can tell you, the Dead scene was very broken by Spring '88, the shows were pretty lame generally but the band was tight and that provided a couple of good moments. That was life at the Dead shows after the coma in '86 - instead of blistering tours that got better and better each night with a couple of serious blow-outs along the way - we got a flash of brilliance here and there with generally tame and low energy shows, especially compared to '83-'85. I seem to remember a conscious effort by the band to shorten the shows due to health issues. Even the fall '89 was pretty tame, very short jams and a lot of noise like Miami's Dark Star. Gimme the Glen Falls '82 Playin' any day!

Frost was always special and while these shows lacked the power and grace of '85 (the Scarlet >Eyes was so well-done, the second set second night so exquisite on every level), they were among the best you could get in '88. The Shakedown went in a couple nice directions. Again - nowhere near the monster quality of a Syracuse or New Year's '84 or a Philly or Merriweather '85, but for how they were playing by '88 this is a good Shakedown. (as is 3.30 at Brendan Byrne) The crowd was so gay and stupid by '88 - too many non-Heads, too many people who simply did not get it - and still don't. Even at the Frost. This led to the cheesy scenes at Phish and WP shows. I miss the authenticity and diversity of the real Dead crowd. No gay buzzwords or sayings, nobody trying to act a certain way, no nitrous, it was great. It started to crash and burn spring '86, when that idiot threw a bottle at the stage in Providence during Comes a Time. The decline really picked up steam in summer '86, stadiums, Dylan, non-Heads, Jerry's coma. In The Dark created the whole Touch Head thing which was a disgrace to deal with at shows and the beginning of the final chapter. I had seen over 100 shows by '87 and it was getting hard to deal with, too many changes - most for the worse. Gate crashing? Cops hassling vendors? Nitrous? Where are we - a Springsteen show or the Grateful Dead? That line got blurred by '87 and it was sad to see. Then when the band was banned from the Greek and Frost in '89 it was the end of the world as we knew it, and the Touch Heads were in full force. Then when Brent left us in '90 it was really over, the last 5 years were a formality if that even, just to support people. Us Heads touring pre-'86 coma saw the last great era of a very special band, and we are extremely grateful for that. Great work on the Archive.

1st one ever played

I'm surprised this hasn't had more reviews. It's a very nice performance and although the sound starts off a little unbalanced it just keeps improving. By the time they play Let it Grow it's absolutly stellar.

you can download this show here
http://stash.nugs.net/stash.asp?cmd=shows&artist=1

holy buckets the setlist is really killer. how do i go about downloading. any help would be amazing thanks again archive!!!!ps has the dead ever played let the good times roll before this show?

In the days of the dead flames newsgroup (1993?)somebody mentioned this show and how great Brent sounded. I was in a brent mood and emailed him to see if he might hook me up with a tape. It was one of my favorites for a long time and I wanted to say THANKS to whoever that was that hooked me up. Your generosity was so kind...and the sound quality fantastic.

this show is awesome. i downloaded and it couldn't believe how great the sound was i dont know where i downloaded it though, but awesome china cat, watchtower, hey pocky way and shakedown

This is a really solid show, the likes of which you should download, burn, and listen to repeatedly, because it will fill your life with immense joy. Let the Good Times Roll is always a good way to start a show, and the Stranger to follow is danceriffic. A sweet first set is rounded out by a sweet Let it Grow. Onto the second set, which contains a super cool Shakedown Street which has a jam that makes you go "Huh? I didn't know people still played music this sweet". And a China->Rider encore. Goodness.

In short, don't put this show on unless you have a couple of hours to shake your groove thing, because that's what you will do.

Bobby's guitar malfunctioned during the climax of Sugar Mganolia. You could see that he was very frustrated. I don't know if you have ever seen Bobby pissed off at his equipment, but I have seen him kick his rack more than once, most famously on the pay-per-view broadcast of the Summer Solstice show. So Booby kinda gives up, and they end Sugar Mag very quickly. There is a very long pause before the encore. Usually it's only a few minutes, but today, it was a very long time. I'm sure some wondered if they were coming back at all after Bobby's guitar meltdown. But true to form, the boys returned, and very slowly, started playing a very familiar tune, but there was something wrong. I knew this tune, but it was in the wrong place. I mean, set wise. I was so freaked out, it took me about 30 seconds before I even recognized the tune. China Cat Sunflower. This was the start of the best encore I ever personally witnessed. I just finished downloading it, and I'm already tearing up, thinking that after all this time, I get to listen to this encore again. Oh...and the rest of the show...fantastic...but I'm a Deadhead...