started by Birdsong1969NJ

I've been PM'd to put the Merriweather 6-30-85 vine up, so with great excitement I am offering it up.

I understand that sources and generations are an important and fun part of why people collect these live recordings. We are always searching for better sound. Hell, the Dead were too. (Sorry Phil!) I just want to say for me, the most important part of these recordings are the content; the show, the music, and the people.

I will be the first one toss my originals out the window when a better recording shows up, but until then, I can always hear the most Earth shattering, bone crunching "Shakedown Street".

"You think you've seen this town clear through.
Well, well, well, you can never tell.
Nothin' here that could int'rest you. Well, well, well, you can never tell.
It's not because you missed out on the thing that we had to start.

Maybe you had too much too fast. Maybe you had too much too fast.
Or just over played your part.

Enjoy

I noticed that the 7-1-85 Merriweather Post show is on the vine so I'd like to add the previous night.

This east coast swing of the 85 summer tour was a fantastic run. I believe it was the tour the band really noticed that the audiences on the east coast they were attracting were too big for a lot of the amphitheater venues they were playing like the Post, and Spac. At Spac the second level looked like a building swaying in star studded movie "Earthquake". On this recording If you listen carefully between "Sampson" and "Gimmie Some Lovin'" you can hear a conversation I believe between Phil and Jerry commenting on the size of the crowd, and as an attendee of this show I can vouch that there were too many people for the enclosed venue. People were going over the fence in waves.

The energy of this enormous crowd was blisteringly high. I think the band played to that energy and it produced the most rocking Shakedown I ever heard. The Dead played with an edge you could only get on the east coast (Which is why a lot of Deadheads never left Cali!). I was on the straw covered lawn front and center for the second set. The 4 way kicked in about 1/2 way through "He's Gone". I remember being covered with about 4" of dust and praying for a drink of water (which magically appeared).

GOOD TIMES! Enjoy

SBD?>DAT>CD

Merriweather Post Pavilion
Columbia, MD
Date 6/30/85 - Sunday
One: Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo > C C Rider > Brown Eyed Women ; Mama Tried > Mexicali Blues ; Keep On Growing ; Big Railroad Blues ; Looks Like Rain > Don't Ease Me In

Two: Shakedown Street > Samson And Delilah ; Gimme Some Lovin' > He's Gone > Cryptical Envelopment > Drums > Space > The Other One > Stella Blue > Around And Around > Sugar Magnolia
Encore U.S. Blues