whole shows only please, I concur with above posts, it's the flow man, cut it up and what have you got? a collection of tunes, without the heart and soul of the performance. What if there was rhino back in bethoven's day, would they edit him also? What i can't figure out is who decides what is edited and what is released, is that person a deadhead? Or a corporate bottom line kinda person? Seems to me that there is alot more desire for complete recordings of shows with all the warts and flubs and misques then "perfect" tunes in a row. In my experience, the inperfection of some tunes only lead to perfection of it later on down the road. I my self would like to hear that progression from inperfect to the sweetness that we all know can be found on almost any recorded dead concert. I don't care if it's SBD or Aud or patched sbd with aud or visa versa, I want all of the magic, not what someone else decides is best for me.

I'm not a purist. Most of my favourite live releases are compilations like Stepping Out and Ladies and Gentlemen..., I've heard few full shows where there weren't at least a few tracks that were skippable, especially in the first set. That said, I do think it's important to put out a full show now and then, especially if it's a 'historic' or legendary gig. Otherwise, if it's just one or several good shows from an under-represented era or an unusual context, a compilation is fine with me. I'm not a dyed in the wool Deadhead though, and I never saw the band live (didn't become a fan until a few years ago), so I might not represent the majority. I understand people who were at the shows sometimes want the whole thing to document the experience, but since I was never at any of them, it just doesn't matter that much to me.