Grateful Dead

received (or registered?) complaints about the Dead's volume (or perhaps a noise curfew violation?) in those July '78 shows and consequently, it seemed to me the Dead decided to intentionally change it up.

As you said, opposed to those raucous July shows, these two August '78 shows were more intimate, even introspective, as they dynamically orchestrated a musical MC Escher evening that featured the breakout of Miracle, Stagger Lee, World to Give, Heart of Me, and Shakedown Street. (* Note the Shakedown Street album wasn't released until November 15, 1978.)

The dynamics of this show included profoundly delicate moments along with the soaring jams and delightful segues from song to song. It was akin to staring into an Escher print deeper and deeper and losing oneself in the intricacy and dizzying depictions of realism contrasted with fantasy, the metamorphosis into Dead's aural precision and chaos, which ignited our introductory tribal stomp to those lilting notes and then lyrics "don't tell me this town ain't got no heart." The next time the Grateful Dead played Shakedown was in Gizah, in front of the pyramids!
Appreciate 1stShow reminder of this shared evening which served to tickle that elusive synapse in recalling those shows that became the soundtrack of our lives.

Love the Rocks and I will always remember my first Red Rocks show (shared with the Dead) which triggered an ongoing pilgrimage for music and magic at this remarkable site.

"The truth is realized in an instant, the act is practiced step by step."

is the perfect term for those two shows.
Quite the contrast from the raucous July shows.
Smaller crowd too as the locals were the beneficiaries of the short notice announcement in the ticket by mail era. Did not sell out.
I feel quite privileged to have seen them.
Thanks for the input you guys!
Cheers

Those August shows had several new songs and these nights seemed to be quite intimate shows (to me, anyway). I thought the Dead were 'test-driving' those new tunes along with emotional preparation in anticipation of their Egypt trip and Pyramid shows.

"Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself."

Yes. They really seemed excited to have discovered Red Rocks with the unprecedented two distinct runs the summer of 78. I agree a mini box set would be great. I did not get to see the first two shows because I was working during the summer of 78 in Washington state, but I was able to go back home late in the summer and thus made it to the August shows. Saw many more over the years, but the first two were special for a variety of reasons.

I keep lobbying for those 2 August '78 Red Rocks shows to be a mini-box (or 4-CD DaP if it would fit). Lots of 1st performances and the rare If I Had The World To Give. So cool that they boomeranged back to Red Rocks after the July shows tour enders. I think they liked it there.
Cheers

I have to agree that what is presented on this release is a fantastic live recording in terms of its sonic clarity. Interestingly, I recently read somewhere that the reason the Dead didn't do much with these shows at the time is due to problems with the miking of Keith's piano. If so, you could not tell it from these recordings. It's also worth noting that Billy was playing with one arm, having broken the other one sometime during the summer. I saw the two Red Rocks shows in late August prior to departure for Egypt. The August 30 show included the breakout of Shakedown Street, which was mind blowing at the time.

Found a copy of this sealed with the bonus disc for a reasonable price on eBay recently. Once it arrived, I popped it into the Blu-ray player and was immediately was stricken with the clarity and beautiful mastering on this release. Seriously. This is not one to sleep on. Easily top 5 clearest live mixes I've ever heard.

The main two CDs are great, and the DVD is perfect for getting the feel of being there at the pyramids in person. The bonus CD is fine, but it is definitely loads weaker and looser in performance than the main material. I will say though, the Estimated -> Eyes is very unique as Eyes is played in a different manner than usual, with the drummers changing the rhythm drastically.

Is the bonus disc worth the eBay scalper price it runs for? Not really. Is it, however, an entertaining listen? Absolutely. I mean, Jerry does stumble over half of Terrapin, but that's not the point. The point is, these guys (and Donna) are having fun on stage in front the literal Great Pyramids.

Rhino. Please put out more CD/DVD combo releases like this out there!

P.S. - Halloween 1980 at Radio City Music Hall deserves this treatment. And, like many have said before me, do it with with Alpine '89!

I love the mix - for all the tracks, really - on Steppin' Out. And although I have the E '72 trunk, when I don't have time for a complete show (i.e. those from England) like for the anniversary yesterday/today, I still reach for disc 3 or disc 4 - which is particularly awesome and always satisfies.

Overall, the Steppin' Out mix has a bit 'broader' sound, with more 'room feel' - at least to my ears. However, I'd say that IF you have the trunk or the all-music edition and full access to all the shows, then you probably don't Need 4 more discs of virtually identical music. But if you're missing any of 4/7, Bickershaw, or the middle 2 Lyceum shows, then I would say you should go for it.

Hope this helps

Does the version on Steppin' Out sound markedly different from the version on the Europe '72 box set? I see they were both mixed by Jeffery Norman but the run times are different. I have the box set, but is it worth buying Steppin' Out?

Hello everyone, just wanted to say that I've been a regular here for years over different accounts I tended to forget the pw's for.
As my title suggests, I'm writing to inquire about something that has puzzled me for some time now. There have been a few releases now (for example, July 1978, May 1977 [the first box, not the one with Cornell], and both the Spring 1990 boxes) for which high res digital downloads were made available either through the dead net website or HDT's, etc. But before long, these would disappear. In some cases these files were commonly considered the best source of the recordings and from what I've experienced I'd agree. Once I upgraded my system and was able to do a direct comparison of the CD's vs the 24-bit files of the Pacific NW box, for example, that was all the convincing I needed. There was no question. That said, there are several releases I missed out on and was hoping someone might point me in the direction of an official source for these files I have otherwise been unable to locate. Any help is appreciated.