Good pre-drums setlist, but a 7:41 Playin' tells you all you need to know about this show. You can pretty much guess it from the year being 1988. 7:50 Sugaree as well. They would just play the songs and get off the stage. Things didn't get jammy again until summer 89 and definitely fall 89, but, alas! I wasn't able to get to many shows and none of the great ones.

Bomber and Swandog's first show. Bomber's 20th birthday and he got a tix from an undercover cop in the parking lot for selling cans of olympia for a dollar before the show. swanny scalped a handicap tix, but we didn't make him sit in the wheelchair section. sat with babs and billy byrne - YO - and swanny fell in love. bomber drove back to rugters - halcion days all around.

The start of "China Cat"... first the spacey tuning. OK. Whatever. BUT then the first Garcia solo, after the first verse: Wow. Really cool. Strange accents all over the place. Somehow he sticks the landing perfectly.

Pure Jerry here.

Keep moving, no highlights

I sang a little while and then flew on.

Good show. Nice matrix recording.

Overall: Great recording. Phil sounds crisp. A little bit better show than the night before, but a less interesting song list.

The scene: Camping in the park across the street from the Spectrum was great. I was running around these shows with a green nitrous canister with a Calvin and Hobbes sticker on it - this was before I put two and two together and got rid of the hippy crack. Larry was the only one left in the bus after a full load at the Landover shows. We also took "Ohm" onboard at some point during these shows and I wound up giving him a ride to the MSG shows as well. I don't know if I ever saw him again after that?

The music: Phil sounds really crisp in the mix at this show, which definitely wasn't always the case in 88. First set is really well played. Everyone sounds on. Bobby and Jerry's intertwining slide guitars on Minglewood cranks things up pretty good. A little polka/circus tuning before Brown Eyes Women, for those of you nerds who pay attention to such things (yes, I'm one of those nerds). Jerry puts some umph into his vocals for Candyman and again for Don't Ease. Second set is all good, nothing spectacular.

This is my favorite 'Believe it or not' it totally blew me away that day and it is also where it fits best in my opinion which is in the Morning Dew slot.

A well-played but pretty standard late-80's show. In retrospect, "Believe it or Not" was something of a highlight, since it never really made it into regular rotation. I remember being at this show, everyone thought the band was breaking out "Gomorrah", because there is some similarity in the opening chord progression.

1st Set: Stormin out of the gate with "Hell." The sound is better than last night but still isn't exploding out of my speakers. It's an easy good time but not a barnstormer. A straight-ahead disappointingly short (under 8 minutes) "Sugaree" follows with some typical Jerry twilling. Choppy yet of course danceable "Minglewood" follows. Good times. Some playful noodling and here's one for all the soft "Brown-Eyed Women" in the crowd. It's fine, but c'mon people, this is Not sharp-hewn from the finest cloth. Funny enough "Uncle" the most played song in Dead history, has the most snap of any song so far. "River"'s nothing special, yet nothing irritating either. "Candyman" envelops us at a slow strut, it's embellished with some lovely Garcia scales in the 3's and 4's. "Queen Jane" is standard whereas "Ease" is fine but too casual for a set ender.

2nd Set: Odd swirling vectors of magnetic strobes precede that famous stand-alone opening riff of "China." (Brent's MIDI synths will soon, only a hint here, add an operatic/symphonic tone that enhances the breadth of the tune.)It's nicely strung along if not bursting with innovative deviations from the formula. Jerry's voice is wavering on the 'northbound train' but he's trying on a kinda generic but steadying "Rider." Without pause, straight into "Playin." Plenty of linear poking into the night by Jerry with soft accompaniments... It settles into a modest "Terrpin." The beast emerges during the metallic outro. Then the members in the forefront back away leaving only the devils onstage to continue their chatter. An overly deliberate "Take you Home" follows "Space." "Watchtower" peters at the start but picks up steam late in the game...as Jerry blows, so does the band. A resoundingly solemn and wizened "Believe" is in the ballad slot. Bobby comes half a round late in the "Sugar" finale. Nothing too demanding for either feet or your head; interesting metal riffing at end though...

The festivities conclude with the namesake of the decent 1990 Denzel Washington Caribbean thriller "The Mighty Quinn."

2 3/4 stars

nice show ! brings back great memories . everyone's right on from the start . killer sound and all around killer jammin' . forgot about that spacey intro to china cat . sick shit ! brent's all over this show and jerry's the driving force this night . one of the good ones . don't pass it up!

peace and jerry on!

I'm glad to see other people feel the same way I feel about this show. The playin was great. One of the few times I stayed for drumz/space. I thought it was my state of mind that made me remember it this way. the crowd vide was the most intense I ever felt at a concert and the band played off of it! the tape really does not capture it very well. Does anyone remember the lightmen in the rafters? that really tripped me out.

Ever been to one of those shows that blew your mind but when you look at the set list it looks really standard? This is one of those shows. It was my first after a 3-year absence (couldn't take the scene in the mid-80s).

Don't let the set list fool you. This one is a screamer!

This show is absolutely solid and a very worthwhile addition to anyone's burgeoning collection. Jerry does not miss a word and Bobby does not squeal or howl even once! All notes are in their right places with fantastic playing by everyone. '88 was a banner year for the boys and this show is emblematic of that golden-or maybe platinum?-era. I give this a 4 stars because of the uneven tracking; in the stream on iTunes, every break between songs happens about 3 seconds into the next tune causing that much of the song to be lost. This is most noticeable on "I Will Take You Home." One other thing-"Believe It Or Not" seems to be Jerry addressing his audience. Just my impression...never heard this one before, good stuff, albeit a bit anticlimactic after a rollicking 2d set.

This was my first show, and have had just a first set tape for years. I wanted to download it here mainly for nostalgia's sake, and curiosity since I have not heard a bit of the 2nd set since that night. Wow! First of all, the sound is great. I tend to find soundboards kind of flat and lacking depth, but not this one. Really good. And the performance is great. Listen for the jam right before I Know You Rider. They play a section just like the transition jam they used to do in the 1974 China/riders. Too bad they didn't go with it and play it out here. Overall, this is a solid show.

A tight show from start to finish with an awesome second set. I was a big fan of Believe it or Not. First SBD I have seen of this.