Grateful Dead 10-18-83 Cumberland County Civic Center Portland Maine

[gts9ae]

there was an evolution going on there too. He wasn't the same player in 84 as 82. Or 83 versus 85. In general, technically speaking, he was getting better and better as those years went by. But that climbing higher basically ended with the coma. Sure, he was more lucid afterward, but he had lost something as a player. That said, there is still lots of good stuff in 87/88.

[gts9ae]

I agree 100% with Jerry being a slightly diminshed player after 86 and the coma. He was really getting somewhere in the early 80s as a player, finding spots in very old tunes where he would add new ornamentations, fills and note clusters. When he is on from 80-84, and 85, it is some of the sharpest, hottest garcia there is.

[flazjsg]

I didn't care for the late 80s shows much at all. Big venues. Too many Dylan covers and I wasn't a big fan of a lot of the newer Dead material. Jerry's playing IMHO wasn't as good as it was in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Yes, Jerry was generally more coherent, but he wasn't exactly sober in the late 1960s and early 1970s and no one complains about that era!

[theMNjeddler]

I have a suggestion for being annoyed by the camerawork. I will often put on a show, and then open another window and do other 'stuff ' and just listen to the show. We know what they look(ed) like, and that way you can througholy enjoy the show with no "issues" Just thought I'd put that out there! Happy listening ev'rybody.

[hillbillymalfunction]

do you have any glens falls, or syracuse warmem.? or santa fe.

[voodoonola]

@hillbillymalfunction

Only one:

youtube.com/watch?v=Lrkl_2Ku5z­U

I would love to get Syracuse '84 if anyone has it. I was on the floor that night and the bombs shook my core something crazy.

[caspersvapors]

im both grateful for this footage and annoyed. you see this is one of my favorite versions of althea and the fact that dude zooms all the way out during one of his most firey solos just kills me.

[LoloYodel]

lastly, thanks to Thalin for that video stabilisation cause before it was tortuous.

[voodoonola]

@LoloYodel I spent a whole day deshaking it because I couldn't watch it at all. Awesome tool.

[LoloYodel]

... and the music spoke for itself. Having said that, we ALL have our periods of "down".  But, in the end, Jerry brought infinitely more light than darkness.

[LoloYodel]

Indeed a wake up 'round 56:00.... but it's still painful to watch someone play, crouched over himself, looking at his shoelaces... Pyschiologically, it's not "normal" ! as usually a healthy man looks straight towards the horizon. The playing may have been convenient, or raucaus, but still not luminous. Thats one of the reasons why 1982 to 1987 (ok, a few exceptions) was just not an exemplary period for the GD. I mean, man, just look at Jerry, physically, in 1989 ! THERE, present, straight and

[mijknahs]

@LoloYodel

Jerry also didn't rip in '89 like he did in '82-'83. Even if his stage presence was affected , I don't think his hands were affected. Some of the most smokin Supplications are in '82. Just spot on inspired. Things just got more tame after the Coma in general I thought.

[flazjsg]

@mijknahs You make a great point. No one talks about the coma and how it affected Jerry's playing. Listen to the stuff he plays on the JGB Rosemont show from 1983. During "Harder they Come" he just peals chorus after chorus of ridiculously incredible solos. He had a touch that really was reaching fruition and then it took quite a few steps back. The playing was so unpredictable, yet just right. My jaw still drops listening to his playing then.

[mijknahs]

@flazjsg

I think you mean the Roseland Ballroom shows from 1983. Some of my favorite JGB tapes! 5/31/83 and 6/1/83. Smokin!

[flazjsg]

@mijknahs Yeah - Roseland!!! I wasn't there, but wow! I'm no Dead expert, but Garcia was on! At his best he was so damn articulate, great tone/sound; he toyed with the tempos, had an amazing vibrato and didn't just put one note in the pocket, he put them all there while setting up more pockets! Sorry folks, but Charlie Parker played some of the best solos known to man while he was pretty damn out of it. Garcia may have been a mess, but he was playing guitar for the ages.

[flazjsg]

@LoloYodel Jerry had a lot of issues in the early 1980s. And I know most Dead experts talk on and on about 1972 - 74, 77 etc... But drugs affected the band from its inception to its end. Those long shows of 73/74 were cocaine driven. I like '72. But put a microscope to those blown out long shows and there are clunkers left and right. Very overrated. They could barely get through Eyes w/o messing it up.Mistakes were more glaring in the 80s cause the songs were more compact.

[klaussmith]

Thanks, great post. Any more from the Fall 83' tour? 

[voodoonola]

@klaussmith youtube.com/watch?v=LbuDu3OnMr­4

[voodoonola]

Supplication 52:40

[voodoonola]

@voodoonola Garcia wakes up 56:58