I love this spanish jam/other one themed space that made many appearances that year including the Hartford St Stephen show the following month. Lots of good stuff to hear in this show but the austerity of the sbd leaves me wanting a bit more warmth.

Both days in Santa Fe were exceptional actually. And the mix of the band is perfect. Phil in particular; his tone is just flawless! Earthy, wooden, warm, with exceptional clarity. The first set contains my favorite China Rider. Garcia's guitar playing chops in '83 really stepped up a notch as he neared his apex in '85. I wasn't at these shows. Too bad.

actually, besides the awesomeness of the surroundings,i dont remember much except when Phil had a sombrero on during i know you rider, pretty surethats what i saw anyway...i thought it was gonna fall off or mess up his playing but it didnt,the crowd was getting off on that ,yet bobby didnt know/see what was happening(he was at the mic) and i think it tripped him out wondering .....the cold rain encore i remember ,so killer,colors ,etc.......oh theres a wang dang in ther e too,maybe the nxt night.....great double dose of Sante Fe......the (some)Fiesta was also happening i think at this time in town......ole !!!!

Hey, thanks for reminding me about the rainbow! I guess My fiasco with my bags etc., caused me to forget about the more important fun memories like that. In any case, this pair of shows is definitely one of my all time favorite weekends. This and the next day were some of my favorites. I used to have tapes but they got snagged, so I haven't heard this in quite awhile. Nevertheless, I remember it well!
I'm not normally the type to rave over generic stuff such as "China Cat Sunflower" -> "I know You Rider" etc. however, like most of you I saw many other good and not so good ones; this was one of the most raging versions I ever saw!
Amongst other things, ("The Music Never Stopped", that for example aren't quite as generic); "My Brother Essau" although it was becoming, increasingly common by this point I still wasn't tired of it. Moreover, despite having seen "China Doll" at Ventura and the Greek, that and "Goin' Down the Road feeling Bad" was welcome instead of other more generic stuff.
One could never tell from the recording, and it may seem like a bummer, yet it struck me as sort of funny in their unpreparedness; that is, I strongly suspect this must have been one of the longest breaks they've ever taken, in hopes of avoiding rain! You see the funny thing was that given they'd just played Red Rocks and were still near the Rockies, but didn't have a roof/awning over the stage! (I didn't go to Red Rocks that year but I did two different sets of years before and one afterwards). Everyone was observing the oncoming clouds which were rather difficult to judge if it was going to rain or not? So as a cloud would approach the roadies put what little plastic sheeting they had over the equipment. Yet, repeatedly it may or may not have rained just as little occasionally, hence they would uncover the equipment and naturally we greatly anticipated the return of the band! Except to everyones dismay this pattern kept repeating itself, over and over several times. They just coludn't quite guess if it was safe to start again?
This is somewhat strange given their past perseverance in the rain at various localities including Red Rocks and other places across America and Europe. At the worst of the actual rain, we fans could hang back under the horse race track grandstand! Of course, eventually they came back with a lot of steam, given such a long rest!
Another, strange thing that led me to meet the band again (since I already had before (not to brag) more than once and later on too), Southwest Airlines misplaced in both directions, my backpack, so in order to retrieve it after it was returned from it's unscheduled detour to Dallas the first time around, I was told to go to a certain hotel. This turned out to be the one the band was at. It was Mickey's 40th(?) birthday and a little tipsy! Its a longer story but it was funny yet I'm sure not the first time, as I observed this time that a hotel employee wasn't familiar with them and so didn't recognize Weir etc.!
I asked Mickey what had happened to the Steel drums he used to use back in '78, to which he replied that "they were to delicate to take on tour". (Although he did not too long later pull them out again briefly) as well as using the bellafon (spelling ?) some more, only to then again replace them both woth digitally sampled/synthesized imitation percussion devices! Obviously technology had finally progressed enough by that point to where this was good enough! (Unlike earlier, where in an interview in 1979 Bill Kreutzmann said that the didital stuff wasn't good enough yet.)

is great! Jerry sounds great and the Bobby & Brent dominated jam after is worth a listen.

SF 83 was special in allways..from the Fort Courage-style perimeter fence to the plethora of roses attached to virtually every surface at the joint. My anticipatory vibe after the wonders of Red Rocks was confirmed when Wavy greeted us at the desert camp entrance, clown-like..flirting with my girlie at the van window and selling us our tickets ($13). He then directed us to the 'quiet side' and 'noisy side' of the camp area. Soon we were ensconced in the sage, quiet side. There's something about the sound...the "air" one might say..of the various SF 83 audience tapes. They are unlike any auds out there. There's a certain discernability among the instruments..a sort of non-linear headroomyness about them. Special in allways. And was that Ken K in the straw hat at the FOH booth? I say it was. Props to Healy for letting me ducktape my mics to the soundboard scaffold, 12 feet apart. I ain't sure but it sure seems like them was the dayz, ya know?

truly full, strong playing...epic music/tleo, et al beat it brr!!!!early lesh singing...awesome china doll!!! green chiles....tetras.....!@ great second nite, h/s/f/let it grow...massive shit!

After China Doll.
killer show with Cold Rain encore.

caught both of these extraordinary showz. recieved a tarot death card from a wandering angel in the onsite campground the night before, passed out from intensity(akind friend's fungus amongus)at the other ONE's start and I woke up to another angel trying to lay a red rose on my dreamstate body; boy did I get up and boogie my _ss when that passed! Truly a magical place. perhaps there was too much power? - The boys never returned;(

Nice first set, boys!

I first acquired this audience tape back in the early 90's...and it still doesn't dissapoint - an oft. overlooked show! Check it out - the Music Never Stopped is just killer. They Love Each Other - ahhhh - Jerry's solo so so killer. Spot on. Every note! Spot on. Really nice! You can FEEL the energy - the great, outdoor, super siked energy eminating from the music / crowd.

Although not top notch, this is a very decent, warm audience recording.

The Big Railroad Blues - this is a CHARGIN' band. They just keep goin' towards the last verse! Just mashin'! The China > Rider is wild. The Mingelwood. WOWZA. Looook out! Just do yourself a favor - put on some nice headphones and check this out...anybody else have suggestions on shows this chargin', please...let us know.

Perhaps one of the most under rated - overlooked shows of '83.

As yes "Dead at the Downs". Formerly an upstate NY resident, I moved to Albuquerque to study computers. I had only seen the Dead indoors before. Was I in for a treat...This show revived my lust for dead shows, which was followed by a fifteen year stint on the Central coast of California, where I mini-toured each summer!
I was so very Grateful to find this recording!

What's missing from the previous reviewers description of this show was what happened during the second set. The rain that had been approaching from behind the audience during the first set had finally come during the break and blew away behind the band during the second set. With the sun going down behind us (the audience), a perfect rainbow started to appear behind the band just as drums began. As Mickey took his birthday drum solo, the rainbow got more and more intense, morphing into the most amazing double rainbow I've ever seen. With each blow on Mickey's drum, it got more and more intense, and the crowd was truly losing it. I would have thought it was "something I ate" but the crowd was more worked up that I've ever seen during drums, so I'm sure it wasn't a hallucination. Finally, as Mickey wound down his solo, the rainbow started to break up as the other band members worked their way back on stage. Far and away the most memorable experience of more than 60 shows I've seen. Gives me goose bumps just to think about it. And makes me think that the Dead really were blessed by a higher power. Truly a sublime moment. At one point I had a recording of the show and you could hear all the whoops and hollers during drums, although I'm not sure if you can hear it here or not.

OK, I wasn't at this show but I did have the tape and pictures. The most memorial part is Phil during the encore wearing this huge novelty cowboy hat and stepping up to a microphone for the first time in years to add a harmony vocal at the end of Cold Rain and Snow. The rest of the show was good but nothing else really stands out.