some of the most atrocious slide playing on Minglewood and Rooster. learning how to play slide in front of a sold out crowd is not the way to do it. almost as bad as Donna Dogchow's singing.

I'm a little surprised more reviewers have not commented on the rockin' China-Rider - fast, furious and smokin and the transition is smooth, sweet and flawless.

Yes we know about the monumentous barn burners.

Sometimes you have explore or delve into the lesser known performances to broaden and appreciate the full spectrum of what the band brought from night to night.

Are there better shows? who am I to judge but I will tell you about this gem of performance from any year.
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A strong first set beautiful peggy-o, and Quality China Rider.

Second set has a rare birdsong that is extended nicely. The Jam before drumz is Spacy with tight interplay by the drummers.

Jerry is playing unique bluesy chops during NFA, which is the highlight of the show for me. He may have been adjusting his gear because, but keeps coming back with some fierce extended noodleing.

The whole show rounds out nicely with this signiture punchy Fob sound.

get it

The first set has some moments, but, honestly the rest is just not that good. Some moments of hope but in the end, it's phoned in. I'm sure that it was fun being there, but there are so many much better shows.

I was in Austin for the '85 show, my good tour buddysaw this show and the kille r'82 show as well as '85. '85 was special for teh She Belogs to Me encore., another story for anothr day. The '81 sumemr tour was great, Id say the best shows if the year along with nassau in may and teh Greeks in September. The econd set begionning ahs some very nice imoprv and an unusual combintion. As ritten here already the jack Straw smokes, although some of the other reviewers re fawinign a bit toomuch, a very nice Straw but best ever? That is impossible to deteermine. ome oif te '78's were more fierce. Depends on whatyou want in a Straw. And the uy below whowas talking about the "epic" in lewiston Maine it was 9/6/80, not 9/4/80, and I recommened that show also,know many people who were there. Good seeing a forum with minimal Touch Heads!

hey now !! lets give brent some credit too !!!he plays some nice key/synth fills all over the place-luv this 'in yo'face'aud-peace

So I'm a sucker for these hurt your face so good recordings. Sometimes you know its gotta be heaven! I'm rotfl (hehehe) becuase I keep imagining Jerry is the dentist gently cleaning gods (giant sleepy green aligator)teeth. He hooks it, then rubs it, then picks it, then pats it. See nice and clean and ohh ohh so pain free. Hope you're feeling it too. Look out all you squint eyed heads out there in digitalspace, this ones coming on in!

r u crazy saw some of the best shows in 81 on the east coast nassua in ny wow

This show is the most special of all for me because I proposed to my wife during the Space jam. 27 years later, it's still the coolest thing when we tell people we were engaged at a Dead show on the 4th of July.

Man, the Jack Straw was legendary (best ever). Bobby (consciously)inserting "T for Texas, T for Forth of July" made this one for the ages, however, it was Jerry's guitar riff after the boys utter the words "Jack Straw from Wichita cut his buddy down" that was so strong (I have never heard it so brazen and right on) that I believe it surprised the entire band. Surprised them so much that you can actually hear them laughing about it as they continue singing "dug for him a shallow grave and laid his body down". It was a surprising and electric event for the crowd AND the band that I have never heard repeated, EVER! Simply the best Jack Straw ever.

Bobby may have screwed up the most important lyrics of the day but he sure as hell made up for it. This Jack Straw is hot, IMO, the best. Sure you can say that Jerry rips on the January 1979 shows but Bobby and the rest of the band rip in unison on this one, I love the energy. This show, and in particular that one song, were really what turned me onto the dead a couple years ago.
You can download the SBD at bt.etree.org. If anyone knows of a Jack Straw with this much energy please let me know, I have looked long and hard for another show where Bobby tears it up like this with no luck.

A very nice audience recording of a jumping show. A sweet audeince tape such as this evokes the feeling of being in that huge sea of humanity in contrast to the earphone quality of a top notch soundboard. Agreed that Bobby Ace is at the top of his game. With its free-wheeling yet super-tight playing, this performance is reminiscent of the fabulous 9/4/80 Lewiston, Maine epic The song selection shows considerable overlap, though Austin, in my opinion, doesn't quite reach the stellar accomplishment from Lewsiton. But if you like to go back and remember what a hot day in the sun with 10+ song first sets and core repertoire second sets (narrower song selection, sometimes more patchwork in the songs chosen as well as the transitions between them, but fewer later day cover-songs and high tech space distractions like Bralove and the midi-stuff), this show will not dissapoint. P.S. - I give only five star ratings because a) as one a kind experiences, how can a Dead show be less than perfect, much less superiot/inferior to another?; 2) I'd rather use words than numbers to convey the diffrences I see between performances; and 3) who the hell am I to criticize the Grateful Dead for their musical achievement? If a get on an airplane with Chuck Yeager, you can bet your ass that he's gonna be the pilot!!!!!

81 wasn't a great year, but this show sparkles. This 4th of July show was one of those rare shows when the whole band was up, WAY up. For my tastes, the tempos this day were too fast and the playing too sloppy, but Bobby was definitely getting off! Its a fun show to party to. This AUD is great quality and captures the energy.

I was here for this one. The week before I saw the Allman Bros. and Johnny Winter here. Also a great show, but marred by drunks and fights.

The dead crowd the next week was mellow, trippin and dancin....ahhhh. We all need days like these.

This first set is a tribute to Americana. What a fitting setlist for a hot Texas Independance day show. I can almost feel that blazing Texas sun come shining through. The recording is a little tinty, but well worth a listen if you need a little sunshine daydream.

Another classic from DEEP IN THE HEART. I feel trully blessed to have been at all these great Texas shows in the late seventies and early eighties. In my opinion this was the peak. Brent put the final touches on a band just waiting to be a tad better....and boy were they! Download this one and play repeatedly... Great sound quality makes it a 5.

Can't believe more people haven't downloaded this. A fun show all around. Highlight for me is the Playin'jam through NFA. Especially the jam out of Space into Not Fade. They take their time while finding a really nice groove long before the vocals start. Can't recall too many other NFA's with this kind of patience.

i just downloaded the jack straw in both aud and sbd...i enjoy both auds and sbds...but i have to go with the sbd here...aud just seems not clear enough for me...a little too much on the high end maybe...drums and bass sometimes seem to drown everything out too....but so far the sbd sounds super...great quality...i am going to download the rest of the sbd...hope i could help u out......peace

This is the first tape of the Dead I ever owned, a second gen copy given to me by "Dave A" when we were in college together.

First set Jack Straw and China/Rider are noteworthy.

But the second set is unbelievable!

Stranger/Birdsong/Playin are exquisite. Everyone sounds great. The funky, melodic and intensely psychedelic interplay between Jerry and Bob represents the boys at their very finest.

After 1000s of hours of tapes, the first half of the second set of this show still stands as possibly the best 40 minutes of Dead ever recorded.

Forget the SBD version.

Download this stellar quality audience tape and listen to it like it was meant to be heard.

This set is a must own!

Robert

T for Texas, 4th Day of July

When I first listened to this tape, on a scratchy nth generation cassette, mind you, I burst into hysterics. Laughing at the unbelievable performance here! It became a mission to track down a better copy of this relatively unknown gem. The source here is the same I eventually settled on. The first set is good - with a cowboy theme running along many of the songs, and a particularly energetic China>Rider. The second set is a different creature. It is fantastic, a note-for-note odyssey from start to finish. The Stranger is powerful and dips a foot into the space explored later on in a birdsong (what a special setlist location for this one) and playin (listen to Bobby GO!). NFA takes its time rocking out before lyrics break the expansive jam and bring the show to a strong wharf rat and reveling sugar magnolia. One more fourth of July!

Leavin Texas 4th day of July!!!!!!!!