I think they could be from the next night's show. I am basing this on Bob's mumbling during the Banter. I hear the word "news" and I suspect he's saying (or trying to say) "did anyone hear the news," which was monumental that night. LBJ announced he would not run for re-election.

And I don't mean drunk. The BIODTL is just ... wow. I'm pretty sure it's Bobby here who is most obviously losing his mind to whatever he ate (tho he might not be the only one). He just can't stop singing along to the vibrations in his brain.

The banter afterwards is great as Jerry announces a democratic scheme to decide what they should play next (or not!). The choice is Dancin' in the Streets. That was a wise choice. During the lyric intro, you can hear Bobby going down that vibration tunnel and fear the worst. Do not fear the worst! Expect the best. And that is what you will receive. HAAHAHAH!!!!

The worst BIODTL I've ever heard. Pee-yew! As for Dancin'...ouch!

The Eleven was a bit Spanishy and Lovelight had and Allmanesque feel around 4 minutes. Nice show show with just OK sound. Perhaps I'm not in the right mood.

I just want to add a historical perspective to this recording...
This show was played during turbulent times. The Tet Offensive in Vietnam was playing out along with "the most trusted newsman in America", Walter Cronkite declaring the war a "stalemate". The night after this show was played President Johnson shocked the Nation by announcing at the end of a speech about Vietnam on national TV that he would not seek reelection as President. Just five days later Martin Luther King was murdered, followed by Bobby Kennedy a couple of months later... This was a truly ugly time. This is scary music played during a scary time.

I opened 3 windows at the same time and played 26 March Dark Star, 30 March Dark Star and 31 March Feedback simultaneously. I allowed each track to end until 31 March Dark Star finished. It felt like an Apollo mission, losing a stage every few minutes until I landed.

An average early ’68, which like saying an average ’74 or ’77 show -- very good!

The Other One pleases, and there’s craft in the Dark Star. This was the last time they played China Cat as the filler in the Dark Star-Eleven sandwich. They didn’t play China Cat again until ’69. The transition between China Cat and Eleven not smooth as in previous shows, but the jamming is hot. The Eleven is sweet. Fast and electric, it doesn’t get stuck. The first Lovelight is driving and exciting for most of it, but gets old (runs out of steam) about two-thirds into it.

This is the next to the last time they played Born Cross-Eyed—the next night was the final. It was performed live only a little over a dozen times, so enjoy! The Born Cross-Eyed>Spanish Jam combo is even rarer. Here, not the smoothest feedback transition to Spanish Jam. An okay Spanish Jam. Unfortunately, we only get a fragment of Death Don’t Have No Mercy. Too bad,

The rest of this tape may not be from this show. (See the other version of this tape here:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1968-03-30.aud.unknown.9375.sbeok.shnf )

Dancing may or may not be part of this show, but it’s great! Dancin’ would have been a rarity in 1968 and much of 1967. But this is definitely not a ’66 recording, as Jerry has very different soloing style here than 1966 versions. Beat It on Down the Line is also common in the 1966 set list, but rare in ’68. (They picked it up agin in ’69.)

My complaint about this audience recording is that Pigpen’s keyboard is muted, which is a big part of the ’68 sound.

(Try 1/20 and 2/14 for truly outstanding 1968 shows here at Archive. Check out also Dick’s Picks Vol. 22 for another great Anthem-of-the-Sun era show.)

Definitely an AUD or, if it comes from two different dates, two -- listen for example to the first minute or so of Dark Star and the banter before the encore (which Jerry gets everybody to shout out suggestions for simultaneously). It does sound intimate....

This is pretty run-of-the-mill for 68, meaning it's awesome. The Spanish Jam really stands out. There's a bit of weirdness - Lovelight is listed as if it was split in two, but the first track is an entire Lovelight. The second is a partial and may have been from a different performance. I haven't done a note-for-note comparison on them. The sound quality is very good for a 68 Aud.

Not the best of 68 though - get the Shrine 8/23 if you can find it.

Just came across this the other day and listened to a few tracks. I agree sound quality is REALLY good for 1968. Like the song selection too.

The imprtant thing is the music MAN no the quality, if you want quality you have the official record, this is a concert MAN, a recorded concert, so don't complain about the quality

Smokin.

I don't understand people complaining about the low quality from the AUD source, or feeling obligated to excuse its low quality, when this archived version sounds 10x better than any copy you'll find circulating in the community. Maybe a younger generation has been spoiled by digital media??

This really does sound fantastic compared to my "A-" copy I've had for ten years, the best I'd come across until this morning. If you must find a reason to disagree then put on a pair of headphones and compare your old copy and you'll see what I mean, but it should be irrelevant given the quality of this AUD.

And how can you disregard a show like this from '68, especially with the rare Born Cross-eyed? The material from '68-'69 was special, lots of jams, lots of music. They never quite got back to there, although I think they incorporated some of it in 1970. I'm lapping it up all over again.

Don't discount '60's AUDs just because of their age - if anything, it weighs in favor of them. Earlier shows = smaller venues = better acoustics. Even though taping equipment and mikes have come a long way, an '80s or '90s AUD of a stadium show is going to sound like - well, a stadium (with certain notable exceptions, of course). :-)

I'd always ignored these dates in the past because of their aud. sources, but give this stuff a listen. I'd assumed an aud. from 1968 would be pretty rough going, but if you like this vintage, you won't be disappointed. What a treat. A new little China Cat into an Eleven that really catches fire, but ends way too soon for my money. Nothing against Lovelight, but they're really screaming. 4 stars. Collect 'em all.

Bolo? I get this feeling that you accidentally hit two stars when you wanted like 4 or 5.

The sounds great man for 68.

Nice hits I guess?

89' gets a 5 over this show; you must be tripping?

hot show

Don't think about the sound quality, even though it's an AUD. The sound is amazingly clear for a '68 AUD tape. Be happy about what you have. I always loved the shows when the Cryptical reprise segued into Dark Star (2/28/69, for example), and this is no exception. Like the guy below says, light up and enjoy this piece of history.

BTW, am I the only one to notice that the Dancin' switches sources? The source undoubtedly is a SBD from 2:34 or so until the end. I'm surprised the txt. file didn't mention this.

Anthem's components (studio, and live stuff from dates like this, 3/30/68) are in my opinion the Dead
at their peak, ever. So if the sound is a little
murky, who gives a hoot. Use winamp's EQ to make it
as good as you can, light up, and enjoy.
I mean, look at the set list, and weep.
The live dates for Anthem are supreme.

Remember when you had only nine or twelve hours of tape? And there was always one tape that was umpteen generations away from anything remotely resembling decent sound quality? But the magic that happened that night was as palpable as if you'd been there? Well, this is it.
Deadlists has everything after the first Lovelight being from an unknown date. Is it worth the DL? Hard to say...The Other One really swings and Dark Star gets a good stretch on its way to the nefarious land of übertine ice petals...