A bunch of friends and I had the good fortune of deciding to see the 3 college shows of this weekend, starting with a fine performance at Dartmouth on the 5th, a great show at UVM on the 6th and then this night to cap off the weekend. Well, this night, IMHO, was the show of the year for 1978 and one of my all time favorite of over 300 shows attended. They come right out of the shoot with a magical JACK STRAW and set the tone for the rest of the night. What makes this show especially interesting to me is the spacy intensity that permeates throughout with the music. The rest of Set 1 is great with my all time favorite MNS to close the set. I can't say enough about this MNS as Garcia just goes on an amazing adventure through both jams. The SCARLET > FIRE is a MONSTER to start off the 2nd set. My favorite ESTIMATED follows with Garcia absolutely obliterating the middle California jam. The rest of the set is excellent with another all time favorite of mine: BLACK PETER! Vocally Jerry is just bursting with emotion and the D Blues jam at the end is nothing short of epic as he soars to the stratosphere. Too bad the recording changes, but it doesn't take away the fact that pure musical magic was displayed. What an amazing show!

I am a drummer and admit to not being a fan of the drum solo. Bill and Mickey are two of the best and I still usually zone out on drums--) Space but this one caught my ear! Nice!

I'm new to the site and would be very grateful if someone could show me how to download or view the audio files from this show!

Sound quality of recording... spoty
Quality of concert Great!

Was my first concert of many, brings tears to my eyes as I listen.. oh sweetness.

Enjoy the show now more than at the time. Worked security. Hells Angels were better behaved than a lot of others.

I did tell Jerry (not Bob) the story of Uncle Sam being from Troy.

yfChucko

This is a really solid show, with a rocking, high-energy first set that is one of my favorite 1st sets ever, right up there with 5-7-77. The passion never lets up, right until the end. A standout Scarlet-Fire as well, and Black Peter has a great ending solo.

this was a great show, beginning to end. i lived in the student apartments right next to the rpi fieldhouse. it was like having the dead come play in your backyard

anybody complaing about sound has never been to the fieldhouse. it an old airplane hanger turned into a hockey arena, with low-ceilinged bleachers on either side.

chuck palmer, the head of the concert committee at rpi, told bob that uncle sam (butcher to the continental army) was from troy.

thus, us blues for the encore (it was also the soundcheck)

But it's not THAT good. Certainly not good enough to earn five stars with all the patches. It is quite annoying, but I really tried to not let that affect my score. It probably did in the end.

Great Black Peter here folks, and everything else is solid as can be. Fun high energy show, but just lacking that magical "five" vibe. Maybe it's the sound.

I am new to the site and just thrilled to have the archives of all these classic concerts. I was at this concert while I was a student at SUNY Albany. The RPI Fieldhouse was the venue and it was a true "fieldhouse" with an open floor and no reserved seating. So, we were in the middle of the floor towards the front and as you can imagine it was crowded.

I was reminded of how crowded it was I heard them repeat the "take a step back" to the crowd in between songs because it was so jam packed wiht people trying to be close to the stage that a couple of people passed out from the heat and packed condition.

OK, back to the show. As this recording shows, the band was in great form and had one tremendous "jam" after the other. The variety of sets, from classic electric guitar riffs to vocals, to the instrumentals to the space music and drum solos is classic "Dead"

I had never heard the "Iko,Iko" before that show and that song and the whole concert really was an incredibly great experience, especially live. Hearing the whole show on this archived recording takes me right back to that night in 1978. How cool is that?

The sound quality is really good, as well.

Used to ignore this show based on reviewed issues w/sound, but took a chance and found this is pretty great sound, AUD parts and all...

...and a hell of a power show. Typical 1978 Katie Bar the Door type of performance....outstanding Garcia jams on TMNS (also--Donna sings quite well on this one), BLACK PETER, T-JED,JACK STRAW and SC>FIRE...slow-style IKO in set 2 accompanied by some extended Weir jams in ESTIMATED....a can't go wrong '78 slugfest, on par with--maybe a little grittier than-- Duke Univ. 4-12 , and a notch below perhaps the precision performance of 4-16, but a top 5 of the year for sure.

Take off half a star if you really want to for it not being a pristine SBD, but quality of play trumps less than perfect sound in this show.

I certainly favor a quality SBD over anything with patches, cuts, etc... but all of this can be overlooked especially in the case of this show...

First set just has the right feel all the way through. Has been one of my all-time favorite first sets since I first started collecting shows. Space Cowboys is the only way to describe it.

Second set is just as hot. Can you ever not listen to Scarlet > Fire from this era... its impossible.

5+ for the show
3.5 for the recording

Donna on Passenger wails

This show is amazing. Donna sounds great and adds some beautiful melodies. Definately worth checking out.

~~~~Memo
To: You
From: Me
Date: 10/25/2005
RE: 5-7-1978 Setlist

You,

Stop watching T.V. and enjoy this show's vibe while you still can hear it.

Me

Music Never Stopped! One of the best. As with many GD shows its those brief moments of bliss, when they find "it", that follow me through the years. In this case its towards the end of the mid-song jam at about 5:05 when Garcia lands on a repetitive phrase and the band just boils under him. Play it loud.

The rest of show is a great listen as well.

The first set is one the best I've heard. The second set is well played. The music gets 5 stars , the recording drops out here and there and gets 3-4 stars. after listening to other shows I incresed my rating. this show kicks ass. I just keep listening over and over.

Another smoker from 78. A good First Set. The highlight being an amazing Music that features a very trippy midsection and then a huge solo by Jerry to finish it. First set also has a grate Jed that just keeps rising and rising. Second Set is one of the all time grates. The Scarlet>Fire is nuts. Especially the Fire with Jerry going bonkers during both his solos. This one just sucks you in. Emotional vocals on the chorus. Estimated Prophet is huge. Jerry riding the wah for all its worth. A nice He's Gone and then Drumz. The Iko>Other One is excellent with some powerful bombs by Phil on The Other One. Then we go into one of the all time best Black Peters. This one has it all. Emotional
singing by Jerry and a nice mid-song solo. However, nothing can prepare you for the Oh! Run and See part with Jerry literally screaming the first time and then repeating three more times!! Pure Emotion!! And then a searing solo by Jerry. The patch at the end is heartbreaking but you get the crux of it: Jerry and the Boys were on FIRE!!
This is what I live for: 1978 Blowouts!!
Mandatory Listening

Peace
fireonshakedownstreet

The show is really hot with numerous high points but we need a better copy of this - these drop offs and switches between the board and audience are distracting.

This is definately worth hearing though and sorry for the three people, in my mind musically this is a 5 but sound wise it is a 3...

I think the previous reviews fall short as a whole, but the performance and sound quality are top notch. Drop outs are few and far between and definitely bearable, given the band was firing on all cylinders. The boys stepped it up and play solid throughout the 1st set. They could've easliy ended it at Passenger, but then BE Women and Music to close it out. Nice. 2nd set song list kicks ass, great stage banter to listen for. Before Estimated (still at the end of Fire) you can hear Jerry telling Bob to put his "damn cigar out" - one he was having in celebration of Billy's 32nd B-Day. The crowd is behind the guys all night... great Estimated > He's Gone. Then pure drums after that, continuing into Iko > Other One. All in all, for a '78, you want.

It turns out that the RPI Fieldhouse (a hockey rink) has terrible acoustics, but the sound quality recorded here on this archive is excellent ... that is until the end of Black Peter, when it just changes for no reason and just sounds loud and all you hear is the audience (kinda like being there). Really good before that, though.

You can hear the audience in the far background at the start of Scarlet. Within the first thirty seconds a part of the recording is a bit garbled, but it passes quickly. Garcia's solo is pretty good, he picks out a lot of interesting notes. At about five minutes, the heart-of-gold band begins, and Donna scats in and out for nearly four minutes.

At ten minutes plus they head into Fire with some subdued wah and a seven note figure from Garcia, Weir's slide audible underneath. In the second solo, Garcia trots out some interesting power chords. The end is a little disappointing, as Weir's slide competes with what is often Garcia's best venue. After Weir drops back, you can hear Garcia more clearly, and he comes up with some good melodic runs. Then he ends it abruptly and returns to the theme.....

One of the best shows i've ever heard, quality is just as good as the setlist