I hadn't remembered what happened until I read his review. Then I had a visual flash to Jerry turning and falling, tripped on his cords (but not on his chords!). I guess he took his time and smoked a cigarette (the crowd cheered on seeing him light up) while Big Steve was checking out his guitar. I had forgotten this; it was my first show at age 13 and everything was kind of a smoky haze. After that -- quick heat on Passenger, a sweet, lilting Scarlet and transition jam, and a shredding Fire. I must be in the minority opinion -- PITB blew me away then and I still love it now. Not Fade here had to be the best of the 79-82 period, before they stuck it at the end of the set after Throwing Stones. It's the most definitive exposition of the theme they were playing at that time. Also, don't skip on the transition into Wharf Rat, one of the most delicate and pretty sections of jamming I've ever heard. Wharf Rat itself is pretty darn good as well.

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My second show was in Cleveland right before this Stanley run and I love just about everything in this show. To Lay Me Down and MNS stand out amongst others in the first set. And as many posters have already noted the second set pre-drums has an odd/exciting start and just blazes from there. The only bummer is the annoying talkers during PITB! I always have a fond spot for Jim Wise recordings - infamous for the taper fight at Red Rocks (7/28/82) - “Dammit Wise, don’t f*ck with my levels”!

The Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh was a dream place to see them. I remember having an extra ticket to this show that I couldn't even give away on the street. The next night people were paying a hundred bucks on the street.

Jerry's guitar was on the fritz at the beginning of set 2 and they got tired of waiting for it so the rest of them just started jamming and then took that into Passenger.

A few verses of the Scarlet solo are really sublime. NFA is also damn good. The sound of this tape is excellent.

Who Can Help Me I.D. The Tune Jerry Riffs On Just Before The 6:00 Minute Mark Of Not Fade Away. I'm Thinking A Traditional Spiritual Maybe "Lay Your Burden Down," Been Trying To Nail This Down For Decades Now. Any Help Would Be Appreciated. Ratings "WISE" (Jim) I Give It A Five Cuz It's The Best Out There Of A Very Interesting Show.Thanks Jim Where Ever You Be, Forever Grateful.

Love the pacing of this show.

Since this show was just put up on bt.tree today, I thought I'd chime in since I was standing right in front of Jerry in the orchestra pit.

At the beginning of set 2, Jerry had guitar issues. One of the techs flipped his guitar over on the amp and opened it up. We (as in me and our friends) started egging Bobby on to do something so he goes into this jazzy un-Dead-like jam that I've never heard before.It was totally mind blowing. They jam for about a minute and then Bob launches into Passenger. At the first guitar break, Bob puts the slide to us like nobody's business. He just rips it trying to make up for Jerry's absence. As Bob is peaking, Jerry enters, picks up his guitar and just rips it. WOW!! It was one of those thrilling Grateful Dead moments that you'll never forget. The Scarlet>Fire that follows is sublime. It's one of my favorite versions. The Playin' was a terrific version and the space>NFA was fun, fun.

This show is totally worth the d/l. THis March '81 run was a blast.

Set 1 is nice but nothing special. It does end on an very high note, however, with a huge MNS that has one of the most energetic jams I've ever heard in this song. It honestly might be the highlight of the show!

Set 2 has a very good Scarlet>Fire with an unusual transition, as L Rosely notes - it begins very minimalist, but quietly and purposefully builds into a beautiful dream-like segue to Fire. FOTM has some hot playing, Garcia's final solo working up an especially sweet groove.

The rest of the set is fine, though not quite on the same level. PITB is interesting but the jamming doesn't have the purpose of the best versions (check out 5/11/81 for an spectacular rendition). NFA satisfies those jamming needs a bit however, sounding more like a 1974 version of the tune, with a wonderful segue into Wharf Rat. Wharf Rat itself is just OK, however.

Overall this is a pretty nice performance that is worth your time, but if you're exploring March '81 there are better places to start, like the 3/9 show just a few days after this.

Anyone remember Jerry's blue cords that he plugged into his guitar? Now think hard but did you ever see him get tangled up in the cords and start spinning? He would turn to his right quickly and then go too far and back to the left and so on. Well on this night he spun to the right and to the left and to the right and to the FLOOR. That was the trouble with the guitar. Jerry was tangled up in blue cords fell and needed to see Tiger was OK. Then he kicked the shit out of the rest of the songs. Just ask the folks from New Paltz. They had photos of it.

This show starts of with a freakin BANG named Alabama>GSET that comes right at you with both barrels blazing. The crowd goes completely nuts as they proceed to tear shit up during this rock solid opening tandem. I love it when Jerry busts out of the gate like this, just shredding mercilessly. Beautiful. From there we dive into a FOTD that is good, but I kinda question the placement here. They killed, I mean absolutely killed any momentum they had built with this one and followed it up with a giant piece o poop named CCRider. Not good. Next up, a really nice Althea. I love this song anyways, and this one had a smooth slowed down tempo which made for a very mellow, cool rendition. Awesome job Jerry! Ok so cowboy time is up next with Mama Tried>Mexicali. Pretty average versions here, but a good time dancing tandem none the less. Next up is the highlight of the first set, To Lay Me Down. What a delicate, beautiful job by Jerry here. Just fantasic. Vocals just dripping with emotion as the crowd hoots and hollers the entire time. It all came together on this tune for sure. Bang up job Jerry, really. Minglewood is up next and Rock star Bobby comes out to shine. I genrally like the Brent Era Minglewood and this is no exception. Not too over the top, but still good. Tenessee>TMNS rounds out the first set somewhat uninspired, however Jerry does a little jamming in the middle and the end of the tune which is worth noting. First set over and what a roller coaster ride it was. Ups and downs and all over the place. For the most part the first set was very good, but it seemed out of place or disjointed at parts. Im not in love with this first set list in this particular order. More specifically, the FOTD and CC really screwed it up, and the cowboy tandem that followed was not exactly off the charts. That lead to a pretty big hole in the first set.

The second set starts with a jam that was due to Jerry having guitar problems(or at least that is what I read). The jam was nothing to exciting and I kept hearing Scarlet several times. Then, all of the sudden Jerry comes blazing out of nowhere in to the best Passenger I have ever heard. Over the top shredding at warp speed here. I usually dislike(being nice) Passenger, but this one is impossible to hate. Jerry just smokes this one right to the filter and stomps on it on the way out…WHEW, that was something. Scarlet>Fire is next and it is well played. There was not really any moments where I had to double take or anything, but I enjoyed it. I think they were gonna start with Scarlett for the second set but Jerry just took over and took the into the stratosphere with Passenger. Im still talking about Passenger when I should be talking bout Scarlett>Fire. So the Jam segment is up next and it goes like this Playin’>Drums>Space>NFA>Wharf Rat>Around and Around>JBG…SO playin literally did nothing for me, kinda short and when they dropped in at about three minutes, its kinda bored me. Drums and Space were actually very short which was kinda nice. I liked NFA, it had a kinda odd yet funky tempo that really grew on me. Wharf Rat was spectacular and the highlight of this combo. Jerry reeled me right in with this one and did not disappoint. R&R and JBG were average and US blues definitely had its moments as the encore. So, second set done and show over.

My thoughts on this one as a whole? Pretty good show that could have been very much better. I am noticing a trend in the way I feel about shows we review. I find myself usually loving or hating, but sometimes there are shows I root for while listening. This is one of those shows. It has incredible highs followed by some downright boring shit. The soo good mixed with the soo boring makes for a show I would describe as disjointed. Jerry sounded unreal during the opener for the first and second set. He also sounded incredible during To Lay Me Down and Wharf Rat. Althea and Scarlett>Fire were good but not great. The rest I could kinda do without. The fail of the Jam segment really lowered this grade for me. Playin I did not like nor the rest of the Jam really, with the exception of Wharf Rat. I do not recommend this show and I give it a C-. There are many, many shows from ’81 that far exceed this one. Slightly below average grade for a show that averaged out to an below average performance.

I had been so high in Cletown on the 3rd that I never made it to the Stanley. First semester in college and all. Those old American theaters are modern age masterpieces of architecture!! Check one out in your home town today. You will be glad you did. What venues!! Getting back to the show if you want to hear the boys in 1981 this is an excellent example. No Gloria jam but it is a hot one.

Two reviews below said the band was jamming on the Scarlet theme while Jerry's guitar was being fixed. But that's not what it sounds like. The jam they are doing is based on an A chord, the same chord that Passenger is written around. Scarlet-Fire is centered around B chord.

I don't there palying anything close to Scarlet during the opening jam, but it is apparent why they would go into Passenger from that jam as stated above. But we will never know what the band was thinking!

does aud's well


great levels, great playing, great times.

Here's what happened:

The band came out for the Second Set, all ready to play Scarlet > Fire. Jerry's guitar suffered some type of problem & the rest of the band kept noodling off the Scarlet theme as Jerry, back to the stage, fiddled with the problem. After getting tired with the jam about 5-6 minutes in, Bob, for some seriously misguided reason, launches into Passenger without Jerry's guitar working. Early in the first instrumental, say, 20 seconds, Jerry's guitar problem thankfully gets fixed (what would they have done otherwise, bob?) At the instant the problem was solved, Jerry hit the start of the Passenger instrumental & turned around - very dramatic & you can clearly hear the place go nuts on the tape.

This of course rearranged the set into something less than conventional but quite inspired pre-drums.
Post-drums, the high level of play continued, but a disturbing trend that hung on all tour developed: Jerry not going for the brass ring. Not once, but twice, Jerry jams right to the brink of the Playin' Reprise (after both NFA & Wharf Rat - check it out) but both times he takes the easy way out & plays the comfortable, regularly scheduled tune instead. Except for 3/10/81 in MSG, this would be the norm every night of this tour despite songs trying to pop up everywhere in the jams only to be passed by.

The first set ends in a huge bang from the point the band plays our first electric To Lay Me Down in years on the East Coast & never lets up until MNS ends.

All in all, a good solid show in a great venue, but with a little extra effort after the drums in coulda been greater.

I usually don't roam around in the early 80's since I saw some good shows but never cared for early Brent. He was to laid back for me in the early days.

This show has some real treats, the Playin spacey jam is killer!

If you lookin for lost jewels this could be to your liking.

Having been at this show I agree that JG's guitar was busted during start of second set. It was awesome to see him come flying in on passenger kinda like "hey let me have some fun too.." Jerry had great tone all evening.

What a difference a week makes. Compared to the sloppy shows at the Uptown Theater the previous week, this show is tight, with good vocals and inspired playing. The band is an ensemble at this gig.

At the beginning we get a really hot Greatest Story. Even Bob's old cowboy songs sound fresh. There's a VERY sweet to Lay Me Down, during which someone yells "go, Jerry go!" referring to his singing. The band is in the zone on Tennessee Jed and Jerry cooks in Music Never Stopped. The Jerry-less jam starting set 2. I completely agree with what the previous reviewer said about Scarlet>Fire: mastery. Jerry often builds from Scarlet into Fire; here he takes the oposite approach, and pulls it off to great effect. Many Fires are repetitive vamps that go nowhere; this one is art. Next, there's a fabulous flowing Playin' jam that compares well to those of the early-to-mid '70's.

And like the early-mid 70âÂÂs we donâÂÂt have a long drums section: here drums-only is mercifully short, only a few minutes before the musicians come in with Space, and it's good. The three rockers at the end of the show are tight.

Listen to this show now. You'll love it.

MIght as well add that the Wharf Rat is also no slouch, and the jam without Jerry that opens the 2nd set is pretty fun as well.

no cell phone sound here. Take playin in the band for a ride or Althea,To lay me down,Scarlet,Jam before passenger you name it. They all sound pretty dam good not the very best but, not cell phone either.
this is a small killer theater and not a bad recording by any stretch. Killer show, this is venue where you see that cool Steal Your Face banner and slogan outside the Theater. Old-school 1981 not a bad place to be at the time.

don't download this its too crowded in the noise, sounds like a cell phone to me. The set list here is great. But the sound quality is severly lacking I hate to say in my personal opinion.

Go back 4 shows and you will se soemthing very kind at Uptown Theater.

the reason Jerry wails when he finally makes it for passenger is because the guitar was giving him problems all night. once he got it fixed he made up for lost time. i watched all this happen from the orchestra pit

I got my analogs from Bill Pafford,a friend who was at this show with Jim Wise...the Stanley Theater is sooooo small that the Loge hangs just about over the soundboard pit...3/5 and the rest of this run taped by Jim shine....you really want this show and the rest of the run....

The show itself is INCREDIBLE! The set 2 openng jam is without Jerry, and it rages....about half way through Passenger, Jerry comes out and WAILS! The Playing in the Band is among the best(IMHO) of this era of the DEAD....

Walt Ferguson
Virginia Beach