While in Richmond that night in '83, I was by sbd first set -- for that RIPPIN' deal 1st set closer. can feel crowd go bonkers as jerry shifts into overdrive. 2nd set drifted to back of venue for rest of show -- so i missed or wasnt paying attention to this reported bobby/jerry back and forth.

Previous reviews mention the bob/jerry thing, but say how hot the show is -- some dissonance here, but after all is said and done, this is a very high energy show with a lot of velocity.

So besides the killer deal, even the dayjob 2nd set opener is rockin' -- followed by one of the best playin's i've heard in a long time -- bob is on fire w/ his counterpoint to jerry, and sonic depth of this primo aud on playin' is gripping... had to go back and listen to some of bob's licks like five times to first understand them, and because they were so spot-on and perfect.

other highlight is the sugar mag jam>good lovin' crash and burn then bobby recovery.

love the show and remember it as one of those 'walk out of the venue into the street shaking your head' shows. onward!

Was at the show, and the place was definitely high energy - not all of it positive. There was a lot of competitive interplay between Jer and Bob, efforts to pull the show in one direction or another, and, most importantly, tension.

Seemed to me that it all started during Minglewood when Jerry and Bob BOTH neglected to solo at around the 3:15 mark, and Brent didn't really dare step in, either. There were some sharp glances between the two, almost accusatory.

Throughout the show, there were efforts by Bob And Jerry to upstage each other, and Brent and Phil's counterpoint play almost seemed to be along the lines of "WTF guys - cool your jets."

All to little avail. The final straw was Bob declaring in the Good Lovin' rap - "It's Fucked!"

The end result was a quick-paced, smoking hot show that twisted us all out of whack, ended early, made us all wonder about a bout the state of mind of the band members, and spilled us out into the slums of inner Richmond (for at that time the area around the Colosseum was serious no-man's-land full of abandoned buildings) for a long, long, crazy, crazy night.

Very strong playing, with personalities to match.

Very high energy show. The available FOB recordings are excellent. I think my favorite is the Nak one though and I usually don't go for Nak recordings. It's right up there though on top of the speakers. This show is a tug of war between Bob and Jerry with Phil acting as the line judge and contributing eccentric, rumbling fills when they let him get a word in edgewise. The tug of war gets ugly during the post drums as Jerry seems to want to take more control of Bobby's songs beyond his regular purview. He drives Truckin' on like he's trying to make the roundup by sundown, walks all over Bobby's vocals in Spoonful both with his guitar and singing and wins the tug of war at the beginning of Sugar Magnolia by insisting that it be played at the same tempo as Good Lovin'. It's clear that Jerry knows it's too fast but tries to show that it can be done by playing quick leads throughout the intro. However, you'll notice that it is so fast that even Jerry can't quite hit all the notes he'd like to. Bobby seems to assess that singing it at this tempo will be impossible, so he seamlessly switches gears into Good Lovin' and saves the day. As if to prove the point, Jerry fires up an incredibly fast U.S. Blues as the encore. Bobby, somewhat insensitively, apologizes for the short, fast show by noting that there's a long tour ahead. Great for tour rats. Probably cold comfort to Virginians who hadn't bought tour books. Very powerful show. This is one of those shows, I think, that demonstrates how the GD played sometimes like the stage was a laboratory, breaking new ground and making it up as they went along. It's a ballsy show. Wonder what they have in store for the next night...

Wicked show to attend - Halls inside are a little reminiscent of a medevil colliseum - and there was uneasy electricity in the air . The paper boy told me to be careful but #2 went while in line to get in (~ 20 mins after #1 ) . Intense show , very quickly played , but obviously rare form and rippin . Spent latter part of 1st set top rear center upper deck in the aisle with my bud who was in same state , heads in our hands and enduring , completely on overload and music was blowing us away with the intensity ( music streaming from everywhere and reconvening at the spot we were sitting ) fast , furious and fierce/ wicked tone . Comin Comin Comin around - made it to the floor and spent the rest of the night mucking around and jammin up front . Made it up left of stage for drums and I could see I was not the only one being treated to the extra intensity . Was blown away by the rest of the show . Did not really appreciate the show until hearing it later as the playing style was wicked and unexpected . There was an eery feeling after the show as it was truly wicked and short - Tape and a half - We didn't quite know what to make of it and a veteran follower said he wants to hear that tape . He was dumfounded like we were . I still don't quite know what to make of it as the intensity was amazing but the quickness in completing songs detracts a little . Fast and furious DEAD . Appreciate the forum and the music . Cheers

this stranger has always been a fav. it's odd. brent wanders around bonking these crazy chords on the keys, then jerry kicks in hard.

ah, yes, the old cassette of this in d.c. back yards of '86 convinced me that there's always something more going on than a deceptively simple set list would reveal.

what a primer for a powerful tour.

Only time played for '83 not to be played in "84 and busted it out in Spring '85 for rotation. Although still considered a treat. Not over played at all. I wonder what inspired them to bust it out here? My guess the grate crowd energy or over all big population of Dead Heads in this area. In print Virgina has been refered to as "rabid Dead country". Never been there but I believe it. Ive noticed over the years lots of killer shows here. One I like to bust out don't know the date of hand but it's a summer '87 Roanoke VA show. Hot stuff crackling with energy.
From here on out its none stop top shelf Dead to New Years and in my very strong opinion all of 84 tour and 85.

Iam a sucker for a 83 Stranger and Brown Eyed first set.Obviously the Crazy Fingers is a rare gem. Nice Wharf and Sugar Mag jam is pretty cool. I wonder if He had a harder time with Crazy Fingers smacked up. Seeing that '83 and '84 Jerry peaked out with his Persian habbit and played once in that 2 year span. Just a guess who knows.

Its a 5 but a point off for sound.

There was a little lull in their popularity and you could still easily score $10-20 tickets (I still have the stubs) and man did they show up to play did not make it to this but saw most of the stuff up North. FOTD, Stranger, Mwood, all really hot. They loved VA like MA alot of college kids prob. Later on it became too formulaic and uncool with bogus tickets and huge crowds but this was the sweet spot before in the dark.

Listen to the power in Jerry's voice in Truckin which is incandescent post coma he never really sang like that with any regularity. Spoonful is a great surprise and I think the first time they busted out with that after Melkweg though could be mistaken.

This show is notable for the premieres of Mickey's balaphone (the curved marimba type thing) and Bobby's Modulus guitar, for those keeping track of such details. :)

I was 18 at the time, and only had been to maybe 1/2 dozen shows at that point. My buddies picked me up from my job at a (long-since defunct) delly in the suburbs of Baltimore that glorious Saturday afternoon.

We made decent time down I-95 to Richmond in H's tiny silver Toyota, and soon I made a "paper" purchase from some painted guy (skeleton)and, once inside, I asked someone if he knew wheteher the Orioles won that day (he knew, they did, and won the ALCS that day...then the World Series..and haven't since!)
Anyhow, things started happening during the high-energy Stranger and just before "Hell In a Bucket", Bobby told Candace Brightman (lights) "Awww, come on Candace - this is a red light song!" (I think she had blue lights on).

The second set, however, is why I wrote this review. I got the cassette (Maxell UDXL II)! of this show shortly afterwards, and have listened to it several hundred times, having finally transferred it to CD a few years ago for fear of wearing it out.

I don't get sentimental about a show too much, but from the Playin' into the "007 Jam" and then into the profoundly sad Crazy Fingers, the boys were one organism. After the unusually "melodic" drums things just kept rolling, including a Spoonful into a great Wharfrat - in which Jer WAS August West! Then, the aforementioned SugarMag>Good Love.
I can't say enough about this show (alright, maybe I already have) but this download is worth it - it doesn't seem to be the same full recording I've returned to time and again over the past 22 years, but still captures the magic of that often overlooked night in that legendary Fall '83 tour.

OK, everyone has a "first show story."

Here's mine.

In 1983, I knew the Grateful Dead solely through "Workingman's Dead," which I bought several years earlier based on the cowboy-looking cover art. I was familiar with the album, but really was clueless about what the Dead were about playing live. I was second year at UVa and two friends of friends were going to Richmond, ticketless, to catch the show. I tagged along.

We got to the Coliseum early, took in the scene, and searched far and wide for tickets. Nothing happening. Nada. But the scene was like nothing I had ever experienced. 1969 time warped into 1983. Very cool.

Finally, about an hour before showtime, we consumed our consumables and proceeded to meander back to C'ville. As we waited at an intersection in downtown Richmond, a UVa-chartered bus drives by, headed to the Coliseum. My friends identified the bus passengers as ATO fraternity brothers, and we followed the bus back to the front doors of the venue.

When the bus pulls to a stop, we jump out of our car and into the bus, frantically asking for extra tickets. Various bemused ATO brothers direct us to the back of the bus where we find "the man" who has a block of extras. We each take out $10 for a ticket and just as we complete our transactions, a deadhead finds his way to the back of the bus and whips out $20 for an extra. The ATO guy recognizes his goldmine (supply and demand in action, baby) and proceeds to rake in multiples of 2 and 3 times face value for the remaining tickets.

Meanwhile, we hurriedly park the car, run inside, and catch the opening notes of "Stranger." The rest of the show was an ecstatic blur, with the rush of the last minute ticket score, the music, the experience . . . the Dead. I remember looking around and thinking, "This is the coolest, strangest, music-love-fest in the world."

2 star quality, 5 star experience.

hot versionn of one of my favorites

the rest of the show does not hold up to the cream froim the rest of this tour

nice sounding fob

didn't they soundcheck stephen here during the day? i did this whole tour and this show set the pace for the craziness ahead....

Fairly average '83 show. Bobby sounds particularly good. The Playin' jam is the highlight, edgy and aggressive.

This is a great show and recording of the moment in Grateful Dead moment.

I was there and this to me is much better than what I had on cassette of this show.

My brother and I went to this one and the show was awesome! I was very impressed by the fotd and the lights during that tune. The sugar mag intro to good lovin really threw me off and surprised me that a band with that many members could turn on a dime so to speak. This was a great opener for fall tour and is well worth adding to your collection. I would like to agree the opening songs being the same as harrisburg kind of annoyed me also.

I was in Richmond for a job interview; I didn't even know the Dead were in town. That afternoon, the guy interviewing me for the job was wrapping it up, and on my way out the door, he asked if I had plans for the night. He said, do you like the Grateful Dead, they're playing tonight at the Coliseum. My jaw dropped open.

Went down to the Coliseum and scored a ticket in the parking lot. I remember this show being the first time I heard them perform Day Job and Spoonful live, and the Sugar Magnolia tease before going into Good Lovin' at the end. Nice show, first time I ever saw the Dead "by myself" since I didn't go with friends but still was a nice surprise and a great alternative to spending the evening at a hotel bar.

we drove all nite from harrisburg..we were the 2nd car in the lot..next to these girls (art students from ohio)i think garcia's motivation was the fact it was the 1st show on the fall east coast tour...in my jounal i wrote that "i went to a "beatles bar" (PENNY LANE) and spilled a guiness as the "white perfs" kicked in..i was pissed that the First 2 tunes followed the Last east coast gig (city island 6/83 )stranger>fotd..the " 007 James Bond jam" out of space is significant..garcia would sometimes play the last thing he watched on the tube prior to the gig and if you analyze the T.V. schedules during the east coast gig nites
6:00-8:00PM you'll see what i mean ..the Deal is great example of the massive garcia/brent interplay jams which peaked in a few years...i loved the way jerry would squint towards mydland and both of them would pretend not to look @ one another

Jerry's playin' in the first set is nothing like I've ever heard. I'm surprised this show hasn't gotten more credit. Just stream Minglewood and you'll immediately understand what I mean...it's HOT! Maybe the G was so fired up because it was the first show they played in a couple weeks? Love to hear from someone that was at this show.