What luck for my 20 year old self to experience this show as my first. Auditorium Theater was a great venue, I had never seem an amplifier set like the wall of sound, I had never heard music live or otherwise that touched what Jerry and the boys played that night. The only fly in the ointment was a crew of extremely aggressive ushers that were determined to snuff out any pot smoking. Luckily about the third time they accosted us the guy next to me let the guy have it with a high end camera flash right in his face. That was the last we saw of him.

Man oh man! Just stumbled on this show via On This Day (Happy 44th!) - never checked it out before. My mood has been low today, so I clicked first on Mission in the Rain. My spine is tingling and I am practically crying, what an outpouring of emotion. That’s all I got, it’s late, definitely look forward to checking out the rest tomorrow. But that’s just what I needed!

I saw my first show in 88. So many shows after that too. Collected lots of tapes before and after my first show also. Its very difficult to capture the magic in a tape or any recorded show unless you actually were there and experienced it first hand, which I"m grateful I have! But my point here is, this show right here, captures the magic. I can feel it unlike any other show I've heard where I wasn't actually there. There is so. much. feeling. in this. Period. Love it.

well so far i only heard one person complain,some people really dont know what real music sounds like!but anyways good show,cassidy,mission in the rain,looks like rain,canyman the list goes on and on!great sound

I am so incredibly excited - this is what the Dead were doing on the day I was born! I have been looking for this for years now, and I am so thankful to have found it. Looks Like Rain is absolutely beautiful - I will enjoy listening to this for years to come.

Bobby takes a good deal of grief at times.Looks like rain, here, is worth the price of admission.Equals Mission ,in my opinion, for its just "rightness".Jerry nails all the changes and Bob and Donna sing in key.What more?
Lovely show.Thanks boys.

Im reading some mixed reviews about this show. I think this show is worthy of 5 stars.On my stereo system, this is about as good sounding show as I have. No hiss at all. Recording levels are perfect. Great show to boot. Tenn Jed starts off with a nice mellow groove and it gets better from there. Someone on here once said "this site is like mining for gold". I totally agree. With all the different phases of the Dead, when you find a "nugget" that you love is such a great feeling. My favorite shows may not be your favorites, but we can all agree there is gold in here for sure

i tried to listen to playin' but jerry is lost, just noodling on his own. It sounds a sloppy mess! He just seems off by a 1/4 beat this whole show.

I understand that people have their fav eras or some just like the '76 sound but how is this a 4+ star show?? Lets get some perspective and save the 5 stars for when the band is ON and tight and inspired.

Sound quality is great tho, with keith maybe a bit too loud.

Move with the groove. :) Awesome. Ooober funky.

Really solid show from a great era. Sound quality is terrific to me. I have it piped through my stereo and it sounds clear as a bell, no hissing or audio distortion at all from what I can tell.

Easy to see why they picked this Wheel for the So Many Roads Box set. The playin' that surrounds it is surreal.

This show has one of those bone chillingly amazing feels. No flubs, all buisness.

Mission in the Rain is simply the best live version found here. Jerry, Donna and Bobby sing it more beautifully than any other rendition of JGB, allthough those are good as well.

Every single song has on and Keith is not wasted and is playing beautifully. How this full show went under the radar of Lavata's collection or the download series i'll never know.

Grateful to own this SBD, anyone want it?
dylan.muhlberg@colorado.edu

This is a great time for the band I think. Donna was overcoming her stepping on Bob & Jerry and finding a nice place.

Sound is strong and the energy seemed really happy after their sebatacle, they had some great new tunes and were ready for hitting the road again.

Super creeper Row Jimmy, lov'n it
Some folks can't handle that waaaay laid back groove, time and place man time and place

You got it right, an orgasmic Donna at the end of the show. I wish I orgasmed with her. She is simply beautiful.

Speaking of Donna, she is starting to sing better, admittedly her wails from 72-74 did distract from songs. She gets really good in 77 and 78, then tails off in 79 from doing too much pot and coke.

She is still beautiful and I'm so happy she was a member of the dead for almost a decade.

...is exquisitely played and one of the finest renditions I've ever heard. The mellowest song in a very mellow show. So mellow, in fact, that Donna gives an orgasmic "ohh" during the chorus at the end of the show...priceless! Classic '76 show with excellent sound quality.

Have to agree with Finster baby. Sound sweet. As if rediscovering the love the band feels for its music and playing with each other, you can actually hear how Jer and the gang cherish each note. Nothing wasted, precise, sweet. Jer's voice sounds sweet. I think you can really start to hear how rejuvinated the band is in this period after the hiatus, the long studio/rehersal stint for the Blues for Allah album then the start of full force touring again. You can hear them smiling. They love it. Wish I had been there. So much excitement despite the layed back tempo. Set 1 is brilliant for a nice easy Sunday morning of kicking back. Mission is the sweet icing on the cake. You can't go wrong. Download now.

the Mission is well known and justified, the last time played?!?!?!?! Maybe they felt they perfected it, and choose a new challange. Thankfully this was not the last peggy-o of the sweet 70's but this is one of the best for sure. Really love the Cassidy and Candyman too, Keith was on. Jerry and Keith Unite!

A fine show; but the levels are almost buried in the noise floor! You might experience a bit too much hiss by cranking them up before recording. Better copies exist...

A good show in a good run of shows. The St. Stephen and Not Fade Away have a really nice swinging groove here. Listen to those if nothing else.

With this show and others from this year, the last songs are not throw-aways. This One More Saturday Night is musical, the vocals are right on, Jerry and Keith are as tight with the band as in any song of the night.

If you like this one, you'll also like the 6/27 show. It's an audience recording-- a good one, though the sound is not as good as this. But I think that show is even better than this one.

If you're not familiar with the 1976 sound, listen these two shows at least twice each. You'll gain an appreciation for yet another unique-sounding and top-notch Grateful Dead era.

Best of '76? It has to rank right up there! It's hard to describe how good this show is. Everyone sounds to be in the groove here, especially Jerry and Keith. I once heard it said that Jerry had an ability to play it "SWEET" like no other guitar player could. This is a classic example!!! The tempo of the individual songs as well as the show as a whole just seem to ease along like a lazy summer afternoon. Jerry is just hittin' it sweet and mellow and Keith's fills both surprise and delight. From start to finish this is just PURE MUSICAL JOY!!!!
I can't stress enough how awesome this is.
Download today...Don't delay!!

I used to own a bootleg copy of this show on cd... back in the days before cdr... and I remember the liner notes mentioning that this show sounds so nice because it was chosen as one of several shows for the upcoming "One From The Vault" release and was remastered by The Dead before the final show was chosen, and this show was scrapped. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

done by the dead to perfection, here.

said to be the last one they did, I can see why! When you play a song that well it must feel like everything that needed to be said has been.

Another 5 star, A+++ Recording, of a truly awesome show! "Supplication" and "Saturday Night" truly kicked it out! I wan't quite old enough to be into the Dead back in '76, but if I had, I certaily would have left the third grade to go hang out as a pre-teen hippie on this tour, if the sounds were as gelled as this show offers us today.....

everyone has one and they all stink......


i totally disagree with the last post...this is a STELLAR show.....the songs are played VERY well...on point with very few flubs....DO NOT PASS THIS UP! great sound......

For the longest time I have heard people raving about this show. It got really good reviews on her so I figured what the hell. To be perfectly honest this show is a little disappointing. To me a boring setlist, the sound quality is good but not great and to me the songs arenÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂt played that well. I all honest there other 76's I would get before this one. I know this has the Betty Board tag on it but donÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂt be fooled itÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs a pretty ordinary show. Check out 6/14/76 for an awesome 76 Betty Board that juts rips.

Polka is right on the money with the T-Jed review below...this is one of the all-time Tennessee Jed's...rest of the show is vintage 76'...check out 10-10-82 for a perfect T-Jed...

Standout show in a standout year. Can't get enough of that slow, silky groove laid down in '76.

Alltime Jed. Top LL>S. Row Jimmy on a par with the best, and thoroughly jammed. All in all, one of the greatest Dead 1st sets.

Sound A
Show A+

(I don't give out 5's much....this is one)

Really, really good, rich sound. Sick 2nd set.

So what's up with so many Heads bashing ' 76? Don't get me wrong, I realize that there were better years (' 72,' 73, and ' 77 for example), but there is ample evidence to make a case for the Bicentennial as a great Dead Year. For example, 1976 had a laid-back funky groove that is quite unlike the sound from any other period in the band's history. The set lists from ' 76 are not known for song diversity; due to the boys relearning the material and the reintegration of Mickey Hart into the band, but there were some extremely interesting song pairings and combinations that were also unique to the period, and the songs they did play were pretty hot. Killer new material (Help>Slip>Franklin's, Lazy Lightning>supplication,etc.). Killer old school songs (St. Stephen, Cosmic Charlie) dusted off and freshly arranged. Plus one or two great songs that only played a few times (Mission in the Rain). Furthurmore, the soundboards from the period are so crispy and have great clarity, with Keith's piano and Bobby's guitar more prominant in the mix than at any other time in the band's history (a good thing). Phil's bass sounds so good and his playing is so...slippery! That's the best word I can come up with to describe it. And last but not least, Jerry! So soulful, so clear and focused, and funky as hell! Singing great as well.
Enough of my preaching about the virtues of DEAD YEAR 1976, the reason I chose this show is because I figured if I was going to rant in such a manner I 'd better have the goods to back it up. A great show and an incredible soundboard. Such a kind groove throughout. This and a few other shows (6/9,7/18,9/25,10/9,10/10,10/15,12/31) are the best of the year, and what a year!
This was my first review and was something I have been needing to get off my chest for a hot minute. In the future I will try to focus more on the particulars of the show itself rather than using the show, as a whole , to prove a point or as an example of some grandiose ideal. Anyway, this really is a great show... many highlights(Mission...,Row Jimmy,etc.)too many to mention...worthy download...I was four in ' 76...I will shut up now. Namaste!

This is a long and very trippy version of what was to come at the orpheum shows - whole show is very hot tenn jed, lazy lightning>supp. This is a great show and while I have had this board on tape since the early 80's have not heard it in a while and this is a much better copy. Chi shows had alot of personality...

I'm about to listen to this 76 again instead of explore the 1000's of other shows I haven't listened to yet...This show is guaranteed to put the listener in a zone of universal comprehension, timeless transcendent trances, and profound contemplation of time, space, ego, and all that defines reality as we know it. Crisp 5 star sound is the least of this review. The band was simply tapped into a deeper rhythm of life in this era which comes through in this show like few others do in any time era of Grateful Dead Productions. Let your ears and mind taste this show and never be quite the same again....

One of my first bootlegs as well. I love those 76 intro's to Wheel. Mission is great, as is the Candyman... again, I love the slow, laid back feel of 76 shows. Wonderful sound.

Terrific setlist including Mission in the Rain and Might as Well, giving it '76 context.

The songs melt, and I'd go so far as to say this is a top 5 of all time show.

The highlight is Row Jimmy, during Jerry's second lead exploration (4:00-6:00). He turns his pedal steel into a pure extension of his soul. His ability to communicate directly from his creative internal energy is crystallized in this musical dialogue. I have no doubt this is the best Row Jimmy the Dead have ever played. Hands Down!

Mostly a laid back feel to this one. It has a good vibe to it and everyone plays pretty well together, especially in the second set. Even Donna manages to sing in key from time to time.

Last Mission (by the Dead), a beautiful song. And this second set's a killer. I had the first set for a couple years before I found the second. What a nice surprise that was! Super kicked-back Stephen. This is one of the bootlegs I cut my teeth on. A spectacular show (4 stars, because there are a lot of other high-powered super-crispy shows on the archive). But this one's a gem. Definitely well-worth the DL.

Playin>Drums>Wheel>Playin>St Stephen>NFA>St Stephen>One More Sat Night...

Thats all I can say...