Arguably one of the best shows of that tour. I attended every show starting with Greek. The drive from California to Wisconsin is one I will never forget. So many great memories.
Celebrating my 24th birthday in Wyoming.
A great tour. Grand memories.

In a very new school year, this is a throwback show.

summer 85 was a great time to be on tour.

Great show, huge fun to be was as were the previous and following (Riverbend and SPAC). Rumour was the boys tanked on nitrous right before they came out and did Day Tripper which really caught the whole crowd by surprise. Also, I distinctly remember Phil going off during the Gimme Some Lovin which elicited a huge response from the crowd. Jack Straw -> Might as Well closer to first set brought home the bacon. A real treat for an East Coast kid to make it out to the midwest to see the Dead in another fine and natural habitat.

Nice sound on this one..I'm not going to get caught up in which Day Tripper was better~I'm just grateful they played it!! The boys were pulling out some crazy stuff in 85' and the summer was packed with it. Healy doing craziness at the board and songs that just left you scratching your head with a smile. I had so much fun going to this summer tour.A good solid show from start to finish so please~GIVE IT A WHIRL~ Forever Grateful Dead>Forever Dead!!!!

have always loved this show -- always had an asterisk on the tape label... for good reason. day tripper, jackstraw, china-rider, playin', sugar mag, touch all first rate.

March 31, 1985 was by most accounts the best of all the Day Trippers...

They closed the 2nd set with Day Tripper and it literally blew the roof off! The crowd went nuts and the house was brought down. Officially.

Also one of the all time great China Dolls, with a huge extended epic outro > jam where Jerry simply had no interest in leaving the stage. Go check it out.

Don't be hating the Cumberland County March 31 show just because you missed an epic night and saw this one instead.

Row Jimmy and Playing In The Band are the highlights of this show. Great versions. Enjoy.

...Jerry absolutely destroys the China>Rider. I saw 75 shows from 86 on and never saw one this hot. Very solid 2nd set

Fine, there were sloppy parts which are impossible NOT to find in any show, of any era, but this is absolutely one of the best shows recorded. Billy and Mickey have complete control of both sets, and the energy from the rest of the band never lets up. And, who can possibly argue with the setlist? Jerry may have been strung out, but the leads on China - Rider and Sugar Mag still make me grind my teeth. Get in touch with me DKingCT1 - it's been way too long. That's the least you can do after I introduced you to this gem. Keep your lamp down low .....

A few things I remember vivedly from thees show as playd in my teevee...

1. I confirmed that the Grateful Dead was not playing a tribute concert 4 the teevee star Blossom/ i am vry glad/ like she could hav her own center lol

2. Around trax 5-7 my kitteh appeard 2 see some sort of entity on the wall. After chekking i confirmd it was not kaliyuga jerry garcia!!! thank
gawd cos he nvr wants 2 leav in the morning/horny bastard

3. I enjoyd this show immensly/thx

One of my favorite venues, Blossom was awesome back in the day before it got bought out.

A few things I still remember vividly from this show...

1. Jerry in red, he didn't move very much that day, and barely looked up the whole time, even when singing. But he sure did play. Was great from beginning to end.

2. Had 2nd row, when you could still camp out at the venue to get guaranteed good seats. All the seats down front were in the "pit", not attached to each other. So by the 2nd set, we had stacked up most of them and made a big dance area, and ticket shuffled a lot more friends down with us. SO FUN!!! Our one friend though had worked construction all day, was real beat, so sat up on one high stack and FELL ASLEEP. Could NOT believe it. Maybe that's why Jerry wouldn't look up, lol.

3. Bobby was extra animated, feeding off the energy of all us crazy dancers, running over and jumping up on Brent's keyboard, playing and kicking and laughing, just having a ball!

Think it was just my 6th GD show, and definitely in my top 3 of 100+.

day tripper was a great trend setter for this solid show. china> cat > pitb and row j are very well done. the whole run was sick. for those to say underrated overrated whatever, any show from this run is top notch. 4.3975 / 5

Kind of a mute point, but it does start the show off with a high energy level. I think they played this two or three other times, all others were trainwrecks. This one has Brent and Bobby singing high and Jerry not screwing up the chords.

The rest of the show is tight, as is this whole month. Check out the Alpine Valley shows, the Hershey Park show, and the Merriweather show too for stellar shows June 1985.

I think we can confidently label this one as one of the all-time greats. Outstanding recording of a phenomenal performance.

...there are some nice highlights. The show starts off with a fun Day Tripper providing some nice energy to start things off. C.C. Rider has an unbelievable jam at the end and is one of the best versions I've heard yet. Beat It On Down the Line is substandard with a huge flub in the middle. Row Jimmy and Uncle are average at best but Big River delivers the goods and Big Railroad Blues is smoking hot with some incredible soloing from Garcia. A short but lively Jack Straw is well played but segues into an uninspired Might as Well.

Set two starts off promising with a rousing rendition of Gimm Some Lovin' followed by a decent China>Rider. The highlight of the set is Playing which at nearly 17 minutes delves into heavy territory. This jam is the saving grace of an otherwise average set. China Doll is sweetly played but the vocal are a bit rough and the Sugar Mags that closes the show is mediocre. Touch of Grey is a nice choice as an encore but this version isn't one of my faves. 3 and a half stars.

Can we please retire the utterly stupid not-to-mention-useless word "haters"?

Don't listen to the haters, post-drums is as good as it gets,

This was my first show. I was 21 years old. I just found this archive site. The whole dead scene just blew me away. Blossom Music Center was a great place to see them. I think they weren't allowed back due to uptight locals. After this show, most of the times we were stuck seeing them at the coliseum - which was not such a great place to see a show.

Hey Now, As I start listening, Day Tripper for openers, Whoa! the Sound quality reflects the fact the place was built for the Cleveland Orchestra. I was overseas that summer so I missed this show. Hearing it today is well, just Great! I still got more to listen too but
i'll give this a top rating because it is a crisp. This show a keeper for me. Rock on, Internet Archives. thanks for all these fine memories!

The second set is excellent from beginning to end. Check out the Sugar Magnolia!

My friend gave this to me back at college in arizona. i lost it but ahve tried to find it ever since. and then i found this site. whoever set this site up is now in my will. thank you. thank you. !!

I keep re-listening to this show, trying to see what everyone's raving about and I still don't get it.

Perfect example is the Row Jimmy, often cited as one of the better ones. Good heavens, no. RJ is one of my top ten fave Dead tunes and here it's just butchered lyrically throughout by jerry and is generally played at a snail's pace w/no remarkable licks until the very end w/the repeating of the 'I say Row..." verses. Fine, if you want to judge the song by its final 3 minutes but the Dead never played this song better then they did when it debuted in the early 70's and this version just doesn't change my opinion on that.

I should also say i'm not one of those 80's Dead show snobs--I saw the majority of my shows between '81 and '89 and attended many of the '85 shows as well, but fail to see how they can compare to anything from '72-'74 or '77 or even '79-'81.

this Board DOES sound excellent but the playing is choppy and the pristine sound reveals the flaws) and just not as smooth as many many other shows you can find on the archive.

Best you can say is that there are 'moments", like Jerry's licks in Uncle and big River, but he just about always blazes those.

The "energy" factor is, i admit, evident, and for that i add the extra star to make 3, but otherwise I'd really give this a 2, as I would many shows between '85 and '88 before they resurged with some amazing performances in the summer of '89 right through '91.

sorry for the dissent but I gots to call 'em like I hear 'em. I'm sure i'll face some wrath but that's what makes horse races.

the last week of June 1985, we were treated to "good stuff"

From 6-24 Riverbend thru 6-30 Merriweather.

Wow.

I used to live down the way from Blossom. If you like Jerry unhooked, this is the show for you. Also, this was the period when *The Twighlight Zone* was revived and the Dead did the soundtrack. It's weaved into Space and so were we. I love this show's strangely addicting quality. Play it 10 or 20 times. I think you'l see.

...I keep coming back to this show after many years of listening to it. It's off the hook. I seem to go through phases (as I'm sure many/most of us do) of listening to the Dead hardcore and then easing off a little and listening to any or all other types of music. When I come back to the Dead, there's always a new twist, a new way of hearing it. This is the best show to "come back to." Playin is just tremendous and I can't write enough reviews to do it justice-- some of the best music ever played by humans, and composed right on the spot!

This is one of the better shows. Great set selection, great sound quality.

Day Tripper > West LA Fadeaway >CC Rider >Dire Wolf what a way to start a show, and it only heats up towards the end.

This has to be one of the all-time great shows don't wait, download this NOW!

I didn't think that a show could cause a flashback but I'm now in drums and I am seeing trails. I haven't droped since 91. Wow now thats some powerfull stuff. 85 has allways been a epic year and I have heard alot about this show just never got arround to it. Classic mid 80's Dead, do yourself a favor download this right now!! SPACE is totaly insane so is the whole show the sound is very good esp. for 85. Saw philly 4/8 and the merriweather shows which are great but this one gives me that slaped in the test tube feeling all over again 5+ stars

Awesome Show. A+++++++++ JAMMMMMM

One of my favorites, Jerry's solo is so sick.
Smoke a couple big hits of some killer dank and check it out . I always liked the trippy reverb on the first solo and the begining launch on the second one. I play this one alot also when it comes to 85. Saratoga is also been high on my rotation.
Dire Wolf rocks also as does the whole show.

When I go to 85's this one is right up there. Nice long first set and the second set nuggets to boot.

Top notch

Never toured with them but never missed a show in my neighborhood. Been going for 25 years and this is one of my favorites. "Day Tripper" to open? "Might As Well" to close the first set? And a juking "Row Jimmy." Wild. Five stars.

Although the first set song list is an A+, the second set is where its at. Although probably not as great an overall show as Merriweather five nights later, what the Shakedown is to that show, the China/Rider (esp. the transition and the Rider) and the Sugar Mag are to this show. Really enjoyable listening of some fine form on display!

I was at this show - I did the whole tour - my first big tour. Of course the day tripper opener is fun - not tight but fun - one of those "the idea was better than the execution." Cuyahoga is a very beautiful venue - it is one of those places that are the grounds and facilities are so nicely cared for you just know the they were not totally prepared for 20,000+ dead heads to spend the evening. I don't believe we were invited back. The Sugar Mag was particularly memorable because I remember Bobby running all over the stage and then climbing up on the speakers and sitting on them with his legs dangling in the air all while the band was cranking away. It was a beautiful starry summer night and all in all the show was very nice. I don't know if it is a must-have but it has special meaning for me.

I was at this show and it's primarily about the 1st set. 10 tunes with a Day Tripper opener and a Jack Straw>Might As Well closer as the high points but everything is good.

In the 2nd set the pre drums is short but the Playin is well done. Post drums is my favorite part of this set with solid transitions. I like the Riverbend and Post show better from this tour but this is still a keeper.

The tape I had of this show set the standard for every tape in my collection.
I wish like heck I could have been there. I had to work, and everybody came back raving about this show, "You should have been there man Day Tripper, China Doll, etc., you would have loved it." REALLY???
Don't you just hate that???

So glad to see it here!!!!!!
This site is really too good to be true.

I cant remember if I got this one or the other recording of it that they have here on archive. They both seem to sound pretty good, I just did a little bit of streaming to see which one sounded better. Seem about the same. Anyway Lots of good stuff in this show. The Row Jimmy is just dripping with emotion. Very heavy. Definitely a show I cant stop listening too. A good one. And thanks to the folks who make it so easy for us to get this stuff.