Grateful Dead
Date 1983-09-07
Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Morrison CO

Set 1
d1t01 - Jack Straw
d1t02 - Candyman
d1t03 - Little Red Rooster
d1t04 - Loser
d1t05 - My Brother Esau
d1t06 - West L.A. Fadeaway   //
d1t07 - Cassidy
d1t08 - China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider

Set 2
d2t01 - Intro
d2t02 - I Need a Miracle >
d2t03 - Bertha
d2t04 - Samson and Delilah >
d2t05 - He's Gone >
d2t06 - drums      //
d2t07 - space
d2t08 - Truckin'
d2t09 - Stella Blue
d2t10 - Sugar Magnolia
d2t11 - encore WAS U.S. Blues       *

* it WAS U.S. Blues means not on tape- we stopped the tape deliberately because we were being knuckleheads and not thinking of the future!
/    tape paused between tunes
//   tape flip

Master: AUD MC Beyer M201's X-Y 5.5'up > Sony TCD5M no dolby
        Maxell MX90 x 2
Location: 50 feet from stage 8ft ROC
Transfer: Nakamichi CR-5A (24/96) > Tascam DR680|SD > i5Windows10
          Audacity > cdwav editor > TLH flac level 8
          This is 24 bit copy
Mastered: Executive Crew Kyle Holbrook Chris Kidwell Tom Pinney
Transferred: Kyle Holbrook
=============================================================================================================
The tour story:
Since we were staying in the same motel in Golden and there is no travel stuff to relay I thought I'd discuss the PA and some of the issues of what it took to get recording gear in at Red Rocks in 1983. By this time of the tour Ultrasound had worked out the kinks of their Crest Amplifier situation and for most of the shows after Hult we can hear that we do not hear those occasional cut outs from one side of the PA we had experienced earlier this tour. I believe the Meyer brand amplifiers weren't available in the quantity Don Pearson needed and the integrated amp/speaker design had yet to be implemented. They had a sweet array of Meyer speakers and definitely threw some bass out into those tall rocks and that acoustically satisfying natural amphitheater. I recall walking toward the top on the stage left side of the rock, maybe 10-15 rows from the top and hearing Bobby's guitar very pronounced reflecting off the uneven surface of the rock. About ten feet higher Phil's bass seemed to have more clarity and "oomph" than down where we taped in front of the soundboard the first two nights. As a student of acoustics at the time this fascinated me to no end. I would visit the opposite spot of the theatre the next night to find an entirely different soundscape- that of many heads twirling on the wide steps and the shelf like box areas above every 4-5 steps. The trees on stage right muffle the PA sound just enough such that I could hear this movement of bodies and waist bells and feet scraping, twirling, all of which left me with a new impression of what the music of the Grateful Dead means and moves uniquely inside of each of us. Later in life a healer dude explained this may be a base chakra level reaction to all live music; that of celebrating life on earth through the electro-mechanical vibrations of percussive instruments. I'd bet this is at least as old as the earliest humans, burned into our DNA.

Sneaking gear into the amphitheater always presented challenges until summer 1985 when the first official taping section (OTS) occurred at Red Rocks. [we won't discuss the many tapers that year who went up front anyway] This year we were relatively lucky especially having many people to assist. This was among the 3 years they allowed us entry to the park at 8 AM and in the doors around noon. They actually allowed us to bake in the sun and generally hang out in the theatre 5-7 hours before showtime! What we had learned earlier in the summer was to keep the deck on our bodies usually tucked into the small of the back in the waistband. We would usually have the microphones and X-Y mount in someone's backpack and often have someone take in an empty backpack with their stuff for later storage of the taping gear. The venue allowed food and small coolers in which also helped to hide stuff. A funny sight must have been from above at gates opening while all the heads went running inside and either sprinted up the steps if they came in side or low entrance OR ran hopping down the steps if you went in top entrance. It was this run of shows we decided for tapers the top entrance is very beneficial, although side entrance on stage right was also good being the closest distance from gate to taping section.

This is the often overlooked middle night of the triad of shows as the other two setlists and performances are legendary. This was a nice tight show with several high points. The Cassidy, China > Rider set 1 closer is one of them. Brent lays down some heavy Hammond licks in Rooster along with the usual Bobby antics.The second set pretty much smokes from start to finish; they were certainly in top form after 10 shows on this late summer tour. An unusual slotted I Need a Miracle > Bertha led off the second set and they just kept going with a classic setlist, including a tear dropper of a Stella Blue. The day was brilliant waiting for the band out on the rocks and the night was even nicer, incredible, if a bit unusual Colorado mountain weather kept the crowd dancing and left us wanting more which, luckily, was in the cards with one more show at this venue the next night.


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