“It is said that, if you lined up all those who have ever been to a Grateful Dead concert head-to-toe, the line would stretch around the moon, and about halfway back. And nobody would complain!”
Grateful Dead
Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, N.J.
November 11, 1985
Matrix:
AUD (shnid=19303):
Schoeps CMC441 (FOB, 90deg, 17cm) > Oade M118 > Oade mod PCM-F
SBD (shnid=14862): Unknown SBD\
SBD > CM > DAT > DAT > CD > EAC > SHN
Thank you to the Oade Brothers, dwonk, and macdaddy for the AUD transfer,
and to Ken Doughty and Matt Cole for the SBD transfer.
Matrix by Hunter Seamons:
Final Cut Pro (SHN>AIFF>Final Cut>WAV>FLAC)
Disc 1 – Set 1:
- tuning
- Walking The Dog >
- Deal
- New Minglewood Blues
- Althea
- Me and My Uncle >
- Big River
- Bird Song
- Looks Like Rain
- Don’t Ease Me In
- Encore: Brokedown Palace
Disc 2 – Set 2:
- Scarlet Begonias >
- Fire On The Mountain >
- Estimated Prophet >
- Eyes of The World >
- Drums >
- Space >
- Dear Mister Fantasy >
- Goin’ Down The Road, Feelin’ Bad >
- Throwing Stones >
- Turn on Your Lovelight
Eighteen recordings in the Archive,but very few reviews. From this recording:
REVIEW: Goin’ Down The Road
Fantastic movin’ groovin’ version of Goin’ Down The Road.
REVIEW: WalkingtheDog>Deal
An overlooked show from ’85. I prefer the Spring tour and the East Coast shows, myself. I think that Walking
the Dog was just to warm the band up for Deal. Not sure they ever opened with Deal. Pretty close here. Liked
the WTD version from Spectrum in Spring better with Jerry doing more of the vocals. Solid 2nd set. 4 1/2 stars
REVIEW: EXcellent!!
This was a wonderful surprise night… WHO knew they’d be SO on and GRATE
Just one more of the wonder fulls!! sound woo hooo….night place was on fire with joy…run around just looking
fun everywhere and it was all good!!! thanks everyone…so good to hear!!!
REVIEW: Thank you
For me, the more difficult, the journey was in getting to a show, the sweeter each note sounded once the boys
took the stage. This particular night fell on the same night as my girlfriend’s mother surprise birthday party on
Long Island, which was scheduled to end about the time the band would be taking the stage.. On the drive from
UMASS to Long Island, every attempt I made with her to negotiate a compromise, one that would pave the way
for us to attend at least part of the show, was systematically and categorically rejected. There were ultimatums
given, spelling out, in detail, the consequences should I suddenly disappear into the night. . Long story short, I
made it to Brendan Byrne 30 min before showtime, giving me enough time to get straight. .Ticket, bud, boomers
- check, check, check. And of the 188 times I had the pleasure of listening to Jerry’s sweet licks or Phil’s bass
bombs, live, I can only recall one night where they opened with Walking the Dog> Deal..and the rest is history. .
Great memories. .thank you.
REVIEW: Excellent Sound
Funny, in earlier comments Seamons indicates his unhappiness with this matrix. I’ve been listening with
headphones on, and I think it sounds great. Picking up all the instruments, able to pick out the tones of all three
guitarists very well. Thanks, thanks.
REVIEW: Good to me
Sounds good to me this morning. Of the 5 times they played “Walking The Dog” am lucky to have caught 3 of
them. Which really is not a big thing because these are my touring days from summer of 82 threw Shoreline 89.
Someone said this is fast? I don’t find it fast but am no pro when it comes to sound quality of tapes turned into
files. I say its a good 4 star show. Fall tour in 1985 was a ton of fun, we pretty much all knew each other and
was one big party from Florida on back to California.
REVIEW: 1985 was the first year I saw them live . I saw the last two shows in Chicago If you don’t know how
to do it.
From other recordings:
REVIEW: Great!
Just finished listening at work. Man does the time fly with a great show! Great crowd and a typical setlist from
’85. “Walking the DOg” was funky and “Throwing Stones” was on fire, maybe because we just had elections but
it was a good listen, as always.
REVIEW: Fun and some luck….
My good buddy Tony and I went to 11-10 and were dropped off in the meadowlands parking lot by our buds
who went back to Mystic. We had a bag of raw chicken, 2 forged tickets from the previous nights gate crashing
incident where we erased the 0 and place a 1 in its spot, and no ride home. We later found a cookout and a guy
with a pickup truck with a cap from connecticut who gave us a ride to our doors in Groton. What a great guy..we
partied with his friends for much of the day. ahhh the good ol’ days of parking lots… As for the show….I really
liked Meadowlands shows…good sounding arena…check out the Scarlet>Fire, Estimated>Eyes.. and of course
the brokedown…all great…this show smokes.
REVIEW: Stranger danger
What we have here is actually a fine version of Stranger (although it sounds like Mickey has the wrong tempo in
mind for the intro–Billy saves the day!) but it’s the first set closer from the previous night, not this show. On to
the review. This is a lively performance. For ’85, Jerry’s voice is pretty strong and he plays very well. Althea,
Bird Song, and LL Rain all point toward the excellence to come in set II, the whole of which is worth a listen.
This show closed the East Coast leg of Fall ’85 and feels like a mighty good celebration. One more two and a
half hour reason why I love ’85.
REVIEW: Thanks!
Great show along with some sentimental value as well, I suppose.
I, along with a few friends, was a guest of the band that night and, at the end of the night, Dan Healy popped the
cassettes out of the soundboard and gave them to us – Maxell XLIIS’s, if I remember correctly. I held on to those
tapes for a few years but then lost them in college ~1989 always knew
REVIEW: You know this space is getting hot
Ok, Ok, I know that I hand out far too many 5 stars to 1985 shows, but this one is so very tight. Despite a rather
“predicatable” second set, this show really is very strong start to finish both in terms of the recording and the
playing. Weir is LOUD here and seems to be having a very good time at that. Jerry flubs lyrics in Althea, but it’s
really pretty minor, and as with all 1985 Althea’s (too rare: only 9!) it is just packed sick Jerry leads.
REVIEW: Hey Now!
Good show! I typically don’t like the mid-80s, but was suggested to listen to this show. I expected the worst, but
ended up with a pretty good show. The first set SMOKES from beginning to end with a Bird Song and LLR that
really hooked me. The second set, while being a bit predictable, is still solid, at least until drums>space. Great
versions of Scarlet>Fire and Estimated>Eyes. It does tail off a bit at the end, but still holds up pretty well.
Sound is superb, show is great (minus the second half of the second set), so I’d give it 4.5 stars if I could…but
seeing as this is one of the best shows I’ve heard from the mid-80s, I’ll give it a hesitant 5.
“Today’s Dead Tomorrow”, Upcoming Gig Events
As always, verify with the venue…
Experimental Farm Road:
5 O’Clock Club, Fri., Nov. 15th, 9:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.
1930 Hillview St., Sarasota, 366-5555
Kettle Of Fish:
Siesta Key Oyster Bar, Wed., Nov. 13th, 7:00 p.m.
5238 Ocean Blvd, Sarasota, 346-5443
Marina Jack’s Patio Bar, Thurs., Nov. 14th, 6:00 p.m.
2 Marina Plaza, Sarasota, 365-4232
Motorworks Brewing, Fri., Nov. 15th, 7:00 p.m.
1014 9th St. W., Bradenton, 896-9892
Schmitz Brothers Band:
Linger Lodge, Sat., Nov. 16th, 7:00 – 10:00 a.m.
7205 85th St. Ct. East, Bradenton, 755-2757
Ship Of Fools:
Giving Hunger The Blues:
Sarasota Polo Grounds, Sat., Nov. 16th, 12:00 or 1:00 p.m.
8201 Polo Club Lane, Lakewood Ranch, 907-0000
Darwin’s Brewing Co., Sat., Nov. 16th, 7:30 – 10:30 a.m.
803 17th Ave., W., Bradenton, 747-1970
Stottlelmyer’s Smokehouse, Sun., Nov. 17th, 3:00 – 6:00 p.m.
19 East Rd., Sarasota, 312-5969
The Blue Rooster:
Tues., Nov. 12th, Hymn For Her, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.
Wed., Nov. 13th, Al Fuller’s Blues Jam, 7:30 – 10:30 p.m.
Thurs., Nov. 14th, Mike Zito, 7:30 – 10:30 p.m.
Fri., Nov. 15th, Twinkle and Rock Soul Radio, 8:00 – 11:00 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 16th, Ari and The Alibis, 8:00 – 11:00 p.m.
Sun., Nov. 17th, Truality gospel brunch, Noon to 2:00 p.m.
1525 Fourth St., Sarasota, 388-7539
J.R.’s Old Packinghouse Cafe: (new times! Tues., Wed, Thurs., 6 p.m.; Mon, Wed., Sat., 7:00 p.m.)
Mon., Nov. 11th, Open Mic with Rick Alvis, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.
Tues., Nov. 12th, Rich Miller, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Wed., Nov. 13th, Bare Plowman, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Thurs., Nov. 14th, Stretch-N-Frinz, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Fri., Nov. 15th, Acoustic Therapy, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 16th, Mumbo Jumbo, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.
And the OPC is now open Sundays, 12:00 – 6:00 p.m.
987 South Packinghouse Road, Sarasota, 371-9358
Sarasota Folk Club:
This month’s Fogartyville concert is Mon., Nov. 25th, The Dunn Deal
Open mic at 7:15 p.m., concert at 8:30
Fogartyville Community Media & Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota, 894-6469
For all information regarding the Sarasota Folk Club, go to their website:
http://www.sarasotafolk.org/