I was there! Those of us on the lawn got to witness the unbelievably amazing event that I will never forget. After the second set, Phil comes out and says to be patient, that they're gonna do something a little special tonight, one night only, and a few minutes they roll out and start a gorgeous dark star. Suddenly the sky overhead is split with a chunky shooting star going straight down behind the campanile and the golden gate bridge, the crowd up top goes nuts, and then, as if choreographed, Jerry steps up and sings "dark star crashes....." An event that boggles my mind to this day. You can hear the crowd on the lawn roar on audience tapes. Un-Fucking-Believable!!!!! There are forces out there that we could never imagine in our wildest dreams, and they tipped their hand that night. Thank You!!!!!
Melissa Birch Yup, the Greek and Frost were the high points of my musical year through the '80s! What a spectacle we all got to witness. History in the making as a result of which this vibrant jamband scene carries on!!! I will always treasure my many happy memories of these simpler times...
God bless Sony D 6 tape decks ...I taped this and distributed this from the Bay Area to half of Arizona/ New Mexico / and Texas on Maxell DX 2 Cassettes . Boards, first generation
Winterland was my favorite venue to see the Dead. First show was Nov. 73. I went to as many shows at that venue as I could. Bill Graham nailed it.... " It (Winterland) was a dump, but ahhh what a dump"!
The UC Berkeley Greek Theatre is a very special place, the view of 10K tied dyed twirlers enjoying the sun in time to Sugar Magnolia to start the summer tour. Brents sets a very high bar for the band with Minglewood Blues solos mid 1st set. It keeps coming as the sun sets and 2nd set continues with the perfect mix of perfection and power equal to the SF Bay Area lights. Looks Like Rain feels forced as a fourth song pre-drums until light rain begins and ends with song and I feel cleansed until Stella Blue wrings my emotions to my cheeks, perfect and powerful, like the rest of the very long set which ends with nothing left to expect and yet the faces around turned to bewildered, something was still in the air, and Phil comes out and says it, something special to come. Was Dark Star too much to expect, yes, but falling star shooting through THE scene and with sparse gasps and awes of those of us who saw it to "know" it was real. I now know the Dead knew something would be falling through the sky, but on a Friday the 13th, and the first show of the summer tour, it had to be fun to plan, and what a treat to see them brought together beyond themselves.
A couple of people mentioned miraculous things happening with the weather at Dead shows. I saw just over 100 shows over an 8 year period, it seemed like the band's presence played with the weather often. It was really uncanny. God made his presence known to all of us. Thank you for the upgrade V, this has always been one of my favorite shows, sounds killer. Nice to have the Dark Star.
+Dennis Campbell how relevant this is considering the rainbow/ breaktaking sunset at the first fare thee well and the perfect weather throughout the days leading up to the event. The crazy funeral like aspect of the final night.
Brent was definitely in love with the new DX7 from the sound of it! These are some fast tempos! Great sound though - Phil's low notes are coming through crystal clear...sounds amazing!
To this day I blame my 12th grade media writing teacher (Mr. Clavin) for flunking me and forcing me to attend summer school, thereby missing the Berkley Shows after Alpine Valley. In retrospect, I should have just blown off summer school. Love the Scarlett solo spot. Great show. Dark Star encore! Ugh, still kicking myself for missing this.
my second show ever. i was still so new to the band that i didn't understand the significance of the Dark Star encore. i twisted a fattie with hash oil smeared on the paper, lit it and passed it to the person on my right. i watched the burning ember of that joint pass from hand to hand nearly all the way around the mid level of the amphitheater. fun night.
i watched this show from the tower of Bowles Hall, I worked maintanance at UCB back then and had lock box keys to get in any building on campus. the tower view is blocked now by the trees but back then it was a perfect view
This was a very special show, a falling star during Dark Star! I've had it held over my head for decades that I missed this one. Thanks much, voodoonola!! On a side note, saying the band was "lackluster" from 83-85 is just plain wrong, open your ears, kind sir!!
Uhhhhh, I was tripping so hard this night, After almost falling down the bowl the ONE time I stood up, I sat with my chin on my fists the entire second set...through the Dark Star encore. It wasn't until the conclusion that I could even speak, but the Dead have a way of picking you up....and setting you back down with perfect timing.
The best encore ever. I was not the only one drooling, everyone got a tape. Last Dark Star for 5 years, I had a nice sbd tape of this show, but this sounds perfect.
so true. my fave Dark Star actually. like the concise nature of it. and it's psychedelic as a starry night. you can hear the shooting stars in the heavens. they're coming down to hear the Dark Star encore
Yeah. The weekend the Dead were playing the Greek was always fun in Berkeley. Tiedyes everywhere. I had a friend who lived there and it was always a great weekend.
Wow, how canya not fall in Luv in Luv w/ that version of Scarrlet!!! & you been doing so much quality tapin 4 soon long! Thank you so much!!!! A TRANSMISSION OF LUV & GR8-ATTUDE FROM ORBIT TO MEDICINE PERS., VOODOONOLA
Agreed. My first time hearing the Grateful Dead music live, albeit through the soccer field PA, was at the Greek in 1986. It was also the first time I truly understood the concept of infinity; one of many, many Eureka moments that live with me and inform my daily actions and thoughts.
Uneven era or no, this is the most righteous Scarlet-Touch-Fire I ever heard. And I've heard a lot. This one, on an eighth-generation cassette, hooked me like never before! From then on I was hopeless; and it was pointless to resist.
EddieDaRooster - not going to dispute that there's some great stuff in the Scarlet > Touch > Fire, but how many have you actually heard? I think this was the only one.
My first show was in 1986 at the Rubber Bowl with Dylan and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. By that time I had been mesmerized by the tapes include the one above. I would double-time record them on a double cassette deck as fast as I could get them. Between 86 and Brent's dying I think I say them about 15 times; after Brent I saw them only once in 1991 and once in 93 I think. I went to a couple of two- or three-day deals (Alpine, or a Cincinnatti-Louisville deal), so I probably saw Scarlett-Fire live 4 or 5 times, maybe. I don't think I ever heard it with Touch of Grey in the middle. Now, how many different live recordings have I heard it on? I can't tell you. As many as I can. Always wanting to hear more. Hope my provenance is satisfactory; it works for me!
People hate on the 80-84 GD period because it's the height of Garcia's drug abuse, but the gems like this superb Greek show prove they still had the fire!
The blurry footage looks just like it was when we were at this show. Remember coming out of the Greek after Dark Star and noticed that the surrounding area near Memorial Stadium was like the Night of the Living Dead. People were fried. The band is playing like they are on coke.
My little office in grad school was right across the street from the Greek, 1979-85, was an usher for BGP (I was actually assigned to "spinner management" at some shows), a lot of great shows, beautiful venue. And when the Dead weren't on there, or at the Warfield or Oakland Auditorium, JGB was down the street at the Keystone. Amazed I got through school 🙂
Might as well travel the elegant way. I do remember tiltin' the old visine bottles this weekend and oh yeah i almost forgot the ol' Dark Star encore. The ol' Great north central thems was the daze
Avi Reinharz Yeah, this STF is blazin’ The sound brings you there. You can hear the Greek theatre 🎭 Some of these type of boot vids are actually better than the pro shot ones, as you can see what’s going on with each individual band member, as well as the band, at all times, the entire time.
I had this on bootleg cassett years ago ,This isnt the whole show. I think its amazing used to trip to it. Scarlett jam out space manefesting planets like bubbles on the water,the wheel and on. Stella blues performance.
Show Notes: - First “Dark Star” since 12/31/81. More info: www.deadlistening.com/2008/03/1984-july-13-greek-theatre.html glidemagazine.com/142656/dark-star-stories-the-greek-07131984/ www.songfacts.com/facts/grateful-dead/dark-star liveforlivemusic.com/news/grateful-dead-bust-out-dark-star-on-this-day-1984/ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Star_(song)
In the haze of days long gone, this might be the one I caught a People’s Express out to the promised land. Anyway, Dead in their backyard. Queue the barbecue....
July 13, 2024 at the Greek Theater in Berkeley will see Dark Star Orchestra with Melvin Seals and the JGB. I got my tickets. It's gonna be my first time seeing Grateful Dead music played live.
It's tight and fast, too fast I am afraid. The recording is playing back too fast, you can really notice it at the end of Touch of Grey into Fire. The band is playing tightly and that's why it's hard to decipher whether or not it's sped up. They are playing exceptionally well and yes, I agree with you. They absolutely smoked Scarlet Begonias.
The dude who said "Greeks are raging" is mostly, but not entirely correct! After the following year here they start to deminish. Not to brag, but since I went most years here, including all 3 of these. The only ones I missed were '86, 8 & 9. Stick with the first 2 to 5 years at most, especially the first two; since besides the fact that those 2 are all well over 3 hours long, and nearly great all the way through, which is highly unusual, in both sences i,e, length and performance! Contrary to popular myth most every show has at least some dull parts or goofs, including during the last one of the first year here: when Garcia flubbed the lyrics on "Terrapin Station" worse than ever, after the first instrumental; so badly that Wier had so whisper in his ear to remind him! So trust me, I do know what I'm talking about having a copy of most except some random missing ones in the later period that I have mostly heard elsewhere a few times, of all my ~211 shows on the West Coast I attended! Besides all that, this quality sucks as well; furthermore that in fact that this hasn't any video of my second of 5 and 1/2 "Dark Star"'s! I want to see, when possible, the band playing; not that silly (speeded up(?)) Space Shuttle orbiting the Earth. I don't know the exact U.R.L. off hand, but I'm pretty sure I've seen "Dark Star" from this show on here somewhere! So you'll have to look around but it's worth while since it's better quality than that of the rest of this show here, I believe as well! I shouldn't have bothered with this one myself! Yet, I'm so busy trying to reconfigure my machine I lazily grabbed this one here out of the suggestions given it was all they had except Clula Vista that I was actually at, and that one ain't very good quality either but in it's case I haven't seen better, oh well! I should just stick with my "to be watched" list having ~ 1500 left yet to go! Augy, San Diego
#ugottalisten2b4udie #gratefuldead ( ☮ );-}{-;( ☮ ) #greektheatre Ragtime slowly for twenty-five miles, Then switch over to Cajun style. Bar car blowing rhythm and blues, Rock N’ Roll wailing in the ol' caboose.
if it has decent sound there are no bad shows to me. Jerry will never play another show in this realm. you should appreciate the ones he has. all heroes have flaws!!
Ya know I hate producer’s or cinematographer that fuck with the video we have video to see things we once could not it’s like politicians in DC how bout you just don’t do anything shoot the video make sure it’s crisp clear and good. Leave the trippy shit to the guys on the stage they got it.
I couldn't disagree more. Sure this era's uneven, but many of these shows are FAR from "lackluster at best." Ever heard 6-30-84? It's in video form here. That's just one example of awesome GD from the period you're denigrating. Peace.
Yep, what Scott said. I saw many of my shows from '81-'86, pre-coma, and Jerry could certainly bring it much of the time. Didn't like to see him head down drooling with eyes rolled back, but that boy could play guitar! This was one of the better '84 shows, but there were many good ones. The PA was top-notch and Healy was at the top of his game, and many of the mixes were just mind-blowing during this period.
85 was one of the best years i think, i saw them from 78-95, 175 shows, mostly from 82-88 and 85 was special, check out the fall east coast tour, richmond 11/1/85 especially,and red rocks,rochester,ventura there were many special shows that year,but yeah you can't deny jer was hittin the "h" hard and had some rough patches, but hey,it's rock and roll,it's not supposed to be perfect right? and thats why we went to so many shows back in the day, to catch that special one when they were "on"
I disagree too, saw many great shows from 83-85. Especially 85, Philly. Portland Maine, Richmond Virginia, Saratoga, it goes on and on. Hartford 83- one of the last, if not last Stephens. Yeah Jerry’s health was declining but his playing was was awesome