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Set 1:
Wang Dang Doodle
Jack Straw
Loser
Me And My Uncle
Mexicali Blues
Bird Song
Hell In A Bucket
Day Job

Set 2:
China Cat Sunflower
I Know You Rider
I Need A Miracle
Bertha
China Doll
Drums
St. Stephen
Throwin' Stones
Touch Of Grey

Encore:
Johnny B. Goode

Download/Listen to this Show at Archive.org

Comments:

TRY TO GET AN AUDIANCE TAPE OF THIS SHOW AND LISTEN TO THE NEWYOKSTERS GO CRAZY WHEN THOSE FIRST NOTES OF STEVEN ARE PLAYED
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DID I WRITE STEVEN??? SORRY FOLKS STEPHEN. THATS BETTER
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Don't worry, bingoballs, we know what you meant....
-Anonymous

I think I had to grab the rail in the 2nd level as those first few notes came into play. WOW! New York City getting a Stephen. Abosolutely awesome!
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we all knew St. Stephen was coming. You could sense it ,then the teasing by Phil and Jerry . What a night , a show I will always remember
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It's got a solid first set loaded with fun little tunes...who doesn't love
"Day Job" or a "Wang Dang Doodle" opener? Good, even inspired at times, but then T. Randall (see notes) must have broken out the good stuff at half-time...the second set is a watershed event just shy of epic proportions. "Bertha>Jam>China Doll"?!? What in the world?? And, to top it all off, out of "Space," a "bootie call" version of
"St. Stephen"(fast, sloppy and sweetly nostalgic). I'm sure there were plenty of happy and satisfied New Yorkers after that one. (Remaining content edited.)

-random notes to myself

I went to this show with a girl who had just moved from San Francisco to the east coast. We had a friendly argument about "west-coast vs. east coast" shows and which were better. She was bloan away by the sever energy of east-coast audiences. Once they broke out the first notes of St. Stephen, the place detonated. She was convinced that east coast energy was an explosive concert experience. I won the friendly argument. The soundboard of this show is clean sounding, but lacks the intensity of the crowd reaction, which will give you goose bumps. Get a board copy, but get an audience copy too, and listen to sixty-thousand people having one huge collective orgasm.
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I was in HS and this was my first show!
All I really remember was that noise the fans made when they played St. Steven, my favorite song. Little did I know that they did'nt play it every night!
-Charlie

Bird Song - an Explosive, Riveting, Awesome performance!!
-Anonymous

A special moment in Dead history, the eighteenth playing of BUCKET.
-Yo

Check out the China>Rider(builds well) and of course China Doll. Jerry always adds something with his ballads disguised as R&R.
-Perrinswolf (06/22/2007)

This is Brent's 1st St. Stephen, and the Dead's first since January of 79. Is it true that Brent didn't play the song well? (until this show, of course).
-Scott (11/06/2008)

heh, i dont know about that for sure. I think they just mock it, in the Dead Set dvd. Pretty funny interview actually. I gurentee Brent knew how to toast St Stephen before he was in the Dead
- (12/08/2008)

There is an interview with Brent and one of the Saturday Night Live guys I have seen on Youtube. They are making a joke about how Brent was the "new guy" and he wanted to play "Easy to Love You" or "Far from Me" instead of the crowd favorite "Saint Stephen". He tried to play it on a Rhodes and pretended he couldn't do it! I am sure Brent was very able to play it before he joined the band!
-Andrew (11/06/2009)

I remember this show vividly. My first time back to the Garden after seeing Led Zep. in 1977.
I ran down to Grand Central after the show to call my friend at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire (pre-cellphones) to tell him about St. Stephen.
He was there for the second night.
Jerry's amp. blew a fuse or something during the first set. Bob commented that it had "barked it's little heart out".
I was dancing so hard during first set, I cut my jeans into shorts during the break.
I will never forget the eruption after the first notes of Stephen.
I was on this entire tour. We heard they had sound-checked Stephen at the Greensboro show.
We were young and crazy and living in the moment, as it should always be.
I miss all the people I used to travel with back then.

- (09/07/2010)

no you didnt no it was coming...
-steve (12/16/2010)

"A special moment in Dead history, the eighteenth playing of BUCKET.
-Yo"

Actually this is right up there with the best BUCKET ever played...for what it's worth.
-Bossgobbler (02/09/2011)

"no you didnt no (sp) it was coming..."

I heard they sound checked as well, so we knew it was a possibility. Also heard the had practiced DS and Help before they Warlocks shows...was hoping they would drop those, and they did. That kind of info got around Steve...



-Bossgobbler (10/15/2011)

I was a freshman in HS...2nd show ever....energenic Straw, strong Bird Song...SICK Bucket, one of the best I've ever heard, still holds up today...St Stephen, Throwing Stones (when it was still raw) into Grey....great stuff...I was hooked after this rocker

- (04/05/2012)

I was in the 3rd row for this show and as people said previously, the Garden exploded when the first few notes of St. Stephen were heard. If I remember correctly, Phil even sang on it too. Loved those Garden shows!
- (10/11/2012)

Nice show. The jam>China Doll is sweet.
-Anonymous (09/08/2013)

Wow what a show.

I strapped on the headphones and ate 13 hits of white blotter and was having a great time until they did the Sugar Mag tease after Throwing Stones and then went into Touch of Grey instead!

FUCK!

That caused a tumultuous cathartic spin in my brain department. Confused, I farted and inadvertently shit my pants really bad. I mean REALLY bad. Found corn in my fucken socks man. Stained the couch too. My ol' lady was really, really pissed.

I sent Jerry a bill for the cleaner but he never responded.

Thanks Jerry :-D


- (05/11/2015)

I remember when they broke out the Stephen. I was standing near a railing and jumped over it. The energy was crazy. Great memory!!!
-Darin (07/02/2016)

One of my first 10 shows. I was in HS and not really passing all my classes...haha. Remembering being told by my parents that I could not go. Snuck out and went anyway..they were not happy, especially considering I went to the next night too! I remember the West Coast deadheads running to the payphones (remember those)to tell people that they were playing St. Stephen. Great show!
- (02/13/2017)

i took my friend Dave Heiden to this show and this was his first dead show. a few times he asked "is it always like this?" particularly during jack straw, bird song, and china-rider. he was impressed with the jam b4 china doll...then drums...space...and then the first notes of Saint Stephen which you can hear the crowd recognizing in waves. because it wasn't even on the list of what they could come out of space into, it didn't register to me. i remember thinking "i've always wanted to see this but can't place what it is" and then when they fully crashed into it you hear the crowd roar with unanimous realization. Dave then turns to me and says "I can tell that it is NOT always like this". it didn't really matter what they played afterwards as the collective musical orgasm had already occurred. i was a little bummed when they bailed on sugar magnolia because the intro to that point had been beautifully executed and it was really hard to believe how poorly performed touch of grey was.
- (07/21/2017)

1st set has 6 Bobby tunes to 2 Jerry. Yet Jerry is on fire from the start of Wang Dang Doodle. The boys were ready to play and MSG got one hellavu good opener.
- (01/19/2018)

Strange that this was the last time Bertha,Me and my uncle,loser were played in the same show since these songs were played so often.

-Kdead (12/30/2018)

Both Jerry and Bobby are a little iffy on the words throughout but the playing is assured and inspired. Bird Song is the highlight of the first set for me. China-Rider is solid, and there's an interesting little jam between Bertha and China Doll. Sounds like the roof is going to blow off at the beginning of Stephen on the audience tape.
-Just Exactly Perfect Band (02/12/2019)

Hey Perrinswolf!
which one's the Bob tune... Loser, Birdsong, or Day Job? :-D
- (01/08/2020)

Saint Stephen with a rose
In and out of the GARDEN he goes...

What a moment!
-Dr Filth (12/17/2021)

40 years ago today.
The first notes of St.Stephen- one of my favorite Grateful Dead memories. The crowd elevated, and remained that way for the remainder of the show.
“In and out of the Garden he goes”….
- (10/11/2023)

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