Audio mix is biased pretty strongly toward the high end. What we have is clear but, imo, too steely and bit thin. Sadly, Phil sounds like he's calling in from in the next county. But still, no accounting for taste, so major props and gratitude to all the recordists in the chain. The boys seem very loose--almost messy, but still hanging together. Lots of goofing around with sound effects. Jerry's and Bob's playing both feel a bit on the aggressive side, which is nice!.Overall, a nice show but not spectacular.

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In my experience with Dead shows, they often tailored their sets to the venue, area or weather...and this is a prime example. We drove up to Cincinnati from Lexington,Ky, enjoying a beautiful sunny summer afternoon. Riverbend Ampitheater is set up so you can see the boats behind the stage and are looking across the river into Ky. 1st set the weather was perfect...then the storm clouds built up across the river. A torrential rain storm began during the break, with cloud to ground lightning strikes that made us wonder if the Dead would come back out at all. Of course, they did, during the hardest part of the rain for a scare the bejeezus out of you 2nd set. Enough has been said about the songs themselves, but the circumstances surrounding their performance is what stands out to me. I mean, when they sang "if I had my way, I would tear this whole building down" in Samson, they meant it! It seemed as if they were egging on the storm, daring it to do its worst...thundering drums echoing the actual thunder.And they wanted more. Smokestack Lightning during lightning...I mean come on!!!! Then Cryptical (REALLY?!?!) I remembered the Drums>Space as a frightening experience. WOW!!! You will be hard pressed to find a better show than this, in my opinion. Dick's Picks/Vault are you hearing me?

- June 24, 2011Holy Smoke(stack) Lightning!!!!