Summer 85 Box Set

Thanks for the heads up.  Just ordered.  I was at SPAC, Hershey Park, and both Merriweather shows, as well as the tour finale at the Pittsburgh Civic, which isn't included with this box.  Hershey Park has already been released as a Dick's Picks.  Would have preferred the Riverbend, Cincinnati show which has a Crypical sandwiched around a really fun Prankster sit-in during Drums and Space.  It was a good time to be a 20 year old.

"Would have preferred the Riverbend, Cincinnati show"

It's released as part of the 30 Trips Around The Sun box set.  

That's right.  Wonder why they didn't use the Alpine Valley and Blossom Music Center shows instead of rehashing Riverbend, Hershey Park and Merriweather?

first time long time

never bought a bootleg before but this is a must have

Twenty years so far!

Such a fun tour! And an underrated year. And Dave - I don't believe Hershey has been released as a Dick's Pick or official release but I could be wrong. The Cincy show would have been a worthy addition 

while some of the shows and playing are of course terrific, jerry sure was ragged. trouble ahead, jerry in red.

have been listening to 80-83 a bit recently and i love that time frame.

I was at all but The Greek. Definitely a rough year for Jerry but I enjoyed the shows immensely.Especially Hershey where it sounded like he forgot what song he was playing during Birdsong and somehow found his way to a first set Comes A Time. Bird Song-Comes A Time- Deal...That was AWESOME as was the entire second set. SPAC & Merriwether were also SMOKING! 

He sounded like he was on his last legs at Ventura 85 . It was like he was jonesing at the end of the first set 7/13/85 and got his fix at set break and sounded MUCH BETTER in the second set. 

Fuck yea. I'm in.

I was at those Greek shows. That was the summer they unveiled the minuteman skeleton logo. They had a big print of that up behind the stage. I remember being in the pit Friday before the show, and a guy also standing there gave the logo a long look, then turned to his friend with a big grin and said, "How Patriotic!"

For questions about which shows have been released, DeadDisc was still updating its releases-by-date chronology as of last year:

https://www.deaddisc.com/GDFD_Dead_By_Date.htm

I've got the stubs for the entire tour (they sold booklets), but sadly don't remember much of it. The adventure really started the week before at the Haight Street Fair where Bobby and Brent played with Merl and Friends. After the Greek, we left CA in the classic old yield-sign orange broken down VW camper and ended up at my "hometown" venue at Merriweather...then added Pittsburg, 'cause why not? 

The driver was sketch and between god-knows-what he was transporting and what I had (vials of Shulgan ETC and 2CB, both relatively under the radar back then, and legal until July 1,85) in addition to the normal stash, it was a miracle we made it across the Country without incident. 

We had little money and a bunch of freshly printed holographic rainbow foil stickers, which were new and different  back then -- 1 inch strips of dancing bears and dancing skeletons (fit on a D5 perfectly). Sold a bunch walking around the lot to finance the expedition and ended up back East with more money than I left with! I do remember sleeping under the van in some parking lot at Alpine one night (in a sleeping bag) but can't recall much of where on the road we ate, slept or bathed. Or who else we might have traveled with. I do remember one time when people we were around were hunting down "Ignatz," a guy identified as Jerry's drug connection --- that was crazy.

And I remember in Hersey it was really raining. Good music and good times -- 27 years old, no job, no wife, no mortgage and nothing to do but get to the next show. But I was glad to get back to Maryland.

In a relatively short time I moved it back to the Bay area for good, where I didn't have to tour to see the band. Much more civilized.

I notice they left out Boreal Ridge. I didn't, drove all night to get there. Had a lot of fun, but man, that was ragged. The Dead Base consensus worst show. 

"The Dead Base consensus worst show."

I don't agree with that. There were a lot of technical issues that day, but at the moments when the music shone through, it sang. As an experience and location, Boreal Ridge was "the highest Grateful Dead show in history."

There are plenty of other shows that to my ears were far less interesting and inspired than "the Summit Concert."

Psyched! I went to all of those east coast shows, missed the Greeks but was in the Bay Area later tha summer. Hit a bunch of Garcia Band shows, Garcia at Dunsmuks Houe (that was a weird place for a show) and also attended Boreal Ridge. Indeed, that the worst Dead show I ever saw.

As for shows that I have attended the blossom show is the one I listen to the most

Day Tripper yea

Boreal Ridge wasn't part of this tour.  It took place on 8-24-85, over 7 weeks after the Pittsburgh Civic show.  It was more a part of the late Summer mostly Southwest and Midwest tour that started six days later in Houston and finished out West with three shows at the Kaiser and the tour finale in Chula Vista, the show they played seven songs before Drums to start the 2nd Set.  That tour deserves it's own box, as they delivered several high quality shows.  The Starlight Amphitheatre, Red Rocks night 3, the return of Help>Slip>Franklin's Tower at the Kaiser all come to mind.

The band sounds fine at Boreal Ridge, Weir's technical issues aside.  This is the board mix that's up on archive.org:

 https://archive.org/details/gd1985-08-24.sbd.walker-scotton.miller.10619...
 

Everyone sounds engaged, much more so than say 4-6-85, the first night of three shows at the Spectrum that Spring, which was the flattest show I ever witnessed.

I was at Boreal.  After Pittsburgh, I'd gone back to my Summer job as a greenskeeper at the local golf course near my folks' house (it was my last Summer staying with them), and been able to save enough dough to fly out to Seattle to visit my sister, trek up to Vancouver, B.C., then further north to Squamish to climb Diamond Head Peak in Garibaldi Provincial Park, hitchhike back to Seattle, take the Green Tortoise bus down to Eugene, then hitchhike out to Florence on the coast and then all the way down the 101 to Berkeley, where I hooked up with some old friends who drove me up to Boreal.  It was the trip that cemented my appreciation for the PNW.  Unlike Alan, who was a burned out 27 year old (!!!-this would be me in 1992, 27 was old in GD lot years), I was a fresh-faced 20 year old, just 2 years into my long strange trip with the band.  I still hsve strong memories of that Summer, some 41 years on.

I think most people's problems with Boreal spring from their own personal hardships, not the music.  For my crew, the lack of sufficient parking was the main difficulty.  We had to park a few miles away and hike in, which caused us to arrive during West L.A., missing a fine Alabama Getaway>Greatest Story opening pairing.  
 

It was hot, dry, and dusty that day, which was problematic for some, but as I'd already been hiking all around at altitude for the last ten days and stayed hydrated, wasn't an issue for me.  Some folks had problems finding food, as the few stores in the proximity were understocked, so some folks went hungry, which was ironic, considering how close we were to Donner Summit, where the Donner Party had to turn to cannibalism for some of them to survive.

It was a memorable adventure.  My one and only Daytripper was the perfect encore.

I only made SPAC on that run, but funny hearing about Boreal which I also didn't make. I did know people back in New Hampshire that told me about hitting Boreal and playing in the snow and then down to the desert. It all sounded so magical and was probably the spark that got me thinking about moving to CA. 

As for shows that I have attended, the Blossom show is the one I listen to the most....Day Tripper yea >>>

Kicked off an 11 song, rocking 1st set (Big River>RR Blues>J Straw>Might As Well to close), also BIODTL.  Playin'/Wheel sandwich into China Doll was a top shelf medley.

Not very crowded, maybe 1/2 capacity.  Bought GA at the box office, only checking tickets in the reserved section closest to the stage, parked 2nd row behind the soundboard for the whole show

https://archive.org/details/gd1985-06-25.142391.sbd.dalton.miller.clugst...

Soundboard master via Charlie Miller

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>Kicked off an 11 song, rocking 1st set (Big River>RR Blues>J Straw>Might As Well to close), also BIODTL.  Playin'/Wheel sandwich into China Doll was a top shelf medley.

and we got a Bobby acrobatic show on top of the piano, speakers, and scaffolding during the sugar mag