Customer Reviews

Grateful Dead - Truckin' Up to Buffalo: July 4, 1989

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ya gotta understand, this review is written by someone
who has a rule in life: No post-1977 Grateful Dead material;
and this DVD is 1989!!! Anyway, the reviews are so favorable, I
made an exception to my rule and checked this DVD out.
Hey, it really is quite good; and I'd love to give it five
stars; but when there are other 5-star items such as
Dick's Picks #15, 12 and 8, well...I'll be a little stinker
and give this DVD 4 stars. There are several highlights.
Row Jimmy is very good...till they change the beat in the
2nd half of the song and it kind of sounds automatic.
An outstanding track is DEAL...this is A+, really well performed;
I'm tempted to say that the DEAL on this DVD is arguably the
definitive version of that song. Ship of Fools is tremendous.
Morning Dew...great. All Along The Watchtower....very very good.
Lots of people complain when Grateful Dead DVDs have animated
portions...and I don't blame them; but in this case, there is
one section of the DVD that is animated...and I loved it...
during SPACE...the animation is really quite well done, I
thought. So that's my take on this DVD. All in all, I'm glad
I bought it.

I "got on the bus" on the 12/31/82 show, and in my opinion, if you want to know what the fuss was all about with this band you should pick up this DVD and the "Dozin' at the Knick" CD. The stages of the Grateful Dead can best be measured by the tenure of the keyboard players, giving Brent two periods (early and late). "Late Brent" is defined as the period where he was given a chance to lead once or twice a show, as opposed to "Early Brent" where it was more like once or twice a month. "Late Brent" is where the Dead finally got it all together as a professional act, and you get the benefit of all that in this DVD:

+ Equipment and sound at the show is clean, bugfree, and solid
+ Camera and recording chops are practiced and at their best
+ This particular DVD comes at a point in the technology where they've figured that out too. 5.1 sound is clean and strong... Phil (bass) is ALL THERE and the "rain" sound effects during "Looks Like Rain" come from behind you!

For various Deadhead reasons, I prefer this show over all the other commercial releases. Jerry's voice is not entirely up to snuff, but his playing is, and this is basically my kinda show. Touches like:

+ Jerry plays slide, as well as the Tiger guitar all show.
+ Brent sings a verse in "Women Smarter." Smokes on the keys too.
+ "Deal" starts easy and comfy, then raises to a smokin' blaze. All JG.
+ I still get a rush out of Brent's keyboards on "Touch of Grey." That song was going nowhere until Jerry let Brent put the finishing touches on, making it their only bonafide top 40 hit.
+ Let's face it... this show is close to an ideal non-rarities setlist for me. IWTYH->Watchtower->Dew->NFA!! Good God! I mean, Not Fade Away is usually as pedestrian as it gets, but in this one Jerry and Brent do a great call-and-response, and Jerry throws his arms up for "My love is bigger than a Cadillac!"

so I own almost every GD DVD released so far; all the Vault releases, GD Movie, Closing of Winterland, etc. And this pretty much puts all the Vault releases to shame in terms of quality and performance. The vid is crystal clear, even better than the Grateful Dead movie in that aspect.
You can tell Jerry is in really good spirits in this one, highlights: The whole second set is awesome my favorite being: Watchtower> Morning Dew> NFA. Looks Like Rain is also great. Jerry shreds it up on Watchtower. The Morning Dew is just magical and there is great interplay between Brent and Jerry on NFA. He's grins through and through on this one.
Actually there is only one complaint in the editing, there are moments when Jerry is really tearing it up and they might cut to someone else just doing routine stuff like Phils baseline or something, its like man I wanna see whats going on over on the guitar!

I truly enjoyed this concert DVD. Wonderful camera work makes it feel like you're right on stage with the Dead. Other reviews will give you the details of the songs and the place of this show in the spectrum of the Dead's history. I'm here to tell you it's a great concert that's been well recorded. No Clunkers here, just a good ol' Grateful Dead show for your viewing and listening pleasure.

I'm a Grateful Dead fan, but not a fanatic. I bought this DVD on the strength of other reviews here, and I'm glad I did.

The Dead were never ones to jump around and dance and put on a visual show, and even less in their middle age than when they were younger. It's really pretty funny to see Jerry Garcia standing there with his dirty black tee shirt hanging over his pot gut, and Bob Weir in his gym shorts and floppy tennis shoes. Madonna this ain't.

No matter. However they look, older or younger, they retained the ability to pour out fresh and original music in a never-ending stream.

The first set is good, but the second one is better. It includes "Ship of Fools", perhaps their most political song, followed by the old favorite "Playing in the Band" and an excellent version of "Terrapin Station"... along with 9 other songs in the set.

Five stars, no doubt about it.

Best Dead DVD release hand down! The whole band is tight and Jerry is smiling and dancing throughout. Standouts for me were Stagger Lee, Touch, and Dew. I Will Take You Home brought a tear to my eye, Very Sweet! You have to own this.Words cannot describe.

This is the best recent Dead release.It tops all the vault series.The sound as far as vocals and music,the Boys put out are top notch!!The opener-Bertha screams!The Band is super tight on this magical night.I was at this show and it brings back great memories.Other great highlights a rare and well performed Stagger Lee,a 1st set Looks like rain and a rockin Deal.The 2nd set is stellar, a solid Touch of Grey and a groovin Women R Smarter.The Ship of Fools,Watchtower(smokin)and Morning Dew are my favorites and if you love the Dead I am sure you will agree with me, when you watch and hear this excellent show.The Playing in the Band is a reprise, which if I am not mistaken the full Playing was done in Foxboro,Mass on the 2nd of July.I was at that show as well but that was a long time ago.Anyway I highly recommend this DVD to add to your collection.Great Music, Great Memories!!! The Masters of the Improv-Grateful Dead

Buy it, don't ask questions, just buy it! I also was at this show and heard they were filming it from somebody in the parking lot before we went, and now it is finally here! I followed them that summer and I must say they were in top form that night, along with the Philly show a few days later! For me the Bertha, Masterpiece, Deal, and Ship of Fools reign supreme. Top quality DVD, sound and all, you won't regret this one... trust me. Nice job Rhino... It is nice to see this stuff finally coming out after all these years.

A must have for any Grateful Dead Fan!! I was there in '89 to see the show in person and glad to see over decade later they put this one out on CD and DVD. The Dead played there in 1986 but, due to Garcia's health problems soon after that show went into the hospital. This show marks the end of the 80's era of the Dead because soon after Brent died and Dead shows in general went in a different direction with Bruce on Keyboards.

The Dead over it's long and storied career has ebb's and flows in terms
of greatness. Many fans will prefer certian periods to others, some of the time the later era dead being subject of harsher criticism based on the Jerry's health at the time etc etc.
I think the for this time period 1989 this is solid dead set. If you like
"dozin at the knick" you'll like this one. The dvd is even better.
To watch a band play as a band with no ego's just good music, this is a good one. The set is spirited as well, top quality Dead.