Ahhhhhh-oooooooooooooo

Grateful Dead 10-31-85 Carolina Coliseum, University of South Carolina, Columbia setlist and soundboard mp3 download

Maybe I shoulda put up 10-31-91 today, the classic Halloween show with Ken Kesey? I had a request for 10-31-90 London. And there are others with great setlists including the Jerry Garcia Band and yeah, Ratdog, too -- somewhere through the years Bobby busted out the Warren Zevon tune we all wanna hear. But ya know what, I decided that if I'm able to keep doing this Dead show posting far into the future, why not do a Halloween show every year. Or... maybe starting next year, a doubleheader. But for this year, this is what I decided on...

23 years ago tonight...

Grateful Dead ~ October 31, 1985
Carolina Coliseum
University of South Carolina, Columbia

1st Set: Space-» Werewolves Of London*, The Music Never Stopped,
West L.A. Fadeaway, Mama Tried-» Mexicali Blues,
Tennessee Jed, Looks Like Rain-» Might As Well

2nd Set: Shakedown Street-» Playing In The Band-» Ship Of Fools-»
Jam-» Drums-» Jam-» Dear Mr. Fantasy-» Not Fade Away

Encore: U.S. Blues

* first since 7/8/78!

Some U.S. states were entirely or almost missed by the Grateful Dead over the years and South Carolina is one of 'em. This is the Dead's one and only performance in the Palmetto State and it came during a strong Fall Tour -- the next night in Richmond was released in the Dick's Picks series.

Let's see what this person had to say, transcibed from: DeadBase IX [out of print] by JOHN WHITEHEAD All Hallow's Eve in 1985 found the Grateful Dead not at U.S.C. in southern California but at the one in South Carolina. Despite the rain, many traveled to see the band's first South Carolina appearance and the first Halloween show outside of California in several years. The holiday (second only to New Year's Eve in Deadhead importance) brought out the wildness in all, most obvious in the creative costumes which included giant skulls, giant mushrooms, and my favorite, an accident victim with a tire track running all the way up his leg, body, and face. As we filtered into the small and steep coliseum to whoops of "trip or treat!" we noticed several small pumpkins on stage and Dan Healy clowning around in a wizard's outfit. As the band took the stage, Weir had to work on his chronic amp problem. Garcia started a Finiculi Finicula for the first time in over a year, which featured some distracting Healy-sounds, then all fell silent for several seconds. The peace was broken suddenly from a long howl from Phil, who then started laughing diabolically. Jerry followed the cackling with distorted guitar, and the band entertained the holiday revelers with several minutes of intense feedback and space (the bands way of "trick"ing the fans), just in case they forgot what day it was. Finally, Garcia broke into Werewolves Of London (last played with Keith and Donna) to the delight of all. A rather good early-set Music Never Stopped followed and Bob greeted us with a "Good evening, music lovers." Garcia noodled around with Teddy Bear's Picnic as he tuned, but after that point the band couldn't quite keep up the energy level they had in the first few minutes. Looks Like Rain was an exception as Weir took the audience from the heights of love to the depths of despair and back instantly, with some nice "rain" effects from the lights. The second set was not much better than the first. Shakedown never really got "there," nor did Playin, which Jerry surprisingly led into Ship Of Fools. This was followed by a nearly ten-minute jam, then drums, and another several-minute jam (but no repeat of space). The show ended with a one-two punch of Dear Mr. Fantasy (whose vocals Jerry had no completely relinquished to Brent) and Not Fade Away. Although after the explosive beginning the music lacked the energy of many of the other shows of the tour, it was still a special Halloween night.

Everyone has an opinion and some people are a little pickier than others when it comes to whether they dig a Dead show or whether they totally love one that they'd recommend to others. Me, well, I'm not picky. I notice what's so smokin' hot just as much as what's rather eh, but usually it's all good.

This show has a GREAT start to it and then it just kinda hums along, not bad but nothing that's wicked hot. I definitely loved the Space-> Werewolves! And the Music Never Stopped following that? That's just so not normal and absolutely makes this show worth it. Cool little bit of Teddy Bear's Picnic, too before a really strong West L.A.... I'm actually kinda surprised at how good it is here. So nice! Overall, it's a good set capped by a sweet LLR and a fun Might As Well to send every into Halftime with a smile on their face.

Right before the first notes to open Set 2, if you listen closely you can hear someone say, "Play your ass off." Shakedown might not've gotten there for the Deadbase reviewer above, but the groove it does get into is nice enough. And at 15 minutes long, what a fun way to dance into the rest of the night.

Playin'-> Ship of Fools is nice and Jerry's got some good emotion goin' on, especially with the transition into the Jam. That really should be labeled Playing In The Band Jam (or Playin' Jam) because notes of PITB are so clearly evident at the beginning. What it evolves into is... well, it's more like a Space than a jam. I guess it's really somewhere in between the two. After a brief Drums, Mickey & Billy stay on stage and another Jam begins. This one gets a little wild and hectic compared to the first one before excellently finding its way into Dear Mr. Fantasy. Jerry and Brent (Jerry especially) play so nicely and the band is more in tune than not. NFA is fun with some vocal tweaking and toying at the soundboard and yeah, there are only two songs to close out the show before the encore but it's all nicely enjoyable.

No, it's not a monumental Halloween show but there's some great music here and I'm sure a fun night was had by all.

Source: Soundboard> Master Cassette> Reel> DAT> SHN Audio Quality:

Halloween 10/31/85 @ Archive.org: Soundboard: Listening Only or you can download the AUD

or Download the SBD Right Here!

10/31/85 a.k.a. 10-31-85 a.k.a. 85-10-31 320 kbps SBD

Grateful Dead ~ 10/31/85 ~ 1st Set

2nd Set ~ 10/31/85 ~ Carolina Coliseum