I can assure you that it's completely true. I realize it's not so in-line with my current RAWK tendencies, but I was a major deadhead, a veteran of 62 shows (as in Jerry shows, none of this Further or Phil & Phriends stuff), and I still will put on Boston Garden 5/7/77 (personally, I think Barton Hall 5/8/77 is overrated) or that incredible Harpur College 5/2/70 or maybe even a playful June 1985 or something from the Spring 1990 tour. I loved the Dead so much and still do. I will geek out on Dead talk any time and have very concrete theories on:
Donna: Bummer or Bonus? (I love Donna shows)
Space: Never warranted the amount of time devoted to those sets. To be sure, I was blown away at times by the space sets, but too often it was the time to get a beer/piss/pass out
Pigpen vs Keith vs Brent vs Vince: Keith was the best piano player, Brent had the best voice, Pigpen had the best presence/vibe
Jerry's playing pre- and post-stroke: Post-stroke, Jerry got super lazy and too many of his solos were either arhythmic soloing or he just played glorified scales
Merits of the Wall of Sound: I don't particularly love any of the 73 or 74 shows and the sound quality on most of the tapes tends to be prety blown out because of that speaker system. And those 'Ned & Phil' sets in 74 were god-awful
And I wasn't disparaging Toked Out Teddy at all. It was just such a funny sight to see a genuine 60s throwback and the bliss he was having out of getting all these "new" tunes.