I saw them twice. Obviously, their shows had an exciting drug culture carnival atmosphere. I've listened to countless bootlegs and of course official live releases. Dark Star on Live Dead is one of the greatest rock'n'roll achievements ever but... I think when you really boil it down, your typical Dead Head is going to insist on the live show being the crux of the Dead experience because they want to believe they have a monopoly on that experience and quite frankly, most Dead Heads aren't very sophisticated music fans. The ones I knew couldn't appreciate anything else and therefore had no proper frame of reference for understanding what they were into. If you take a serious music fan with a wide appreciation for all types of music, it's clear their most important work was done in the studio.
But someone who toured around with them for months or years selling acid, whippets, and grilled cheese isn't likely to admit you can have a better experience just by listening to American Beauty. However, if his aesthetics were higher he probably wouldn't have bothered going to hundreds of Dead shows in the first place.
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