To Wrap Up 30-ish Shows in 30 Days, Grateful Music goes back to it's roots and revisits Memphis,TN 4-1-95

  Memphis, Tennessee. The Bluff City. The home of the blues and Elvis' hometown. The Grateful Dead reunites with the Pyramid on the final spring tour. The Dead always were more lively during Spring and this evening was no different.

 I Come in from Memphis, where I learned to talk the jive-4-1-95 Memphis,TN

Jerry in Memphis, 4-1-95

These shows were the first time that the Dead had been to Memphis since 72'. There are no recorded setlists or recordings of that show but the skinny is that the band was hassled so bad by the cops they swore they would never come back. Well, after what felt like an eternity of driving and sleeping in hotel rooms, I was finally going to get to see the Dead and then drive home without a map and sleep in my own bed! I was dating a girl whose dad worked on the board at the Pyramid, so I knew I was in for both nights. The first night, we had tickets in the mayor's booth, which is not where you want to be with a pocket full of smelly nuggets and a headful of LSD. So we quickly abandoned those seats but not before we filled our pockets with all the food we could and passed it out to hungry heads' for free, as opposed to the taxed venue food. I know for sure how much the Dead loved their fans because I heard from my girlfriend's dad that their rider was huge and most of it had to do with the fact that thousands of gypsies were about to show up on Memphis' doorstep. Little known fact, they were in discussions to play in Memphis in 96' for five-to-seven nights because the shows went off so well. Even though some dickheads tried to crash the Pyramid gates at the start of the show on the first night. I was already in the venue but they had to be traveling heads' because no one who had been to the pyramid would try to rush the doors. It's a GODDAMN PYRAMID! it's almost a fortress. There are ways to sneak in but no one who was dumb enough to brute force the Pyramid would have the brain power to try any other ways.

On to the music, Atlanta was fairly hot and I loved the Visions from the night before but there was no way to match the atmosphere and anticipation for the first shows in Memphis in twenty-three years. The cops stayed mellow and the scene blossomed and everyone was cool and it was the most blissful scene I had been to in a long,long time. With the river in the background, we had no idea that the band felt the same way. It also showed on the stage. I still have trouble deciding which night I liked better. The first night, the energy was unmistakeable. The "Hell in a Bucket" opener was a great opener and then a note-perfect,"Candyman" almost made me cry with pride. Jerry just nailed it. This was 1995 and everyone remembers the "tour from hell" in the summer but the spring tour was wonderful. After a wonderful "Candyman", the band broke out the very first "Take Me to the River", the Al Green classic, that Bobby does a great job of delivering and the band tacked on a nice little jam to the end. 

Jerry then countered with a wonderful rendition of "Lazy River Road", also sounding as good as he could in 95' and that was still pretty damn good. Check out the JGB shows from 95' if you think Jerry had completely blown his voice. After a nice Masterpiece, Phil surprised us with a well-sung "Childhood's End" which I happen to really like and the band was already firing on all cylinders. The set concluded with a "Deal" that wasn't the hottest one I've ever heard but was a smoking version for the tour. 

We took the time during the break to go back to the Mayor's booth and while most of them were watching the news or whatever, we reloaded up on food and passed out free food courtesy of the City of Memphis. So if you're one of those people that got one of those warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies, you're welcome and I hope you had a great show. Once the band came back after a "short break" they blew our collective minds with one of the best versions of "Foolish Heart" that the band ever played. After that came "Way to Go Home", one of my favorite Vince songs. Granted, that's the top of a very short list but this version rocked the house. Vince sang his ass off and the band was completely behind him, with great Jerry-ism's that flowed through the whole song. "Saint of Circumstance" got the call next and Bobby must have caught the ball from Vince and wasn't going to be out-shined. They drove a smoking Saint into "Eyes of the World" that was played at a breakneck tempo. It wasn't bad but I preferred the slower, more relaxed versions and this one seemed like it was almost a race to the end. It was a hot version but most of the heat came from the fact that it was at a fast tempo not that anything special was happening on stage. After a twenty five minute "Drums>Space" that sounded like the band was trying to levitate the Pyramid. They didn't know but just the fact that they were there already had the building shake, rattling, and rolling. 

After an interesting little journey the band rolled into one of my favorite ways out of space, "The Wheel". Once again, this was a high-energy, fast tempo version that was solid but not overwhelming. It was still good but the band was pushing the tempo instead of letting it build organically like the song did in earlier years. After "The Wheel" was rolling it snuck into another song that generally came out of space, "All Along the Watchtower". This is the one time that the fast tempo of the second set made sense and Bobby sang and played like it was a life or death situation and Jerry kept right up with him with smoking fills and a scorching solo that grabbed my attention because he was so obviously waiting to jump on it and once he grabbed it he rode it out and owned it. The song that came next was the one that sealed the deal. "Standing on the Moon" came up next and in a ten and a half minute version, Jerry laid it all out. He hit all the vocals and the cracks in his voice still give me goosebumps just thinking about it. I've heard people say that it doesn't belong in that spot. That's a Dew or "Days Between", etc. spot and SOTM doesn't have the weight to match up against a "Stella Blue" but on this one night in Memphis, it seared my brain and the crowd loved it. We all were waiting for an April Fool's Day surprise, the surprise was that ended the show. It didn't take much of a Head' to call the encore and Bobby poured all his weight into the "One More Saturday Night" that came up. 

This first night was just a taste and to know that there was one more show before the band was packed and gone made leaving the venue special. We had to be made to leave because the lights were up and the cops weren't all that concerned about making the parking lots empty, so we stuck around and had a blast in the parking lot. Does anyone else remember the guy rolling down the street in front of the Pyramid on a motorcycle, popping a wheelie, and then eating it about thirty yards down the street and getting cheers and then completely wiping out? He jumped up and screamed,"Hell Yeah" and the crowd went nuts. This weekend still stands out in my mind like a diamond and I wish it was the last shows I saw, instead of going on Summer Tour and seeing the trainwreck happen. Actually, that's a lie, I had a blast at every show I saw. Hope you enjoy the show and if you don't like 95' give this one a shot.

Greg Heffelfinger

"Take Me to the River" 4-1-95

Grateful Dead

The Pyramid Memphis,TN

4/1/95

Set One:

Hell In A Bucket 
Candyman 
Take Me To The River 
Lazy River Road 
When I Paint My Masterpiece 
Childhood's End 
Deal 

Set Two:

Foolish Heart 
Way To Go Home 
Saint Of Circumstance ->
Eyes Of The World ->
Drums ->
Space ->
The Wheel ->
All Along The Watchtower ->
Standing On The Moon 

Encore

One More Sat. Night

  

© 2016 Grateful Music LLC

For the Second Show of 30 Shows in 30 Days We have One of the Best of 93' -9/22/93 MSG w/ David Murray and James Cotton

  In one of the final shows of the year, the boys had their yearly run at MSG. This night jazz great David Murray and blues legend James Cotton both sit in and look out for Phil on this one. He is on fire.

This is concert that received the 1993 trifecta from Deadbase. "Best Show, Show most regretted missing, and best tape of 93'" so if there is any doubt that this show has a good pedigree before listening, I suggest you spin it at least once.

Oh, how your bright eyes glowed...9-22-93 MSG NY,NY

This show opens with a Help>Slip>Frank's for the year. The opening chord of the "Help on the Way" was like the horn that starts a horse race. They shot out of the gate and didn't slow down after the Franklins ended. After a Minglewood does what it does. Jerry delivered a solid "Ramble on Rose" and Bobby delivers a solid rendition of "Masterpiece". The true story of the first set besides the H>S>F is the "Bird Song" that is the first song that features special guest, sax master, David Murray. The song is just one of the most wonderful versions of the song I've heard that came from the nineties. Murray, of course, adds a fluttery touch that perfectly melds with Jerry's leads and Bobby's guitar is back up in the mix.

The second set starts a little weirdly with an "Easy Answers" which is an odd way to start the set. Followed by "Lazy River Road" it was an odd opening way to open the set and David Murray stayed out of the fray for the most part during the opener but "Lazy River Road" is the third jewel in the crown of new Hunter/Garcia songs that include "So Many Roads" and "Days Between" and no one will ever convince me that this wasn't a great song already. Some people think it still needed work but I happen to love it and at this show they played the crap out of it. Jerry was full of energy and showed up ready to play. Sometimes he had too much too fast when they played in New York but this night his new tone from his new guitar blended perfectly. David Murray was providing lines and fills throughout the whole second set. Especially during "Estimated Prophet". This is one of the "Estimated Prophet"s' for the ages. After an epic version, they go even deeper into the jazzy side of the band with a great nineties "Dark Star" David Murray was just as active as Jerry and Jerry was going off. Even Drums and Space included him. Billy and Mickey spared no drum as they blew minds and played off of David Murray.

Like Marsalis, Murray knew when and where to play and didn't over play. The back half of the show after a tear-jerker of a "Wharf Rat" the band brought out harp legend, James Cotton. He helped close down this show with a rave-up on "Throwing Stones" and the classic blues tune, "Lovelight". The only down note of this show, in my opinion, was that they played the encore of 93' "I Fought the Law". I wish they had put a little more thought into the encore but after such a hot show, you'll hear no complaints from me. Have a good listen to what is widely considered the best show of 1993.

 

9/22/93 "Help>Slip>Frank" MSG 9-22-93

Grateful Dead

MSG NY,NY

9/22/93 

First Set:

Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower > New Minglewood Blues ; Ramble On Rose ; When I Paint My Masterpiece ; Bird Song (1) Second Set: Easy Answers (1) ; Lazy River Road (1) ; Estimated Prophet (1) > Dark Star (1) > Drums (1) > Space (1) > Wharf Rat (1) > Throwing Stones (2) > Turn On Your Love Light (2)

Encore:

I Fought the Law

1.) w/ David Murray

2.) w. David Murray and James Cotton

© 2016 Grateful Music LLC

For a Post-Turkey Day Treat, Grateful Music will be posting Two Shows for 30 shows in 30 days today. The first, Autzen Stadium 8-22-93 Eugene,OR

  As the bus coasted to a stop, the boys pulled out a gem in Eugene. This show was from a two-night run in Eugene and this is one of those shows that stuck out. I knew people who were going to these shows now and couldn't wait for the bus to come around a little closer than Oregon so I could hop on.

Who else is gonna bring you a Broken Arrow? 8-22-93 Autzen Stadium Eugene,OR

For the most part 93' was a rough year but like Jerry said, even a "bad" show was pretty good, in reference to the trainwrecks that used to happen when a bad show involved way more than just not sending you into blissful transcendence. By this time, Vinny was feeling more comfortable and adding more to the band. This show was a great example of the band feeling comfortable and letting all the offstage stuff go once they hit the stage. 

The band was firmly ensconced in stadiums now and tickets were still getting harder and harder to find. The opening set started with the great pairing of "Jack Straw">"Bertha" and even though Vinnie was singing a little more upfront than he needed to be it was a wonderful opening. Jerry's voice popped in like his mic was off more than he forgot the lyrics and the playing was energetic and tight. Something was wrong with Bobby's rig and he stomped off stage and destroyed his guitar. To make up for his absence, Jer and Phil do double duty and the song doesn't suffer for it at all. In fact, this is one of the hottest Straw's from the later days. Once he got his gear fixed and everything "was "just exactly perfect" again, he was back and the band was swinging into "Bertha", not the best version but still a good one-two punch to start the first set. I don't know if it was the banner saying "Let Phil Sing" or if he was just feeling it this day but he stepped up and delivered on of my favorite The Band/Phil songs, "Broken Arrow". I love this song and always will.The next couple of songs were well-played but nothing compared to the monstrous "The Music Never Stopped" that they delivered. Anyone who claims the band only delivered crap in the Nineties, has some 'splaining to do after listening to some of the stuff the band was turning out. It was a killer way to end the first set.

A tasty Help>Slip>Frank opened the second set and it proved the first set was no fluke. They were present and accounted for and Jehovah's favorite choir wasn't pulling any punches. Next up was the Sunday Samson and of course, Bobby put on his reverend hat and gave it the full-on Weir treatment. Which is a good thing, to a point. Then a rare-ish and welcome "Ship of Fools" let the crowd breath a little before they jumped into another new-ish song, "Corinna". I've heard this song called "Boring-a" and several other funny names but this version was well done and involved all the members in what is a definite groove. There is no denying that when played well, which by 95' was rare, this song could get the crowd moving. Vince happened to be all over this one. Almost to the point of showing off. 

They rode this into "Drums>Space" and after a little over twenty minutes the band rolled all the way back with "The Wheel" and what would become a pattern followed it up with "I Need a Miracle". The night before the "Jerry Slot"had an amazing "Standing on the Moon", well this night "Days Between" got the call. This Hunter/Garcia epic is a long piece of poetry that, depending on Jerry, was either transfixing or just excellent. This happens to fall in the first category. Jerry wasn't going to let a show this hot die because of his last song. I've always loved the song and thought he delivered it like a eulogy. It wasn't exactly the most instrumental of songs, being quite minimalist, but the lyrical delivery was top-notch. After this the drummers kicked in the beat that is impossible not to dance to and the show ended in a nice, solid "Not Fade Away". The crowd chant followed up until the band came out and sang the tour encore,"Liberty" which had been finding itself in the encore slot quite a bit over the tour along with "I Fought the Law" but this time there were no rough vocals or blown verses and Jerry even throws a little extra at the end. The boys came out to play in Eugene that night and the night before was no slouch either but overall, I think this was the better show.

Greg Heffelfinger 

"Jack Straw" from 8-22-93

Grateful Dead

Autzen Stadium Eugene,OR

8-22-93

Set One:

Jack Straw 
Bertha 
Little Red Rooster 
Broken Arrow 
Althea 
When I Paint My Masterpiece 
Tennessee Jed 

The Music Never Stopped

Set Two:

Help On The Way ->
Slipknot! ->
Franklin's Tower 
Samson And Delilah 
Ship Of Fools 
Corrina ->
Drums ->
Space ->
The Wheel ->
I Need A Miracle ->
Days Between ->
Not Fade Away 

Encore:

Liberty 

© 2016 Grateful Music LLC

Don't Wanna Be Treated This a-Way: 30 Shows in 30 Days from Grateful Music Brings You 3-24-93 UNC, Chapel Hill,NC SBD and VID

Like I've mentioned in previous articles, the later years makes the dusky gems of great shows easier and easier to pull out of the archive. This show is one of the un-arguable best shows of 1993. The band came ready to play with a wonderfully strange set list and top notch playing.

  Who can stop what must arrive now? Something is waiting to be born 3-24-93 UNC Chapel Hill,NC

This show, early in 93', sadly was one of the best of the year. There are a couple others in contention, Autzen in Eugene and MSG with David Murray spring to mind but this show is a true 93' gem. Jerry was on point and the playing was solid and using a new guitar that had an effect that made it sound like an acoustic guitar was starting to get some playing time. I might be in the minority because while 72-74 has my heart the 90's have my soul because that's when I was finally able to see the band I had been listening to like a monk in cloisters for years. I was finally getting old enough, in 92' I got my driver's license, and by the time 93' rolled around I was getting ready to go join the carnival. The Grateful Dead were on their last legs but I was just getting mine and it was a wonderful time for me. So, I may be as jaded as they come with Phish but 90's Dead, I still love and will cut them slack for days, even though I know they weren't the same band that played until 7am anymore and it was hard to get tickets and gate-crashing became a thing to do. These were my years and no one can take that away from me. I know what i heard changed my life, so I can only imagine what those who saw the Pigpen or Keith and Brent era's thought. I know it's not good. However, this show has a wonderfully quirky setlist and they come roaring out of the gate.

The opening "Jack Straw" was one of those openers that rang everybody's bell and all the people just getting to their seats and getting settled in might have missed the fact that this version, even though it took a minute, the first verse to be precise before the song exploded in a way that only the Grateful Dead can make a song do when they are ready to play. "Might as well be me" and the band achieved liftoff. The "Stagger Lee" is possibly one of my favorite versions, including the ones that go all the way back to Keith. Just another "Wang Dang Doodle", not a favorite but sounded okay since they didn't drown it in MIDI but next up was one of my favorite first set songs from the Nineties, "It Must Have been the Roses". Even if Jerry murders it, I'll always love this song, luckily tonight, being the first time they played it in 93', it wasn't just the doses. Jerry and Co. were on point and delivered a first class rendition, without a lot of Healy weirdness or the strangely cold effects that could mar a perfectly good song and  that was a nice surprise and just got everyone more excited for what the rest of the show would bring. Up next, the most underrated Dylan song, in my opinion, "Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again", and yes that is an incredibly long title, but this song really delivers with Jerry all over it. Vince is also making his presence felt, although coincidentally, Weir's guitar is really buried in the mix. It lends credence to the stories of Healy trying to purposely mess with Bobby, for reasons that have been speculated upon that I don't have to go into here.

Up next came the bouncy and well-played "TN Jed", which quite a few,myself included, called Tennessee Dread because by that time it was a rote rendition that frankly bored me. The next call though, "Let It Grow", was a beautiful version of the end of the suite. Vince laid down some nice fills, even though Bobby's guitar was conspicuously absent, Jerry achieved liftoff several times during this version, even choosing to play the horn with MIDI, which I don't prefer but in this case it works. The eleven-minute version started smoking as Bob's guitar started coming up in the mix. The band had started using in-ear monitors to get their sound right but I feel this took away from them listening to each other and even though they stopped stepping on each others' toes, the band dynamic suffered, in my opinion. That didn't stop this song though and it was a great way to end the first set.

  The second set started with the most egregious reworkings of a Dead song I've ever heard. I absolutely hated the way the band re-did the opening of "Here Comes Sunshine" to the "vocal harmonizing" opening. I understand they wanted to keep it fresh but this song already had a great opening theme and their voices were just too ragged to make this right. Maybe it would've worked in the Seventies but by this era, it only worked a handful of times and was mainly pretty hard on the ears. This is one of the few times that Jerry's voice was on and they all joined in and even Phil and Vince sounded good. With Vince going off during his fills, the song still managed to sound pretty good with some help from the sound crew and the band delivered it confidently. The boys then swung into a six-minute "Playin' in the Band" which I call a "Playin'"tease. And you cannot leave out the "Crazy Fingers" tease at the end, even though Phil said no and they swung into a sweet surprise. What came next was mind-boggling as Phil dropped a "Box of Rain" in our laps. I've never heard this played as the third song in the second set and the interesting placement made it pretty special and I think Phil delivered it wonderfully. The music had never stopped since the opening of the set and next was one of my personal highlights and one of my favorite songs, "Crazy Fingers". Someone else wrote that the line "peals of fragile thunder keeping time" was a perfect description of Phil's playing and I wouldn't disagree. I wouldn't call it "the best version", I've heard people claim that it was the best or the best of 93' and I don't know if it was either but it was definitely a high point in the show. And I love the way they reprised the extremely short Playin' at the end of the song, which techincially makes the first part a true Playin' but I think we all know a six-minute Playin' isn't really a full attempt.

I want to take a second to talk about the "Drums>Space" segment of the shows in the Nineties. They started off in the Sixties and Seventies as a quick drum solo and grew into a beast that gave the stringed instrument players a break and then after drums the drummers got a nice little break after raining fresh hell down on the crowd's mind. This portion of the show had swelled in size from a little break to almost thirty minutes a night of complete improvisation. This cut the song list, of already truncated shows, considering the band's past history, down considerably and sometimes there were only two or three songs after the whole segment and I feel that was excessive but the truth is these portions of the show were truly the only points in the later years that real pure improvisation was happening in any real way on stage. They jammed songs out and took them to great places, don't get me wrong but after ten to fifteen minutes of drums and then another chunk of noodling or spacy effects helped to give the Grateful Dead the reputation as mindless noodling, which they had been battling for years. On the other hand, Bob Bralove, with his panning effects and all of Mickey's sample, it became some of the only new music created at every show. Even though it took up a huge chunk of time that I feel could've been spent hearing beautifully arranged songs, it seemed like this was part of the show that the band enjoyed the most. Phil claimed they would gather during drums and try to come up with a "theme" such as "third encounters" or "underwater exploration" I don't know if that always was the case. However, in Billy's book he said that Garcia's playing during Space was some of his most honest playing and he could coax his physical and spiritual demons out of his guitar and MIDI rack. However, you feel about it, waste of time and perfect for a bathroom break or groundbreaking musique' concrete the band spent an inordinate amount of time in this segment of the show in the Nineties. If you are ever interested and want to hear Bob Bralove's work, who actually got some producer credits on Built to Last, try to find a copy of Infrared Roses,  a best-of compilation of "Drums>Space" that came out in the mid-90s and form your own opinion. "My job is to shed light, not to master"

After space came the mind-blowing part of this show. It had been a well-played, energetic show that was already a highlight as far as 93' goes, then after "Space" the band kicked it up to eleven with a beautiful "Spanish Jam" and then a fiery "Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad" that showed the whole band firing on all cylinders with the sound dialed in perfectly and great contributions from the drummers and Vince. I think they knew they were having an "on" night and the rare Spanish Jam>GDTRFB was an extension of this excitement. It was definitely no slouch, that's for sure. After this hot little folk tune that the boys had transmogrified into the epic jam we know it as, Bobby makes the call for "Throwing Stones" and after the nice noodly jam of the song before had been passed around, Bobby came out like a clean-up hitter and delivered his song about politics and climate like a religious sermon. His guitar growled and raged and the drummers were throwing down the beats and Jerry stepped up to the plate and was present and accounted for during the whole song. Bobby even added the "rape the earth today" line which he sometimes delivered and other times not. Simply a fantastic rendition of the song and a great way to head into the home stretch for a closing "Not Fade Away" that took all that crowd energy and threw it back at them in a huge fireball. All the singers were belting it out and the drummers left no skin untouched. They were all over the famous "Hey Bo Diddley" beat that Buddy Holly recorded but the Grateful Dead put up against the wall with a knife to it's throat. Jerry is all over the solos and even though they played this song hundreds of times, re-listening to this version makes me realize how much energy Jerry could still put out. It was a fitting end to a shining show in the otherwise dim year of 1993. Not that it was all bad but most people have called it the beginning of the end but you couldn't tell it at this show. 

After Bob told us how it was gonna be, the band came back on for the encore of yet another Beatles' tune. This was probably the best version of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" that the band ever turned out with Vince leading on a harpsichord sound and Jerry nails all the vocals for perhaps the only time they ever played it again. I loved those Beatles' covers but sometimes they just couldn't survive the vocal flubs but this time they nailed it. It almost sounded like they had rehearsed it! It was a triumphant way to end a show that unfortunately stands out way too far for all the shows they played in 93'. This was a fun show and is still a good listen and a great entry point for 90s-flavored Dead if you haven't listened or dismissed it all as unlistenable. Every once in awhile you get shown the light, or words to that effect, right?

Greg Heffelfinger

3/24/93 at Chapel Hill, NC

Grateful Dead

Chapel Hill, NC

3/24/93

Set One:

Jack Straw
Stagger Lee
Wang Dang Doodle
It Must Have Been The Roses
Memphis Blues
Tennessee Jed
Let It Grow

Set 2

Here Comes Sunshine
Playin' In The Band>
Box Of Rain>
Crazy Fingers>
Drums>
Space>
Spanish Jam>
Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad>
Throwing Stones>
Not Fade Away>

E: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

© 2016 Grateful Music LLC

Everybody's Dancin' in a Ring Around the Sun: 30 Grateful Dead shows in 30 Days: 5-31-92 Las Vegas,NV. SBD and VIdeo

This show was so hot they had to call out the fire trucks,literally. It was hundred degree plus weather and the the LVFD brought out the trucks to cool the crowd down by spraying water from the top of the ladder to try to mitigate the heat. The boys, on the other hand, put out another version of fire when they hit the stage. 

Almost ablaze still you don't feel the heat: Sam Boyd Silver Bowl 5-31-92 LV,NV  

The Grateful Dead,once they made the leap to stadiums, played at Sam Boyd in Vegas all through the nineties. In fact, Mickey even sampled the sounds of slot machines to work into the drums portion of one of the shows. In 1992, the boys played what was to be my first straight from the taper copy of a show. As the nineties moves on it gets easier and easier to pick a gem from every year. While maybe they had brought the general level of playing up, sometimes they were just good shows but other nights they were the band beyond description, Jehovah's favorite choir. While I'm not heaping that kind of praise on this show, it is definitely one of the best shows of an era where those kind of shows were becoming rarer and rarer. This is one of the few shows that started with the triptych of Help>Slip>Frank and then the second set started with the duo of Scarlet>Fire. They were still working out the sound kinks during the first set and Jerry is almost inaudible during "Slipknot!". I've heard this attributed to gear malfunction or a broken string. One thing is for sure though, while the band goes through the process of untying this particular knot, Jerry tunes his guitar live during the song, working the sound into the mix and as a quasi-guitarist, this is a masterstroke. He could have tuned it silently and then came in or had his mic turned down but instead he weaves the process into the song, which i find spectacular, and it's barely noticeable. You really have to listen for it. The following "Franklin's Tower" was a bouncy, wonderful version that was a great way to start the show. Vince, who was getting used to being there by now, is also a standout during this show. One of the few early shows where I really appreciated his contributions on their own merit. 

 Steve Miller opened for the band and came on about 2, and the Dead came on around 4pm sayeth those who were there. He later came back and joined the band on the last three songs. Fun fact, he got a little overzealous during "Morning Dew" and Phil gave him the "look", the it's "Jerry time, back off dude" look. Following a standard "New Minglewood Blues" the boys called up Annie and her roses and delivered a gorgeous rendition of this Garcia/Hunter ballad that had a touch of flanger on the vocals and it sounded wonderful. This is where I first started appreciating what Vince was doing. What he does later, well, that's another story. My friend that was there said that Jerry was bouncing around and looking good and everybody was happy. Maybe it was the roses, maybe it was his briefcase, maybe he was in love and happy to play but whatever it was came out this night. Considering the first sets were getting shorter and shorter, this night was a comparably long first set of eight songs. Which is very depressing considering the same band in 72' on May 26 played a nineteen-song first set with a 15-min "Playin'" and a China>Rider, as well as a NFA>GDTRFB in the first set, it shows how badly the band had aged and how the new memberships and relationships had reflected and effected the band dynamic. After a good "Queen Jane Approximately" from Bobby, Jerry made the call for "Bird Song" and it was a gorgeous jam, with a blown verse, that lasted for about fourteen minutes, and while Jerry was playing and leading the jam, Vince's keys were adding nice fills and texture and the band was allowing him to roam and it was really a great night for Vince. Even if it is somewhat depressing that with all the gear he had access too, he made it sound like he was playing a toy piano. His tone reminded me of Linus in the Peanuts most of the time but this night he was on because he really added a lot to this song. Ending the set on one of my least favorite Bobby efforts was still a well-played "Picasso Moon".

The second set kicked off with an energetic take on Scarlet>Fire that had the whole band locked in and rolling. It was if they had a backstage huddle and agreed that they had something going and let's kick it up a notch. Sometimes the nineties dead could feel a little cold or sterile because of the lack of crowd noise and the bright light of the pure soundboard feed. With the SBD, you can hear every note and every word and you don't hear the guy asking for a lighter or the girls talking about their boyfriends' but during the nineties, a show could song wonderful in the venue but when hear the "warts and all sbd" your opinion changes. This show, thankfully doesn't have much of that but you do hear the bum notes or botched verses a lot more clearly that you would in the audience. 

This "Scarlet" went through a nice, patient jsm into the "Fire on the Mountain" that closed out the opening duo with a stately grace as opposed to balls-to-the-wall jamming of earlier incarnations of the song. This is a mature version of the pairing that is confident and played confidently.  Next up was "Man Smart, Women Smarter" and as much as I love Bobby stepping out of the stereotypical "Grateful Dead" song model, I think this got way over-played way and it became an automatic "skip" when I was listening to burnt CD's after getting through the "fast forward, oh damnit, to far, back just a second, damn opening chorus" of the cassette days. It always worked out that if you just listened to the song it was quicker than trying to fast-forward it on a cassette deck. Ahh, the nineties.

Luckily, after this song Jerry laid down one of the best "So Many Roads" I've heard. He was completely present with no blown verses and the solos were tight and the light supporting chorus of the band and Vince adding just the right fills and the drummers giving the song a driving feel made this a treat for those there. Then after a beat, Bobby jumped into the un-moored, "Saint of Circumstance" that lost the sailor that could drag it down if not played in the right place but this Saint delivered on all the promise and got the crowd ready for what was stacking up to be a great show.

 After a follow-up "He's Gone" into "Drums>Space" the lot rumor that had been going around that no one dare speak as if not to jinx it came true as the delicate opening notes of "Attics of My Life" came out of Space. Even through the sbd you can hear the crowd cheering and then they became reverentially quiet as the boys delivered this delicate ballad they had just played a few shows before. 

It was at this point that the band brought out Steve Miller to sit in on the last quarter, starting with "Spoonful". After a suitably blues-y rendition, the band slid into a hard charging "The Other One" with Miller and Garcia both adding leads and pushing each other and just for effect, the added chipmunk vocal effect was thrown on and then the band led the jam into the ground and out sprung "Morning Dew". With Jerry as active and sprightly and altogether on-point as he had been all night, this Dew does it. Miller adds some blues fills here and there but I don't think he understood the general dynamic the band plays with during this song. This is one of the first songs that Phil really stood out to me. He always is there when he needs to be but sometimes when he pops up you forget that he plays more like the trumpet player he used to be instead of the bass player he ended up as. After twelve minutes of apocalyptic bliss, with Jerry pouring it all out at the end, the band went off and took a short break. When they came back on, they played what had become one of the highlights of the Vince era. This was the first playing of both "Baba O' Riley and "Tomorrow Never Knows" and to have them both played at the same time meant that they were listening to what Vince was saying and trying to stay fresh at the same time. "Baba O' Reilly" was particularly suited to Vince's talents from the Tubes and Jerry even throws in the obligatory arm windmill ala' Townshend as what I assume was a goof. Welnick's vocals are suited to the song and it's not a terrible version as the band played along gamely and then out of nowhere comes the Beatles' classic "Tomorrow Never Knows"which basically was a drummers/Welnick contribution as Weir and Garcia mainly just make weird noises and Phil drops some bombs and Jerry gives a solo a chance but this is mainly a Welnick joint and a fittingly mind-bending way to end a show that not only the largest concert in the history of Nevada at that point in time but easily one of the best of 1992.

video of the whole show- 5/31/92

Grateful Dead 

Sam Boyd Silver Bowl Las Vegas,NV

5-31-92

First Set: 

Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower ; New Minglewood Blues ; It Must Have Been The Roses ; Queen Jane Approximately ; Bird Song ; Picasso Moon Second Set: Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain ; Man Smart (Woman Smarter) ; So Many Roads > Saint Of Circumstance > He's Gone > Drums > Space > Attics Of My Life > Spoonful [1] > The Other One [1] > Morning Dew [1] Encore: Baba O'Riley > Tomorrow Never Knows

(1.) w/Steve Miller

© 2016 Grateful Music LLC

One of the Weirdest Setlists ever for Tonight's 30 Days of Dead Shows: 8-16-91 Shoreline

Last night I posted a show that was the first of the nineties. This show is heavy on one of the best parts of the nineties. This show Bruce was absolutely on fire. The setlist is an anomaly and it works because of Bruce. Shall we go back to 8-16-91  

A Bruce-fest of tasty piano and one of the weirdest setlists in GD History 8-16-91 Shoreline Amp Mountain View,CA

The band kicks off this quirky Bruce-fest with a hot pairing of "Jack Straw" and "Bertha" and after Phil shakes off some bass weirdness they are all on board for the rest of the show. It's a fairly short first set and the band is firing on all cylinders with Bruce really pushing Jerry and Jerry pushing back to lift the whole band up. One of the thing about the nineties that I've found was that Jerry was the x-factor. The rest of the band were generally "on" and kicked it up when the real "Jerry" was there to join them. After the epic Dylan poetry of "Desolation Row" that has Bobby picking up the acoustic, they break into a surprise first set "Dark Star". This isn't the greatest of versions and I've even seen it on some "worst" lists but this is the first time they played it in the first set since 71' and you can feel why. There was some method to the madness and they played it because poster artist Rick Griffiths had just had a motorcycle accident and was there. So they played it just for him, which must be an amazing feeling. Jerry busts out the MIDI and plays horn for a while and it doesn't really go anywhere but it's always nice to hear. I guess this mess of a "Dark Star" had to end up in "The Promised Land" to close the set. 

The second set is where this show really heats up and I remember wearing out my copy of this show back when I just had the second set on tape. This set was led by Bruce and was the only "Scarlet>Victim>Fire" that I have ever heard of them playing. Jerry blew a verse in Scarlet but Bruce led them down the tunnel towards on of the scariest sounding renditions of "Victim or the Crime" that I have ever heard. Bruce was teasing the melody so hard that Bobby grabbed on and said okay and finally Jerry jumped in and the drummers put the beat down and Vince came in and it was full bore. I don't think they ever played this combo again and this set was cooking all the way through afterwards. After the opening trio the band swung into "Truckin'" and after a great "Drums>Space" where Mickey gets deep in the beam, There's a nice "Playin reprise" to come out of space and go into the wonderful Garcia/Hunter ballad "Standing on the Moon"that despite fumbling some lyrics at the beginning makes up for at the end by pouring on what he still had. The outro guitar solo for the song is a wonderful bit of Garcia. Following the spacious, anthemic anti-war song, Weir turned up the volume for a "Good Lovin'" that the whole band got into. It sounds like Jerry almost lost his voice singing "doctor,doctor" and the band ends the night with a solid "U.S. Blues". 

 There are all-around better shows in 91' and they are coming up but I wanted to post this one to show that they still had the creative juices flowing and 90-91 were some pretty fertile years for the band. This is a Bruce show. This is for all of those that enjoy hearing weird setlists and the band reaching for it and even if they don't make it, feel good that they were still trying to grab the gold ring in a dark time.

Greg Heffelfinger

Grateful Dead

8-16-91

Shoreline Amp. Mountain View,CA

First Set:

Jack Straw Bertha It's All Over Now Ramble On Rose Desolation Row Dark Star > The Promised Land

Second Set:

Scarlet Begonias >
Victim Or The Crime >
Fire On The Mountain 
Truckin' 
Drums >
Space >
Playing In The Band >
Standing On The Moon >
Good Lovin'

Encore:

U.S. Blues

© 2016 Grateful Music LLC

In Grateful Music's 30 Dead Shows in 30 Days We Have Yet to Tackle the 90's. 9-20-90 MSG NY,NY

By far the most divisive, yet agreed upon, topic in GD history is the quality of the shows in the 90's. Well, let's start out with one of the first that featured Bruce and Vince and some consider it one of the band's swan song. Let's take a listen to 9-20-90, the last of a six-night stand at MSG before their final trip across the pond.

The 90's were a complicated era for the Dead, to say the least. Still reeling from the coma years and the mass influx of fans with the massive success of "Touch of Grey", the band lost their longest-sitting keys player and his amazing vocal skills and growing songwriting talents. The boys responded to this in typical fashion, instead of taking time off and regrouping, the bus kept on rolling. Some say to the detriment and others say to the inevitable end of the Grateful Dead.

There are things you can replace and others you can not, time has come to weigh those things, this space is getting hot 9-20-90 MSG NY,NY  

This show is the end of a six-night run at MSG before the boys went to Europe for what was to be the final time. Vince had been broken in, with miniscule preparation, for the huge weight he had taken on. Some say he didn't have the talent to start with but was "good enough" and could handle the high harmonies. Others say with a little more practice before getting thrown in the fire, he would've come out of the other side looking better. Regardless, not to speak ill of the dead, Brent's shoes were huge and Vince did the best he could to fill them with little notice and even less practice. So this run featured Bruce Hornsby, whose grand piano filled out the sound but you can tell at this early date, even he wasn't completely road-ready. Even with chaos on the keys, this show is a gem. And both keys and piano throw down some heavy shit at this show. Listen for Vince during the tremendous "China>Rider" and he's not afraid to jump in, he's going for it. It's just sometimes he couldn't get there. Bruce, who has long been seen as a saving hero, was still getting his feet wet too. He throws down some tremendous solos and his fills were timely and original but you can tell some of the songs he wasn't exactly dead set on. The Grateful Dead may be the most empathic set of players to ever play together and that is why so many guest artists played with them successfully. This is where the jazz comparison comes in because they let everyone solo. Listen for this during "Althea" when Bobby's guitar is growling like a wild cat and during "It's All Over Now" when the whole band round robin's solos and everyone gets a shot and it plays admirably. This is one of those sets that looks bland on paper but the playing is top-notch all through the first set. There were some vocal, ahem, "issues" but hey, everyone can be forgetful. But onto the heat, the second set.

After a fun first set, the band comes charging out of the gate for the last set of the six nights before they left for Europe and the lucky ones who were there won't ever forget it. They kick off the set with a "Truckin'" that has Vince's calliope organ playing a great little spray of notes that give the whole song a little carnival party time feel to the song. It turns it from a road-weary diary back to the anthemic," let's keep this bus rolling" sing-a-long that we all know it can be sometimes. It goes into probably one of the hottest "China>Rider"'s of the nineties and up there in any real discussion of the pairing. After the three song run of virtuosity, Bobby calls "Man Smart, Women Smarter" and while this was never my favorite song, it's a good pre-drums song because it's basically a tight little groove with some words on top that makes it fun. Not a lot of fire is expected and that's why this band is great. It takes this little Harry Bellafonte ditty and puts some grit on it and serves it up to the drummers. 

After the "Drums>Space", the fireworks start for real. The opening of the set was no fluke, the band came out of Space with that theme that makes the crowd explode to this day. This is one of the top nineties' "Dark Star"s that the band played and the second half of this set never slowed down. They went back and reprised the "Playin' in the Band" from the night before and then went back to finish the almost eighteen minute silky smooth "Dark Star". The first half clocks in around twelve minutes, then the reprise, then another fifteen minutes of a dark, angular, silky journey that Phil was wrapping his tentacles all over as he and Jerry chased each other through the stratosphere. The keys, collectively, all shone during this version, adding a nice cushion and a leading spacey vibe that makes the best versions so hot. At a time when the band almost drifted back into space as Jerry and Vince played off each other, it sounds like a "Stella Blue" might be in the cards but Bobby deals from the bottom and pulls out an ace. "Throwing Stones" comes roaring out of the ethos and this version slays like only the best versions do. After a ten minute rendition, Jerry calls for a "Touch of Grey" that lasts about eleven minutes. The boys came to play that night. All through the second set, tunes were expanded and explored and everyone was given room to play. After a rare-ish closing "Touch of Grey" the boys come back for a "Lovelight" encore.  This show is one of the best of the bands catalog, not just the nineties. It shows that when they were listening and gave themselves up to the groove they could throw down at any old time. Hearing Bruce's leading tone during "Throwing Stones" would've been a reason to feel nothing but joy that night after a tremendously successful run that set that them up for a successful tour of Europe and this show is a must for any real collection.

Greg Heffelfinger

*This show was released as Road Trips 2 Vol.1

Grateful Dead

MSG NY,NY

9-20-90

First Set:

1.  Feel Like a Stranger

2.  Althea

3.  It's All Over,Now

4.  Ramble on Rose

5.  El Paso

6.  Brown-Eyed Women

7.  Greatest Story Ever Told

8.  U.S. Blues

Set Two:

1.  Truckin'>

2.  China Cat Sunflower>

3.  I Know You Rider>

4.  Man Smart, Women Smarter>

5.  Drums>

6.  Space>

7.  Dark Star>

8.  Playin' Reprise>

9.  Dark Star>

10.Throwing Stones>

 11.Touch of Grey

Encore:

12. Turn on Your Lovelight

  
© 2016 Grateful Music LLC