Grateful Dead - worst performances of individual songs?

For me, it's generally '71-'74, with the occasional '69-'70. I find '77 to be so polished as to be generally unlistenable. All told, I'd probably put about 10%* of their total output in the absolute highest pantheon of art. The rest I don't need.

*Said 10% includes Morning Dew, SPAC, 6/18/83.

 

as soon as i saw this thread title, i *immediately* thought of the 6/18/95 Giants Stadium "Wharf Rat"...i used to have a video (mostly shot from the big screens) of this show on VHS...watching it is an even worse experience...Jerry keeps looking at Vince, shaking his head in confusion, and and at one point just drops his hands to his sides and plays nothing for several moments (however, the "China Cat" this night DID have a very unique & cool drums/Vince syncopated intro before the guitars come in - never heard that attempted before, i love it)...the 8/3/94 show from the same venue the prior year "featured" a horrible moment in "Crazy Fingers" during which Jerry just could NOT get the opening down correctly...he plays it over and over, and finally just starts singing the vocals without playing the little descending part to open the verse...it's rough...the "Crazy Fingers" from Deer Creek also includes TWO hugely glaring lyrical blunders on the bridges, totally derails the song...jeez, i could think of dozens more...but these immediately come to mind...

 

It was part of one of my all-time favorite attended shows.........7/1/85 Merriweather.........and I loved seeing it.

 

I'm with you on the 71-74 peak, but I can't disregard the rest (up to 1990). I was just listening to a show I saw 20 years ago - 6/28/85 Hershey Park - and that is just some amazing Grateful Dead. Not just "good for a Brent show" Dead. Jerry trifecta of Birdsong > Comes A Time > Deal to close the first set? Yes please. One of the reasons I'm looking forward to the big box set is more Brent shows that are NOT 89-90.

 

I don't totally disregard the rest. It's pretty hit or miss for me after '75 though. I'm not big on much of the material, but there certainly are some gems post-'75. Reckoning is a must-listen, and Go to Nassau is very good. Even for '77, Raceway Park is a very good show. I also bought the big box (not the one Pigpen probably rapped about) and I know the '83 and '84 shows are strong.

I should add that above an beyond the 10% I put at the top, there's another 10% or so that still ranks highly. That's closer to the truth than the rather hyperbolic statement I posted before.

 

I blame bad drugs.

 

The gems after 75 are few and far between for sure, but there are some. I agree huge drop off after 75, and more after 77, and then more in the early 80s - and then Coma > MIDI > Vince were declines on a whole other level.

 

I have often said that to my wife, but PITB is one of her favorite GD songs & she remains bitter about Donna's contributions.

 

i LOVE the '85 Hershey Park show, Phil and Jerry on the "Morning Dew"...always been a favorite - from THIRTY years ago! ;-)

 

Finally, an interesting dead thread...I would say any post drums/space part of the show post 1980 is the worst, or anything in that portion where Bobby sings...nfa, sugar mags, blow job, I could go on and on....there's a show I read about in the late seventies where before the show Jerry swallowed like 10 valium 10s on a dare, so Bobby had to sing all the songs,....I can imagine it's pretty horrible, but I'd love to hear this , Jerry totally on the downs, anyone recal this show???

 

Today I was listening to the 1989 live version of "Candyman" from the Hampton box set. Jerry completely messes up the words of the first stanza, and during the guitar solo he tries lots of different midi sounds that go nowhere. Jerry is possibly my favorite guitar player and one of my favorite singers, and "Candyman" is one of my favorite songs, but this version is quite terrible!

 

There's a "Fire On The Mountain" from later in the tour........10/20 Philadelphia......where Jerry destroys each set of verses. Despite that, it's my favorite (non-"Dark Star") Fall 89 show.........the "California Earthquake" night and an outstanding "Other One" that started after "Truckin'" going into "drums/space."

 

Yeah Crazy Fingers, there were some bad ones near the end. I think I was listening to 3-19-95 as it was my last show and the first Unbroken Chain, well Jerry did not show up as well on tape as much as I suppose I remembered; I spot checked some other songs, Crazy Fingers being one, and you described pretty well the start of what I heard.

I guess that brings up the point that bad performances are often about standards laid down years prior... this pretty much sums that up:

 

Thanks to the internet, I was just able to listen to this. They do get turned around, but mostly recover, and it turns into a great jam. I've heard way, way worse. Like the show where Jerry nods off mid-vocal and his head falls down onto the mic. There's a video of that, but I can't remember the tune. Sad and bad.

I stopped seeing them regularly in 1981 after several really bad shows. Not trainwreck bad, but just dull and predictable. Plus they slowed everything down so much it was unbearable. And for some reason around then jocks started showing up and getting really drunk, and screaming "Jerry!!!!!!" The last time I saw them was great though -- Shoreline 1991. They opened with Help on the Way, and just played a great show.

 

The complex ending of "Slipknot!" is quite erratic on Dave's Picks Vol. 4. The problem lies on the fact that the band plays it on double time! It's quite hard as it is to try to play it even faster, so the performance does not come exactly well, but I love the Dead for having taken that unexpected chance right there on stage!