I’d second Nightfall of Diamonds, 10-16-89 The Warlocks shows are must hears as well (10/8 and 10/9, 89). The summer shows from 89 are pretty solid all around. For 86-88, there’s lots of stuff to hear on the archives and trading circles, but I’d start with 12/15/86. The first post-coma show - just hear the emotion in Jerry’s voice during Touch Of Grey and later as he announces that the Candyman is back in town!
if push came to shove, I might name this my favorite Daves. Was just in atlanta last weekend and made a pilgrimage to the Fox Theatre just to see where so much magic took place.
I think Nightfall is better, but I recommend both. 1989 is very, very fine. Sends chills down my spine. When they release one, I make it mine.
8-6-74 Jack Straw The part coming back in from the first solo to the second verse 2:05-2:20 Keith seems to quote something, which then rolls into a weird lick from Jerry that he plays behind Weir's vocal. More of that normal / outside 73-74 stuff they'd get into. Then a prime candidate for best ever Eyes of the World followed by 'Don't Climb the Fence, idiot!' My dad's best friend swears he and my dad were at this show. My dad says he doesn't remember it...
LOL, that's all I play. The 4/26/72 Lovelight is fairly long, and the segment I posted is where it's at. But there's also the ending bit where they play NFA and GDTRFB at the same time. You can choose to spend 30 minutes getting 2 minutes of glory; that's certainly your right.
On my 7km powerwalk last Saturday I listened to parts from next night at Red Rocks. Great stuff. The other one was a powerhorse in '78. Drugs and alcohol sure took it's toll on the band at times, but really, it's just Keith that was affected in a bad way in '78. But he was in fine form for these July shows. IMHO
Possible my favorite 15sec from their 30 years of live shows. Goosebumps. And that was about one hour into the show. The crowd waited for the right moment to unleash there love for Jerry
In my view, the best post-coma years have to be 87-summer 90. Gotta have Brent to qualify for that designation, IMO.
I'd narrow it down to the latter part of 1989 when Jerry was playing the Wolf, from the Warlocks shows through the LA shows. Jerry broke out Rosebud for the NYE run.
That jam sequence between Lovelight & GDTRFB is a perfect example of why I am so into the GOGD! I could listen to that 10 times a day!!!
Exactly. If/when I dive into this era October is the month. It seems to encapsulate the best of both 89 and 90. Garcia is playing with such attitude.
To use an analogy from earlier in their career, Spring ‘90 is sort of like Spring ‘77, with 89 being a bit more like Fall ‘77 and Spring ‘78 - just a tad more adventurous and slightly more ups and downs. It would have been interesting to see how the sound would have developed if not for Brent’s passing.
This is one of the key moments in GD history, in terms of the evolutionary arc of the music. Where would this band have gone if Brent had not transitioned? The other such moment was when they went on hiatus in 1974. Phil said in a recent interview that the hiatus was the end of the original arc of development, and that they never really found it again afterwards. Was the decision to go more mainstream part of this? Discuss.
