Grateful Dead Dave's Picks 2021 Subscriptions

The Chapel Hill shows from 93 are pretty great. Jerry's playing is pretty top notch in 93, but it fell off a cliff in 94. Spring and Summer 94, Jerry was terrible and while Fall was better, it's still over fluffed. If you really listen, his playing is not even close to being as good and crisp and fluid as it was in 93.

 

Branford…that’s pretty cool!

 

I brought my girlfriend at the time, who was a music major. Her favorite part was the middle part with all the different sounds.

 

I so hope I’m on the same sheet of music as this post when I add to the recent bring the un-initiated to a show trend when, maybe ‘92 some friends who are girls, certainly somewhat from my nudging, tagged along to the Cap Center... and the blood curdling mostly befuddled 7k kHz lady scream, and subsequent stares from the surrounding three upper deck sections to hearing... what the hell that instrument?

 

The show itself was mild compared to what was outside. I'll take Cap Center any day.

 

I brought my brother for 12/15/94. Floor seats behind the taper's section. Yuck. I bought a bootleg. Yuck.

 

Based on my memory of my listening at the time, I think your assessment of a major decline is an accurate one. So why did this happen? Was Jerry so physically ill that he just wasted away? I don’t think his playing suffered nearly as much in earlier years when he was also very ill. Few would argue with that.

 

He had something going on where he couldn't feel his hands or something, I remember reading?

 

Sorry for blocking your view.

 

Of the teleprompters?

 

Until the Dew. Jerry aborted the finale jam. The only time I ever booed at a Dead show.

But he made up for it next night with the 15-minute Shakedown opener. That show was great, and would make a nice '93 release. Handsome Cabin Boy Space...!

 

I’ll have to listen to those shows. At the time I thought 3/16 was a near perfect show (in context). I wasn’t a seasoned head or anything though. I was 18. I can tell you with certainty though the next night wasn’t nearly as good!

 

Ha!

 

For what it's worth, no one but me and my brother seemed to notice, everyone (but us) cheered when Sugar Mag started up. Jerry had flubbed the final verse of Dew, and instead of rolling with it like he usually did, it seemed to pull him out of the song and he wouldn't re-engage. I remember Bob kept looking over at him, wondering when the jam was going to kick in. He finally had to give up and start Sugar Mag.

Projected fantasy or not, we really did feel like the Shakedown opener next night was a conscious making amends.

(and forgiveness was swift )

 

I believe you! You know your stuff. I remember the Shakedown too.

One thing I noticed about 3/16 is they only did one new tune. So Many Roads…the best one. And the opening Jack Straw/Row Jimmy/Minglewood is a great opening sequence imo. Pretty unusual too.

Time to look at the set list for 3/17…

 

It's a good list. I'm an Eternity fan, mind you....

Your opinion's as valid as mine, I'm recalling 28-year-old impressions, too ; ) You make me wanna revisit 3/16 for the first time since. 3/17 I've had off the archive for some years and it holds up IMO.

 

fixed that for you

 

When Wolf Bros busted it out here a couple years ago, I think I was the only one that recognized it, much less that was psyched to hear it.

Has some space jam factor, just sayin'....

 

I'm glad I never had to boo at a Dead show, but while I was "I wish I'd stayed home or at the very least in the parking lot" dismayed at the Knick in March '91, I'm not hearing the vocal flub you're referencing on the 3/16/93 Dew. Can you time-stamp it for me? To me it sounds like Jerry's struggling a bit, but simply doesn't have the energy for a big final build-up. Probably one of the most anti-climactic Dews ever.

relisten.net/grateful-dead/1993/03/16/morning-dew?source=104669

 

It has definitely grown on me, just couldn’t resist that setup

 

Just relistened. The middle solo is nice 'n hot. But he sings the wrong verse afterwards: "Where have all the people gone." He realizes it and starts to trail off, then goes with it. So he's then got to sing the real final verse after. He actually does play a few leads then (more than I remembered), but it soon feels like he's trying to retreat and hide behind the band. Who attempt to pick it up (most notably Vince), but to no avail. He simply stops playing leads, and clearly isn't going to approach the mic for the last "guess it doesn't matter."

The vibe I'm getting now is sadder. Did singing the wrong verse (which certainly didn't have to be a big deal) really take him out of the moment he'd been enjoying a minute before during the solo ~ as I perceived on the night ~ or did something internal just snap him out of the zone at the solo's end, causing the verse error and taking him downhill from there? It doesn't feel good : (

Gosh, the rest of this show (14-minute Uncle John's) looks really nice on paper, I guess I just shelved it in my memory after the Dew incident. Am definitely gonna check more of it out.

 

I mean, who knows what Jer was thinking, right? I didn't even notice that it was the wrong verse. In previous days, Jerry would have made up for it with a killer outro, but something prevented him from doing that. Aside from his personal state of mind, we unfortunately know what that something was.

 

I didn't know at the time, I thought he was just being lazy Given he was playing well at these shows overall. At my last one two years later, though, it was obvious and it felt bad in my stomach. That night, I'd have begged for an old-fashioned Jerry flub.

 

Yeah, I continued to acquire tapes post SPAC, 6/27/85, which should, by all accounts, have been my last show. I had graduated from WPI in 4 years (average is 5 years) a week or two earlier and that was my plan. Move on, but still listen. Problem was, the tapes I was getting just got worse and worse. I thought I had it bad seeing shows from '82-'85 (long regarded as a down period give or take some months), but the shows I was getting from '91-'92 were downright depressing.

So, I cut bait in mid '92 and suddenly decided that I needed to learn double bass in November '92. Not sure where that came from, but disillusion with GoGD had a role in there somewhere. So, some positive spin, at least for me. That lead to many new musical opportunities. And here I am again; back on the bus.

 

I used to know a guy in Boston who played in a Bob Weir cover band called Eternity.