32 years ago today

They sounded pretty damn hot that summer of '91 tour.  Maybe the last real consistently good/at times great tour. Spring '92 with Hornsby was also pretty sweet.  Downhill from there imo. 

51 years ago was Pen's last show & the debut of Stella Blue.

The last real consistently good/at times great tour.....September '91 had some juice, also.  Saw 9/8, 9/9, 9/10, 9/13, 9/14 @ MSG.  4 of the 5 were fine shows.  Missed Boston Gahden that time, some great looking setlists in that run.

By March '92, didn't know why, but something was off/wrong.  Garcia's heart problems were the issue.  Shows at the Crap Center in Landover were real good ones, Spectrum, not at all.

March through Aug. '92 not so good.

Jerry was dyin' up there.

I think this thread narrows down the time frame where the worm really turned for Jerry and hence the Grateful Dead. It wasn't as straight forward as saying it was all downhill after Brent died.  Those of us that saw the short period with Hornsby know there was some real magic still being cooked up back then.  I didn't know about a heart problem with Jerry in '92.  What was that about?

August 1992: 

Despite official denials by the Grateful Dead’s office, his condition appears to be far more serious than official reports of “exhaustion.”   Symptoms of Garcia’s recent collapse apparently include an enlarged heart and fluid in his lungs, symptoms doctors call strongly indicative of heart failure.  Garcia, who turned 50 last week, canceled appearances by his solo band last weekend in San Francisco.  Dead drummer Mickey Hart reported that Garcia is now exercising and has stopped smoking. His previous concession to health was to switch from unfiltered to low-nicotine cigarettes.

Rolling Stone interview 9/2/93:

With your health problems, were you concerned that you might never get to do all the things you’ve been talking about wanting to do?
Absolutely. I was getting to the place where I had a hard time playing a show. I was in terrible fucking shape. I mean I was just exhausted, totally exhausted. I could barely walk up a flight of stairs without panting and wheezing. I just let my physical self slide as far as I possibly could.

Did you deny to yourself what was happening?
Oh, yeah, because I’m basically a lazy fuck. Things have to get to the point where they’re screaming before I’ll do anything. I could see it coming, and I kept saying to myself: “Well, as soon as I get myself together, I’m going to start working out. I’m going on that diet.” Quit smoking — ayiiiiii [waves lit cigarette]. In a way I was lucky, insofar as I had an iron constitution. But time naturally gets you, and finally your body just doesn’t spring back the way it did. I think it had to get as bad as it did before I would get serious about it. I mean, it’s a powerful incentive, the possibility that, hey, if you keep going the way you are, in two years you’re going to be dead. But I definitely have a component in my personality which is not exactly self-destructive, but it’s certainly ornery. There’s a part of me that has a bad attitude. It’s like “Fuck you,” you know? [Laughs] “Try to get healthy” — “Fuck you, man.”

^^^^thanks for posting the above, hadn't seen either before