The last time - 30 years ago today

Thank for this write up 'Lance'. That show was my last also. The second set in particular was sad and confusing. I was hearing songs I really liked (and finally Unbroken Chain) and almost nothing was coming out of Jerry. It was bittersweet, but certainly things would be better at the October shows! Good grief.

Thirty years! Yikes

Awesome.

My last GD show too.  Did the whole west coast run and thought the last night of Seattle was the best of the bunch with a smoking Scarlet>Fire.  The UBC soundcheck was also fun with all the freeks dancing in the street outside the Seattle Center.

Shoreline was a mixed bag.  The chanting monks on the second night was awesome and had some fun times over those three days at the shows and staying with friends in SF. 

But that Sunday. . .    Was really elevated (drank a tall boy of mushroom infused home brew I got on the lot called "Uncle Stinky" with a picture of Phil on the bottle) and the show sounded good in the moment up until UBC.   Was super stoked waiting for the middle section jam and Jerry ripping it, but alas, dude was out of it and the few notes he played were off.  Real let down.

I have gone back and listened to the Sunday show and it was more of a train wreck than I remembered.  Victim totally went off the rails and not in a good way.   Still, what to give to go back one more time and see Jerry.   RIP.

Yeah, that 3rd Seattle show was my real goodbye to Jerry, although I saw the next two in Portland. Mostly meh, with a few exceptions. But that Sunday show! As the guy I came with said, "Jerry came to play".

He sure did.

Thanks for the heads up. Typical month of music in Bay area.  Good times.

Alan's chart took my breath momentarily away thinking it was a zerby spreadsheet 

That was weird

I miss him

And Jerry for that matter

):

Thanks Lance, for starting my day with a cry.
It brought "Expecting to Fly" into my head, my favorite Buffalo Springfield song:

"There you stood on the edge of your feather
Expecting to fly
While I laughed, I wondered whether
I could wave goodbye"

My final Jerry, thankfully enjoyed with my wonderful Jen, was 3 weeks later at the Knickerbocker.
I never thought much of the show. Looking at the setlist today, I realize there were a few songs that have become pretty special for me.
The encore was I Fought the Law, though, and we passed through the doors as it played, kinda miffed to get a throwaway encore.

Perhaps I will go back & listen today. The fact that they did 2 knickerbocker shows in the midst of that East Coast stadium madness, was kinda unique & special.
Glad we rallied and went. I would have been less pleased if that last Highgate show had been our final.
What a weird fucking Summer.

Can't stop the tears. Jesus christ, if they could make batteries out of whatever substance I use to store greif in my heart, our energy worries would be over.

^ typo - my chart should say Shoreline 2,3 4

I can't read these stubs anymore

interesting factoid I found when pursuing my show/stub list --- the first? Ratdog performance (with Rob Wasserman, Jay Lane, and Matthew Kelly) was the same day as Jerry's last Warfield run. We had a twofer that day.

DC /24,25

Great friends Great time

Sigh

The final Shoreline shows were pretty good in a relative type of way. Garcia was wobbly but still able to summon his mighty powers in bits and spurts.

My last Grateful Dead show.

Oakland Coliseum Arena - February 26, 1995

02/26/95
Oakland Coliseum Arena - Oakland, CA

Set 1:
Let The Good Times Roll
West LA Fadeaway
Queen Jane Approximately
Lazy River Road
Mama Tried
Mexicali Blues
Don't Ease Me In

Set 2:
Iko Iko
Samson And Delilah
Ship Of Fools
Estimated Prophet*
Eyes Of The World*
Drums*
Space*
I Need A Miracle*
The Days Between*
Not Fade Away*

Encore:
Box Of Rain

*With David Murray with Sikiru Adepoju on talking drums during parade and "Drumz" - Mardi Gras parade during "Drums"

What I thought of at the time, and still do, as the "walking antique" era of the Grateful Dead. They were almost a caricature of themselves at that point. Moments of inspiration and/or enlightenment were few, if any. They should of fucking stopped touring for a year, or two. I recall Phil said one time that if they had, Jerry would have still been out with his band, but that would have been less stress than the Grateful Dead circus had become. Oh well, whats done is done. 

I never liked Shoreline as a venue and only went there a couple of times. Oakland Coliseum was my go to those last years, because I could take BART from and back to the City, and had so much personal history there. On this final night, I sat in the area behind the stage and watched the band from the back where I could share their view of the crowd, and a good view of the Mardi Gras parade, which concluded with an open coffin float and the fellow inside looked like Elvis (but maybe it was Jerry).

Hunter S. Thompson was backstage and watched the whole show from there.

"Lazy River Road" and "Days Between" were inspiring, my last pure Jerry. The encore of Phil on "Box of Rain" was a fitting final song with the Grateful Dead, and foreshadowed the unknown next era still to come a few years later.

I went back out into the night not knowing it was the last time after several decades and hundreds of shows.

My last couple of GD shows were the two at Soldier Field in 1994. Traffic opened, and Jerry sat in on Dear Mr. Fantasy the first night, but the Dead's sets were a mixed bag. It was cool hearing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, but a bunch of the newer songs they played (Picasso Moon, Samba in the Rain, If the Shoe Fits, Way to Go Home) just didn't impress me.

The next chance I had to see them were the two shows at Soldier Field in 1995, but when a buddy called to see if I wanted to go to the shows, I told him I'd catch them the next time around. I had recently ended a long term relationship and spent the weekend before the shows moving into a new place, so if my spidey sense was tingling, I just wasn't feeling it.

Nice to have that memory. I can't really remember what my last show was. I'm pretty sure it was 12/8/94 at Oakland. Took BART by myself and hadn't really been to many shows over those years. The last time I really connected was the 91 Halloween run after Bill Graham died. What I remember from that 94 show is being pretty depressed by how dark the lot scene was, but I did run into an old friend from NH who I went to a lot of shows with in the early 80's and that was fun. I remember not liking that new song which turned out to be Corrina, and that the Lucy in the Sky was really rough. My last time seeing Jerry was most likely a Warfield show but those all blur together. Should have kept those stubs. 

My last show was 6/25/95 

setlist

Set 1: Shakedown Street Wang Dang Doodle Jack A Roe Mama Tried* > Mexicali Blues* Loose Lucy Picasso Moon Set 2: Box Of Rain The Rain Song Samson & Delilah Ship of Fools Truckin' > Rollin' & Tumblin' > Samba In The Rain > Drums > Space > Wharf Rat > Not Fade Away Brokedown Palace

I also hit Albany and The Meadowlands on that tour. I do not recall how Dylan played as the opener in the stadium shows or who was in his band. I do remember not hearing anything coming out of Jerry's guitar on Unbroken Chain and that was a big bummer. 

My last show - end of the spring tour , only stadium show that Spring:

Tampa Stadium. Tampa, FL (Friday 4/7/95) 1. Jack Straw ,Peggy-O, Little Red Rooster, Loose Lucy, Masterpiece*, Visions of Johanna, Promised Land

2. Eyes of the World -> Saint of Circumstance, Samba in the Rain, Unbroken Chain, Corrina -> Drums -> Space -> Easy Answers -> Days Between -> Not Fade Away E: US Blues * Weir on acoustic *(Black Crowes opened)*

It was a rough / sad show. my wife's first Grateful Dead shoe. We had tickets at the back of that immense bowl, i had friends on the tour and the Head of the Yellow shirts security was a friend and Head. We ended up getting up on the rail right between Bobby and Jerry. Jerry couldn't get his chin off his shoulder the first verse and mumbled thru his first pass. The rest of the set was meh EXCEPT for that Visions. Second set started with some promise and we got an Unbroken Chain but any D/S that's got two late Dead Bobby songs in/out and you can see Bobby had to muscle the show to the end.

On a side note, i ate a 9 out of a 10 strip 'cause the wife only wanted 1 hit and she nearly got sent off to the tent anyhow, but she rallied out of Days into NFA and we finished the show. the ride back to lauderdale that night was another whole trip but rolling into the East coast at sunrise coming down from a trip down and across the alley was harrowing yet sublime