Dead of the Day: 06-02-1995
Shoreline Amphitheatre
Mountain View, California
Again there is only one show on this date. And, what’s more, the one concert is from 1995. But before you head for the exits, give this night a serious listen and see both what the Dead were capable of in their final year and, also, how often they fell short. In the Alabama Getaway opener, Jerry puts some mustard on his guitar, and Vince contributes some really nice fills. The first set also offers up one of only eight post-Pig School Girls with, again, Vince laying in some light and airy keys while Bobby provides his own interpretation of the tune. The Bird Song late in the set offers up a cacophonic mélange in a really spacey jam, breaking new ground in a tune that had already seen its share of exploration. Somehow the Dead come back from the brilliant brink, returning for another verse before sidling into a rocking Promised Land to see the first half of the night off.
The beginning of the second set leaves a little to be desired with a lifeless That Would Be Something and then Vince’s Way to Go Home. But things start turning up with the Saint of Circumstance> He’s Gone. And He’s Gone gives way to Drums, which is stellar on its own, but flies completely off the hook when the Gyoto Monks begin their chanting; pity anyone who was on mind-altering substances. Out of Space comes an Easy Answers, which, after entering into a little distant space, is itself followed up with a monumental Standing on the Moon. The Jerry tune is perfectly played with all the pain in Jerry’s voice just adding to the deep melancholy and longing. The band finishes off the second set in the same way they did the first, with an upbeat tune, this time an Around and Around. Then the boys comes out for one more, a rollicking Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds that shows so much promise but also, especially with Jerry’s mumbling, never quite lives up to its potential. One of the Dead’s greatest nights? No. But tell me you would not want to be there under the stars at Shoreline when they were playing that Standing on the Moon.
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