Dead of the Day: 09-04-1991
Richfield Coliseum
Richfield, Ohio
Our Dead of the Day takes us into an early fall tour show from 1991 at the Richfield Coliseum. The first set kicks off with Let The Good Times Roll, and the fun certainly begins along with it. Jack Straw comes out next, providing one of the highlights of the first half as the boys come together for some streaking jams – with Bobby turned up in the mix and Jerry creating runs in the middle distance – and then trade lines on the vocals. Afterwards, a quick Jack-A-Roe takes it into Walkin’ Blues. Then the Dead play a beautiful Friend Of The Devil with Bruce’s keys giving it a different, welcome sound, somehow reinforcing the traveling nature of the lyrics that is usually absent from the music. A little later, Cold Rain And Snow washes over you with its lush, textured sound, providing a moment of wonderment before Promised Land rushes forth, taking it into the break and leaving everyone blissfully satisfied.
In the second set, the boys do not waste any time getting it going, rolling out a tasty Scarlet Begonias and wandering off into splendorous fields of jamming exploration with Bruce adding a few cool little runs on top of everything else. As you would expect, Scarlet segues right into a spectacular Fire On The Mountain that scorches in the interstices between verses before just going off into happy heady land during the latter half. The Estimated that comes next is heroic in its own right, leading into He’s Gone. The He’s Gone is as emotional and layered as any version with an awesome vocal jam into Drums. On the other side of Drums> Space, China Doll emerges in all its forlorn and haunting beauty before The Wheel rises out of it. Then a Throwing Stones> Not Fade Away closes out the set until the boys come out for The Weight encore.
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