10-13-1994
Madison Square Garden
New York, New York
Incredibly dank sound quality from the soundboard>DAT>CDR. The instruments sound pure, with just enough audience noise between songs to remind you that it’s a live recording. Jerry wails on ‘Loser’. Bobby switches to acoustic for ‘Mama Tried’>’Mexicali Blues’. The latter features nice MIDI trumpet from Garcia’s guitar, before the final verse. Then he plays clean, then he plays with a split-signal: clean and ‘trumpet’.Next up is a much called-for ‘Dupree’s Diamond Blues’, always a treat in the setlist, never overplayed, short and sweet, featuring Jerry’s Mutron envelope-filter, much updated since its debut in the ’70s.Bobby takes the mic next for ‘When I Paint My Masterpiece’, I also saw them do this the year before at MSG. Vince has on a ‘strings’ patch on his MIDI synthesizer. ‘Loose Lucy’ is nice, but like ‘Masterpiece’, I had seen it live 9/18/93, also at Madison Square Garden, so the two-years-in-a-row kind of spoils it. Jerry’s guitar comes in crystal clear, and he plays a minimalist solo. He flubs the lyrics a little. ‘Let it Grow’ is the last song of the opening set. Vince plays some magical colors on his MIDI, while Jerry remains clean for the opening part of his solo. Bobby comps through a digital fuzz effect. At 8:05 comes the composed part of the jam, it is performed mellow and sweet, Jerry lays a few improvised notes over it, while everybody plays it in unison, then the section opens up, with forward moving rhythm, like a bullfight. The beautiful cadence comes at 9:10.The second set opens with ‘Foolish Heart’. The hand drums coming from the percussionists sound great. The jam gets a B+ grade from me. Next up is ‘Playin’ in the Band’. This time the jam is intense and beatific. Creepy noises are heard coming from some of the amps, behind Garcia’s soloing. Everyone starts playing freely, including the drums. The jam after ‘Uncle John’s Band’ is absolutely beautiful. ‘Drums’>’Space’ is prosaic, but ‘The Other One’ lights the Garden up, introducing itself with startlingly real-sounding dissonant sound-effects. The set closes with a fierce ‘Johnny B. Goode’.
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