There’s only one show available today, this 1991 performance at the 100,000 seat Los Angeles Coliseum. According to the comments on the usual websites, this show was a disaster due to an aggressive police / security presence, terrible sound and scores of fans crowding the field since they couldn’t hear in the seats. We don’t have an audience recording available to confirm the quality of the sound in the Coliseum, but the soundboard tape is fine and the show, while nothing special, is not nearly as bad as the atmosphere at the concert apparently was.
The pedestrian first set starts with an above average Shakedown Street and is capped by a stellar Deal with an almost five-minute jam at the end. The second set opens with Picasso Moon, and although the song is not one of my favorites, it, too, has a nice jam at the end. Foolish Heart follows and features some Phish-like sequences and noodling (I say this in a good way – others would disagree with the positive Phish reference). Beyond this, the second set just meanders along without any real distinctive moments until you arrive at Not Fade Away and get to hear a couple of minutes of a Hornsby / Garcia piano / guitar duel.
Listen to the only available soundboard – literally the only version of this show online – here: https://archive.org/details/gd91-06-01.sbd.barbella.6020.sbeok.shnf
One thought on “Today In Grateful Dead History: June 1, 1991 – Los Angeles Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA”