Today in Grateful Dead History: May 28, 1995 – Portland Meadows, Portland, OR

I finished listening to this show completely shocked by how much I enjoyed the second set, which had no major jams and really no songs that I like.

Yet somehow, it was an interesting listen.  Maybe because everything was so basic, there was less room for error.  Maybe Jerry didn’t have to do any heavy lifting.  Maybe the energy was just higher than I expected.  Who knows.  But anytime I enjoy a show with Way to Go Home and Corrina in it, something must be up.  I’m not going to ponder this too much – it is 1995, after all.  I’ll just say that sometimes you find yourself in strange places when you listen to this band.

Before you go out and expect Veneta 1972, I’ve got to warn you that the first set is not great, due almost entirely to Jerry’s crumbly guitar playing.  This was one of those nights where I can honestly say that a basic bar band guitarist would have played better than Jerry.  I don’t want to take away from his effort on the lyrics, or the passion in his voice, but in the first set of this show, he just doesn’t have it on the guitar at all.  There is a glimmer of hope during Let It Grow, but it’s kind of fleeting.  Things pick up a little in the second set. Again, I’m not saying to ignore the first set – just don’t expect shredding.  Peggy-O and Let It Grow are my picks of the set, if you’re interested.

Last thing to note – the Box of Rain encore is one of Phil’s better vocal efforts.  Don’t skip it.

Go into this one with a little bit of an open mind and it won’t be nearly as bad as it looks.

Listen here:  https://archive.org/details/gd1995-05-28.aud.russjcan.92041.flac16

Today In Grateful Dead History: May 29, 1995 – Portland Meadows, Portland, OR

I can’t believe that I’m starting this new site with a show from 1995, but today’s other offerings aren’t great, sound-wise, so why not?  (If you’d like to find my old posts at my other site, click here.)

1995 shows have a terrible reputation because Jerry was slowly sliding towards death and on many nights he hardly showed up at all.  But this doesn’t mean that the shows necessarily stunk, just that Jerry’s contributions were usually pretty bad or, if you’re a glass half full kinda person, you could say that Jerry was not up front in the mix.  So in 1995 there are typically a ton of missed lyrics, vocals that come in half a verse late and, as is the case here, very low or non-existent Jerry guitar parts.

This leads to some interesting musical passages, like the long vamp in Terrapin Station while the band presumably waits for Jerry to remember to start singing the next part of the song.  (It’s actually not that bad.)  Or the jam at the end of The Music Never Stopped that features Vince on keyboards for a couple of minutes and Jerry on guitar for about 30 seconds.  Again, it doesn’t sound terrible, just not “right”.

But because Jerry is not doing a lot, we’re able to hear the other band members do their thing, which can be great at times.  For instance, Walkin’ Blues is a good-natured romp and Looks Like Rain is also well-played.  The Shakedown Street that opens the 2nd set, again with Jerry miscues throughout, has some really cool jamming between Phil and Bob and Drums / Space takes some interesting twists and turns.  (Seriously, if you’re willing to sit through them, the 1995 versions of Drums / Space can be very neat little mini-shows.)

So it’s not all bad here in 1995.  Take a listen and see for yourself.  Here’s a link to a pretty good audience tape that does have some moving microphone issues at the start of both sets:  https://archive.org/details/gd1995-05-29.fob.schoeps.unknown.larson.34270.flac16