DF 6: 7/31/94

7/31/94 - The Palace - Auburn Hills, MI

This is obviously a late-Dead show, so take it with a grain of salt, and remember that 1994-95 shows just don't consistently hold up on tape as the earlier ones do. That said, I have a bit of a confession: I didn't listen to scads of 1994 shows to pick this week's DF. Instead, I went on a hunch. This show is one of those that I could have gone to but didn't, and of course later regretted. Everyone I know who went had a blast. Not much was said of the quality of the performance, hence the hunch. So I checked it out, and what do you know, it's a pretty cool show.

It's also worth mentioning that parts of this show were played a few weeks later on Gans' Grateful Dead Hour radio program, pretty high praise for a show so late in the canon. But on to the particulars...

The opening "Touch of Grey" is great. A few togetherness issues toward the beginning don't hamper things, and Jerry nails a nice extended between-the-verses solo. The man may have been in failing health, and his singing voice certainly wasn't what it once was, but he could still sing through that guitar of his. This is continued in a perfectly-executed "Greatest Story Ever Told," where Bobby shines vocally and Jerry's wah-wah is in great form, delivering a wonderful showing of the tune.

"Row Jimmy" is perhaps a bit of a let-down after the opening one-two punch of Touch > GSET, but it's a pretty version, very listenable, and no real flaws in it. "Spoonful" is a nice treat. The song was in rotation for around 13 years, but only played around 50 times. For audiences who had heard Bobby's other blues tunes a few too many times (Walkin Blues and Red Rooster), "Spoonful" was a nice respite. This version proves to be a good one after too long, thanks to some really nice tightness from the band and a nice little mid-song solo from Jerry, helped by the others.

Wait -- "Me and My Uncle" sounds like it's going into "Mexicali Blues," but instead Bobby starts singing the words to "Big River." Intentional? Not sure, but it seems to mess the band up for a second, but they recover nicely. In any case, it's a nice little tease, and a great version of "Big River." The rest of the set concludes with a groovy "Loose Lucy" and a "Midnight Hour" that starts a little shaky, but gets its legs and sounds like it brought the house down.

"Samon and Delilah" starts the second set, and the recording apparently started a few seconds into the tune, so we miss the first bit. The song starts off a little sluggishly and even though it gets a little better, it remains a fairly unremarkable version. Why they chose to go to "Way to Go Home" next is beyond me, as it doesn't do a whole lot for the set's energy. The drummers sound a bit lost at times, Jerry's solo meanders, and Vince's piano work is well, uninteresting. At least he puts some effort into his vocals here. Enough! Let's move on.

"New Speeday Boogie," one of Garcia/Hunter's all-time great compositions, picks things up a bit. The interplay between the two guitars sounds really nice after the first verse/chorus. Without warning, the song segues very nicely into "Truckin'", and now things finally get cooking. A nice decent-length jam leads into "He's Gone," a very tender version with some nice vocals from Jerry. Phil is very prominent in the mix, and he and Jerry have some nice interplay here. Bobby's guitar has, for some reason, come down in the mix a little since "New Speedway", which is too bad, because just before Jerry's main solo in "He's Gone", you can hear Bobby doing some really interesting things. The solo Jerry pulls off, for what it's worth, is top-notch.

"He's Gone" descends into a very cool "Nothin's gonna bring him back" vocal jam, which turns into an impromptu jam between the instruments. It's a little on the sloppy and wandering side, but certainly holds your interest. It evolves into Drums, a shorter segment than normal, but then Space clocks in at just over 18 minutes, a pretty long version. If Space is your thing, you won't be disappointed. Some pretty cool left ear/right ear back-and-forth stuff happens, and the piece has a whole has a satisfying eerieness about it that makes the best Spaces enjoyable.

The true Space jam leads into an AWESOME Spanish Jam MIDI-fest. Very nice exploration here, particularly by Jerry, and Vince lends a nice piano to the goings-on. "Last Time" is great, with Bobby going nuts vocally, and a nice round of cymbals allows Jerry to start "Black Peter," my favorite song from Workingman's Dead. Jerry's weary voice almost suits this song better than it did back when it was written and first recorded. Vince's keys are very nice on the tune, giving it its slow honky-tonk feel. Bobby sure loved him some covers this night. Of the 9 Weir-led songs, seven are covers. Truckin' and GSET are his only originals. And here he is again, pulling out his second cover of the post-Space segment. "Good Lovin" is one of those tunes that I think come off better in person than hearing on tape (except for Pig's versions, naturally). "The Weight" encores nicely, but I always thought this one dragged a bit when they played it.

This isn't an essential show, by any means, but it is certainly representative of good ol' Grateful Dead toward the end of the band's career. Get it if you like that sort of thing, but Truckin > He's Gone > Drums > Space > Spanish Jam > Last Time > Black Peter make it worth at least a partial download.

For next time, I'm going back to Brent. The lineup with him from late '79 through '90 is my favorite GD lineup, even though most of their best music was from the seventies. I've been listening to a fair amount of '89 recently, even though I already have a DF '89 show, so it could come from that year, but don't be surprised if I hit the mid-80s, too. I also have my eyes on a few shows from 1981.

If this is your first time to my site (and even if it's not), feel free to leave show suggestions in the comments suggestion. No promise I'll use them, but with so many shows out there to hit, it's always nice to have a few more sources. I do have a few rules, though.