Grateful Dead

Followed by Bill Evans Box: Everybody Still Digs Bill Evans

Usually wait until I’m finished with the tour to compare, but since y’all been having a nice convo…
Knew nothing of early 95 going in. Hadn’t even hit the Boxilla show.
Have heard plenty of negative hype, but one thing I’ve learned chasing all these shows is usually, nothing is as good or bad as the hype declares…
So mostly, been pleasantly surprised, until Omni shows, where unfortunately the weird, glitch like inconsistency’s have started to be a regular phenomenon.
We only saw the cool Pittsburgh “rain” show, and the last 2 in chi town.
Same phenomenon, only more pronounced and often, but same reactive feelings: WTF? Like how could he do a pretty fine job here on the 30 of Visions, then be so bad on LSD? Just one example, but with no viewing, listening only, it’s so weird, one minute he’s fully there, five minutes later he’s not, sad….still breaks my heart : (
But besides a couple good vocal flubs during one of the Oakland or Philly shows, (sorry, forgot to note them?) not much out of the ordinary percentage wise, as far as blunders. On the other hand, been lots of well played and even big moments on the tour so far. The first Salt Lakes were decent, followed by a very enjoyable show that David used for Boxilla, including a nice Visions of Johanna, first one since the two in 86. By some weird cosmic swirl we were fortunate to have witnessed the first on 3/19/86 and the last one on 7/8/9.
But lots of other highlights, and overall I’d say good batting average.
Standouts so far, have been 2/21, 3/18, and the very fine outing on 3/23!
Also enjoyed were the first nights from Oakland, Philly, and Charlotte. The rest, decent, but…
But by Atlanta, things have clearly changed. Again, not as horrible or phenomenal as some reviews out there, but the WTF? to well played ratio is most definitely going south…I could list more examples of both, but I think ya get the drift, and folks need to listen and form their own thoughts…
Promising to hear there’s still some positive vibes to be had, (thanks for recommendations guys) so, if I don’t get JD 🤞mañana, we’ll be off to the Mid!
Onward!

5 26 95

Check it out

This run has some nice moments. The Alabama to open 3/19 has a pretty fired up Garcia, he even throws in a Alabama!!!! after one of the verses

From what i've heard of these shows I agree, pretty solid

I was there, and got an Unbroken Chain.
Also got a Take Me To The River, as we were on the banks of the Mississippi.

Jerry throws in an extra “but I try” on Crazy Fingers.

I’ve listened to the recordings many times. Probably biased because I was there, but I think that they are good shows for the era.

I lucky to be in the Spectrum when the boys broke out Unbroken Chain. A truly incredible moment. With that being said, during Crazy Fingers I thought Jerry might just fall directly through his mic and off the stage. Very strange/scary feeling. Its funny though, i"ve listen to that show and the Crazy Fingers is not as bad as I seem to remember, funny how that works.

Another amazing thing is the Visions Of Johanna from the night before is a stone-cold classic performance by the big guy!

Rock on gang

In the thaaa a tarr
Watching the In Memory of Dickie Betts
Good Sheet Mon!
Nice tribute, good set list, stellar lineup: Warren, Dereck, Oteil et el
Sweet Pony Boy with D and Susan, oh, and Chuck L all over the place!
Yeah, if ya like the Bros, check it our!

3/29/95
Subtle, but I believe this run may be the beginning of the end : (
Things were pretty well until..now the weird inconsistencies are creeping in.
Definitely some good stuff, but to hear him after that sweet show with Bruce, to …sad.

That’s what’s currently loaded in my car stereo.

Cool story:
My uncle was part of the crew that built the stage and helped unload the Dead's gear that day - and for other bands over '73-'74, (which I'm pretty sure included the Allman Brothers) ... I thought perhaps he was the tall guy with dark hair and mini pony tail just to the left of the dude wearing the top hat in the first pic within the HCS box booklet (he's tall and wore his hair kind of like that, etc) ...

But he tells me that instead, he was able to watch the 5.13 show from the side of the stage that day (!) and did the same set up gig for the epic 6.16.74 WoS show at the same location (!!)