I was not at this show but was at Atlanta/Greensboro and Cincinnati/Louisville. I was vending something in Cincy that I don't remember, but I do remember people who were at Ann Arbor were very happy with these shows to the point I was sad that C/L wouldn't live up to the weekend hype. Those were decent shows but AA shows are rippers. Great Terrapin here. Please ignore the usual d-bags below who are dissing this show.

Did not not jump on the bus till 1990 but catching up with all the great shows like this one. Great Healy mix , song selection and I always loved "The Mighty Quinn" encore!
Wish I could have rode the bus longer but grateful for the time I had with Jerry and the boys. giving 5 stars i really enjoyed listening to this show.

The shows were excellant and there almost no doors taking tickests. Lets get real a tough ticket the doors were open no one was taking tickets and several friends dogs were inside lets not write just to write something REFRAIN yourselfs
Smiley dave

20 years ago today! It was such a great show and scene! Kind burritos, sroom soup, vendors of everything! 5 Blues sond in one show? It was ann arbor and Michigan had won the NCAA tourny.
-M GO BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall: great sounding recording (where's the friggin Healey mix for the Pitt shows???). Pretty good show, but not spectacular and not near the top for this tour.

The scene: as others have said, after Pitt this was refreshing. I remember hearing that possession was only a ticket in Ann Arbor (like a parking ticket you can just mail in).

The music: I really like this first set. Of course, the US Blues was a surprise. At the time, I thought it was just Jerry being funny with a tit-for-tat with all the "Blues" songs in the set (he and Bobby each did two). I still think that was probably the reasoning behind it. The second set is decent, but of course, not great. The China Doll is nicely played with a good long Jerry solo, but his voice sounds pretty beat up.

Yes it's true, after Pitt. it was nice to get to a friendlier place. I wasn't used to seeing cops beating deadhead GIRLS with clubs. F'd up to say the least. Tickets were easy to get and the mood was up for Ann Arbor! I think the show was great...I was inside.

This was a decent show, but not like Hill Auditorium. Terrapin --> Drumz was memorable. I have to say, the week in A2 was even better. April 1 was Hash Bash (enough said), and then Michigan basketball team won the national championship. And two nights of the GD. A good time was had by all.

Here's a story that isn't quite right. This was my first Dead concert. As a matter of fact, I had never even heard of the Grateful Dead before this day. A friend of mine gave me a ticket and we listened to Skeletons From The Closet (certainly not one of the best Grateful Dead albums) on the way down to the show. Needless to say, by the time the concert started I was not exactly in a coherent state of mind. I spent most of the first set wandering around in disbelief at how different this concert was in comparison to any other I had ever been to. I watched people twirling around to the music in the pavilion and stood by in utter confusion. When the music stopped, I strolled aimlessly out into the parking lot and manged to find my car, which I was in no condition to drive. I sat there for a few minutes wondering why no one else was leaving the arena. Hmmmm? This is odd. Where is everyone? So, I went back to the door of concert venue and had to convince a doorman that I was not aware that there was a second set. Duh!!! Luckily, I held on to my ticket stub and the kind gentleman let me back into the building. Boy was that embarrasing. Anyway, I finally caught up with a few friends and we sat together enjoying the band and their music. Thank God I actually got to see them playing the music for a little while. This is what I guess many would refer to as the beginning of a long strange trip!!! It must have really had an effect on me because I ended up traveling to see the band several times over the course of their remaining years together (beofre Jerry passed away..God rest his soul). Thanks to my friend for leading me down this wonderfully strange journey through psychedelic rock music. Since I don't remember much else about the show, I will refrain from rating the concert. Only my personal account remains in memory, but oh what a memory it is!!!!!

1st Set: Appropriately, the band kicks off with "Stranger." Hey, when's the last time they've spent more than one night in Michigan, much less two in Ann Arbor? The action picks up after the structure as Jerry unloads his wah-wah's. "Franklin's" is even more compelling...a strong, sturdy blissful 8 minute jaunt through one of the Dead's enduring songs. After a minute of anticipation, a side excursion to "Minglewood" is deemed necessary...Hmmm, I wonder what seperates a 'Wolverine Woman' from the ordinary lass. Shoulder shrugging solo from Brent..."Candyman" is evocatively rendered with some lovely touching lines. Tug on those existential melancholies with a good enough "Memphis." "Far From Me" is ehhh...decent for 'FFM' ehhh... "Stagger" picks up the pace a little by prodding its listener with the delights and downfalls of allowing your nose to always trail the scent of (a cat...he he he) "Let" slides with Phil keenly anchoring the ruminations. The nuances are there, but Jerry's not electrifying. He sure is showing up on time though... good work overall. Whoa!! who would have thunk a "US Blues" to follow? It's not really a blockbuster but simply a minor pleasure.

2nd Set: 134 seconds of tuning, and what appears to be a "Finiculi" minor tease halfway through...Well "Samson" is certainly a different path than I expected...only Phil is keeping up with Jerry by the end of the fifth minute. Keep those dancing shoes fitted to your feet as we visit the mines of "Cumberland." Oopsy, Bobby... don't come in too early. Good times all around. Oh, sure...pull out a "Woman Smarter" bullshit when I'm currently thinking the opposite is true. Then again, I don't think I want a long-term relationship so I should just forgo any aspirations of love and just f--k. Innocuous but tightstuff here thereby making the crowd's connection to one another that much easier to achieve. Yes, we all smelled the "Terrapin" from round the corner. It follows the bulletpoints quite well without stomping its remants on your mind. "Drums" is standard whereas the stars unbathe themselves in the second minute of "Space." From there, one particular stretches and contorts itself into oblivion, just like "China" has rendered herself incapacitated. A fine drawn out seven minute version commences featuring that Victorian harpsichord insinuating inner turmoil. "Throwing" puts us back on a purposeful bent though arosuing our ears even if Bobby's upper range has been cut leaving only his lower registers to vocalize. It's good enough, but not an all-time. "NFA" well-positions the side to side shake but nothing out of the ordinary..

"Quinn" ends the show on a cheerful note.

3 1/4 stars

4 star performance, 4 star sound

US Blues 1st set closer is a nice treat!

Coming out of the Pitt shows we were ready for some good times, Ann Arbor just won the NCAA & many folks were partying very hard. The venue was very nice & small & the main floor was only 20 rows.Phil was playing his new bass which looked very cool. We had stage left middle of the mess. The first set was tight & we were so surprized when jerry went into US BLUES to close the first set. the Second set samson opener was nice & strong I think they didn't sing the first verses & then came in late or something like that. The China doll was very hard to see & rare for the tour. They weren't doing it often at that time. We enjoyed the large bathrooms which were like warehouses compared to much larger venues with supper small bathrooms. The folks at the door were very nice which was a change from the two shows right before in Pitt where the Police were beating heads & arresting you for smiling on a cloudy day...Love the Crisler

Nice Stranger and Cumberland love Jerry's lead break in almost any of them. 1989 was my second year to go to Dead shows but, most attended in one year lots of spring and summer. (Meca was the bomb)good choices made my senior year in HIGH school b

SET 2 Sampson>Cumberland!!! SICK
Ann Arbor an amazing venue!!! 4Stars in my book!

If it were not for the US Blues suprise, 2nd set Cumberland, this show would be a snore after the Stranger > Franklin's was over. Still, the sound is excellent and there are good clean 89 versions of most of the songs listed here. No intense jamming at all...

Sound = 4 stars, Setlist = 2.75 stars, Performance = 3.5 stars...3.42 overall...

Have they ever played this many "BLUES"
songs in one show?
5 in all.
Left out were Walkin BLUES&Big R/R BLUES

Well played and fun show but kind of on the short side, especially the 2nd set. Good Stranger>Franklins to start things off and a nice little surprise after the Let It Grow with a set ending US Blues. 2nd set gives us a standard list for the era but no real jamming at all.

Oh man, in one week, a National Championship in Basketball, hash bash and 2 Dead Shows on campus. All I know, is college is good... When my mail order tickets came and saw I had row 1, seat 1 for this concert I still had no clue how these folks would blow my mind. Thanks for this site!