Help On The Way->Slipknot!->Franklin's Tower, Little Red Rooster, Lazy River Road, Black Throated Wind*, If The Shoe Fits, Tennessee Jed, Promised Land Here Comes Sunshine, Samson & Delilah, Samba In The Rain, Eyes Of The World-> Drums-> Jam-> All Along The Watchtower-> The Days Between-> Sugar Magnolia,, E: Liberty
Reviewer:
grateful phishmon
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favoritefavoritefavorite -
November 5, 2023
Subject:
Enjoyable listen, but ...
They really should have started the show with Promised Land, then maybe Tennessee Jed, then ended the second set with Help>Slip>Franklin's. They used the triad to get themselves going, resulting in a sloppy performance, though Slipknot! had its moments. They were much more energized for the rest of the set, Little Red Rooster, Lazy River Road, Tennessee Jed, all were very strong.
HCS is a pretty solid and longish 90's version. S&D seems a little disjointed though, perhaps it goes
9:30 (rest of the track time is dead air) because Jerry's struggling to find something to play. Samba's even worse -- he starts out well but soon falls way out of sync, unable to stay with the jazz chords. Eyes is really slow; it hits the familiar spot but it's nothing to write home about. The most sonically interesting part of the show comes during the percussion/space part, when Mickey does some low vibrations on the Beam that remind me of Pink Floyd's "On the Run" from DSOTM. Ultimately, though space goes on interminably long. Finally the energy picks up on Watchtower, leading to the strongest song of the night by far, a tour de force performance of The Days Between. Jerry comes alive for this ballad featuring some of Hunter's most evocative poetry. Sugar Magnolia builds great energy, but Bob's guitar is way out of tune, which becomes obtrusive when he puts on the MIDI. Liberty is just a song, nothing more.
Three stars grading on a curve.
Reviewer:
mcgrupp216
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November 1, 2020
Subject:
Thirty-Second Days Between
32/41: Eyes (14:21) -> Drumz (28:49) -> Watchtower (6:58) -> Days Between (13:15) -> Sugar Magnolia.
It's possible Trey and his bandmates went to this one. At Shoreline 9/30/95, in a tribute to the recently departed Garcia, he said this: "This was the last place that personally, myself and I know two other guys in the band saw Jerry alive." Anastasio added: "We thought this would be a good opportunity to play one of his favorite songs and I know he's up there listening. So, this is for you Jerry." Phish then covered Bill Monroe's "I'm Blue, I'm Lonesome."
Trying to place that show, I notice that Phish wrapped up Su93 with shows on 8/26/93 in Portland and on 8/28 in Berkeley. In between, on 8/27, GD played Shoreline. Perhaps that's the referenced show. But in a more recent interview Anastasio remarked that after starting Phish in '83 he hadn't seen the dead again until '94 in San Fran. So who knows, perhaps he's misremembering things twenty-five some odd years later. I don't blame him. At any rate, Fa94 Phish tour ended 12/10 in Santa Monica and GD played Oakland - of course not SF, but close enough - on 12/11 and 12/12. So, again, who knows? Either way, August '93 or December '94 is certainly not Hartford '83 (See Dick's 6), when we know he saw them play - likening it (in conversation with Bob Weir) to "getting hit in the head with a baseball bat."
At any rate, sure. This is not that. This is a whole other beast from what probably was the last time he regularly saw the dead, during his high school days in the early-mid 80s. But despite being uneven, fall '94 and even this - surprising to me - winter '94 run of shows - is better than expected. Every version of Drumz is excellent, the best of their careers, imo, and Days Between is always mesmerizing and harrowing. I'm also a really big fan of a lot (though not all) of their new batch of songs.
*This version of Days was featured on Ready or Not (2019) as it's final, closing track.
Reviewer:
kbmill
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September 12, 2019
Subject:
bread crumb
I sang a little while and then flew on.
Reviewer:
PFflyerkid
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
April 20, 2019
Subject:
On Promise Of The Glow
Bobby ripping razor lazers... Billy & Mickey wielding baseball bats and filling canyon size gaps.
Jerry... plaintive and evocative with Hunters final chapter reading; all fueled up for two furious, guttural, dirty guitar solos that drench us with his spirit for the storybook ending.
Reviewer:
DJJazzZD
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
July 27, 2015
Subject:
Days Between
I'll say this is the one.
The jam is full of fury.
I was at both this and 8/22/93 Eugene ( my 100th )
Sung damn near perfectly too.
Really is no debate in my book.
Reviewer:
erik65
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
December 11, 2011
Subject:
Recording Quality
Excellent.
Show: Jerry had a bad night in terms of remembering and enunciating the words. Help->Slip disjointed musically also. A beautifully sung Days Between bucked the trend toward missing lyrics. The rest of the band also compensates for the vocal stumblings and pulls it off, creating a listenable performance.
Reviewer:
blakester1957
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
February 28, 2011
Subject:
12/11/94
The biggest bummer about this tape, which is the only copy I've ever heard, is that it lacks the big space jam before the Help on the Way opener. It wasn't very long but had the place hotin & hollerin & goin crazy as they slipped into the song...Jerry immediately started forgeting the words & by the time Rooster rolled around all the initial hope for a mega show had disipated... For a few minutes tho, expectations were thru the roof and the energy was rippin...
Reviewer:
BIG_R
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favoritefavoritefavorite -
March 6, 2010
Subject:
12-11-94
For '94 this is pretty good. The recording is good. I agree with sydthecat2. I don't like the MIDI on Sugar Magnolia either. I'm an accomplished guitarist and I like a guitar to sound like a guitar. I do like it when Jerry made his electric sound somewhat acoustic though.
Reviewer:
JoeShoe
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May 27, 2009
Subject:
Best Days Between.
I sat outside of this show and the next night was my only show inside the Coliseum. Since I wasnt at this show and havent listened to any of it besides the Days Between, I'm just gonna chime in on the best Days Between debate.
I see 8-22-93 listed alot. While it's up there, it's not nearly as well developed as these winter 94 versions. The between verse jam isn't even there and the final jam is embryonic compared to the sonic explorations in the best 94 readings.
I was at 6-22-93, and in addition to being underdeveloped jamwise like the Eugene one, Jerry also butchers the last verse badly.
This one, 12-11-94, is close but no cigar IMO.
The absolute best for my money is 12-19-94 LA Sports Arena. Just give the SBD on here a listen and tell me I'm wrong. Jerry nails every note and lyric with gusto, absolute perfection. They had teleprompters so remembering the lyrics was not an issue, Jerry was free to craft a musical masterpiece. And he does that and then some. One of the all time most powerful and emotional moments in the history of the Grateful Dead IMHO. As Phil said "achingly nostalgic"
Reviewer:
verylazylightning
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
May 31, 2008
Subject:
Hey, Ignore The Doomsayers ;-)
Sorry 'bout the strongly-worded title up there,
but I want to make sure heads don't ignore this show due to the bad publicity.
I won't offer a blow-for-blow rebuttal of the
the previous reviews, but only state emphatically
that little evidence exists for the view that
the boys are putting in a poor performace ( given
the period).
I'd the Help-Slip-Franklin's definitely turns on
the power and charm, as does the Sunshine and Eyes. I'd agree wholeheartedly with the consensus
on Days Between.
There is lots of artsy, agile Jerry fingerwork
subtly introjected between the lengthier passages;
a sure sign he's playful and feeling his oats.
Listen and enjoy!
Reviewer:
sydthecat2
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favoritefavoritefavorite -
May 31, 2008
Subject:
Full of surprises
This is a show where Jerry, as imperfect as he is, is let down by his band. His playing on Sugar Mag is tasty but the band are on autopilot. I never liked the MIDI Bob used on this song starting around '91. It sounded terrible. What the hell was he thinking? Sugar Mag is a guitar song and phony sounding brass effect that consistently went out of tune is super lame here. Once again, during the climactic jam, Bobby's guitar goes out of tune, made worse by the rotten sounding MIDI horns. I mean how would you like to be playing lead over that? Pass the smack pipe.
The Days Between is a real barn burner even though he hits some bum notes. One of my favorites.
Jed, Promised Land, Rooster (!), and Watchtower are exceptional for this period. Again, in Watchtower, it's the band who are lame. Jerry's actually not too bad.
And the Days is a keeper! Get it for the Days if you can.
Reviewer:
OldSchoolJersey
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favoritefavoritefavorite -
February 5, 2008
Subject:
Not Half Bad
So here I am listening to this show 14 years after seeing it (from behind the stage -- like Factman).
I disagree regarding Help>Slip...Bobby's chopping distorted wood throughout...in fact I was a big fan of Bobby's sound in 94 & 95...very distorted, very loud, right out in front. He had to carry the rhythm section with that type of sound since Jerry was so lost (see any rendition of Take Me To The River or Scarlet in 94/95 for multiple examples of this).
The Days between I remember at the time commenting to my friend on as being quite good. Listening these years later, 'tis true. An excellent, near flawless version. All in all not a stellar show, but for the time one of the better ones.
Later
Reviewer:
MCSZ
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favoritefavorite -
December 21, 2005
Subject:
2 Stars
Reviewer:
factman
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favoritefavoritefavorite -
March 14, 2005
Subject:
last two reviews fairly close to mark
Both Stratocaster and Timblor make strong points about this show. The Days Between IS maybe one of the best. It took me a long time to appreciate this song; having seen this show, I remember Jerry digging in and going at it on his solo and how strongly the crowd reacted to it. By that point in time I had grown very fond of behind-the-stage seating and the lack of crowdedness that came with it. I have as close to a vivid memory as can be of the bulk of the audience near the stage growing more and more excited as Jerry's solo moved into epic length. I was listening to the Sugar Mag from this show a few days ago and marveled at how out of tune either Garcia or Weir OR BOTH of them were throughout the bulk of the song. Completely contradicted my memory of the quality of the song (I had thought it was pretty strong). Timblor may be right about the Help>Slip>Franklin's, but there's no way in the objective world that it could be worse than 6-23-92's version of the triad. The thing about that show, tons of people I've talked to over the years think that was some great version. I know there were good drugs at that show, but come on!
This show is a good example of Jerry actually trying to overcome whatever was creating his ineptitude. In fact, the whole Oakland run was sort of a microcosm for the year.
I wrote a review of the run for Unbroken Chain magazine, and having listened to that Sugar Mag, I'm really starting to think my reviewer's eyeglasses were entirely too rose-colored. There's a freaky picture of Jerry at this show in either Deadbase 8 or 9 where his eyes are pointed in opposite directions from each other (reverse cross-eyed).
Overall, this show is worth having for the Days Between and there's a handful of other selections from it that are worth a listen. If it sounded as good as some other '94 SBDs I'd rate it a 4, but only compared to other '94 shows. My opinion may change when I get around to DLing the whole thing in the next week or two.
Reviewer:
stratocaster
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favoritefavoritefavorite -
March 14, 2005
Subject:
Days Between
Probably the best version of Days Between out there...Jerry really stokes the fire on this one and he even gets most all of the lyrics right. He really goes off on the outro jam that ignites and climaxes with some Jerry scrubbing...
other "best of" versions of Days Between include 06/22/1993, 08/22/1993 and 05/21/1995...
Reviewer:
timblor
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favoritefavorite -
December 20, 2004
Subject:
Sloppy
In contrast to the previous two shows of this run, I think this show is poor. The "Help on the Way>Slipknot" is one of the worst I heard and it is not just Jerry (who was starting to really fall apart)who fails on this version. The entire band seems to be out of it, missing cues and not playing cohesively. The rest of the show is adequate and pedestrian. Weirdly enough, "Samba in the Rain" might be the strongest second set song. "Eyes of the World" is interesting, being driven by the percussionists. Not the best version, but I really like the sound.
Reviewer:
TheDead6595
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
December 10, 2004
Subject:
I Like It.
Vince has always gotten a bad rap.
In fact, towards the end, he really had confidence and was coming into his own. This
show is a great example of it. The music slaps
you in the face at the start and doesn't let up.
There are very few times I have heard the band
this tight. Download it. I did.