Jerry’s last concert on his birthday a couple days before he died was at Ventura Fairgrounds with the Jerry Garcia Band. I cannot find a set list because I believe the money making mythos created around Soldier Field. What gives?

But this is a very good show by '94-'95 standards. If you spend all day listening to Bear's Choice, Live/Dead, or any DP '73, then come to this show, you will be disappointed. As with any Grateful Dead show from any year: some are good, some are great, some are absolutely incredible.

Vince was the man.

I would rather hear Donna than Vince.
We referred to Vince as 'Wince', need I say more.
Been on the bus since '73 and i'm trying hard to appreciate their '90s sound. The history of the GD is that they were constantly evolving, morphing and changing every tour till the bitter end
I saw eyes when it debuted and sadly, i'm listening to the last time it was preformed. Quiet down there, wince.

This show contains the final live performances ever played by the band of:
Mississippi Half Step (7/6/95)
Brown Eyed Woman (7/6/95)
Cassidy (7/6/95)
Eyes of the World (7/6/95)
Truckin (7/6/95)
Heâs Gone (7/6/95)
Stella Blue (7/6/95)
Liberty (7/6/95)


The final 5 shows are really unique listening to when you know what’s coming. There’s some real soul being conveyed even amidst what many fans consider Garcia’s weaker moments performing. He still had it all the way till the end if you ask me, sure he was always ever changing. But that’s life, the only constant is change itself. Listening to Liberty today on the 76th anniversary of Jerry’s Bday (the night of Aug 1st) and what our country looks like today in 2018, it’s music like this that really soothes and feeds the soul, body and mind.

I get really into the minutiae of the stats and the first performance / last played / final performance type stuff. I like knowing when songs took long breaks and then returned or were played once or twice but never again etc. And with this music and this database there’s a whole galaxy of that stuff with The Grateful Dead. I’m grateful to be able to take these musical journeys and do a little sonic time traveling and sociological sub-cultural contextual archaeology. Not to mention all the face melting mind blowing psychedelia and the infinite myriad of styles, textures, approaches and sounds that the boys embodied and exhibited and explored within and without through the decades. And the music continues to live on, with all of us!

Let’s be real creatures of change and embody the freedom and liberty that the music and be community symbolizes and let it shine on those who are unfortunate enough not to be as groovy as you, turn on your lovelight my American (and Global) Beauties, let it shine let it shine let it shine.

NFA (~);} 2404

one of the last great jerry moments.i was there.

Why do folks feel the need to downplay these late shows? Considering the Boys had been on the Road for 30 years plus, and Jerry was a bit of a mess and needed a break, this is a great show.

no real standouts as far a tunes go, just a fun show from the Good Ol'Grateful Dead.

GOd bless the GD, the Archive and all that sails her.

Peace:Skippy

Let the record show that I called Big Boss Man whilst walking into the venue, based upon Big RxR Blues played a few shows back, and the fact that a bunch of degenerate hippies were injured falling from a collapsed balcony at the big campsite West of the venue. 2 points for me!Cassidy ok, rest not so ok. Never a fan of this venue either.

It would appear from the song labeling that the encore "Liberty" is missing. It's actually not. "Drums" is what is actually missing; so the info file stating that "He's Gone" transitions into "Drums" is wrong. "He's Gone" makes a flying leap into "Space". And so... "Space" is labeled as "Drums". "The Last Time" is labeled as "Space". "Stella Blue" is labeled as "The Last Time". "Around And Around" is labeled as "Stella Blue". And the encore "Liberty" is labeled as "Around And Around".

This was my final Grateful Dead show and I would appreciate a better (and complete!) version of it -- either a good SBD or a crispy AUD. My email is subject to change soon, so email me at my mother's email (p.l.young@verizon.net) and in the Subject line just state something like "This is for your son, Fred Wagner". That way she won't discard it like spam. Thanks for any leads!

BTW, I've already emailed the person who did the transfer on this show (and assumably the uploading) and let him know about the discrepancies in song labeling and the missing "Drums". Hopefully he'll correct it for future downloaders.

I only gave this show 1 star because of the discrepancies. The sound quality rates higher than that. Peace.

The jam into He's Gone...well done for summer 95 show. Worth the D/L alone. Unbroken Chain was a little broken, but we can't win them all.

not very exciting. To trannyman, while I agree with a ton of your reviews and I do feel 90 and 91 are way under appreciated I have to disagree when you say that the band was more creative in 95 than other years. Sorry but 40 minute first sets, 30 minute drums and space and some pretty lame covers of take me To the river, Good morning little schoolgirl and mathilda aren't all that special. While I was 50/50 on the new tunes I really think they were overplayed night in and night out meaning the band was in a big time rut. Breaking out visions was nice but a day late and a dollar short.

as for this gig...nothing that great and another cassidy first set closer which used to irk me to death

remembering jerry, thats what we do, the rest of the band is really picking them up. A bunch of folks fell thr a roof at a motel that day also.

I don't know what it is, but I can find something enjoyable about every single show, not true about 1993 or 1994. Could be the fact that, in hindsight, we know what is coming, a sense of things winding down. Every 1995 show has something interesting and fun and this is no exception. Possibly I just enjoy 'dark vibes'? I've been on a '95 kick recently and have not been disappointed, with the possible exception of Portland on 05-28. I can recommend this one though! And think about it...the final 'Eyes'? That has some pretty far out implications, doesn't it? Something so timeless, something you thought would just go on and on (and it does through the tapes) but, I don't know, it's just weird.

Hey,

The folks can say what they want about the 90's being bad or all of the new tunes being lame.

To me, that's just a deadhead who's ears have hit the wall though. The band was perhaps more expansive and creative in the 90's than anything from the second half of the 80's easily. I'm guessing Mr. Lesh, Mr. Wier and Co. would not agree with much the late era naysayers think. Much less Garcia, who was at his most expansive and soulful right to the last show.

Went to these shows along with Deer Creek and Chicago and honestly other than being at the Dead and having fun with friends and seeing Jerry etc. It was pretty lame. I really enjoyed certain parts to all these shows like Big Boss Man, I was really grooving and Dire Wolf in Deer Creek, So Many Roads in Chicago and some other stuff but not to much more. I got the feeling Jerry and the band were'nt having that much fun any-more especially with the huge areans and stadiums that took out the intamacy. The crowd was more full non-Dead fans more or less parking lot partiers. You know Metallica and Slayer fans looking to score acid and then saying lets check out this Dead Head crap. In my opinion this is what it ended up being like. After Brent Died It never was the same or anywhere near. I went to the first Vince show with friends and we were like I hope that's just a fill in. Some of 91 was hot and Bruce was fun but the rest I felt like one of those weekend warriors catching the Dead when they came close. The last far trip was Philly Spectrum on my birthday in 1990 (9-11-90) believe it or not and I said no more. 90-95 was pretty wack with exception of inspired moments.
Most of those new songs were so bad like Long Way,Easy Answers,Corina and Samba my God. Although I love So Many Roads and Days Between was pretty good.

Despite the "interesting" song selection of the 1st set, the 2nd set is very nice sounding and performed. Hey, it's the LAST "eyes" ever!!!! You can hear Jer singin' his heart out during "Stella". Worth getting for sure.

CEvans

Not the best show of 95, but not the worst, which may or may not be saying much. Of primary interest is the excellence of this recording, some interesting musical moments with Take Me To the River, Big Boss Man, Unbroken. A VERY long, kind of dull Eyes, probably more than anything illustrates Jerry's decline. Overall, the audience probably felt happy after this one as it's pretty solid, overall better than the final two shows in Chicago. Download it for the memories and the nostalgia of that one last summer. Then go see The Dead this summer and enjoy the moment!