First set is casual and carefree and song selection is great. They turn it up a notch and play one of the best second sets of the new post Hornsby era. Great Terrapin thru end of set capped by boisterous OMSN.

A decent show , well played , IMHO the best show of the weekend was Sunday .... but that's just me . Also thought that the '91 shows were better as they were in April instead of HELL

I had two extra Friday night tickets,on Saturday,for some reason and no Sat. night ticket. Wondering around near the gate wondering what to do, I saw the most beautiful dread-locked young female I had ever seen, holding up one finger and wearing a patch-work dress with a petticoat. I asked her if she wanted to try and walk in with my two, whole Fri. night tickets and she agreed. We walked up to the gates with hope in our hearts and love on my mind. We held hands as we approached the ticket checker. It was a young looking female checking tickets and we looked desperately into her eyes and begged "please." She just looked at us and tore the stubs off and handed them back! We were in!
Looking back, this was the best show I ever experienced with the Grateful Dead from '91 to '95. In a word "Magical."
First and second set reviews are numerous, but on a personal note, I fell deeply in love with this girl by the time I saw her doing the ho-down to "Cumberland Blues" and love has never left my memories for her. Her name was Alison and she was from Athens, GA. We spent the whole show together and at the end she saw some people she was traveling with and left me, never to be seen again. The music was epic, Jerry sounded strong, I got in for free and I fell in love with a girl I have never seen since that day.

This was one of my first Dead tapes my first show was 2-26-94 listening to it again is giving me the goose bumps. Miss these guys!

Just listened to this show..was there in the dust storm...got goosebumps when Terrapin started...that day was unexplainable with the weather

Magical and beautiful are the only two words that can adequately describe the Jack Straw>Sugaree opener....awestruck and speechless..kind paper also in the mix--unbelievable, The Strip had nothin on The Silver Bowl that night...Glad to hear that quite a few others were tapped into same Good Energy that wonderful day!!!There is definitely nothing like THAT GD concert that I saw after that!!!Been chasing the rainbow ever since...Peace and Much LOVE to Jerry and KIND DEAD FAMILY*******btw, please agree that big, dark ,clouds at end were only within a few feet of same size as Silver Bowl,,,amazing how Jerry "saw" that coming, being as clouds came from behind stage(he must have known Weather Report)::notice extra long opener to 'Heaven's Door'!!!!! PS never seen anything like everyone ,it was everyone, singing Miracle and Saturday Night***amazing***LOVE YOU ALL!!!

I will also agree with many others that this was a glimpse into something magical that day. This was THE show where it all came together for me personally, and sent me off in a new direction in life... Even still, the experience has profoundly affected my perspective on what we know as "reality".

"secret_agent_towlie" said it perfectly below. We all connected with some core elemental powers of the universe that day (band/audience/nature), it was so perfectly clear to me in the moment... Can't begin to describe my feelings about this, but I know a lot of people know exactly what I'm talking about. As I walked out of the stadium, some dude handed me a steal your face sticker with a pot leaf in the skull, which said "we can discover the wonders of nature". Was the perfect closing statement for an amazing afternoon in the desert.

if you were there the thunder and lightning in the desert to the drum beats awesome. after many years it was not the drugs

LIkely being there added a lot, but from this end pretty good but some equipment challenges and just not rip-roaring. The pinwheel still spun. Good ol' Grateful Dead coming through, but having to labor a bit for it.

First review sums up the show perfectly. VERY COSMIC! Changed how I viewed the world. Met a brother half way across the world about 3 years ago, we got to talkin...discovered we were both at this show. His comments were exactly the same. Here I had thought it was just a trip I had been on...turns out I wasn't the only person who discovered the magic of the universe that day!!!

I will never forget this show, the day the Dead controlled the weather. I remember watching the clouds and lightning roll across the desert and wrap around the stadium leaving a tunnel through the clouds above. The music seemed to summon and direct the weather as another player in the band. The thunder was right on cue. Probably one of the best shows I ever saw! I am so glad I found a recording of the day, listening to the show paints a smile on my face as I re-live the energy.

It recounts this day and why it was the best show I ever saw.

http://www.musicbox-online.com/dead-day.html

Happy 15th anniversary of this show!

get a job and figure it out

Thanks true Deadheads for dropping some knowledge on the Vince Haters.

You think VINCE's rig sounds like a casio/fisher price? Take a listen to any dead show from '80-87. The Cheesiest Keyboard Sound Ever. I don't mind it myself in the context of the GD, but it is what it is.

And at least we didn't have to suffer through 5+ years of super cheesy Vince original songs.

And Vinces vocals were no worse than the totally overwraught Brent and the off-key banshee wails of one DJG.

It's not like the Dead have a sterling history in the HR/Personnel dept, so lighten up and enjoy.

The Vegas '92 mixes are light on the Jerry in alot of places - but it's a kinda neat novelty to hear whats going on w/o JG out front and center in the mix.

And yeah - this AUD captures the crowd reaction during the heat lightning storm taking place in the 2nd set. Excellent vibe.

I admit it, I have been a Vince-basher. But he did get better after Hornsby left, it took him about a year, but coming into '93 he started kicking out some really good solos. Part of the problem, according to McNally's book was that when Vince was in the Tubes his job was to stay in the back and provide support for the rest of the band. In the Dead he discovered that everyone played up front, and he had to untrain a lifetime of muscle memory to do that. I think it was habit, not lack of ability, that he had to overcome. The man worked his ass off; he wasn't the best Dead keyboard player, was probably the worst, but he did his best and deserves respect for that.

Great show, slighter less popular than the Sunday gig, but a worthy download. Only problem is Vince. Listening to his weak attempts to keep up on his Fisher price keyboard makes me yearn for Hornsby and brent. A friend of mine listened in the parking lot and asked if they had a keyboard player because he couldn't hear anything. I responded, "no."

revise

100,000???? there must have been a huge rebate at best buy on that thing. Hate to bag on Vince in a lot of my reviews, but I just wish the guy at least TRIED to get better. he leveled and never progressed. That's the frustrating part.

revise again: FYI, the post terrapin jam is without JG. There was a lightning storm during this tune and I have video of jerry looking up at the sky every 5 seconds. The second terrapin ends he bolts- it's pretty funny.

revised one last time: Nanker, the next time Vince plays my local Knights of Columbus, I'll be sure to check him out.

You guys got it wrong. Vince was holding this band together. What plagued him in the 90's was the same stuff that plagued the whole band -- too much digital muckety-muck going on at the SBD. Read the Keyboard Mag interview with the man in '92. He didn't even get to pick his keyboard tones. If you want to rag on his sound, rag on Bob Bralove - who selected Vince's sounds from the SBD. He and Bobby were in charge of the digital toy crap. And because of it the SBD's from this period SUCK, the midi-guitar tones SUCK. Even the drums sections became toy-time and sample time (where was The Beast?). By the way, Hornsby SUCKED too. Finally, since 95, with the possible exception of SOME Phil & Friends lineups, Vince has been putting on the best damn post-dead shows out there. WAY better than Rat-crap, and better "The Dud" I mean, "Dead". Go see him play with Gent Treadly in NYC sometime and give the man some Respect. Jerry would be doin' the same.

From Truckin to the end of the show, this was an amazing experience. Wonderful jamming out of Terrapin. You can hear the audience and the Bill-Mickey session responding to a thunder-lightning-rainbow show that was unreal. Spanish Jam capped off a truly wild desert thunderstorm soundscape experience. Made me ponder the interaction between human psychic energy and natural phenomena. Most heartfelt Standing on the Moon of all time. Caveat - I was at this show, so I'm totally biased by the experience. Definitely think it's worth the download even if your not on a memory trip, though. I'd suggest the audience over the sbd for this show in particular.

I hate to tell you this but even though Vince sounded like he was playing a Fisher-Price keyboard, he had a rig that was worth well over $100,000....5 to 10 times more than Brent. It just goes to show you that it's not the equipment or effects, it's the player.

Follow-up.....yeah, I read in article in one of the musician magazines about his rig. Vince probably had the "cadillac" of all keyboard rigs.....it just sounded like Fisher Price :)

Fisher price is right, Oh my God. He's so not a match for the dead its unreal.
I remember seeing these 91-95 shows with my buddies and we would laugh with each other so bad at alot of these shows with his touches of bubble gum tiny bop pop casio solo's that were never there and think of how Brent could rip you to shreds with his hammond or anything he would use. In the early days Brent was experimenting with some cool,trippy bells and buzzing sounds but, it was awesome. I've seen reviews referering to this as atari or star wars sounding but it was wicked especially dosing. Prevelant in 1984(marin and alot at hult 84 shows)
Anyway I could never understand how Jerry didn't just say its enough and try again with someone else. Loyality, sticking w/ desicion no mattrer what? The answer I can come up with everything sounds sweet on Herion. But what about the rest of the band they could't of all been that numb to it.
No need to bash back, I had alot of great times all over us these years and would go tonight in hypothetical, but it cannot be argued the tubes was the best place for him. Sorry.

you know it seems like the following show (Sunday 5.31.92) gets all the pub--which isn't a total crime as it was a great setlist, finale, etc...etc...but I saw Expo-SLine-Vegas and THIS had something that very few shows ever have....X FACTOR. I remember reading in my "Official Book of the Deadheads" as a young whippersnapper, an amazing tale about Mt. Saint Helens blowing up and a GD gig in the northwest featuring Scarlet->Fire on the Mountain at precisely the same time, seemed unbelievable at the time-but after experiencing THIS X-citing proceedings, I found myself remebering that story & believing.
Fabulous first set with not-too hot temperatures, the clouds were gathering and it wasn't a question of 'if' but, "WHEN". Only a smattering of small drops during the excellent opening set--Bob brings "J.Straw" "Doodle" and "Cassidy" to the table, Jerry responds with "Sugaree" and a sublime "High Time", and cowboy tunes is a best-ever pairing of "Maggie's" & "CUMBERLAND"...all of this resulting in a jubilant version of "Don't Ease" as reasoned Headz had already put a smile & a star next to this setlist--any set closing tune would work, and this one did just that.
Set 2 is as good as the setlist suggests, and then imagine magic dust dumped all over it adding a 4th & 5th dimension of experience to all who attended. This AUD is an EXCELLENT document of the epic battle, collaborative concert performance, or mass hysteria that all took place at different times in the set. Rain got serious during "Truckin" and the gods began to chuck lightning bolts right on cue with "Smokestack Lightning". "Terrapin" was a great, great version and had a nice improvisation that led some interesting places before mickey & billy took over. At some point the thunder became ANOTHER instrument and simply began to play along. Seriously, the drummers (and then the band) would follow their groove and then seemingly right on cue- the thunder would jump in & clap a cresendo that sounded PERFECTLY in time....and no-the thunder was NOT at a soundcheck. The band was CLEARLY playing with this phenomenon and jammed purposefully out of SPACE, improvising with the input of the Thunder clearly on their radar....slipping into "Spanish Jam" seemed to enable the boys more access to this supernatural wellspring, and "Miracle" was a testament to the preceeding MAGIC BLESSING and confirmed by the Full Moon rising during "Standing on the Moon". This is when "SOTM" really began to take off emotionally as a late-show-Jer-statement, and for a guy who played shows 8 days a week for 40 years--HE certainly KNEW what a rare & special TREAT we'd been blessed with and put every drop he had into this and the following rip-roaring "One Mo'" that closed the set. "Knockin'" was a beautiful choice, even though no one was knocking...the door swung wide open an hour earlier. It was eerily silent on the way out to the lot, one of those experiences that are just way too hip for language. Wow. Amen to Al Gore & his internet----its a miracle that this aural document is here for all to explore should they choose....and I reccomend that you DO!

HELL YES!!! I knew it was awesome then, and hearing this once again 13 years later just confirms it now. The funny part was how everyone left in silence after the show that day. The first set starts really strong with Jack Straw, Sugaree and Wang Dang Doodle. In the second set when they were playing Smokestack Lightning I thought for sure someone was going to get nailed by a big bolt - a Steal Your Face logo in real time. During Standing on the Moon there was the full moon rising on one side of the stadium and a rainbow on the other. The static electricity in the air made the hair on your arm stand up during Space.... this show was amazing and I'm glad to have finally found it to listen to, not to mention it has above average audio quality. I think this show was the first time I ever really actually enjoyed OMSN even.

This audience recording of this show deserves a listen, because it conveys the crowd energy and weather phenomenon of this show better than the SBD. The fantastic post Terrapin jam all the way until the beautiful Spanish jam was just a wild scene outside, with the wind whipping around.