headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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sylvanriv

90s expert

+1262


Submissions

3
The Music Never Stopped
March 23, 1992
The Palace

Truly proves there was some magic on every tour. The outro jam is unreal hot, with Jerry, Vince, and Bruce battling it out. Crazy stuff here!
3
Playin' In The Band
Oct. 6, 1984
Richmond Coliseum

Awesome focused jam and beautiful meltdown outro
2
Aiko Aiko
June 6, 1992
Rich Stadium

Jerry gets really into it in the second half. Not lifechanging, but fun
2
Truckin'
July 8, 1987
Roanoke Civic Center

Excellent, hard-charging version from arguably the best show of 87. Bobby stuttering all over the verses
1
Throwing Stones
April 4, 1994
Sports Arena

Very solid version. Video shows Jerry present and very into it.

Comments

Uncle John's Band
July 17, 1989
Alpine Valley Music Theatre

Fine version, but nothing special. The mid solo is uninspired and short, and the outro is well-played but not unique. Any 8 minute version of UJB is generally too short. This whole show is overrated, imo. Well played versions and Jerry's clearly having a lot of fun, but I think it gets too high of a ranking due to its availability, it being on video (and released decades ago), and of course the fact that it's from an era during which a lot of users on this site were touring. I'd love to hear some of yalls opinions about this because I know a lot of people are willing to call out other overrated shows, but never seen anyone say much about this one.
Cumberland Blues
July 17, 1989
Alpine Valley Music Theatre

Decent, no, good version. I don't put a lot of stock in the idea that Jerry never played the same after the coma (i.e. he "lost something"), but I will say Cumberland was never the same after the coma. Give me any version from summer 86 or earlier before this one.
Cassidy
Oct. 12, 1983
Madison Square Garden

Not sure if there's a Cassidy out there that can compete with this one. Certainly no 70s version stands up...possibly a super jammed version from the 90s like 5/16/93, or one of the really spacey long ones like 6/25/94 or 3/29/95, but those are almost a different thing entirely. This one is extremely powerful throughout.
Pretty Peggy O
March 27, 1993
Knickerbocker Arena

Only okay, IMO. nice competent soloing and definitely pretty vocals, but there's a lot of versions from the Vince era that are better and ranked much lower, such as 3/21/94, 6/26/94 (GOAT 90s version), 9/29/94, and 5/28/95.
Bertha
Oct. 19, 1994
Madison Square Garden

Super hot and long. Don’t know how they kept it together for the last night of a grueling and lengthy fall tour with shows nearly every night but this is fantastic