headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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sylvanriv

90s expert

+1262


Submissions

1
Playin' In The Band
Dec. 8, 1993
Sports Arena

Nice Playin'. Jerry finds a few good riffs. Not usually a fan of late era playins, as Jerry's speedy playing is so integral. He plays pretty well here
3
Cassidy
Oct. 30, 1984
Berkeley Community Theater

Picture perfect. Soaring leads from Jerry and crashes exquistely back into the verse
2
Playin' In The Band
Oct. 28, 1984
Berkeley Community Theatre

Hot Playin>China Doll>Playin. Long and exploratory on both ends, especially for 84.
2
Jack Straw
Nov. 29, 1994
McNichols Sports Arena

Very hot tour opener. Jerry's playing is excellent. This show is the only good one from this weird little run in Colorado.
5
Ramble On Rose
Sept. 29, 1994
Boston Garden

Shockingly good. Only good things to say about the Boston Garden run from this tour. These first few nights allayed fears after awful summer tour.
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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
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