I was across the street from California State University Dominguez Hills visiting a friend. I could hear the music from his backyard; looking over the fence to the campus I knew there was a party, I was curious and I knew it was good.

I was turning 15 in five days and had never heard of the Dead. We went outside and saw all these hippies walking around and I asked... I asked some shaggy dude, "What's going on?" and all he said was, "The Grateful Dead".

Thank you shaggy dude, thank you Dead for being there, thank you fate. After that, I picked up an album and listened intently. Uncle John's Band was my favorite.

I am so very grateful for that day, for all the people and magic and music that followed. I got on the bus that day and my life was changed.

i was one of only 2 in our group of 6 that had real tickets that were bought in the lot. this show rocked and with it being Derby day we got the Race Is On into a decent Help/Slip/Franklin's this whole show was good if not great at points. the heat was just getting everyone prepared for Summer tours scorchers
great show though 4.75 for performance 5 for sound

What a killer setlist!...thanks for posting...beaut of a show!

I was only 19 years old when I went to this my first and only dead show. I was also able to go both days, but I consider it to be one show all together. I am thankful that I was able to make it to see a live show. About a year prior to going when I was 18, dead fever had hit my small little town in Inland SoCal. A lot of us were loving the sixties stuff, and I crossed paths and made friends with a true deadhead that had lived in San Franciso, had seen many shows, and his parents were friends with Timothy Leary. He was actually like no one I had met, or have ever met since, and when I read about how special and unique Neal Cassady was I think of my friend. He was for me, like Cassady was to the band. I listened to every tape that I could get my hands on of the dead. Even before I went to a live show I fell in love with the music, and thought it was magical, timeless, and transcendent. It felt like even if I was listening to a song for the first time, I was like, "Oh yeah, everbody knows this song! I love this song!" but I had never heard it before. That is about as good as I can describe it in words. I had no idea that the dead were even in town the day that I went to this show. I had just got off work. My Cassady had already rambled on, but I made friends with another head that I worked with. We both worked the same shift(graveyard), and we were going to get in our cars and go home and go to sleep which was the routine at the time. Before we got to our cars a couple of his freinds that I kind of knew a little bit pulled up and asked him and I if we wanted to go the show, and they had extra tickets for us. Next thing I know were on our way the show. The rest was like a vivid dream. I could write a small book about it from the time we got there to the time we left, but to sum it up I was extremely satisfied with the band, the fans, and the whole thing. All my expectations were met if not exceeded. I smelled, touched, tasted, heard, and saw things that I never had the pleasure of experiencing before. They played all the songs that I really wanted to hear them play live, and the stuff I did not know at the time was just as good. The only thing that I was not happy about at the time, was my own performance, so to speak. I was not at my best, and going through a very depressing and frustrating time back in my regular day to day mud life. I was trying really hard to reach higher and be free of my junk, but I just could not quite get the gold ring. I wish I would have been 100 percent on but it just did not go down that way, everything else though was top notch. I did not know that Terrence Mckenna, and Timothy Leary were there, but now that I do it makes it all the more special to me that I was there too. I have been recently resting, reflecting, and taking a trip down memory lane. That is why I am here writing this review, and It makes me happy and excited about the future and dizzy with possibilities.

I bought bogus ticket in the lot and did not get in to the show. I taped over another cassette I had in the car on a boom box via the KPFK feed. The day was hot and I always felt the show had a laid back pace due to the heat that opened up a lot of room during the jams. That being said, The second set really cooks.

I have always like Jerry's solo in Loser on this one and Touch of Gray too. I just think this show has a special quality to it. Phil is really funky and clear throughout and Brent's organ growls the entire show. The sound and the mix are great!

This was my one and only Dead show. Life precluded me from fully getting on the bus, although I kept a foot in the scene.

I remember going with a girl I had been smitten with in school a few years prior, and her new boyfriend, who was a nice guy but kind of a doofus. They had been to more shows than me, but they were just "slumming", it was a phase they went through for a year, and then they got on with their lives. I considered myself the real Deadhead, despite not going to shows. I was a staunch defender of their studio albums (and still am, incidentally), I dabbled in tape collecting...

However, I also thought that by 1990, I'd be catching a band in decline. And I never really was much of a Brent Mydland guy; I never liked his voice and still don't.

So: my main mission that day was to score a sheet of LSD in the parking lot, figuring I wouldn't have the opportunity often. I wasn't successful at first, and my friends got annoyed with me "it's about music, not drugs!" but I persevered, and finally scored a sheet at a good price from a kind Head who looked terrified of me, seemingly positive I was a cop, but unable to stop himself from selling ("I only do it so i can stay on the road") he told me, almost flinching as if I were gonna slap cuffs on him. I thanked him, and caught up with my friends as the gates opened, popping a tab into my mouth on the way in.

Suffice to say that my memory of this show is a little disjointed and fuzzy. However, I do recall getting mildly annoyed at Garcia flubbing the lines during Uncle John's Band... I did indeed get that sinking feeling that it was a band in decline. I remember thinking the crowd was different from what I had expected. The older Heads seemed weary, not as energetic as they had undoubtedly once been. The younger ones seemed kind of silly and cartoonish to me (I was 24 at the time).

I remember walking around during Space thinking "So finally, here's my Dead show. And it is interesting, but not entirely compelling and even a little sad on some level" I was aware of course that I was tripping, and took that into account, but I felt that I had entered a patchouli-scented bubble of subculture that wasn't long for the world. I almost imagined the acid casualties and dealers hovering at the fringes of the crowd as malevolent wolves stalking a fat herd of sheep. When the Deer Creek debacle went down a few years later, I flashed back to this eeerie sense I had on this particular day.

I recall passing by a greasy hamburger stand selling overpriced, gross burgers and looking at the plastic letters on the menuboard. WELCOME TO GRETEFUL DEAD it said, and that was my takeaway from the show; it seemed to sum up the strange vibe I had that day.

I also realized that I was unlikely to see them again. I felt sad at the passage of time and the toll that it takes...

I rejoined the crowd for the post-Space songs, and remember being almost moved to tears by "Dear Mr. Fantasy" of all things... It had a forlorn sound to it that somehow hit me exactly right, and the band made it their own, I even liked Mydland's vocals on it...

I couldn't shake that forlorn feeling on the ride home. As we drove back to 1990 Los Angeles, I mulled over what seemed to be a visit to a very fragile world that was starting to fall apart at the seams, yet still bore a dignity about it. And "Dear Mr. Fantasy" haunted me for days and even years afterwards.

I never went back and listened to the show until today. I daresay this might be the best "Dear Mr. Fantasy" I've ever heard, even now.

Listening now, I also hear the decay that I had sensed so acutely on that day. But it is also much better than I had recalled it, and it stands so far above the last couple of tours as to be almost profound...

I wish I had seen the Dead back when they were at the top of their game, but I was simply born too late for that. I am grateful to have seen them, and I did enjoy myself that day, despite getting into the acid blues. But I also feel that I came away with some meaningful insights that day, and seeing the Dead just never seemed that important again.

I'll rate the show a 4-star show, but I'm probably overrating it by a star. It was an important day in a lot of ways, so I'll offer an extra star as a token of my respect.

Nice!! I feel like I was there.

I actually love this show----biased,
yes, because I was there and 'shroomin'
on a beautiful saturday afternoon. The
live mix of course sounded way better than this
recording, and I remember "Crazy Fingers"
"Playin", and "Uncle John's" were just magical.
But I'm pretty sure Jer was using again,
and Brent's eyes were buggin' out more
than usual....something was up, I could
feel the sloppiness.

Anyhow, the shrooms started kicking in right when
they hit "Help/Slip". That "Slip" was one of the
most uncomfortable moments in my life. Not only did
the middle jam feel like I was being torn in 5 different
directions, but the fat mexican guy laying in the
grass behind me (who I'd been trying to avoid
looking at) was slowly starting to melt in the
105-degree sun. First he started turning purple, then
black. Like a giant Jabba The Hut candle covered
with pock marks. Every time I glanced back he
was more melted and deformed until it was finally
just a bubbling pond of purple & black meat.
I couldn't stop myself from looking, it was fucked up.
Sigh, happy memories!
Chris

105 degrees fahrenheit but pretty amazing; cookin' more than just our skin. Broadcast on KPFK. This is the closest the band ever played to my home. (Actually my father's place, I didn't still live there). What was so cool about that, is that I could go to his house in Hermosa Beach and set up a Hi-Fi V.C.R. to record off the radio and just let it roll at high speed (I think?), and go to the show, and still get to the show in time and come back to a complete recording!
This is fun with "The Race is On". The "Help on Way" is mediocre, so that is partly why I only gave it 4. The next day is similarly hot and has it's moments as well, but wasn't broadcast on the radio. This show here, has the absolute greatest version of "Queen Jane Approximately" I've ever seen! Check out Brent's keyboard solo! Awesome! And I don't use that word lightly. Oh, how caan I forget my first "Loose Lucy"! Wowie Zowie.
It is too bad the folks without tickets blew it so they never played here again!

Enjoy,

Augy
San Diego