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Grateful DeadGrateful Dead Live at Portland Meadows on 1995-05-28 (May 28, 1995)

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Collection: : GratefulDead
Band/Artist: Grateful Dead
Date: May 28, 1995 (check for other copies)
Venue: Portland Meadows
Location: Portland, OR

Source: Sbd > C (x?) > CD > EAC > SHN
Keywords: Live concert

Description

Jack Straw, Peggy-O, Wang Dang Doodle, Row Jimmy, When I Paint My Masterpiece, Brown Eyed Women, Let It Grow (61 mins.) Samson & Delilah, Way To Go Home, Crazy Fingers-> Corinna-> Drums-> Space-> All Along The Watchtower-> Black Peter-> Around & Around (84 mins.), E: Box Of Rain

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Reviewer: GlennOfTheFiercePeople - - November 7, 2009
Subject: Sad for Jerry
I did this entire summer tour with various friends. After Seattle, I was hearing everyone talking about Jerry being back on the smack. It was sad. Who knows, but it really seemed to show in Portland.

I remember something about Bobby mumbling “fuck the Christian Reich”.

Does anyone remember the dust bowl lot? Talk about sand in my kind veggie stir fry. We sold so much beer on the street corner we had to reload 3 times. That helped. Sometimes it was rough and sometimes it was easy. Portland 95 was a little of each.

I miss my tour buddy Crazy Dave. Dave, what has become of you?

Reviewer: Burnt Rich - - May 28, 2009
Subject: Forced March in May
1994 and 1995 Dead reminds me of those swimming pool "trout ponds" they would set up in suburban parking lots for kids to experience the thrill of catching a fish, back in the late 70's. 1993 was the last year I saw the Dead, JGB, and Phish because of the angst and tension that was building in the audiences. The fist fight between a girl and guy on the eastside of the parking lot post 5/21 show at Shoreline sealed the deal for me. I gave away the rest of my 5 west coast tour tickets a half hour before the 5/22 show began and fled back to the mountains of Washington state and as far away from the "Tour Trash" that was taking the scene out by it's knees, at this point in time. Glad I didn't come back for a last peek. Yikes. You gotta know when to hold em' and know when to fold em', like the song says.

Reviewer: johnknee - - April 12, 2009
Subject: up or down
I am just listening to this for the first time in a long while and think it ranks better than many of the reviews here. I had an excellent time in Portland during May of 1995. No doubt this show doesn't hold up to classic GD, but it was the Boys and it was fun as hell that day. This SBD sounds excellent.

I can see both sides of the debate here . . . Jerry was at weird stage of his life and it showed at times, but he had me smiling through most of the two days (there were a couple moments on the 29th that were tough to hear). This show had numerous high points though I can appreciate some of the criticisms I've heard about the performance. Sweet "Box of Rain" to close. DL it if you dig hearing the GD at all points in their career.

Reviewer: gregulator - - March 7, 2009
Subject: don't like 95? don't listen
actually it is harder to play the songs slower than faster, most musicians know this. Jerry rules, to this day. Stay in the seventys if you don't get it. Only an idiot would have left a show early, especially a west coast show. You probably didn't have the good L connection to get it. That is all right I guess.

Reviewer: sammann - - May 28, 2008
Subject: the last time :(
These were my last shows of well over 300 from 1978 on. It was really sad to see Bob and Phil looking over at Jer, and try to give him some encouragement. It looked to me like Jerry could barely find his mic to sing a verse. His playing, well it was just sad.

Reviewer: creampuffwarrior3 - - May 6, 2008
Subject: stop complaining
hey all you people complaining you came here to hear the dead if you dont like this listen to another year if you hate 1995 i personally enjoy whatever grateful dead i can get and dont whine like you so if you can say something good about a show dont listen to it or are you to stupid to figure that out on your own no one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to listen personally i enjoy this show

Reviewer: LevitatingYogi - - January 15, 2008
Subject: I must admit
I did the whole west coast summer tour and it was at this show that it dawned on me that Jerry was dying.
He had no gusto. He was fading away before our eyes. Yes, he would pick it up again here and there in the 20 or so shows that followed but it was unmistakable that he was on the way out. This was the worst played show I saw of over 100.

no stars but lots of sympathy.

Reviewer: krestonc - - December 31, 2007
Subject: This is too long to read
It might be in the forward of 'Box of Rain', the song book, where I think Hunter said they never put the lyrics in w/ the albums because each song had a unique meaning to each Head, and he didn't want to screw that up for them/us. I am so tired of reading negative reviews from you morons. Jerry gave his life to the music. The lifestyle took him from us too soon. My first show was in '92 (Yah, yah!). Those last few years were the best of my life. I had such amazing experiences with all of you, and 'the boys.' Even being new to the scene, I could sense (especially the last few Shoreline shows, for some reason. And especially 'the wheel',) that the long, strange trip was headed for home base. I could see the wheel slowing. Maybe coming to a stop altogether. I knew for sure that we were a part of something uniquely special.
This Portland show was very special to me. My partner and I did great sellin 'Jerryade' t-shirts. ('Thirst quenching sound with every 'drop.'' We had 'The Tacoma Coma.' We had our own hippie crack tank. And, I got a pass to go up front to take pictures. I usually leave out the part about being so baked that I didn't realize that it was only good during the first couple songs. I went up as drums started and got some great shots of Bobby tapping the mike stand for effect. I strolled past Vince as space went into Watchtower. Which was great, for me! Then, as Black Peter got started, I saw an empty space about 6' by 6' right in front of Jerry. I looked at the guy standing at the back edge of this empty space and shrugged my shoulders as if to say, "Is it ok if I stand here?", or "What the hell! Is this some type of vortex?" The 'purple jesus'' was really workin'. It seemed like he gave me the 'O.K.' and I jumped right in. (In retrospect, I should have parked my ass right there.) Jerry proceded to play the best 'Black Peter' I had ever heard. (ok, so I only heard a few.) My self, my camera, and everything else was in perfect harmony. Jerry was was lookin' straight through the lens, which translated into my eye, then my soul. just then the wind came... He didn't seem to take his eyes off me. maybe halfway through Pete I ran out of film. I couldn't believe it. Honestly, I new I would be seeing 'Jesus', so I only brought a couple rolls that day. (I feel like I wasted most of the first one one Chuck Berry, who was awesome by the way. [Not so much the music as it was the experience of seeing such an influential rock legend.]). Had I known the flood gates of a deadhead photographers wet dream would open that day... I'm sure the heads in front of me would have hoisted me on their shoulders, but when you roll on up, you know you gonna roll back down! What's this? This rolls done. gotta load another one before they bust out some - DARK STAR/ST STEPHEN/THE ELEVEN/LOVE LIGHT - shit! Ah... No more film. I looked around kinda askin' for film, but I don't know if anybody understood that shit. I don't know if I did. And, Yeah, Peggy-O, Wange Dand Doodle, Row Jimmy is one of my least favorite combos, the over all song selection was beautiful. This recording sound good through my pc speakers.?. OK. Got the headphones on now. Sounds great. It was a beautiful weekend. Jerry fuckin' blew it out til the end! I get pretty sad sometimes, but remembering this shit makes me happy. Remembering happy times. 'It's all a dream we dreamed one afternoo-oo-hoon long ago.' ----- Oh my God! I just listened to the end. Very loaded buy now. The significance of 'Box of Rain' is ...It blows me away. There were some GREAT Dead tunes that day, my friends.

Reviewer: dirty jev-o - - September 3, 2007
Subject: stop
listen to jer's solo on "brown eyed" and stick it---
am so sick of guitar strummer audiophile nerds judging shows
get real---i saw them in 95 and it was THICK

Reviewer: Trevor tnt Toll - - September 2, 2007
Subject: hate 2 say it
i agree with lobster and i normally dont. These are the worst of 95.

Reviewer: lobster12 - - June 8, 2006
Subject: my .02 cents
Did you ever go to the beach, step into the ocean and have the bottom feel squishy between your toes not knowing what exactly it is? That's this show. Squishy shit. If you want that second set you can have it.

As for the band hanging on while jer was in this state, my feeling is(and this is totally a guess) that they really had all of those employees back in san rafeal running the operations who grew to rely on these tours. they were taken care of pretty nicely and some say had college education paid for their kids. Back in 92 when the big boy went down from exhaution, a lot of these folks took it hard. Again i wasn't there but my thoughts based on what i heard.

Reviewer: MCSZ - - December 21, 2005
Subject: 2 Stars

Reviewer: dmilks - - November 16, 2005
Subject: 5/28/95
hey cuccamonga1,
I love the positivity from which you approach your stance on this show, but I don't think Jerry did a very fine job on his 5 songs this particular night. I think he did an abysmmal job on them.....
just my $.02

Why did the Dead continue playing with Jerry like this? Well, it's probably pretty hard to hang it up after 30 years unless you are forced too, especially when you still sell out 80,000 seat arenas, and have a couple hundred mouths to feed. Unfortunately 8-9-95 forced them to stop.

The story of Chuck Berry playing a great lick followed by a clam reminds me of what Jerry sounded like during this tour and Summer 95.

Reviewer: liranfa - - October 29, 2005
Subject: Why hang on?
Sorry Dragon but when someone you feel close to is either drinking or drugging themselves to death, it's difficult to watch. It doesn't mean you don't love or care for them anymore, you just hope they get better. For people who think that critics of the band at that time should have just quit going is like asking family to not visit their dying parents or loved ones.

These people supported the band for many, many years so you need to lighten up on the old timers who had a difficult time watching Jerry die before their eyes.

Reviewer: drgnw/mtchs - - October 29, 2005
Subject: From my perspective...
This is a pretty decent recording. I love a great aud source when available, but when the wind is blowing in such huge open spaces, it's pretty tough to capture that Djini in the "bottle." Anyway, these final West coast tour ended up being the last shows I saw. Fortunately, I caught em all. Being a student at the U of O, but from Chicago, my "bad" habits had gotten so out of hand, I didn't get my shit tgthr in time to make it back East, and missed those last days. I will forever regret that. Anyone that has the balls to get so crytical of the band in those last days, should have just took off, and found something else to do w/ themselves. If it was really that bad, then why did you continue to subject yourself to it? I stop doing things when I feel pain from doing so. The Dead were never performers of perfection, and I don't think they were aiming for a perfect perfection. They were musical Shammans trying to bring about a spiritual experience though musical expression. It did not always happen, every night. By the end, I was able to accept that it might only happen ever 3rd or 4th night, it was always worth it. That's my $.02

Reviewer: Thad - - July 29, 2005
Subject: Row Jimmy
Well - at least that Row Jimmy is something. It's out there. I remember telling my friend Jason Carr "Hey, Jerry's got the flute out." Carr replied, "I can't SEE the flute."

Reviewer: cuccamonga1 - - July 21, 2005
Subject: not too bad
Blah, blah, blah on the first 2 reviews. So many people like to voice thier dead expertise. Sure it's the mid '90's...they're a little sluggish...they're showing their age... and the timing can be a little off. That's obvious, but sometimes you have to just go with it. And sometimes it makes the high spots even better. This show has some sweet spots in it. I thought that Jer did a fine job on the 5 songs he sang. The tempo on some things is a little off here and there, but for the most part nice and sweet. Thank you teleprompters.

I didn't mind paying for this show at all. The Peggy-O was worth the ticket. Not to mention the beautiful day that it was. My $.02

Reviewer: cdevs - - July 20, 2005
Subject: ouchie
Don't even try listening to this unless you're looking to get depressed. Last and by far the worst show I ever saw. My question, then and now: how could the band let this happen? Garcia is so clearly on his last legs. He attempts only five tunes in the whole show!!?! and they are all miserable failures. Reprehensible that they would even consider taking peoples' money with Garcia in such life-threateningly bad health. My $.02.

Chuck Berry was at least somewhat entertaining. He'd be cooking through some tune, and he'd play some cool lead lick, and you'd say to yourself "that's awesome!"...then, often within seconds, he'd play some lick so badly you'd go "d'oh, that's terrible!" This went on and on, several times in every song...What a goofball.

BTW, the JGB show from this same venue on 8-8-93 was outstanding, despite JG losing his voice. Get it if you can.

Reviewer: cheyler - - June 27, 2005
Subject: Show 2 : Sound 3
Wow, not much there. Quite a drop in quality from the Seattle shows just two days earlier. The Let It Grow just plods along, a very unusual and undesirable tempo with the drummers very conspicuous and distracting. Jerry was seemingly incapable of putting together a coherent solo, or at least I haven't heard one yet. Seems to be a fairly dismal and unsatisfying show from the very uneven final weeks of the band. I'd say the Seattle shows from the 25th and 26th were the last two great shows. This one can be let go unless you were there.

Notes

Source: Sbd > C (x?) > CD > EAC > SHN