I sang a little while and then flew on.

This was the weakest Dead show I have ever witnessed. Nonetheless, I was lucky. I had only been seeing them since 91. I had seen several Much better shows (4/27/91, 10/28/91, 12/16-17/92, 6/19/94, 12/16/94, and 5/26/95 were the best of what I saw), and even the ones that other folks ridicule I feel lucky to have seen.

I drove a good distance and my VW bus broke down along the way and we barely made it in time for "Help" on night one. We explored the Bay Area on day two and came back for this show. Fortunately, my bro and I scored tix just before the show started. It was Bill's only Dead show ever. So although it was not a great one for you, I must be grateful for Bill (and me).

As for Garcia's health-- clearly it was not great. Or maybe he was too stoned to play that night (and many nights during this era). But we are talking about no one other than Jerry Garcia. It's almost as if he was a god. How in the world did he live this long? Miracles methinks. Be grateful.

I only listened to the end of the first set to check out Bob's "dobro-like instrument"; it was too low in the mix to discern. From a little online research, I'm guessing that was a Hoeg resonator guitar.

Otherwise, it was probably less bad experiencing it as it happened, but Jerry's playing and singing are pathetic in this recording; he's a sad shadow of his former self. On the up side, Vince's Don't Ease keyboard solo was well played; too bad they gave him a MIDI imitation when he joined instead of real piano (or B3...sigh). As for Vince's vocals- his overall singing was fine, but his timbre and phrasing never totally meshed. Maybe he wasn't the right choice, though at the time I bet the list of available high-harmony singing keyboardists was quite short.

2 star average using quadratic equation with '95 Jerry (0 stars) and '95 rest of band (3 stars).

MAN! I have never seen so poorly construed, soul-lessly made judgements about a concert - which is the thing - you can't judge a concert! I mean, you can't, it's not a swim competiton... this an event, of the human history, and Jerry's spirit- man, it's alive and free!- and, sure, it struggles at times but it gets itself THERE that majestic place of soul and heart and fun, you missed the point with drugs you missed the point with sound and soul and it's about time you 'get in the groove if it takes all night long' - Jerry has it, you mustn't!... none of us got the chops Jerry did, not now or then, but we got that soul that unites with the good feeling of playing. Drugs are perception, ability, change... drugs opened our eyes, or closed them, but they didn't leave 'a steaming pile' by any stretch, they produced a fragile man who lived in a delicate state of soul and sorta grace, which no human being can maintain- but they maintained the years of touring for better or worse, and they made each night count one way or another. So here it is- the one, the only, the Grateful Dead! I can go on all night, about how much the Dead awaken my soul and make dance and feel free and help me ride out the valleys between the peaks and all those things between that are life- here it is! no endurance feat of perfection, no articulate Phish-jam art composition, just a man and songs and soul and people- the GRAAATEFUL DEAD!- The event of the human soul that flowered out of special times and special feelings and places and blooms ever forht in a light within and shining transcendently to ever begin!!!!!! That's the real stuff there, that's the poetry, the art and good feeling, of Jerry and them all, and me and my laptop, and you and you're world... I like this concert! David Murray Sikiru need I say more! :D okay, that's enough

Charlie Miller ! Lord knows you've brought some wonderful remastered music into our home, but why waste your time on this ?

Jerry. Drugs gave you a unique insight to play some incredible music that NO one else can duplicate. Drugs brought you to heights of greatness that few musicians can even imagine, and then - drugs destroyed you into a pile of steaming "what could have been's" leaving behind a man that used to be able to play triplets, impossibly difficult chord changes and rhythm shifts and in it's place left a man that couldn't play a 4/4 rhythm and sing the lyrics off a teleprompter.

Sad beyond all words.

All Phil cared about was the money, Bobby about the pussy, and Mickey and Billy about the, "Hammer of the Gods".

In the end, with all the glitter and acid faded away, Jerry was an overweight, sedentary diabetic in desperate need of help.

None came.

Enjoy your money, boys. Rhino and Ms. Koons, enjoy your unearned profits as well.

Jerry gave the best he had to give, and now his ship of money hungry "fools" reap the rewards.

Your time is coming.

This is a really depressing listen. Jerry can't even get the lyrics right with a teleprompter. I find it puzzling that the Dead kept on touring with Jerry in the state he was in at this time. If I'm Phil or Bob, and I'm on the stage with this, I would insist the band stop touring now until Garcia has time to rest and get into some semblance of physical shape. That would probably never have happened anyway (Jerry getting into shape), but at least he might have lived a bit longer. What were these people thinking?

Then there's Vince's singing. It was even more irritating than Donna's, and that's something I would never have thought possible before hearing Vince. Hiring Vince to replace Brent was a truly puzzling decision. Let's see . . . we're one of the biggest rock bands in the world, we have a massive fan base, hell, we're basically a cultural institution. We need a keyboard player. Any number of heavyweights would kill to be in our band, so let's get . . . . the guy from the Tubes, whom we don't know, have never played with, and who barely even knows our repertoire. Again, what were these people thinking?

Sorry to get off topic . . .

Not a great show by any standards - the boys may be trying but Jerry just isn't with it. "West L.A." is awful,full of mis-cues and timing problems."Lazy River Road" just plods vacantly to nowhere in particular,and you know for sure it's an off night when even "Iko" stumbles.Jer's playing on this is just,well,it's sad.
There may well be some good moments but I'd rather be listening to something else. Might have been fun to have been there but it ain't fun to listen to.

If you can deal with Vinces vocals in the first set and during the Aiko, this show is worth a listen. Unfortunately, I find much of David Murray's soloing a bit annoying and squeaky, but the band seemed to be getting off on it. Jerry really didn't even take a solo during Eyes, but David went nuts on the sax. Not much jamming after the eyes and into the drums, I was hoping for more psychadelia especially with Sikuru, but it didn't really get there, IMO.
Jerry's vocals throughout are haunting and beautiful. What sets this one apart is the Not Fade Away that contained a very 'not for kids only' feeling jam that almost seemed to teeter on the 'mathilda jam' that the band was working with during that period. I thought it was creative and inspired almost sounding like carribean island music. It was pretty much the only extended solo jerry took the whole second set. I loved it and it makes this show worth it. Maybe this version of Not Fade Away might be a close second to the version at RFK later that summer if you would rank 95.
I love hearing the band interaction on this monitor recording.

I'd five stars this recording simply for the hilarius bit of stage banter at the end of track four: "Pants, Bob, Pants, they're great, great! Where'd you get those pants?"

But I'm not going to give any star rating because Vince sounds like a caterwauling alley cat stuck under the wheels of a dump truck throughout this show.