Killer show all around. I find it amusing that Phil had some treble mix problems with his onboard eq during Jack Straw, but it seems to even out. Also, he probably put on fresh strings, which contributed a little to the bounce back. Also, he really didn't need that six-string whatsoever during this period -- I rarely hear him hitting the high C or low B ranges. Oh well.

Not sure if I'm a fan of a shorter Dark Star in the first set -- but hey, it's a Dark Star; even the bad ones are better than anything else.

All these songs are played with such alacrity and precision. A gem in the desolate sands of this year.

I remember Jerry's purple pants. I learned years later that Rick Griffin wreaked his motorcycle the day before this show. He died on the 18th. Seems like a fitting setlist. Sad in retrospect. At the time, my mind was blown. Great Shoreline run overall.

These were good shows. The Boys did a huddle for a couple of minutes ahead of the 1st set Dark Star, was clear they were up to something. In the end it didn't get too deep and I'd say it had as much novelty factor as anything else, but seemed like they were enjoying it and so were we. Also made for a pretty turbo charged Promised Land. For sure Hornsby seemed to be a driver for some of this stuff, and it was great to see how much joy he took in the music, including the deeper numbers.

Regarding the "open ended" DS, the finish was the revisit just before Morning Dew the next night, with Jerry essentially doing at least the first verse on guitar. Was awesome to be in the Dark Star and then go directly into Dew.

Thanks again GD and Archive!

How comes when I'm streaming from the site it doesn't go into the next song automatically??? Like if I'm not on the exact page I'm streaming from it won't change til I go to that page?!?!

Met what would become one of my all time best friends on the lawn before the this show. Listen to the tuning before Jack Straw. ( you can hear Dark Star ) imagine if the opened with that?

My friend (who happens to have of the same last name as me, Barrera) said he bumped into Hornsby (at a fast food joint) some hours before the show. He asked him, "How about giving us a Dark Star tonight?" Bruce responded, "That's up to Jerry."

They sure delivered! What a unique and beautiful show. Love the Scarlet Victim Fire mostly.

The first set DS here is just the first verse. The next one--on 9/10 at MSG--was also just the first verse. I was under the assumption (making an "ass" out of "umption") that they were just a bit more calculated than that--thinking they would do a version with just the second verse before another one with just the first. Ya know what I means? I guess I was wrong.

I saw them, myself, on 12/16/92 when they played just the second verse of Dark Star. So, was Jerry just deciding on the spot which verse to sing? I suppose it was all up to Garcia--whether to do the whole song or sing just the first or just the second verse or, of course, even play it at all...

The energy on Promised Land is unlike any version I've heard before. It really jumps out at you. The sound throughout the show is great as well, but Phil's bass sounds a little odd to me (almost like the tinny/metallic sound of the strings) on Jack Straw.

I could not figure out how to actually download the concert to listen away from my computer. Can any one help? thx!

I have great memories of listening to this concert when it was featured on the grateful dead hour in 1994. I had a tape of the show and it was one of two tapes I had with me on a solo backpack trip in the Bitteroot mountains in Montana.

to the guy below who said somethin about rick griffin being killed on his way to this show. he actually died on 8/18. so it would have been the show two days after this one


as for this show.....scarlet>victim>fire

enough said

love this show, the piano work is great on tunes like all over now and ramble on rose, first set is pretty good but the second set is excellent, i love the victim between scarlet fire its really sweet, the scarlet fire itself being pretty awesome, truckin nice too

playin reprise is good and then sotm is average but i love that song regardless, good lovin great too, upbeat us blues encore rounding off a great show overall and im not even a huge post brent fan

was my first show since a BT at Cal Expo that had me walking out for the first time in 65 or so performances. I was actually scared to see them, weird, and kinda silly looking back 20 years later, but `i was a kid. When they pulled this out 1st set all fears were reconciled and my love returned back to me. It was almost like being at Hampton, I mean...you couldnt possibly call this one. It is a pretty nifty version too, more Red Tail then Miller Light, imo.
Bruce smiled the whole time..he finally convinced them to break it out -he was playing teasers that whole summer long to no avail, accept a brief, non-singing jam in Denver..

This is a really nice recording, thank you. That was such a special Year, beginning with my first Dark Star New Years '90 up to 10/31, the monster!

good show on Elvis day !

e-mail me...
ro_ko at hotmail.com

SORRY but does anyone know where / how to get this to a listen-able format

had a great show,but was floored when Timmy called the DS.Afterwards,I found thar rick griffith crashed his bike on the17 while on his way to the show.Maybe Garcia heard the news prior to the end of 1st set.It would explain that random dark star,huh.

i was on this tour..and bruce had been teasing dark star all tour...i called dark star on this day..(not in the first set but this day)...this show kicked ass..as did alot of shows of this year...for me this was the last great year for the dead...i kept touring until the end..but 91' was the end..

this show aint all that great, performance wise, when compared to the best of 91 (6/17 and 10/31, IMHO).

the first set dark star is a nice curiosity and it is well played, although brief. but there is nothing inherently wrong w/ brevity. if darkstars were beers, this one is a miller light. that being said:

1- a miller light is better than no beer at all.
2- sometimes (like on a 100 deg. summer day) a miller light is just what the doctor ordered.
3- but you do NOT want miller light to be the only beer you drink!

the scarlet>victim>fire sandwich is cool, if you like victim. i do, so it is a nice listen.

personally, i am going to put the darkstar and the s>v>f on a vince-era mix i am making. the rest is gonna find it's way to the recycling bin. there are a LOT better 91s out there.

This is and was a great show. I was there and maintain that this is one of those shows that sounds good on disk, but was awesome being there. Phil had some issues early in the fist set, but by Desolation Row the band was fairly tight. To bust out a first set Dark Star one had to be there. It was still daytime transitioning to evening. It was short, but nicely finished the next night.

Scarlet>Victim>Fire was a real gem. Reminded me of the Scarlet>Bucket of Summer Solstice '89 at Shoreline.

look to the rational rating of this show, not the ridiculous 1 star ratings...

Dark Star is laid back, Garcia does pull off a couple of very nice, clean, transparent runs...

Second set is better than average...Scarlet>Victim>Fire is the highlight, basically...SOTM is better played on 06-07-1991 and 12-28-1991...

not one of the top 5 or 10 of 1991, but worth a listen, nonetheless

good sounding source

Oh please....it's cool to not feel the vibe of certain shows, but to flat out bag on a show, especially a show in which the boys are clearly being creative and having fun is a clueless move. SOTM is the high point of this show?!? Some people need to take a break for a while, me thinks, and get a little perspective. The Dark Star in addition to being a great choice in to start the close of the first set, kicks off with a great run from Jerry. Think he is not feeling it? Go back and listen again. Jerry does have juice in this Dark Star, which cannot be quantified by usual standards and measurements. 10 minutes, yes. But it is the FIRST SET. Talk about seeing the glass half empty. And there is much interplay between Jer and Bruce, that goes double when it is in the framework of a first set song. It does hold up well to many modern-era Dark Stars, IMO, regardless of placement...I would take this type of first set over many, many others from the 1990's. Maybe I am biased as I was there rocking out, and leaping and freaking from the first tuning notes of Dark Star, or maybe it's because I've never been a jaded Dead Snob.

Some people getting frazzled on this one? Jus puff one and chill. True, 1st set Dark Star is long on novelty, but short on substance. The boys rip a great Jack Straw - Bertha opener, but Phil's bass is doing this thwangy thing that kinda blemishes the greatness. It's the Scarlet-Victim-Fire that really stands out. The transitions into and out of Victim are mind-bendingly smooth and coordinated. Phil comes into Fire with such great energy, propelling the band into a very unique and inspiring rendition of the song. Jerry's vocals are uncommonly clear and forceful ala Morning Dew of the next night. The band finds a timeless groove. Spectacular stuff. 4 stars b/c rest of show is anticlimax after unreal Scarlet-Victim-Fire. All in all, better than many shows that people have rated with 5 stars.

for 91, yes this show was terrible. The playing is sloppy and the sound is muddy. SOTM is the only song played to 91's standard. Furthermore, the Dark Star is horrible. THE weakest and most embaressing version ever played. Dont be fooled by the setlist, the whole shows sucks.

I think a big reason behind all the 5 star ratings here is b/c of the novelty of 1st set Dark Star (1st one since '71), as well as the novelty of the Scarlet>Victim>Fire sandwich. Don't get me wrong, I think this is a great show, but I just don't think that it is one of the best 3 of the year as one has stated, or even if it merits more than 4 stars. It is well played, but IMHO, a little lacking in energy for how hot this particular configuration got in 1991. The Dark Star is probably the shortest one of the year clocking in at about 10 minutes. It is good, but had it been a second set Dark Star, I don't think it would have stood out as any better than the other 91 Dark Stars. I think the Scarlet>Victim>Fire thing is kinda cool, but the post Scarlet jamming is not existent, which was one of the best transition's for Jerry and Bruce to play off eachother. Jerry does do some nice work at the 5:40ish mark on Victim and at the end.
As well, there is some nice stuff from Jerry towards the end of Fire, but there are plenty of longer and more jamming Fire's from 1991. The SOTM is riddled with forgotten verses and segments where the song pretty much trainwrecks. I would make the argument that this SOTM is one of the worst on 1991. IMHO though, the band just wasn't rocking as hard as they did for the majority of 91. To me it's kinda the same as the Music>Sugaree>Music at Shoreline 94, it looks great on paper, but it was pretty average in reality.

Sound quality is good, but not great. Some Drums are very distant, and Vince is mixed way back. As well Jerry's guitar is mixed pretty far back too (listen to All Over Now, during Hornsby and Vince's solo's and several other tunes, you can't hear Jer at all). And that's my two cents.

Hornsby comes to the forefront and adds what was lacking. Bruce always had an ability to push Jerry to some of his best live work. This was one of the three best shows from 1991. Download and Enjoy!

Bruce was the Best with the boys. Can't say enough about what he did with the Dead. Scarlet > Victim > Fire is sick and Bruce totally leads the band into Victim. Dark Star in the 1st set? Sick show!!

It's funny that Bruce Hornsby says his biggest problem with the GD was that it was so inconsistent. After hearing this show you can see why he said that...this show is so damn smokin', much more so than the average '91 show. There is no doubt that they were chanelling the great spirit on this fine summer night. Phils bass problem during Jack Straw is weird, but novel in it's uniqueness. Dan Healy must have had a field day trying to sort it out. It doesnt seem to stop the band from tearing through the Jack Straw -> Bertha opener. Hornsby is in control here, almost forcing Jerry to rise to the occasion. Naturally, the first set Dark Star was a real treat.
Second Set's Scarlet->Victim->Fire seemed to blend together so naturally. Hornsby starts turning the Scarlet ending lick into a Victim modulation mid way through the typical transition jam. Gorgeous! This is a first rate show for an era of Grateful Dead music. I for one (IMHO) think that 90's GD rocked in a more progressive palette pushing style than any time before. Maybe that's cause I was there in '91 and wasnt even born for 69-70.

This show gives me chills. Big scary cold ones. Yeah, you could say its good.

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what a sick show!!! fans of bruce will eat this one up- he is definately in control this evening. his runs on the jack straw> bertha openers are stunning. something sounds amiss with phil's bass strings during the first set, however- they seem to be loose or something. kind of sounds neat. scarlet>victim>fire? Bruce has a field day during scarlet, riffing on top of everything...he begins steering the ship into victim land at about 5 and a half minutes into scarlet, and it only gets more interesting from there. at the end of victim bobby attempts to steer it into bucket, but to no avail as phil begins plundering ahead with the beginning notes of fire. i wore my analog copy of this show out, and I am SO glad to have this pristine copy now. viva la archive.org!!!

Great Show, the interplay between Jerry & Bruce is killer. Bruce leads the way from Scarlet to Victom and back to Fire...

A must have for anyone who doubts 91