50th review fire show

I sang a little while and then flew on.

This was one of the first soundboards to come out of the spring tour that year. Some of us had been nervous that the well would go dry since Healy was gone but then this circulated soon after in pure digital. This was the tour of "turn it up!" The new sound guy did things differently and they seemed quieter than usual. Jerry was also starting to go quiet though the soundboards from this tour don't really show that. In retrospect, I find the first set uneventful and a little stiff and stilted like they were at the beginning of the tour. That said, "Jack-A-Roe is strong and fast and "Promised Land" could be from any year, not necessarily the penultimate one. Second set is where it's at. One interesting thing is that, at the beginning of the "Dark Star", Jerry fishes around for a sound on his midi which produces some interesting, random note zings that shoot out unexpectedly. In fact, he's trying to find something and ultimately he finds it: that octave-slide sound that he began to use incessantly over the next year (and which would bring a Sugaree to a dead stop in a couple of months at Shoreline!) Space is incredibly long, (again, starting a trend), and starts off with some Ligeti-inspired madness before resolving into a clean guitar run from Jerry that asks an unanswerable question.

The 1st of a 3-night run, at a venue that had a symbiotic relationship with the band. The show is known for the final Dark Star and a hot 2nd-set sequence.

First Set. After a rough and shaky start, Stranger is stretched into a long (for a song-2) warm-up jam. It momentarily gels for the Jack-a-Roe, which may be the best of '94, even with a couple bumps. Hunter probably shouldn't have written gormless, lyrics-based songs like Lazy River for Jer, post-'92. Vince had ideas for El Paso by this tour. The guy tried hard and loved his job; bless 'im. Bobby plays acoustic on a rickety-thin Speedway and a trainwreck of a Promised Land leaves the Heads confused. Aside from Jack-a-Roe, no hint of what was to come...

Second Set. The boys came back after a dismal-ish 1st set with the machine. Buckle-up for a notable sequence starting with a wild-but-tackled 29-minute pairing: Scarlet is one of those unique spring-'94 versions (check out the super-longs from Seattle or Eugene to see how different they were played a few months later), with the pace of a '80, and Fire is a best-of-'94 candidate. Sometimes in the "decline era" the energy of a Scarlet didn't carry into Fire, or vice-versa, but this is a pair; and check the drumming. Seems like in Spring '94 Jer had really figured out out how to play off of Vince in Playing in the Band (check it out right after the 4-minute mark). It uses the palette from swoony to tersely grumpy. Dark Star is one of only two in '94 and, although noted for being the final one, is great regardless. The Dead situation isn't prone to "lasts" being particular asservations but this is more than just an historical tick-lister. The quality of the SBD really gives a taste of the visceral experience that was late-era Drums in person (provided you have a stereo or decent soundcard, and not narrow-range, field-destroying earbuds). An epic-scale Space has the weird choir voices from the board and, in the middle, splashes bits of teutonic-industrial onto the Heads. Jer teases Miracle almost 10 minutes before it develops - maybe thinking "okay you guys, you've tweaked me enough" (Jer and his love for getting to Stella). This is total headphone shit; must have felt like a harrowing journey to some in the AUD (you know who you are even if you don't remember who you were) by the time the light of Miracle appeared. The rest is average to above average for '94. This Liberty is on the So Many Roads box and the music vid. Assumedly it's the quintessential version (is there one for this song?). A great set for '94-nose-turners.

1st Set:   D
2nd Set: B+
Overall: 3 Stars

Highlights:
Whole sequence Scarlet>>Space - A top 5 Set of '94 with a Dark Star that's more than just historical and a large-scale Drums>Space.

SOURCES: The miller_14832 sounds best, except Stella has a couple dropouts (try the Larson_31806). Liberty is on So Many Roads and the audio was used for its music video (on View from the Vault II).

Great venue-tech review from fudoki (below).

The Grateful Dead are known for their outstanding performances during spring tours. Take, for instance, spring '72 (aka Europe '72), spring'73, spring '74, spring '77 (of course), '78, and in the latter era, spring 1990.

While the whole '94 spring tour isn't entirely up to the snuff of these previous years, these Omni shows, 3/18, 3/21, and a few of the surrounding nights demonstrate that the spring spark was briefly reignited in the second to last year of the Dead's career. '95 does have the May Seattle Stadium run, which I can more or less also recommend, but really this was the last great Dead Spring. Jerry is rested and peppy; Bobby, Phil, and the drummers are locked in, and even old Vince is playing his heart out. Just listen to Jerry wail on New Speedway Boogie during the 3/21 show! The band are keeping time, carefully selecting scales, and placing solos and fills with precision accuracy. No, not as fantastic as spring '90, but still good.

Highlights include a bitchin' HCS, Stranger, and a back-to-roots 2nd set. Also, Liberty, one of my favorite latter-era tunes, is expertly played (this version appears on the So Many Roads box).

I joined the cult late although I saw my first Dead show in '67, there were other things grabbing my attention and I knew all these shows were in my back pocket for tomorrow and I'm so grateful they are available as flacs etc. So my ears come from a different space, think Sun Ra. Anyway I probably liked Vince better than your average dead head. This is a jam that worked on several levels, still true to the Dead tradition, none the less state of the art synths, Jerry and Vince for sure maybe Bobby too. By the way Naysayer, those are sampled Gegorian Chants from the time before Bach, when music was Just and modes were the mode.

Does anyone know what song Vince is playing about 2:15 min into the second set tuning? It sounds like a Jazz piece, John Coltrane maybe?? I know I've heard it before.

thank you dethwort

it was the best for me. mine have there moments. these atlanta runs looking back are fantabulous. maybe the best for me...... my favorite darkstar i ever witnessed at the hand of jerry(just 2).stone mountain camping was the place to be.......

Reviewer: babyblu - - January 26, 2011
Subject: what's that song Vince is playing????
Does anyone know what song Vince is playing about 2:15 min into the second set tuning? It sounds like a Jazz piece, John Coltrane maybe?? I know I've heard it before.

Little did I know this would be my third to last show.

This run was better than the '93 shows. The Band was clearly moving into a new creative phase - recovered from Brent's death - moving on.

The OMNI shows were often the first show of a new tour that started in the Bay Area - so the Band would be rested from months at home with family - practising new material, recharging their batteries. The result was the Atlanta Deadheads got the best possible shows during the 90's!

Just want to make two more observations: 1) The Band really liked Atlanta, the lovingly fanatical Atlanta crowd, and the absolutely electric vibe that would be present in the OMNI. Not saying this is unique, it's not, just really powerful. The Band, and especially Jerry, would try a lot of "Southern" type guitar stuff in Atlanta - slide guitar, acoustic sounds, more bluesish stuff - he could have come out and played a hand saw and folks would have loved it because they loved him and they love the Band. This is why the Atlanta shows are so prominent - the Band was relieved of worry, and could truly experiment - or just have fun.
2) The Dead's sound team had the OMNI totally figured out. Their first show there was in '74 if memory serves. Lotta practice. The sound would come up through the floor and, while not really "loud" (never hurt your ears), it was like being in a thunderstorm. You could feel the air around you moving. For those who never saw the Band live, Pink Floyd live would compare. The music penetrated your bones. A lot of the guitar stuff does not reproduce in recording - but at the show was "moving" around the OMNI, using the wall echoes to set up harmonics and deliberate standing waves. The drums had this figured out perfectly and the "house timing" was calibrated in their equipment mics. The OMNI had great acoustics, just complicated. The GD's people had it totally mapped. I'm an engineer, and I just don't know how you could fully capture this on a recording media - 5.1 recording was not really perfected in '94, but the Miller, han, and SirMick recordings come real close to being there. Don't think this is possible to recreate with the sources available...

The Atlanta audience was an old audience, with 3/4 of the "young folks" there the children, nieces, and nephews of the "adults". We got "the kids" seats away from us, better seats, for obvious reasons. The Band played Atlanta in the very earliest days (1967), and made a big splash. They always felt real welcome and comfortable in Atlanta. They knew slop would be ignored, if noticed; and this has left some of the best individual song performances ever from this artistic freedom level.

There are at least 3 other venues like this I know of, and their shows were consistently above-average, in both quality and slop. There is a connection.

Hope this puts the seemingly divergent comments in perspective. Folks are not hearing different shows, or different bands, but with different ears.

The rendition of Jack-A-Roe is definitely one of the best EVER. It was clear that Jerry was having some trouble with some of the words, but [as always] he did his best - and this show proves that even in 1994, Jerry's dog would still hunt! The more I listen to this show, the more I realize what a true jewel it is in the late recordings of the Grateful Dead.

IMHO, this is the best show of 1994, and the best stand since the amazing April 1,2,3 1990 OMNI stand.

All the songs just shine on this recording, despite the bad microphone cable (that was replaced during the break).

Liberty was just amazing and had everyone on their feet clapping by the end of the song. We clapped for almost 5 minutes, but they were done.

This SBD is better than the Italian bootleg CD's, even though I believe this to be the source of that recording...

I was at this show, as well as every other show at the Omni in the 90s. It's a pretty solid show for the era. The Dead went drastically downhill after 1990 or so, but almost every show seemed to have a few gems that made it worth attending.

While 20 minutes may be a bit long for a 2 chord song (fire on the mountain), this is one of the most experimental sets from a most experimental band. I saw my first show at Madison Square Garden in 1978 and my last at soldier field in 1995. While Jerry may have forgotten a few words here and there, the idea that he would insert acoustic guitar during a Dead show is incredible. Just a harbinger of what may have come next.

Sat 9th row Jerry side for this barnburner. Nice Scarlet>Fire. My second dark star (first being 6/8/92). Nice sound. Stella heartfelt.

great sound...nice to end my trip with a DS. Oh, and fer all you yucks who can't appreciate Liberty, both as a song and as an encore, well I just don't understand.
The only way they could ruin an encore is not to have one.

this is the first time i'd heard that final dark star. all i can say is that i wish jerry'd experimented with it more in 94 and 95 as his midi "wand" bent some extraterrestrial notes that would have added a lot to the d.s. canon.

sounds like he wanted to squeeze in a comes a time right before drums. sigh . . .

The "Stranger" jam is INTENSE. The Scarlet>Fire is a little different than any other I've ever heard...there's just something about it. It definitely ranks up there with 10/1/94 and even 10/14/94, which I think is overrated anyway. Stella is amazing, although doesn't have the vocal finale' at the end a la 3/21/94 or 10/1/94.Finally,this soundboard sounds AMAZING. One of the best boards I've ever heard! I went to 4/1...sure wish I'd went to this one as well! Peace.

Best new speedway..... never been a a big fan of Lazy river road until this version give it a listen it is awesome.

LOVE this show.6 up

No, it's not 1977 or 1969. Or even 1991. But I'd say it's worth a listen. Jerry's sounding okay, and I don't even mind his acoustic guitar sounding electric effects in this show. Good, solid first set (love that Lazy River), and the second set doesn't disappoint. Scarlet>Fire>Playin'>Dark Star is very nice, even if the dark star is short (and it's the last one, according to deadbase).

Sound is great. Playing is a bit sloppy, but not nearly as bad as most of the other shows from 93-95. I liked it, and would give it 3.5 stars if I could, so I'll bump it up to a 4 since it's 1994 and there are very few 4-star 94 shows.

This Stella is very nice!!

This was only my second show (of 15) and it was great to be at The Omni, far away from home (NY) during my first year of college.

First set was sort of disappointing-- Sunshine is ehh in general, Stranger seemed a bit off at least at the beginning, but maybe as my trip kicked in it gripped me. But the El Paso was really well played and then Boogie and Promised Land were pretty hot.

But the second set was different. The Scarlet>Fire was really sweet, bouncy and fun and since it was one of my favorites I felt really lucky to get one. Playin' was great, Bob was right on the mark...and then, during the jam Bob stopped playing and turned around and switched guitars and I said to my friend next to me, "they're going to play 'Dark Star'." And then about two minutes later they did! (Years later I found out this was the last one.)

Stella Blue was absolutely fabulous, the blue spotlight on Jerry I shant forget. Sugar Mag was fun but Liberty encore? A letdown on an otherwise sweet, sweet night.

The highlight of this show is a fun, western style first set. Good version of HC Sunshine too and Stranger.

But the 2nd set really shows some of those "moments" where Garcia would kinda lose it. The Scarlet Fire (nearly 30 minutes worth) is of the sloppy variety and features alot of strumming and Garcia struggling with his sound.It's hard for the listener to know when the song will end, much less the band. Lots of blown lyrics to boot. The Dark Star, for being the final version, is underwhelming.

And I'm a fan of 94-95 by the way. But I admit there are more than a few shows in this period where the music has been sacrificed by Garcias obvious other hobbies. 1994 was very "on again, off again" from night to night.

I had a tape of set one for this show about ten years ago, and I remember not being too excited by the it. Or, specifically, not loving HC Sunshine. I've reconfirmed that feeling after listening to this download. It seems that the first set rolls along a bit unevenly-- a weak HC Sunshine followed by a very surprising, very strong Stranger. (I've never been a big fan of Stranger, but the jam on it in this show is heavy, and quite surprising for song two of the set). The rest of the first set is all right-- standard El Paso, etc., and what seems to be a rather choppy New Speedway. (Ironically this New Speedway tends to get high marks, but I think Jerry is pulling one way and the drummers another. I'll blame that, as I always do, on Mickey being the consistently weak link. Good for Jerry, though, in slotting this into set one. A good omen for what's to come). The second set morphs into one hell of a show, though. The jam out of Playing probably took even the band by surprise, though they'd demonstrated some of the same edginess in the first set (during Stranger). Anyway, a very strong and adventurous second set that showed the Dead could still turn it on at times (and for inexplicable reasons). Anyway, this is a good show later 90's show, and for those who enjoy it, I'd encourage a download of 3-28-94, which seems very underrated, especially when compared to the first set of this show. (3/28 ends with one hell of a Music Never Stopped-- all the more reason why longtme fans have to accept the 92-95 Vince era of the band as just a different version of the Dead with its own peaks and valleys).

Great show - clean and spirited playing, good clean sound. Kind setlists.

Whoa. I've only listened to DS through to Liberty and, man. A little old and haggard, but still a good ride. This shows what the Dead could have done today...beyond tearing apart every good song with sixteen member cartoonish replicas of what the Dead never were...Although I loved Joan Osborne singing Ruben and Cherise in '03.

Anyway, there's a really cool soundsscape that uses not just the Dead as instrumentalists, but as curators of the already vast digital catalogue at their disposal. I would have loved to have paid to see Jerry sit down with an oxygen tank and a PowerBook and go nuts.

Jerry conjures up some scary Bela Lugosi-esque organ sounds. I, again, would have loved to have seen what he was seeing at that moment. Perhaps Abbot and Costello meeting Frankenstein while getting flushed down a kaledioscopic toilet of the universe.

Seriously, though, check out this show. Sound is superb, with some digitial static, but nothing major. You'll listen to this more than some of the DP's, I'm sure.

Being at this show was awesome. The moment that truly gave chills was listening to Playin' get trippy and spacy and dissolve. I felt like I was falling through the song into some far distant corner of the galaxy...into...oh my god...Darkstar!! Happy to have been there for the last one. Drums and Space this night were super hot! Great show for '94...only to be surpassed 2 nights later on 4/1. Check that one out too.

Although that is all the reason anyone needs to download this show. The song that really shows that this was a "great" concert is the New Speedway. When in the first set there is a special version of a song that is not necessarily expected to transcend its usual status, it makes everything else in the show come together. I think this is the case and that this show is one of the last of the Magical evenings (not just magical moments) the Dead shared as a band. Maybe overstated, but it is the ten year anniversary of the loss of a hero so please pardon any dramatization. At any rate, I am very highly recommending this show.

Sound is great, setlist is great, and for a 94 show it is great. I was there and I think that 4/1 is a better show for the energy and playing. Poor Jerry in 92-95 was losing his magic, he was pretty good at this show. Worth the dark star, but thats about it..... Hate to be so pesimistic, but there are so many killer shows from the 80's that are way better.

Honestly, I think this is the last tour that Jerry really was engaged by the music. I think by summer 94 and on, he was really tired and rolling through the motions. I know a lot of people make this exact argument citing summer 90 or summer 91 as the beginning of the end (and I can understand that). There is some real gems from spring 94 (Rosemonts, 3-21-94, 3-27-94, or the 4-6-94 soundcheck).

A 10+ minute Stranger, and someone claims Jerry was playing chords 85% of the time? Puh-lease.

Overall, this show sounds very good, maybe a little lacking on the low-end, but every member is audible, and the performance itself is pretty solid.
Overall rating: 3+.

AWESOME SHOW, good quality, I love it

"Bolt" was first introduced at Eugene in August of 1993, fwiw.
toured with it all that fall.

3-30: solid first set. Excellent Scarlet > Fire playin' > dark star (last one). Note that in the last few minutes of darkstar, Jerry is noodeling "comes a time", which was then sound-checked a week later. Must have been on his mind. Never broke it out though ?

but its the Stella Blue that gets me. My favorite version.

and about six other "reviews" he wrote

Bro...you took the words right out of my mouth!!!

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN,THE GRATEFUL DEAD HAVE INSPIRED SO MANY WITH THERE MUSIC IT'S INCREDIBLE! TO SOME OF US THIS WAS AND IS HEAVEN AND PROBABLY THE CLOSEST I'LL EVER COME TO IT ATLEAST, SO WHEN YOU ASK HOW COULD ANYONE CRY BECAUSE OF THE BOY'S WELL IT'S BECAUSE IT'S ALL WE KNOW!!! WE LIVE,EAT,SLEEP,DREAM, AND BREATH THE DEAD, SO WHEN YOU HEAR THAT ONE SONG THAT GIVES YOU GOOSE BUMPS AND YOU REALIZE THAT ALL THIS LIFE WAS JUST A DREAM AND THAT THIS ONE MOMENT YOUR FREE(TRUELY FREE) YOU HAVE TO BREAK DOWN AND SHED A TEAR!!!!!! THANK THE LORD FOR ARE BOYS PEOPLE, WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT THEM????(LOST)THERE'S SO MANY ROADS TO EASE ALL OUR SOULS BROTHERS AND SISTERS. I LOVE YOU ALL AND THIS SITE!! WE ALL MISS YOU JERRY, CANT WAIT TILL WERE TOGETHER FOREVER AND EVER WHEN WE ALL MAKE IT TO THE PROMISED LAND!!!!! RON SMART, CLEVELAND, OHIO GRATEFULDEAD2777@SBCGLOBAL.NET

Scarlet>fire>playin>dark star is nice and the space is epic in length.

Set 1 is B- but Set2 is great. Scerlet>Fire>Playin>Dark Star is great

This sounds like an FM Board to me. Or some sick DAT recording but not a true SBD as we all know of- ie the crispyness and ZERO crowd noise, hence my view that this is a FM.

Bottom line: download the show.

Great Jams on Scarlet>fire but even the Hc sunshine keyboards, described by a previous viewer as "horrible"- which is hilarious by the way- are actually decent. Also the previous viewer's comment that the dead try to "ruin the show" by playing a Liberty encore is downright hilarious comedy.
Honesty and truth- close cousins to satyre as they are, become more so when comments like that abound.

My take: Speedway boogie sounds sooo sweet! Very nice Blues jamming by JG. The Space is also worth the download.

In the mid nineties this show is a gem- if for no other reason than THIS SHOW IS THE FINAL DARK STAR. On this tour, this was only the 2nd scarlet>fire over a 19 show period.

Scarlet.fire.playin.darkstar is a very intricate set of sub jams and intermingling with the percussionists.

I had a bootleg of this show and when i had bought it i thought it looked like it would be a pretty cool show but then i brought it home and listened to it and wished i hadn't bought it

the rec. quality is great but there's a lotta flubs 75% of playin is jerry justa strummin' the basic chords for like 10 mins. and then does a little soloing befor the reprise.

the setlist printed on the back of the bootleg had sugar magnolia printed as booger magnolia for christ's sake.

deffinately heavy on the flubs

I pretty much stopped seeing the Dead around 92 or so, but they did have some good nuggets post-that time. Also some nice singing, but by & large the jams became formulaic..

The one thing that just constantly grated on me was the ultra-cheezy $24 casio-sounding keyboards Vince used ...man, those sound horrible. Witness the beginning of HC Sunshine....

Oh well...

The segue from Drums > Space has this weird chanting going on that blows me away. Some other guy wrote a review here and said "Space is for true deadheads." I couldn't agree more. Very freaky. Overall, a ery well played show with just a little static during drums. And of course this was the last Dark Star ever played.

Attended every omni show and this one is one of the best! Called the sick Sunshine>Stranger opener...speedway also rocked.
Jerry and co. get down to biz in Set2 with a smokin Scarlet>Fire and segues into the best post-91 Playin>DarkStar. Stella is beautiful and then the band tries to ruin the show by closing w/ liberty.
Aside from the weak encore, this show is a gem.

This show is the same as an italian bootleg i bought years ago, except they pasted on a crap ass aud version of liberty. This recording is much better and complete.

I was at this show - and it was the best show I saw in 1994 (out of a dozen or so). Scarlet > Fire > Playin' > Dark Star. Also, check out the midi sound Jerry has going during space. A very out there sound only to be enjoyed by true heads. (Space is for Dead Heads). This one is well worth the download.

I went to this show and for some reason I has two extra tickets. They just weren't that scarce. The Dead eventually came onstage cause I heard a very loud roar from the crowd which of course implied they were "gettin' ready". I had to get rid of those tickets. I miracled two folks this night and felt really, really good about it. I know they think good things judging from the monstrous show they were hit with. All around good times...

......This show was pure pleasure, especially the extra surprise of Darkstar....Jerry drops what we called " the Alien Tone" which comes off sooooooooo sweet...My fave moment of the show was Jerry teasing Comes a Time over and over at the end of Darkstar....My son( now 13) was at the show with me and loves bragging on seeing the Last Darkstar

I adore this show. It's solid throughout, and the Stella is one of my all-time favorites.

One of the best shows of the year. Eventhough the band had long since slid from their peak form, this Wednesday night sleeper at the Omni was a definate high point of '94. I was suprised to hear "New Speedway Boogie" in the first set. Sweet Scarlet->Fire.