1989/07/02 Sullivan Stadium, Foxboro, MA, USA [Grateful Dead]

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I've said before that the Grateful Dead's late '80s and early '90s isn't my favorite era of the band. However, because of Shakedown Stream (where the band uploaded entire concerts, both previously released and unreleased, to YouTube), I've been watching a lot of material from that period. The time period makes sense, since they need high-quality video footage, and there's simply far less of that from the '70s than from this period. In any case, it's having a positive effect: I'm starting to reconsider my words, and this Foxboro concert from July 2 1989, is partly responsible for that.

Especially because this has turned out to be such a fun and varied setlist. Opening unexpectedly with Playing in the Band and then segueing into Crazy Fingers... As a big fan of the Blues for Allah album, any concert that borrows material from it already has an advantage. Tennessee Jed and Cassidy are also a couple of personal favorites, and He's Gone is simply a wonderful interplay between the band. It's a bit odd that it sounds like Smokestack Lightning is about to be introduced, or was it just a little teaser? I have no idea, but I would have liked to see what they'd done with it that way, although the climax of He's Gone is also definitely worth it. There are plenty of Bob Dylan covers, but not the usual suspects like All Along the Watchtower or When I Paint My Masterpiece. No, this time we get Queen Jane Approximately halfway through the first set, and they end with Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn). It's not exactly one of my favorite encores they've ever done, but it's a nice surprise.

This isn't my first show with Brent Mydland on keyboards, but this is the concert that really made me appreciate him. Okay, he's partly responsible for my favorite version of Knockin' on Heaven's Door (the one from Nassau Coliseum on March 29 1990, which was released on CD a while back as Wake Up to Find Out), but he's in such good voice here! We Can Run is already a great song, but what they do here with Traffic's Dear Mr. Fantasy... Especially that coda with Hey Jude by (obviously) The Beatles is impressive and seems especially difficult. Of the many keyboardists the band has had, Keith Godchaux's playing style is still my favorite, but Mydland puts on the biggest show on stage. It must have been incredibly hot that July day, too. The show stopped a few times to spray the audience with water (so Bobby Weir could fiddle with his instruments, though he does a lot of that here), and Bill Kreutzmann's sweat was literally dripping in his eyes.

So yeah, I'm starting to revise my opinion of the band's late 80s and early 90s work. Not that I didn't enjoy it before, but I sometimes felt like they'd lost their drive. There's little evidence of that in this performance, and there are plenty of highlights. My personal favorite? Dear Mr. Fantasy > Hey Jude... Wang Dang Doodle is the weakest song on this setlist, but that's also because I've never really enjoyed that cover.

Tracklist:
  1. Playing in the Band
  2. Crazy Fingers
  3. Wang Dang Doodle
  4. We Can Run
  5. Tennessee Jed
  6. Queen Jane Approximately
  7. To Lay Me Down
  8. Cassidy
  9. Don't Ease Me In
  10. Friend of the Devil
  11. Truckin'
  12. He's Gone
  13. Eyes of the World
  14. Drums
  15. Space
  16. The Wheel
  17. Dear Mr. Fantasy
  18. Hey Jude
  19. Sugar Magnolia
  20. Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)


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