1991/05/11 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA, USA [Grateful Dead]

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Just as the Dead regularly played the final show at a particular venue, they also sometimes went on entire runs, playing there for days at a time. Winterland 1978 is a prime example, and the Shoreline Amphitheatre also saw the Dead play a whopping three days in a row in May 1991: May 10th, 11th, and 12th. It was far from their first time there, and it certainly wouldn't be their last, as they played Shoreline an impressive 39 times (!) between 1987 and 1995. This show falls pretty much in between.

So, another 1991 show, and just like a month later at Giants Stadium, it features Bruce Hornsby and Vince Welnick on keyboards. They had to fill the unexpected loss of Brent Mydland, and while I think that show on June 17th was very strong, this one is a bit less impressive. As always, there's a certain solidity to the performance, and we get a few nice songs (I'm becoming more and more of an Iko Iko fan, and Morning Dew should be played at every concert), but this turned out to be more of a jam show. And one that never really gets off the ground. In the first set, they even attempt a long, drawn-out version of Bird Song, and in set two, they can't seem to decide whether to transition from Playing in the Band to Drums & Space or to throw in something else altogether. It's the latter that happens, and after Uncle John's Band, we finally get the somewhat obligatory drum segment.

I've never hidden the fact that this is the one aspect of the band I rarely enjoy, but this show will go down in my catalog as the worst Drums & Space. Perhaps it's also partly due to the terrible editing and ridiculous montage. You're basically watching a toddler draw for half an hour. It's not that the other Drums and Space are such a spectacle, but it still keeps me in the vibe a bit more than what's done here. The guitar jams also deliberately introduce a kind of stuttering, using all sorts of bright colors. Honestly, it gave me a headache. From then on, the quality is thankfully raised again with a decent Morning Dew, before ending somewhat boring with Around and Around and The Mighty Quinn. Jerry is practically unintelligible during that encore, which actually makes me suspect he might have started the psychedelic stuff a bit too early. It must have been a really cold evening, too, considering Bob Weir is wearing long pants! How on earth Phil could play in such a thick, warm turtleneck sweater is beyond me, but he pulls it off.

It's also pretty cool to watch Hornsby. He always plays with such a sense of wonder, as if he can't quite believe he's playing with the Dead. Those brief interactions with him and Jerry are priceless, and although Hornsby (and Welnick) had a tough job replacing Mydland, they're still doing a great job. Hornsby has a fantastic piano, by the way... Be sure to check out the pre-show with Hornsby following the Shakedown Stream; he's a great storyteller. Although, he'll just keep babbling if you don't stop him.

Tracklist:
  1. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
  2. Wang Dang Doodle
  3. Peggy-O
  4. Queen Jane Approximately
  5. Bird Song
  6. Promised Land
  7. One More Saturday Night
  8. Iko Iko
  9. Playing in the Band
  10. Uncle John's Band
  11. Drums
  12. Space
  13. I Need a Miracle
  14. Morning Dew
  15. Around and Around
  16. Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)



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