Grateful Dead - 1991-10-31 - Oakland, CA (SBD)

Grateful Dead

1991-10-31

Oakland Coliseum

Oakland, CA

Soundboard Recording

256 kbps

Artwork Included

1st Set:

01. Help On The Way >

02. Slipknot! >

03. Franklin's Tower

04. Little Red Rooster

05. Loser

06. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues

07. Let It Grow

2nd Set

01. Scarlet Begonias >

02. Fire On The Mountain >

03. Truckin' >

04. Spoonful >

05. Dark Star* >

06. Jam >

07. Drums >

08. Space >

09. Dark Star >

10. The Last Time

11. Standing On The Moon >

12. Throwing Stones >

12. Not Fade Away

Encore

01. Werewolves Of London

* Ken Kesey gives Eulogy to Bill Graham  

Grateful Dead - 1991-10-31 - Oakland, CA (SBD)

When the Grateful Dead took the stage in Oakland October 31, 1991, 2  decades ago this very day, the band was still reeling from the death of long time promoter and friend Bill Graham. Graham had died in a helicopter crash just 6 days earlier. The Dead would take part in the official celebration of Graham’s life just 3 days later on November. They used their Halloween night performance; however, to pay a personal tribute to the man they called Uncle Bobo. As the Dead began their segue from Dark Star into Drums, Ken Kesey emerged from the shadows in top hat and tails. Kesey, a long time Dead head and friend of Graham, a man who wrote One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, hosted the Acid parties and traveled with the Merry Pranksters in a bus called Further (as chronicled in the Dead tune The Other One), delivered a eulogy for Bill. Part psychedelic, part poetry, part pomp and circumstance, and entirely personal, Kesey’s speech (read it here http://gankmore.com/son.html), set against a jam that sounded like the collision of heaven and hell, sent shivers down the spines of all in attendance. Perhaps fittingly it would be the last time the band ever played on Halloween. Download this one and while you listen, say a prayer for Bill, Jerry and all those we have lost from the rock world, and in our own lives, who have touched our souls.

Grateful Dead/Bob Dylan Connections

• The Dead, as well as Jerry Garcia in solo shows, made covers of Dylan tunes such as All Along The Watchtower, Stuck Inside of Mobile, Maggie’s Farm, The Mighty Quinn and When I Paint My Masterpiece, just to name a few, staples of their live sets. 
• Robert Hunter, the Dead’s long time lyricist, co-wrote 2 songs on Dylan’s 1988 album, Down in The Groove. 
•  In 1987, Dylan and The Dead played 6 shows together, where the Dead opened with their material, then served as Dylan’s backing band for a closing set. 
• In both 1986 and 1995, Dylan served as the lead in band for several Dead concerts. 
• He also made several guest appearances at their shows, most notable a February 12 1989 show in Los Angeles and a October 17, 1994 performance in New York. 
• Fittingly, when Bob Weir played a concert the same night his brother in music, Garcia, passed away, the song he chose to close the night was Dylan’s Knockin on Heaven’s Door.