Saturday, July 2, 1988

If you don't like this show, then you don't like the Grateful Dead. This is about as good as the band got in 1988. While it's easy to argue that the Dead's best years were during the first half of their career, there's a lot to be said for what they did at their best later on. This one has a little of everything, or at least as much as can be crammed into a 3-hour GD performance. I often use the word "amazing" to describe the Dead's music, and it applies here.

Ah yes, Bobby's pepto pink strat. In addition, let's not forget the sleeveless cut-off t-shirt to underscore the point that he had been lifting recently. To me, Oxford was the height of Bobby's wannabe-ness. A particularly funny moment occurred during one of the choruses of Row Jimmy (probably the one right after the 3rd verse where Brent used to solo), when Bobby gets the notion to grab his guitar like a canoe paddle and starts paddling air--very purposely and seriously.