Final

Tuesday, February 23, 1993

Oakland, CA - Mardi Gras · Oakland Coliseum

Show stats

Tuesday: Day 54 of 1993
Show #: 8 of 83
Era: Final
Keys: Vince
Recordings: 12
Top rating: ★ 5.00 (5)
Best source: MATRIX
Total dl: 134,440
Songs played: 18 · 3 sets
Show length: 2h 58m
Longest track: Drums (3) · 14:19

Curator Score

How this is computed →

90CanonicalRank #10 of 1,978

Rolling Stone Top 30archive.org ratingNotable guestBust-out rarityRelisten rating

Curator's Note

Mardi Gras at the Oakland Coliseum, with Ornette Coleman's Prime Time opening the night and then Coleman himself returning to sit in for most of the second set. His harmolodic alto over The Other One, Stella Blue, and Turn On Your Love Light is one of the most adventurous guest passages in the band's history, the avant-garde and the jam tradition meeting on open ground. Rolling Stone later ranked it the fifth-greatest guest jam the Dead ever hosted.

Guest sit-in

Ornette Coleman — Oakland Coliseum, Mardi Gras. Ornette Coleman (whose band Prime Time opened) joined for most of the second set, playing alto sax on The Other One, Stella Blue, and Turn On Your Love Light plus a free jam. Rolling Stone ranked it the #5 greatest guest jam in Dead history.

From the Curator's listening journal · 1 entry

Listened Friday, June 26, 2026 · Archive
Nasty Wang Dang Doodle followed by a rock solid Loser. One of my favorite Memphis’ with Vince pulling some major wait during the key solo. Broken Arrow is super nice. Long Way to Go Home is fire! Incredible Mardi Gras drum parade into Aiko with horns to start the second set. Gnarly spacey intro to amazing Corina that sails into Lazy River Road. So damn good. This second set is just non-stop greatness with Ornette Coleman sitting in. 30 minute top shelf Drums-Space-The Other One. If you usually skip these DON’T skip this show’s. The Stella Blue with Ornette is also a must listen version in my opinion. Show is a later days scorcher.

From the tapers · archive.org · 3

★★★★★ · Up in treetops... · Joshua_me · 2011
One of the last great shows... This "Playin'" fascinates me... It has no forward momentum to speak of... It just hangs there in midair, inert and wondrous and very, well, "trippy". NO other band could weave the magic like The Dead could... HIGhly recommended second set.
★★★★★ · Ornette · monkeytot · 2023
If ever a band needed a sax player it's The Dead! If ever that sax player needed to be Ornette it was, for one night. Free jazz king meets free rock kings. Extra-ordinary. Oh, and I was at the show. Jerry played the Pelican.
★★★★★ · Photo of the evening · achiappanza · 2023
Jonathan... I just scanned my photos from that night. You are welcome to use this as the photo accompanying your recording. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=731929012282544&set=a.728106897321215

Community reviews from archive.org, not the Curator.

Bust-outs & rarities

◦Mardi Gras Paradeonly ever played here
◦Memphis Bluesonly 5 plays ever

Setlist

Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

1.Brokedown Palace

Setlist from CMU Dead archive (mleone/gdead)

Recordings on archive.org · 12

Best source

gd1993-02-23.142895.mtx.tobin.flac1644

Matrix 2 Source Mix - SBD (shnid = 1611) SBD> DAT> Sonic Solutions (for phase correction)> CD; via Mike Hall + AUD (shnid = 141067) fl1c6/44.1 Source Info: FOB Schoeps CMC 54-> DAT Transfer Info: DAT Tape (Panasonic SV-3700) -> Coxial SPDIF-> Marantz PMD 661 MKII (Solid State Recorder)-> SD Card-> Wav-> Flac Level 8-> Tagged (16/48) Transfers by Pete Ebel - matrix mixing by Kevin Tobin · ★ 4.50 (2 reviews) · 4,006 dl

Relisten archive.org

Compare all 12 sources

gd1993-02-23.116152.NeumannKMF4.daweez.d5scott.flac16source: 2 Neumann KMF4 microphones-up front > Sony TC-D5M - analog master cassettes; · ★ 5.00 · 8,142 dl
gd1993-02-23.123213.mtx.flac16Matrix created with Audacity, Sbd +0 dB Gain, Aud -8 dB Gain, with slight variations to avoid clipping; soundboard source - gd93-02-23.sbd.unknown.14485.sbeok.shnf and aud source - gd1993-02-23.116152.NeumannKMF4.daweez.d5scott · ★ 4.33 · 14,438 dl
gd1993-02-23.134784.neumann.fob.jbraveman.flac1648flac16/48kHz ; Source: Neumann TLM 170 FOB AUD > DAT; · 2,530 dl
gd1993-02-23.138786.SchoepsMK4.FOB.Darroch.Ammons.t-flac1648flac16/48kHz ; Rob Darroch recording [FOB DFC]: Schoeps MK4 Capsules in hat > Bill Reutelhuber PS > Panasonic SV250. Mics worn in hat by Rob Darroch; John Ammons · 1,018 dl
gd1993-02-23.141067.fob.cmc54.ebel.flac1644fl1c6/44.1 Source Info:FOB Schoeps CMC 54-> DATTransfer Info:DAT Tape (Panasonic SV-3700) -> Coxial SPDIF-> Marantz PMD 661 MKII (Solid State Recorder)->SD Card-> Wav-> Flac Level 8-> Tagged (16/48)Transfers by Pete Ebel · 907 dl
gd1993-02-23.141069.set1.fob.unknown-mics.ebel.flac1644flac16/44.1 set 1 only. Source Info:FOB Mic's Unknown-> DATTransfer Info:DAT (Panasonic SV-3700) -> Coxial SPDIF-> Marantz PMD 661 MKII (Solid State Recorder)->SD Card-> Wav-> Flac Level 8-> Tagged (16/48)Transfers by Pete Ebel · 689 dl
gd1993-02-23.142895.mtx.tobin.flac1644Matrix 2 Source Mix - SBD (shnid = 1611) SBD> DAT> Sonic Solutions (for phase correction)> CD; via Mike Hall + AUD (shnid = 141067) fl1c6/44.1 Source Info: FOB Schoeps CMC 54-> DAT Transfer Info: DAT Tape (Panasonic SV-3700) -> Coxial SPDIF-> Marantz PMD 661 MKII (Solid State Recorder)-> SD Card-> Wav-> Flac Level 8-> Tagged (16/48) Transfers by Pete Ebel - matrix mixing by Kevin Tobin · ★ 4.50 · 4,006 dl
gd1993-02-23.142896.dts.tobin.flac1644DTS-Audio-CD 5.1 Mix ; - SBD (shnid = 1611) SBD> DAT> Sonic Solutions (for phase correction)> CD; via Mike Hall + AUD (shnid = 141067) fl1c6/44.1 Source Info: FOB Schoeps CMC 54-> DAT Transfer Info: DAT Tape (Panasonic SV-3700) -> Coxial SPDIF-> Marantz PMD 661 MKII (Solid State Recorder)-> SD Card-> Wav-> Flac Level 8-> Tagged (16/48) Transfers by Pete Ebel - dts mixing by Kevin Tobin · 366 dl
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