Dumbek's Random Stuff

9/13/93 - The Grateful Dead @ The Spectrum in Philly

I didn't mention it before, but all of these Grateful Dead links point to archive.org, where you can stream these shows in their entirety. Many are downloadable.

hmmm...I have a TicketMaster ticket for this show, which means I didn't mail order for this run. I think I was extremely broke at the time and couldn't afford to drop that kind of money at one time for tickets. I think I mail-ordered for one show and scrambled amongst my friends for their extra tickets for the other two. That would also explain why I didn't go with Steve to this show, but rather my friend Randy - a friend/co-worker that I occasionally went to shows with.

Our seats were very close, but on the side/slightly behind Jerry. Nice view of the entire stage, allowing us to see some of the behind-the-scenes action we'd normally miss. I remember thinking this was a great show for '93, but still not quite to the level of 89-91. I still say this show holds up much better on paper than it does based on the actual performance. That 2nd set looks insane:

Scarlet->
Fire
Playin->
Dark Star->
Terrapin->
D/S ->
Tubular Bells Jam->
Easy Answers->
Days Between->
Good Lovin

Someone needs to smack "Buzzkill Bob" upside the head for throwing "Easy Answers" in there. What the hell was he thinking? Anyway - despite the dream setlist, it wasn't as good as it could have been. I recall this whole set fitting onto one 90-minute tape. For a show featuring "Playin'", "Dark Star" and "Terrapin", that's pretty disappointing. The "Dark Star" (a song that could easily go 30+ minutes in the 70s) was barely 5 minutes long. The high point of this show was easily the "Tubular Bells Jam." Just beautiful. I'll credit Vince with coming up with that one (even though I have nothing to back that up with.)

This wasn't a bad show by any stretch of the imagination. It was a really good show that could have been amazing, but fell a little short. Another picky Deadhead, indeed.