Friday Night Jerry Band

Tonight we have some sweet Jerry performances.

I saw a lot of Dead related shows (over a hundred I believe) including Bob Weir opening for Jerry with an acoustic show, the Jerry Band on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater (released as Pure Jerry it included the Halloween shows, I went on Mischief Night), The Other Ones, The Dead and the Grateful Dead. By far my favorite were the Jerry Band shows of the late 80's and early 90's. The band was so incredibly tight and Jerry just seemed more laid back and relaxed (note him smiling on the Tangled up in Blue video) with the atmosphere. The fans at a JGB show were hardcore fans and you always got that vibe from the parking lot and inside the arena or ampitheater.

First from the Shoreline Ampitheater in Mountain View, CA is a version of Dylan's Tangled Up In Blue with my favorite Jerry incarnation including Melvin Seals on keyboards, John Kahn on Bass, Jaclyn Labranch and Gloria Jones on backup vocals and Donnie Baldwin on drums. The mix between Jerry and the ladies on vocals sounds good here but can never compare to hearing it live. This show is from September 1990.



Next is Catfish John from 1980 at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ. The show was simulcast on WNEW in NYC and features the aforementioned Kahn and includes Ozzie Ahlers on keyboards and Johnny de Foncesca on drums. The video quality is horrible but sound is great.

Catfish John was always one of my favorite Jerry songs and I only heard it once or twice live.




Finally also from Shoreline in 1990 a truly majestic cover of Dylan's I Shall Be Released. A more spiritual song has never been written and this Jerry's version eclipsed the more vaunted Band version IMHO.




Jerry pic shamelessly borrowed from Cisco.

Update: This is a great version of a song I always dug, the Manhattan's Shining Star from a show I was at at the Philly Spectrum in 1991. The sound is off a bit but not too bad. The Dead and Jery always liked playing the Spectrum and until recently played more there than any band. They were surpassed by Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen.

I always liked the way Jerry performed songs like this. My wife says I'm a sucker for the slow ones like Wharf Rat, Stella Blue, Comes a Time, Row Jimy and Black Muddy River.