Grateful Dead: The Desert Sky Pavilion 25th Anniversary Album

After three February shows in Oakland, the Grateful Dead’s first tour stop of 1994 was Desert Sky Pavilion, in Phoenix, Arizona, March 4-6. Quite a bit of the music was as hot as the temperatures everyone had to endure.

Here are two hours pulled from those three nights, displaying a tight, enthusiastic, swinging band. The jams are powerful, and there are several with passages that will stop you in your tracks, including the vocal interplay out of “He’s Gone.” Lots of jaunty fun and thoughtful grooving to be had in other places. It’s a shame Garcia fumbles vocals on “Brown Eyed Women,” as this is a crackling performance. Weir has a moment on "Let it Grow," too. 

“Eternity,” “Way to Go Home,” and “Broken Arrow” from the 5th can be found on this mix of the best versions of the band’s new tunes, as performed during March, 1994.

Cover art by George Herriman (“Krazy Kat”).

110-minute mp3 mix zipped up here

  • Feel Like a Stranger
  • Loose Lucy
  • When I Paint My Masterpiece
  • Bertha
  • Brown Eyed Women
  • Let It Grow
  • Playin’ in the Band
  • Saint of Circumstance >
  • He’s Gone
  • Bird Song (instrumental edit)
  • Little Red Rooster
  • Estimated Prophet
  • Iko Iko

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17 responses
So excited to see this! I attended the shows and like so many of the later 94-95 shows I saw, never really listened to them. 1994 GD really has an extreme 'without a net' sound: everything obviously falls apart so completely at times -but sometimes they recover impressively, coalescing around a riff or a theme and playfully finding they're way someplace truly worthwhile. Garcia's vocals on "Masterpiece", the breakneck pace of "Bertha", stops and starts of the "Stranger" jam as they try to get there (and eventually do)...there's a lot to like here and I appreciate you sniffing it out for this mix. Selfishly I wonder if there's a two hour mix to be had from the 4 Florida gigs at the end of the Spring tour. Those setlists don't jump out off the page, my memories have faded, but after this Desert Sky redux - I'm all ears. Thanks again & hey now!
— t
T, I'm glad this stuff hit you right way - you saw good stuff at those shows! I will check out the four Florida shows, which I've never heard. There's a missing soundboard for at least one show of most stands/cities in March, but I'll see what the tape situation is for Florida and go from there.
— John Hilgart @4CPcomics
T, looks like soundboards are missing for the first sets of two of the four shows, but that's no barrier to a mix. I'm listening to the Shakedown now, and after a rough start, it sails along quite nicely. Eager, too, to hear a rehearsal/soundcheck from this moment that's out there.
— John Hilgart @4CPcomics
WoW, the Bird Song instrumental edit, that is wildly dense. 1994 GD still had great peaks, just hard to appreciate them without a good editor taking a scan first. Thanks for your efforts on this late period excavation- its important work and much appreciated.
— t
Thank you for your mixes. Another resounding yes for Florida 94: the EYES from 4/7 is often overlooked, heads should give it a listen if they haven’t yet!
— Dario
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