The Grateful Dead: September ’94 (5-disc set)

Here’s another slab of delightful 1994 Grateful Dead highlights, covering the first two weeks of the band’s final Fall Tour, 25 years ago (September 16-29). 

I’ve now posted mixes covering the whole year, with the exception of December. I think they establish that when The Grateful Dead were on point in 1994, they were an excellent band, whose best recordings are worth keeping handy. 

More notes, and links to the other 1994 mixes, below the track list…

6h15m mp3 mix zipped up here (dates included in tags)

Disc 1:

  • Let the Good Times Roll
  • Cumberland Blues
  • Jack Straw
  • West LA Fadeaway
  • They Love Each Other (final performance)
  • China Cat Sunflower (instr. edit) > I Know You Rider
  • When I Paint My Masterpiece
  • Brown Eyed Women
  • Tennessee Jed
  • The Same Thing
  • Black Peter

Disc 2:

  • Feel Like a Stranger
  • Touch of Grey
  • Greatest Story Ever Told
  • Jack-a-Roe
  • The Music Never Stopped
  • Little Red Rooster
  • Wang Dang Doodle
  • Ramble on Rose
  • Queen Jane Approximately
  • Standing on the Moon

Disc 3:

  • Playin’ in the Band >
  • Uncle John’s Band
  • Terrapin Jam
  • Playin’ Jam >
  • Eyes of the World
  • Jam (after Samba)
  • He’s Gone
  • Stella Blue >
  • One More Saturday Night

Disc 4: 

  • Victim or the Crime
  • All Along the Watchtower
  • Estimated Prophet >
  • Eyes of the World
  • The Wheel >
  • Good Lovin’
  • Iko Iko
  • Throwing Stones >
  • Not Fade Away
  • Don’t Ease Me In

Disc 5:

  • Saint of Circumstance
  • Jam
  • Spanish Jam >
  • The Other One >
  • Wharf Rat >
  • Sugar Magnolia
  • Cassidy > (acoustic, no drummers)
  • Bird Song (acoustic, no drummers)

In the month of September 1994, The Grateful Dead played three shows at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA and three at Boston Garden. In between was the first Phil Lesh and Friends show, which featured an acoustic set featuring everyone but the drummers. All these performances, except the first set of the first Shoreline show, circulate as soundboards, and this mix is drawn from them. 

I’ve previously presented highlight mixes from the year’s Spring Tour and the Summer Tour, as well as posting two Fall Tour mixes from October, including one titled “October ‘94.” (Note that the Fall Tour link will take you to a page that starts with this September post - scroll down for the previous two.)

The dividing line between my September/October mixes is the 10/1/94 show in Boston, which is currently the only officially released show of the year, included in the “30 Trips Around the Sun” box set.

The principles of this “September ’94” mix are comparable to, but more generous, than the “October ‘94” one. In this case, I’ve let in more later songs and covers, and edited some flawed songs, rather than excluding them in their entirety. The other restrictions were the same – no new songs and no drums/space. 

Lots of wonderful versions of classic and side-bar songs here. There are minor stumbles sprinkled around, but nothing you’re not used to forgiving, in the best or years. 

18 responses
Been negligent in checking, so I'm just getting to dig into this today. Already know I'm in for a treat as this West LA is HOT. Thank you again!
I've been enjoying the '94 collections. Not an era I thought I would like. Not a fan of synth and midi, at least in this context but I was pleasantly surprised. Thank you. I just started exploring the '70 acoustic sets in hopes of enough unique material to fill a CD. Kind of a Reckoning prequel. Looks like there is. Love acoustic Dead. I would love to see what you would do with that material. Any interest?
Uncle Dan, Jesse Jarnow/@bourgwick is fast approaching those acoustic shows in his chronological listening journey. Maybe we can conspire to listen to and curate the acoustic shows in tandem.
I found this to help guide me through them all. https://onemoregratefuldeadblog.blogspot.com/20... I'm currently distilling the post into a simple list of dates and setlists so I can focus only on the acoustic sets. I'm not worried about duplicating songs on Reckoning but as many unique songs as possible with repeats to fill it out. "Best" is always subjective so it looks like I'll have to listen to them all to find mine. And then there's source quality to contend with. The tandem listening sounds fun, how would that work? We could move the conversation to another line of communication if you'd like.
There are so many acoustic sets, and I have no idea if/how songs changed over that period, so I don't think I'll be diving in right now. I was thinking about following along with Jarnow's listening notes early next year and seeing how that opens up this stuff to me. But I totally endorse you going for it!
And thanks for that guide!
I've been so busy lately that I might be at the same place by then. So much to go through. Trying to see what I have and what I have to chase down. Dick's Picks Vol 8 - 1970-05-02 disc 1 sounds real good. Might use that as my base and build from there. If I move faster than I expect to I'll et you know.
I thought I mentioned it but this idea came from this post after having to listen to the full Phil and Friends acoustic set. Thanks for that one. I like Vince more when he's playing a natural instrument.
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