5-10 Shoreline Amphitheatre

Venue History

Show Recap

Shoreline Amphitheater

venue information

During the Grateful Dead’s performing history, they had several hometown venues. The main ones that come to mind are the Matrix, the Avalon, the Carousel/Fillmore West, the Fillmore Auditorium, Winterland, the Oakland Coliseum Arena, the Oakland Auditorium Arena/Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, and, toward the end of their performing career, Bill Graham’s Shoreline Amphitheatre, where the Grateful Dead performed 39 concerts from 1987 to 1995, including many mighty fine shows. From the first shows there in October, 1987, you could just sense how comfortable the band was at Shoreline.

I’ll run through a few of the highlights, both musical and historical, at Shoreline. In 1987, some of the first set has been included as part of the View From The Vault Vol. 3 DVD, so check that out for some excellent Shoreline footage. That DVD’s main feature is from the magnificent 6/16/90 show at Shoreline, which featured a stunning first set and some terrific, deeeeep jamming in the second set, including a monster China>Rider, and a jam out of Terrapin that goes so far that it goes right into Space, foregoing the usual Rhythm Devils segment for the most part. In 1989, on 9/29/89, the Grateful Dead broke out Death Don’t Have No Mercy for the first time in almost 20 years, and played it with a stunning intensity. Check it out on the So Many Roads boxed set. Bobby, Jerry and Brent each take a verse, and Jerry’s solo is as haunting as any he did on that song in 1969. I get chills just thinking about it. In 1991, the band played two three-night runs of shows at Shoreline, both runs with Bruce as a member of the band, and both with exceptional music at all three shows. In 1995, at the Grateful Dead’s last-ever Bay Area concerts, they invited out some very special guests, the Guyto Monks, to sit in during the second set jam on 6/2/95.

Welcome home, boys!

We'll update this page shortly after the show with the setlist and to recap each performance by The Dead as it relates to the context of the Grateful Dead's history at this venue or city.

Set 1

Back in the Bay Area, in the final week of the tour, with a bit of a late start to the show. I’ve got to say, as cool as a split Help>Slip>Franklin’s can be, to my ears it’s always best to hear it grouped together as it was in 1975, and tonight’s opening of this classic sequence is always one of my favourite openers. Phil’s tone during the opening of Help on this tour has been magnificent, and Jeff has been stealing the show during Slipknot! every time they’ve played it so far. Following this with two classic Weir-sung tunes that were pretty common here at Shoreline “back in the day,” Good Lovin’ and Cassidy, adds to a good vibe in the setlist so far. They do tend to rise to the occasion, especially when playing at home in front of a sold out crowd. The Bird Songs on this tour have been suitably exploratory, making this a nice tune to appear in the first set, and as I mentioned yesterday, the Workingman’s Dead songs have been good on this tour, so Uncle John’s Band is good to see pop up again.

Set 2

An Unbroken Chain opener, which seems appropriate as this song was played at the very last Grateful Dead shows played here at Shoreline, on 6/4/95. The Other One suite drops into Rhythm Devils, a rather quick two songs before Drums, but the percussive improv included, as DR called it, “crazy fire dancers.” Cool stuff. Space drops into Sugaree, one of the only times I can think of Sugaree out of Space, but on this tour, the only real setlist mantra to follow is to expect the unexpected. The tour’s second Gimme Shelter comes next. Sugar Magnolia always ends a set in the best way, on a huge high, with everyone smiling, so this is a most welcome close to second set. As with my note of “expect the unexpected” on this tour, the encore was something I can safely say no one saw coming. A triple dose of Grateful Dead, some old and some new (well, newer…), of St. Stephen>The Eleven>Touch of Grey. There have been some cool encore selections so far on this tour, but this, by far, takes the cake. A nice, long break between shows awaits the band, a well-earned break. Warren, of course, will be playing in town with the Allmans, but for the rest of the guys, it’s time for some sleep. But, back to Shoreline on Thursday for the tour’s penultimate show.