Greetings everyone. Hope everyone that went to Atlantic City for Phish had a raging and safe time. I had to skip AC as I am doing Denver this upcoming Labor Day weekend. But thinking about shows, the beach, and the first few weeks of June started jogging my memory. I then realized I missed a show last summer. Where as everyone headed to the beach this weekend for a show, my friends and myself left the beach to hit a show. So without further ado, I present a brand new, one part series, “It was 21 Years Ago Today…” as I present the full story of the Grateful Dead at RFK Stadium in Washington DC, on June 14, 1991.
I graduated from high school in ’91 and had been making plans for Senior Week for awhile. The boys announced their summer tour plans and the closest show, RFK, fell right at the end of Senior Week. So myself, Nad, and RJ (again, names have been changed to protect the innocent) made plans to do most of Senior Week and leave 2 days early to hit the show in DC on Friday.
My Lot instincts were on fire the whole week. At my friend’s place, the douche bags next door had a keg and a blowup doll on their front porch. Needless to say, they attracted the wrong kind of attention. I saw the cops roll in and got everyone in our room to go out the back door and walk around the block. As this was going on, Andy Peterman and some friends were across the street and watched as the police arrived. He later told me he breathed a huge sigh of relief as he saw us walking around the corner of the building.
We left Friday AM and made a beeline to Washington DC. RFK is on the western side of DC so it was relatively easy for us to get there. Get on New York Ave./Route 50 and take a left at the Lucky 7 Liquor store. They always had a banner hanging outside that said “Welcome Deadheads”. The Lot was sweet and were ate some amazing goulash. How amazing was it? I still remember it oh these many years later. The guy was really nice and struck up a conversation with us. I always wondered how amused the older Heads were at us younguns. We headed inside to our seats, lower level, under the shade.
Dwight Yokum opened (yes you read that right). I didn’t know anything of his and he covered Truckin’, which he had previously covered on an all star tribute album to the Dead, so I knew I would not be hearing that tonight. Even though I had 5 shows under my belt by this time, I still hadn’t seen Truckin’ live yet. But lo and behold who was sitting right behind us? The guy who sold us the goulash.
06/14/91 (Fri) Robert F. Kennedy Stadium - Washington, DC
Set 1: Cold Rain & Snow, Wang Dang Doodle, Jack A Roe, Big River > Maggie's Farm, Row Jimmy, Black Throated Wind, Tennessee Jed, Music Never Stopped
Set 2: Help On The Way > Slipknot > Franklin's Tower, Estimated Prophet > Dark Star > Drums > Space > Stella Blue > Lovelight, E: It's All Over Now Baby Blue
And here is a link to stream it
http://archive.org/details/gd1991-06-14.nak300.bleich-sirmick.111113.sbeok.flac16
The first set was all high energy. As my friend Miah remarked, he forgot how good the Jack A Roe was. As I’ve stated before, this is my favorite lineup of all the shows I saw. Vince on keyboards and Bruce Hornsby on baby grand piano. Ten Jed and Music to end a set is always a pleasure. The Help Slip Franklin’s second set opener was on fire. The Dark Star (the 2nd I’ve seen in 5 shows lol) was OK, with some really deep space before a quick exit into Drumz.
It had been a long day and Nad passed out during Space. But in his defense, Space can be really boring. A gorgeous Stella Blue gives way to a rip-roaring Lovelight and a gentle Baby Blue.
Hope everyone enjoyed my trip down memory lane and look forward to my next installment as I hit Burgettstwon and Cuyahoga Falls next weekend.
