Greetings
everyone. Hope you are doing well as I delve into an installment of my award
waiting series, “It was 20 years ago today”, in which I revisit a show I saw.
Today, we visit the Grateful Dead at the good old Capital Centre in Landover,
MD. on March 17, 1993.
You can stream
the show here
I was attending
Penn State at the time. Our spring break was the week before this wed. show. My roommate Eric had a car so it would
be no big deal for us to drive down the day of the show. This was a fine plan
until the Blizzard of 1993 hit us the weekend before the shows. Hanover got
more than 20 inches of snow and most of the state was shutdown. Roads were
impassible and I didn’t make it up to State College until Tues.
Scored what we needed to get while in town and
headed back down south Wed morning. No
traffic issues and we got to the show with plenty of time to enjoy the Lot. My
friend Kristian was in Ohio for the
shows on March 12 and 13. The 12th got cancelled because of the snow
but the 13th went on. He said the roads were clear until he hit the
PA line and the Turnpike was closed. See kids, Tour is tough.
The Cap Centre being assembled
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03-17-93 Capital Centre, Landover,
Md. (Wed)
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1: Shakedown, Wang Dang Doodle, Lazy River Road, Desolation
Row, Ramble On, Eternity, Liberty
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2: Picasso Moon, Crazy Fingers> Playin> Jam> Dark
Star> Drumz> Two Soldiers Jam> Other One> Days Between> Good
Lovin E: Lucy In The Sky
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"Dark
Star" is first verse only - final/last "Two Soldiers Jam":
09-12-90 [172] - first "Lucy In The Sky"
The Shakedown
opener was all high energy. We were up in the rafters on Phil’s side and were
looking right down on the stage. In addition to their usual rugs on stage, they
had a long fiber optic cable snaked across the stage that was lit up and pulsed
in time with the music. There were even some Mother Popcorn by James Brown
teases at the end of Shakedown.
Desolation Row is
one of my favorite Dylan covers they do and Bobby even changed the lyrics to
mention Bill and Mickey. Eternity was a newer song co- written with blues
legend Willie Dixon. He played bass on many of Chess records’ gold plated blues
standards. This song is almost like Bobby’s Bird Song. It was always played
towards the end of the first set and has a spacey jam at the end.
This show was
also my first encounter with the “Kind”. I had read about it in High Times but
had never tried it. Let’s just say it REALLY blew away the shwag that was our
normal sacrament. The second set started out slow but really took off with the
Playin’>Dark Star. Deep space was the order of the day.
I didn’t know the
Jam out of space but it was a jaunty little tune. The Other One built up nicely
out of the Lonesome Cabin Boy Jam until Phil announced its arrival in the only
way he can. Good Lovin was a great ending but everyone was blown away by the
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds encore. The Vince influence on the band can be
seen in all the Beatles covers they introduced in the 90’s. ( I have to give
credit to Miah for coming up with this theory).
I hope everyone
has a safe St. Patty’s day this year. Maybe it will even hit the 60’s like it
did in 2012
Dave Kemp
BA American Studies
Ph.d Rock and roll
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