Sunday, October 6, 2013

It Was 20 Years Ago Today: Jerry Garcia Band, 10/31/93, Brendan Byrne Arena, E. Rutherford, NJ



     Hello everyone. I hope you are enjoying this one last blast of Indian Summer, although I think temps in the upper 80’s in October is a little ridiculous. But I’m not here to brag about still having my AC units in, I’m here to talk about the other big Halloween show I attended (the first being Phish Halloween 1994). This time we enter the Way Back Machine and set the controls for 1993 in the swamps of northern New Jersey as I recount the Jerry Garcia Band at the Brendan Byrne Arena on October 31, 1993.


     I was attending Penn State at the time and the arena was less than a 4 hour drive from State College. Myself, Nad, Nats, and EM headed out to the show. At the time, Nad was on an Elvis kick. This photo is from the bathroom at my world famous apartment in State College. 808 W. College Ave, ground floor.

Note: Nad put this in his Christmas card one year

     We drove to the show and hit an INSANE amount of traffic on the way to the show. The arena was located right next to the Meadowlands Stadium. And on that day, the Giants were playing the Jets so every Jersey meathead was in attendance. So as we tried to get into the parking lot, everyone else was getting out. Nad decided to get changed into his costume while we were sitting in traffic. So as he is getting into his Elvis outfit, people are blowing their horns and catcalling.
      I can’t remember what I went as but Nats went as a longshoreman. I also remember Nats burning his nose with the lighter. Someone at a party at Penn State thought he was going as an Amish man because he had a beard with no mustache.
Note: This is not Nats

Jerry Garcia Band, 10/31/93 Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ
Set 1
How Sweet It is, He Ain’t Give You None, Forever Young, Run for the Roses, Money Honey, Lay Down Sally, My Brothers and My Sisters, Deal

Set 2
Shining Star, The Maker, Tore Up, It’s A Wonderful World, Ain’t No Bread in the Breadbox, That Lucky Old Sun, Midnight Moonlight

Encore: Werewolves of London

I can’t find a recording to stream online but here is the JGB from Jerry Day that I attended back in August when I was crushing Phish West Coast Tour.


     The show was OK. I’m not the biggest fan on 90’s Jerry Band because it just didn’t have that much energy. The set lists did not vary at all. On that fall tour, he only did one encore and that was for the Halloween show. But I still very blessed to have seen this performance. There was a spider suspended over the stage and someone was really bouncing it up and down during Werewolves.
     The drive home was even longer. It rained down a mixture of sleet and snow. And we had a tractor trailer get all up on our asses. It was actually rather scary, especially since I was driving my friend’s car. But we made it back to PSU in one piece but I’m gonna hope I skipped a few classes the next day
    So enjoy Fall as Phish’s first fall tour in 3 years is almost upon us. I know this guy can’t wait

 My outfit for Phish Halloween 1994

Dave Kemp
BA American Studies
PhD Rock and Roll

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