Hello everyone. I hope you all had a blast
yesterday celebrating German Hanover heritage/tribute to obesity that Dutch
Days entails. Wow people, put down the fried food and back away. At least most
of them were walking around. Boxcar kicked ass on Frederick St. and then even
more ass (which as stated above, Hanover has an abundance of) at the Winner’s Circle.
But I’m not here to talk about the here and now. I’m going in the way back
machine back to the year of 1992. Bill Clinton was telling everyone he didn’t
inhale but a whole lot of inhaling happened at RFK Stadium in Washington DC on
June 20 for the Grateful Dead.
By now, I had graduated from high school
and already had a year under my belt from Penn State. Nad was graduating from
high school and the show, just like in 1991, fell over Senior Week. So we went
down to Ocean City for most of the week, busted Nad’s chops for seeing the New
Kids on the Block back in ’89 or 90 and then left to go see the good old
Grateful Dead.
This was Watson’s first show. Just talking
pregame, he mentioned how he would love to hear Casey Jones. My reply was
something along the lines of never gonna happen. They hadn’t played it since
1984. I knew that off the top of my head because of my scholarly study of
Deadbase.
We made it a point to get in for the
opener Steve Miller. The first show I ever saw was Steve Miller at Merriweather
Post in June 1990. I was really into him at the time and was a really big fan
of some of his earlier work from the late 60’s. I listened to the Anthology
collection a lot even before I got into the Grateful Dead. He didn’t disappoint by playing some of his
earlier work and I was fired up and ready for the Dead
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06-20-92 Robert F. Kennedy
Stadium, Washington, D.C. (Sat)
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1: Cold Rain, Wang Dang Doodle, FOTD, Mexicali> Maggie's
Farm, Row Jimmy, Picasso Moon, Tennessee Jed> Promised
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2: Corinna> Crazy Fingers> Playin> Uncle John>
Drumz> Casey Jones> Throwing Stones> Saturday Night* E: Baba
O'Riley*> TNK*
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*with
Steve Miller with Bruce Hornsby on accordion - Steve Miller opened - locomotive
airhorn during "Drumz," also to begin "Casey Jones"-
"Shenandoah" theme during "Space" - last "Casey
Jones": 11-02-84 [549] - sound check: "Baba O'Riley">
"TNK," "Casey Jones," "Way To Go"
You can stream it here
First set was typical of the era. Second
set opened with Corinna (still one of my least favorite tunes). The energy picked
up a lot from Playin>Uncle John’s. During Drumz and Space, they moved the
sound around on the speakers which gave the impression that the band was at the
back of the stadium. It was extremely disorienting, and I really wasn’t as
disoriented as I would be at later Dead shows. Mickey also came out with train
horns during Space. These were beyond LOUD. They had been using them on most
stops of the summer tour so they really didn’t foreshadow the return of Casey
Jones. I had no idea about them sound checking it.
But when they did go into Casey Jones, the
place erupted. Evidently, Watson has powers beyond my comprehension. It sounded
pretty good. Steve Miller came out for the encore which I was also geeked for.
Love the Who and the Beatles so this was exactly what the doctor ordered.
Everyone have a great Jerry Week, which
begins Aug 1st and continues until Aug 9th. Why is this
week 8 days? Cause Deadheads will take an extra day of partying.
Dave Kemp
BA American
Studies
PhD Rock and
Roll
My first and only show!
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