"So it was a directive from the top [to use video effects]. If you were in the stadium, they worked; there was no doubt. People were losing their minds when that stuff was going on because they were high on acid or whatever," he chuckles. "You take them away from the band for a bit, mess with them a little, and then when the band comes back it gets a rise from the crowd; it's an old show-biz tease. But whenever I shot high-end [i.e., in stadiums], I also recorded with no effects too."
The Grateful Dead portions of two of the 1987 shows with Bob Dylan were released in 2003 as Volume IV of the band's archival video series View From The Vault (which began in 2000 and always included a simultaneous audio CD release of the same show). It features two excellent complete shows from that triumphal period. The concert from Oakland Stadium (July 24, 1987) is an exceptionally lively and high-spirited affair, with the obviously pumped-up band delighting hometown fans with such crowd-pleasers as "Jack Straw," "Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo," "Cassidy" and "Deal" in the first set, and the likes of "Scarlet Begonias," "Playing In The Band," "Uncle John's Band," "Dear Mr. Fantasy," "Bertha" and "Sugar Magnolia" in the second. Two days later the tour moved to Anaheim Stadium in Southern California, and the group hit a series of completely different high notes — with the New Orleans party song "Iko Iko," "West L.A. Fadeaway," "Bird Song" and Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece" among the first set highlights; and an extremely diverse second set that boasted a "Shakedown Street" opener, an epic "Terrapin Station," a deliciously gnarly "The Other One" and a tender and beautiful "Stella Blue."
The Dead capped their spectacular 1987 with a national pay-per-view telecast of their New Year's Eve concert from the Oakland Coliseum — most of it was released to home video in the mid-'90s as Ticket To New Year's. Once again the Dead rose to the occasion and gave the fans in Oakland (including yours truly) and many thousands across the country watching in their living rooms a very well-played and energetic show. The first set's most sparkling gems are "Bertha," "Cold Rain And Snow," "Bird Song" and "The Music Never Stopped." After Bill Graham/Father Time ushers in the New Year riding atop a huge replica of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Dead launch into a high-octane "Hell In A Bucket," followed closely by a warm and welcoming "Uncle John's Band." Once again "Terrapin" is rippling with mystery and magic, and the versions of "The Other One" and "Wharf Rat" that tumble out of the gripping "drums" and "space" segments show the band at the peak of its powers, always moving forward. As they proved with Dead Ahead, this is a group not afraid to poke fun at themselves, and Ticket To New Year's includes a few more skits, plus a couple of segments showing the typically irreverent band members answering questions posed by Dead Heads.
Next we fast-forward almost two years to the summer of 1989, a particularly strong period for the Dead. After the band rebounded from Garcia's near-death in the summer of '86 (when he slipped into a diabetic coma for a few days), they were on an upward trajectory for the next three-plus years, gaining confidence as Garcia made his remarkable Phoenix-like rise from the abyss. The band was clearly having Big Fun onstage every night, and their enthusiasm was downright infectious. It's no wonder the late '80s were such a period of growth for the band's following.
Truckin' Up To Buffalo serves up the complete show from Rich Stadium in Buffalo on July 4, 1989, and it's a hot one. Dell'Amico's direction really lets us see the communication between the players when they're "on" — the subtle cues, the quick exchange of glances and smiles as they dig into a tune or jam. It's really like eavesdropping on the band from an onstage perch. Visually, too, the group's summer '89 stage set is something to behold — the group's enormous PAs on either side of the stage and also the areas behind and above the band are festooned with nearly 60 brightly colored banners and panels of varying sizes and shapes designed by controversial Czech artist Jan Sawka. Some have sensuous patterns and abstract shapes on them, others depict elements of the natural world — trees, the sun, the moon's phases. It's big and bold and also appropriately psychedelic; weird in that uniquely Grateful Dead way.
The show is uniformly strong, from the rockin' opening combo of "Bertha" and "Greatest Story Ever Told," through the rest of the varied nine-song first set, which also includes the dreamy "Row Jimmy," the murder ballad "Stagger Lee" and a lovely take on "Looks Like Rain" (during which the crowd in the stadium gets drenched by rain). By the time the second set begins, darkness has fallen, and the Sawka backdrop takes on an even dreamier quality as it is illuminated by GD lighting director Candace Brightman. There's no letup from the band, either. It's "Touch Of Grey" out of the gate — always a winner when 50,000 people are singing along! — and then we get to tag along on a scenic journey through an eclectic selection of songs, from the calypso bounce of "Man Smart, Woman Smarter" to "Ship Of Fools," "Playing In The Band" and "Terrapin Station," all before another killer Mickey-Bill percussion duel. Brent's pretty "I Will Take You Home" drifts out of "space," and that's followed by the noisy, swirling maelstrom that is Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower," a moving and powerful "Morning Dew" and finally a joyous "Not Fade Away" with Jerry and Brent trading both riffs and grins. This being July Fourth, "U.S. Blues" is the natural encore.
Two weeks and seven shows after the Buffalo extravaganza, the Dead returned to one of their favorite Midwest haunts, Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin, for three shows. This scenic amphitheater has a covered seating area and a huge, steep back lawn section that the Dead had no problem filling by the late '80s. Downhill From Here, which consists of the entire July 17, 1989, Alpine show — save for three songs at the end of the first set that were swapped out for three from the first set of the concert two nights later — was one of the first commercial videos the Dead released in the years right after Garcia's death, and it still stands as one of the best.
In the first set there's a nice assortment of moods and tempos, from the cool funk of "Feel Like A Stranger" to the hyper bluegrass feel of "Cumberland Blues" to Weir's confident rendition of Dylan's convoluted "Desolation Row." "Built To Last" was still a relative rarity in the repertoire, while "Deal" never fails to get the crowd going crazy. The second set's "pre-drums" segment moves from the bounce and drive of "China Cat Sunflower" › "I Know You Rider" to "Playing In The Band" and the always-affirming "Uncle John's Band," then right into the still-new Garcia ballad "Standing On The Moon" — wow! The back half of the set ranges from a sing-along version of "The Wheel" to Brent and Phil's foot-stomping take on "Gimme Some Loving," "Going Down The Road Feeling Bad" and "Not Fade Away."
The show that dominates View From The Vault III took place a little less than a year after the Alpine shows: June 16, 1990, at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA, south of San Francisco. This turned out to be the last tour for Brent Mydland, who died in late July 1990, but here the sextet is still going strong, with no hint of the calamity to come. This is another show I attended, and it was easily among the best of the dozen I saw that year. This particular concert is revered for its extraordinary second set, which includes solid versions of "China Cat" › "I Know You Rider," "Estimated Prophet" and "Terrapin" before the band launches into one of their most interesting and exploratory jams during this era. The full group stays onstage for what seems like an eternity, tossing musical ideas around, moving from riffs to unusual melodic lines to deep space, all following some unknown directive from who knows where. The "drums" segment takes that experimental approach into assorted other directions, and then it all eventually resolves at an overwhelming version of the heavy ballad "China Doll" — before the celebratory "Sugar Magnolia" ending. I remember happily wondering aloud at the end of the set: "What the hell was that?