A few years back, I interviewed Branford for an article about his mo’ famous brother, Wynton. The news that Branford Marsalis-the brilliant jazz saxophonist who guested with the Dead in April ’90-would be opening the New Year’s show topped off our heady day. The mellowness-quite a change from East Coast harshness-was contagious. We hung out in the hallways with the space dancers and spinners, with children and their folks at a makeshift Rainbow-style Kid Village. The highlight of a rather laid-back show was “China Cat Sunflower,” which opened the second set (amazingly, Maria and Rick of CAN both predicted this would happen). It didn’t take long for us to run into the hemp folks on the vending lot-Jack Herer in one corner, Cannabis Action Network in the other, both doing their own thing. We landed in Oaktown three hours before showtime. It had snowed pretty heavily the night before, but the runway was clear. We were booked.įriday morning, December 28, Ed and I took off for Cali. Don’t worry.”Įd’s ticket request came back empty, but my friend was able to score a pair for the Friday night show. Then I went to High Times editor Steve Hager and suggested the magazine send me out to California to cover the shows. I called another friend who lives in the Bay Area and asked him to make ticket inquiries on our behalf. Ed immediately fired out a money order for tickets. I came up with the plan to hop the airbus and join our Deadhead family in Mecca for the New Year’s shows. “Can’t remember a good one.” And he laughed again. “You’ve had bad New Year’s Eves since?” Ed asked.
We threw a series of deranged New Year’s parties when we were in college.) Those were the best New Year’s Eves.” (Ed and I grew up together in New York. In fact, I have a history of bad New Year’s Eves-ever since the parties we had. “I probably should have told you that I generally don’t have very good luck on New Year’s. There was only one word for our collective state: bummed.
I was absolutely convinced that, miracle of miracles, we’d find a way to get in to the New Year’s Eve Grateful Dead show at the Oakland Coliseum-despite arriving without ducats.īut we failed, and so there we were sitting in our rental car in the parking lot, listening to the show on the radio. I had neglected to tell my friend Ed a little dark secret of mine. Two intermissions and an entire year behind them, the band members harmonized beautifully on the slower-paced “Brokedown Palace” and solemnly sent the faithful back out into the night, but not before some parting words from Mayer, who said, humbly, “Thank you or accepting me into this beautiful home.In the May, 1991 issue of High Times, Steve Bloom writes about trying to get in to a Grateful Dead show on New Year’s Eve. to well past 1 a.m., the band tackled the trippy arrangements of “Terrapin Station” and “Dark Star” and delivered crowd-pleaser singalongs like “Sugar Magnolia,” “Scarlet Begonias” and “Uncle John’s Band,” while Mayer, wearing a dark blue robe for the first half of the show, let loose on solos throughout, engaged with the crowd and complementing Weir’s vocals in sweet spots like the chorus to “Ramble On Rose.” At midnight: a rollicking cover of the 60s soul classic “In the Midnight Hour,” appropriately enough. It was a more ambitious set list as well. Spread over three sets from 8 p.m. It took night one for the six-piece to find its footing - voices strained in certain spots and the beat slowing at times - but the band’s effort to come together sonically made for a more satisfying show on night two. Dead & Company Keyboardist Jeff Chimenti on the Art of the Jam: ‘Be Malleable, Pay Attention and Listen’