Grateful Dead – R.F.K. Stadium Washington D.C. 1989 (Live) (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 05:22:51 minutes | 6,61 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Rhino Entertainment
The Grateful Dead battled the elements in July 1989, enduring drenching rains and stifling humidity during back-to-back shows at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in the nation’s capital. In spite of the bleak weather, the band thrilled the massive crowds both nights with triumphant performances that rank among the very best of a busy year that included 74 shows and the release of the group’s final studio album, BUILT TO LAST.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY STADIUM, WASHINGTON, D.C., JULY 12 & 13, 1989 includes two previously unreleased concerts taken from the band’s master 24-track analog recordings, which have been mixed by Jeffrey Norman at TRI Studios and mastered in HDCD by David Glasser. The collection’s colorful slip case features original artwork by Justin Helton and a perfect-bound book with in-depth liner notes written by Dean Budnick, editor-in-chief of Relix magazine. The set will also be available as a digital download in Apple Lossless and FLAC 192/24.
When Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Brent Mydland, and Bob Weir rolled into D.C. in July 1989 for the Dead’s two-night stand at RFK, the band hit the stage running with a stellar rendition of “Touch Of Grey,” the group’s biggest hit from its only Top 10 album In The Dark, which was released in 1987. The following night, the band returned to its double-platinum commercial breakthrough when it opened the show with a fiery version of “Hell In A Bucket.”
“RFK Stadium ’89 fell right in the middle of one of the best tours of the last 15 years of Grateful Dead performances, with these shows being the sixth and seventh of an 11-show tour. This tour is widely considered the start of a nine month period of sustained excellence, which ran from Summer ’89 through Spring ’90. The RFK shows are as good as any of the more famous shows from this period, including July 4 in Buffalo, July 7 in Philadelphia, and the Alpine run,” says David Lemieux, Grateful Dead archivist and the set’s producer. “When Bob Weir has asked me to provide copies of Grateful Dead songs to give to his bandmates to learn and rehearse, he almost always requests Summer ’89, and I’ve often drawn upon the RFK shows for this purpose. It’s really that good!”
Both shows feature standout moments, but the July 12 show is notable for a few reasons. Perhaps the biggest is that the first set featured at least one song sung by each of the band’s four lead singers – Garcia, Weir, Lesh and Mydland – something that rarely happened. Another surprise came when the band opened the second set with “Sugaree,” a song that almost always appeared during the first set.
Pianist Bruce Hornsby — who briefly joined the band between 1990 and 1992 — is featured on both shows. He played accordion during “Sugaree” and “Man Smart (Woman Smarter),” with a touch of keyboard-tinkling, on July 12, and then played more accordion the following night for “Tennessee Jed” and “Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again.”
For fans of Mydland’s tenure with the Dead – which began in 1979 and ended in 1990 with the keyboardist’s tragic death – these stellar shows capture that incarnation in peak form. Among the long list of highlights are performances of live staples such as “Eyes Of The World,” “Wharf Rat” and “I Need A Miracle,” along with rarities like “To Lay Me Down,” which was played only a few times in 1989. The July 13 show also features the band road-testing “I Will Take You Home,” a track Mydland wrote with Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow that would appear later that fall on Built To Last.
Tracklist:
01. Grateful Dead – Touch Of Grey (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (06:56)
02. Grateful Dead – New Minglewood Blues (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (08:17)
03. Grateful Dead – Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (10:08)
04. Grateful Dead – Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (05:09)
05. Grateful Dead – Far From Me (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (05:32)
06. Grateful Dead – Cassidy (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (07:01)
07. Grateful Dead – Friend Of The Devil (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (07:52)
08. Grateful Dead – Promised Land (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (05:01)
09. Grateful Dead – Sugaree (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (10:48)
10. Grateful Dead – Man Smart, Woman Smarter (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (08:12)
11. Grateful Dead – Ship Of Fools (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (09:40)
12. Grateful Dead – Estimated Prophet (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (10:45)
13. Grateful Dead – Eyes Of The World (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (10:12)
14. Grateful Dead – Drums (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (09:27)
15. Grateful Dead – Space (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (08:33)
16. Grateful Dead – I Need A Miracle (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (04:57)
17. Grateful Dead – Dear Mr. Fantasy (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (06:22)
18. Grateful Dead – Black Peter (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (09:09)
19. Grateful Dead – Turn On Your Lovelight (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (06:37)
20. Grateful Dead – Black Muddy River (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/12/89) (06:32)
21. Grateful Dead – Hell In A Bucket (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (08:15)
22. Grateful Dead – Cold Rain And Snow (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (06:34)
23. Grateful Dead – Little Red Rooster (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (09:24)
24. Grateful Dead – Tennessee Jed (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (08:31)
25. Grateful Dead – Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (09:56)
26. Grateful Dead – To Lay Me Down (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (09:26)
27. Grateful Dead – Let It Grow (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (12:35)
28. Grateful Dead – He’s Gone (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (10:42)
29. Grateful Dead – Looks Like Rain (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (09:14)
30. Grateful Dead – Terrapin Station (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (13:07)
31. Grateful Dead – Drums (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (08:45)
32. Grateful Dead – Space (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (07:38)
33. Grateful Dead – I Will Take You Home (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (05:17)
34. Grateful Dead – The Other One (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (10:38)
35. Grateful Dead – Wharf Rat (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (11:04)
36. Grateful Dead – Throwing Stones (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (09:46)
37. Grateful Dead – Good Lovin’ (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (08:23)
38. Grateful Dead – U.S. Blues (Live at R.F.K. Stadium, Washington D.C. 7/13/89) (06:09)
