Like that Rory Gallagher song, it’s hard for me to avoid my old stomping grounds. Known by some corporate name now, this venue will always be Pine Knob as far as I’m concerned. I saw many great concerts there when I was growing up in the suburbs of Detroit. I didn’t attend this show (I was 9 at the time) but it’s always cool when a hometown gig gets some love no matter when it occurred.
I’m sure there are better versions out there, but the hometown appeal of this Touch Of Grey was too great for me to ignore. Add in Bruce Hornsby and it was difficult for me to pass up, mainly because I hadn’t listened to it in a while. Plus I want to give the Download Series some love here. There are some awesome shows in that series.
Almost immediately you can appreciate the dual keys players. Vince has the electric keyboard and Bruce is on the acoustic grand piano. Vince’s patch almost has a B3 quality in places, but doesn’t quite nail the sound. Phil and Bruce are up in the mix, and Jerry vocals are a bit low (but that may just be a product of this being the first song of the set when things were still being dialed in). Weir slashes through the chord changes with his typical aplomb and unique approach. The transitions sound very full with the two keys players. Jerry starts off his solo pretty slowly. Either that or he’s just way down in the mix, as the swirls of bass and keys envelopes his playing. As the song moves along I notice that Jerry’s voice sounds a bit more haggard than initially thought. Phil really nails the licks between lines with that descending run though. Nice! A few runs through the chorus brings the song to a typical if unceremonious conclusion.
Interesting pick, Lunchbox. I saw four shows on this summer tour and had a chance to go to the Pine Knob shows but decided to keep my part time job instead (and I was probably taking a summer school class). Looking back I wish I would have gone to the shows. I had a good tape of this show’s second set way back when and really enjoyed it; ’91 might not be a Hall of Fame year for the Dead but it was still pretty good–the Soldier Field show two nights later was pretty good too and Dave Lemieux has mentioned that as a possible DVD release in the future.
You mentioned the Detroit area so I’ll add that the last really “great” GD show I saw was probably 3-23-92 at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The second night was good too, but not quite as hot. We had great seats on the floor, maybe 12th row on Jerry’s side and it was a great time. Later in the night we all agreed that we could see Bobby’s uvula during Gloria. This was definitely an exaggeration based on our chemically enhanced state but we certainly had visions of Bobby, a la the Peanuts characters, screaming with a big wide open mouth. Those were Bruce’s last shows as a member of the band and maybe it’s not a coincidence that they weren’t quite as good after that.
We still had a lot of fun at shows, and at the time I’m sure I felt almost every show at Deer Creek in 92, 93 and 94 was great, but the great setting probably had a lot to do with that opinion. After Jerry died and I had time to look back and evaluate the shows I’d seen, it was easier to make an objective opinion.
Incidentally, I could have gone to the Copps Colesium shows right before the Auburn Hills shows but passed it up because of work and school. Mistake. Sometimes being responsible isn’t the right thing to do (but I won’t tell my 13 and 15 year old kids that).
I think I need to get around to purchasing this download. Thanks for reminding me about it!