MyOptics - A Visual Record of a Journey

Ah, yes, back at the Meadowlands, where the Grateful Dead had a long, at times outstanding, history at both
venues here, Giants Stadium and the Brendan Byrne Arena (aka Meadowlands Arena, aka the current Izod
Center). The band performed 30 times at the Meadowlands, with a nearly-even split between indoor and
outdoor shows, 14 at Giants Stadium and 16 in the Arena.

The Grateful Dead’s first visit to the Meadowlands was on 9/2/78, to Giants Stadium, with the show being a
kind of send-off for the Egypt ’78 shows, which took place two weeks later. This show in 1978 was the band’s
second consecutive Labour Day Saturday visit to New Jersey where they drew massive crowds to both gigs
(the 1977 show on 9/3/77 at Englishtown, of course, was made into the stunning Dick’s Picks Vol. 15), owing
to two main factors: the huge numbers of New York City-area Dead Heads, and the fact that the show in 1977
was the first New York area show since May, and in the case of the 1978, it was the Grateful Dead’s only
New York area show of the year, and aside from 11/24/78 in Passaic, the band was seemingly avoiding the
city. With five Nassau and five Madison Square Garden shows in 1979, they sure made up for it quickly. After
1978, the next Giants Stadium shows were in 1987, 1989 and then every year between 1991 and 1995, with
two shows per summer from 1989 onward. The 1987 show was part of the Dylan and the Dead tour, and
featured some great energy. Starting in 1983, the Grateful Dead visited the indoor Brendan Byrne Arena
every year up to 1989, with the exception of 1986.

There were loads of musical highlights at the Meadowlands, and in terms of just Giants Stadium
performances, they included the stellar Scarlet>Fire on 9/2/78; the Morning Dew second set opener on
7/12/87 (a show the featured an excellent first set); the two great shows on the summer tour of 1989, with
numerous highlights including an opening Shakedown>Jack Straw>West LA Fadeaway on 7/9/89 that began
two incredible nights of music. In 1991, the new version of the Grateful Dead returned to the Giants Stadium
after a year off with new keyboard players Vince Welnick and Bruce Hornsby, playing two solid nights of
music, with the second show in particular being a standout. This second show featured a rare Eyes of the
World opener and a Dark Star theme throughout. Thankfully, this show was not only video taped (some of
which was broadcast on network TV), but it was also recorded to multi-track tape, so hopefully a nice 5.1
DVD release is produced some day.

On the indoor side of things, the Grateful Dead played plenty of great shows at the Brendan Byrne starting
with shows in 1983 that featured an appearance by old friend of the Grateful Dead Stephen Stills on 4/17/83,
playing on his own Black Queen, as well as Iko Iko, One More Saturday Night and Johnny B. Goode. Also in
1983, at the first show on 4/16/83, Bobby debuted his Little Star song that only lasted a short while in the
repertoire. In 1984 and 1985, the band made two-night stops here on the Fall Tours, with a spring stop in
1987 and 1988. The shows in 1988 were excellent, coming on the heels of three great nights in Hampton,
VA. The 4/1/88 show had an extraordinary first set, and a second set that didn’t have the most insane setlist,
but that featured monumental playing. Finally, in 1989, the Grateful Dead played a five night run at the
Brendan Byrne Arena, with Bobby and Jerry visiting David Letterman for their final trip together to Late Night,
performing Second That Emotion. They did not attempt to levitate Jerry, as they had in 1987. The 1989
shows wrapped up on 10/16/89, Bobby’s birthday, with a show for the ages, one so good that it was
released in its entirety as Nightfall of Diamonds.

We'll update this page shortly after the show with the setlist and to recap each performance by The Dead as
it relates to the context of the Grateful Dead's history at this venue or city.

Meadowlands - Set 1
The setlists to these shows keep getting better, with virtually every night offering a taper’s dream list. I can’t
tell you how many times we all used to sit around dreaming up crazy setlists, and on this tour, they’re coming
close to some of those lists. The first set opens with what used to be one of my favourite Grateful Dead show
openers, Touch of Grey, which then fell into the always-fun Pride of Cucamonga. I distinctly recall hearing this
live for the first time on 7/3/99 at the Warfield with Phil and Friends, with that version of the band featuring Bill
Kreutzmann, David Nelson, Barry Sless and Steve Kimock. Loads of fun, and so different from the April
shows with the Phish guys and the June shows with Jorma, Prairie Prince, Steve, Dave Ellis and the girls
singing. At the July shows, Phil took advantage of the fact that he had a pedal steel player, Barry, with him
and broke out Pride of Cucamonga. I am likely mistaken, but I believe that could be the first ever live version
of Pride of Cucamonga. And it was REALLY good. Tonight, this was followed by Crazy Fingers, played so
well a couple of weeks ago. Then a couple of usual first-set closers, Music Never Stopped and Deal (I saw a
great Deal in this same building on 4/1/88), and then Days Between and Casey Jones to wrap things up.

Set 2
As we alluded earlier, these setlists have been magnificent. On this night, the second set opens with a couple
of 1960s Grateful Dead tunes, Sitting On Top Of The World and Doin’ That Rag, with the former being a
first-time-on-the-tour-breakout. Nice! Then comes Ramble On Rose, a song this band always plays well. In
fact, this song has been played well by virtually everyone since 1995, including The Other Ones, RatDog and
Phil and Friends. And then comes the always great-to-hear Terrapin Station. I saw my first live Grateful Dead
Terrapin Station in this very building on 3/31/88, coming on the heels of a short-but-sweet Scarlet-Fire and
Samson & Delilah. It was the song I most wanted to hear, and was over the moon happy when they broke into
it, 20th row on the floor in front of Brent. To this day, I get goose bumps when I hear them go into that when I
put on the tape. For one of the wackiest things you’ll ever hear, check out the Watchtower from that same
show. Crazy stuff. Also, Bobby’s background vocals on Hey Jude are excellent and way out there. A dynamite
little run of shows, those Brendan Byrne 1988 shows. The second set of 4/1/88 as truly one of the most in
synch I ever saw the band play. Perfection. This Terrapin then flowed into Drums and Space, always excellent
so far on this tour. Then comes one of the finest out-of-Space tunes there ever was, The Wheel. It was always
so much fun at Grateful Dead shows when they would roll out of Space with a nice, long Wheel introduction,
and then before you knew they were singing those ultra-cool lyrics. And for a while there, loads of The Wheels
went into Gimme Some Lovin’, a combination I never tired of. After The Wheel, they slip in the ending of
Terrapin Station, a cool split for sure. Then, I Know You Rider, of course! Aborted the other night after China
Cat, it is cool that they returned to it tonight. I only saw the Grateful Dead play Rider once without China Cat,
on 8/5/89 at Cal Expo, a very cool surprise out of Playing In The Band. Capping the show off with Women Are
Smarter is a first, but a rocking way to end the night nonetheless. On to Philly for shows at the Spectrum…