Grateful Dead Prep RFK Box Set With Lithe ‘Touch of Grey’ at Unreleased D.C. Show
The Grateful Dead deliver a limber performance of “Touch of Grey” in a new clip from their previously unreleased July 12th, 1989 concert at Washington D.C.’s RFK Stadium. The whole concert will air at movie theaters nationwide tonight, August 1st, as part of the the Dead’s seventh annual Meet-Up at the Movies event – and in honor of what would have been Jerry Garcia’s 75th birthday.
The Dead opened their July 12th RFK gig with “Touch of Grey,” getting the crowd moving early on as Garcia picked out an effervescent solo and delivered the song’s pop-tinged vocals. With the rest of the Dead providing back-up harmony, the band breezed through the final refrain of the 1987 hit – “We will get by” – with plenty of bombast bursting from Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann’s dueling percussion.
More from Rolling Stone
Along with the Meet-Up at the Movies screening, the Dead will release a box set comprising their July 12th and July 13th gigs at RFK Stadium on November 10th. The previously unreleased concerts were taken from the band’s 24-track analog recordings and mixed by Jeffery Norman and mastered by David Glasser.
The six-disc set is available to pre-order via the Dead’s website. The release comes with a slip case featuring artwork from Justin Helton as well as a book with liner notes from writer and filmmaker Dean Budnick. The RFK shows will also be available as digital downloads.
The RFK shows came in the middle of a busy, but remarkable, year for the Grateful Dead, during which they played 74 concerts. “This tour is widely considered the start of a nine-month period of sustained excellence, which ran from Summer ’89 through Spring ’90,” said Dead archivist David Lemieux. “The RFK shows are as good as any of the more famous shows from this period, including July 4th in Buffalo, July 7th in Philadelphia, and the Alpine run. 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.”
Grateful Dead RFK Stadium Concerts Track List
July 12th, 1989
1. “Touch Of Grey”
2. “New Minglewood Blues”
3. “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo”
4. “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”
5. “Far From Me”
6. “Cassidy”
7. “Friend Of The Devil”
8. “Promised Land”
9. “Sugaree”>
10. “Man Smart, Woman Smarter”
11. “Ship Of Fools”>
12. “Estimated Prophet”>
13. “Eyes Of The World”>
14. Drums>
15. “I Need A Miracle”>
16. “Dear Mr. Fantasy”>
17. “Black Peter”>
18. “Turn On Your Love Light”
19. “Black Muddy River”
July 13th, 1989
1. “Hell In A Bucket”
2. “Cold Rain And Snow”
3. “Little Red Rooster”
4. “Tennessee Jed”
5. “Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again”
6. “To Lay Me Down”
7. “Let It Grow”
8. “He’s Gone”
9. “Looks Like Rain”
10. “Terrapin Station”
11. Drums
12. Space
13. “I Will Take You Home”
14. “The Other One”
15. “Wharf Rat”
16. “Throwing Stones”
17. “Good Lovin’”
18. “U.S. Blues”
pmcCnx.cmd.push(function() { pmcCnx({ settings: { plugins: { pmcAtlasMG: { iabPlcmt: 1, }, pmcCnx: { singleAutoPlay: 'auto' } } }, playerId: "d762a038-c1a2-4e6c-969e-b2f1c9ec6f8a", mediaId: "2ded1c55-6447-4188-9bed-017aa4dc2763", }).render("connatix_player_2ded1c55-6447-4188-9bed-017aa4dc2763_3"); });
Best of Rolling Stone
Sign up for RollingStone's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.