Certainly One of the Best and Most Interesting Shows of the 90s: JGB, March 1, 1991, Warfield

I have a “P: Overall:” note below which sums up my assessment. Very good, ol’ Jer.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
March 1, 1991 (Friday)
B&K 4011s MAD flac1648 shnid-141449

–set I (8 tracks, 7 tunes, 64:44)–
s1t01. crowd and tuning [2:54]
s1t02. Cats Under The Stars [9:15] [1:18]
s1t03. He Ain’t Give You None [8:10] [0:50]
s1t04. Struggling Man [7:46] [0:15]
s1t05. Forever Young [8:54] -10:27
s1t06. Run For The Roses [5:10] [0:21]
s1t07. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [8:47] ->
s1t08. Lay Down Sally

–set II (8 tracks, 7 tunes, 81:36)–
s2t09. crowd and tuning [1:40]
s2t10. [1:00] The Harder They Come 1:01-
s2t11. Money Honey [6:48] [0:57]
s2t12. And It Stoned Me
s2t13. Russian Lullaby [11:35] [0:52]
s2t14. Don’t Let Go [19:46] [0:47]
s2t15. [0:24] Positively 4th Street [8:49] ->
s2t16. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love [8:33] (1) [0:16]

! ACT1: JGB #21b (THE Jerry Garcia Band)
! lineup: Jerry Garcia – guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn – bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals – keyboards;
! lineup: David Kemper – drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch – backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones – backing vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; … = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the “real” time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19910301-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/4372 (B&K 4011 EAC gen shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/6627 (B&K 4011 no EAC shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/7329 (B&K 4011 via C. Miller shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/109050 (Da Weez, flac1644); http://etreedb.org/shn/141449 (this fileset).  I haven’t bothered to compare the various B&K tapes, but they may well be from the same source.

! band: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/02/warfield-982-market-street-san.html

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/ZW52vfHTbjs

! seealso: JGMF, “At Wolfgang’s Warfield: JGB, March 2, 1991 orchestra tape,” http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/03/ln-jg1991-03-02jgballaud-mk4.html.

! R: field recordist: unknown, maybe Rob Darroch and Sara Paul?

! R: field recording gear: 2x B&K 4011 (hand-held @ 6′, ORTF 110 degrees) > Neuman Power Supply > Panasonic SV-255

! R: field recording location: in the sweet spot

! R: DATx copy archived and transferred By Stuccoholmes 2018; Edited and Mastered by Jamie Waddell in Wavelab 7.2, 16bit 48kHz FLAC Level8 in TLH.

! P: Overall: This is widely understood as one of the great Garcia Band shows of the 1990s, and I don’t disagree. The setlist showed lots of novelty. “Struggling Man” had returned 11/20/90 (previous: 9/15/79). HAGYN had returned 1/30/91 (previous: 8/16/76). Money Honey returns this night for the first time since 8/9/80. 4th Street returns this night first time since 2/23/80. ENSTL had debuted 1/29/91. So there’s certainly evidence of Garcia challenging himself to do some interesting things. Performance-wise, maybe I was just hearing things, but both sets start with some ad hoc noodling/jamming, which is freakishly rare in the Garciaverse – I can’t really think of any other instances of this, period. Set I doesn’t strike me as exceptional but set II does, especially the last four tunes. Russian Lullaby is peppier than usual, and the band knows better than to let John try to go it alone during his feature. The Don’t Let Go is truly exceptional, a candidate for best of the 90s (along with 2/6/94 in my book [see nick]), and even best post-coma (but see 5/19/89). (I don’t compare the ’88 versions which I love so much, because those are short and snappy, while this is of the genus humongicus.) Positively 4th Street is just about perfect – I think he gets all of the lyrics, and he does it with the right degree of bitterness. ENSTL finishes off well. Finally, 81 minutes seems like a very long second set, more kudos to the ol fella for bringing some juice this night. So, putting all of this together, I think this show deserves its very favorable reputation.

! P: s1t01 there is a little jam happening here! Whoa.

! P: s1t02 CUTS Ol’ Jer is pretty lost on the lyrics. Don’t know how to end it, and the effort includes a few off-key notes by ol’ Jer.

! setlist: “Struggling Man” had returned 11/20/90 (previous: 9/15/79). HAGYN had returned 1/30/91 (previous: 8/16/76). Money Honey returns this night for the first time since 8/9/80. 4th Street returns this night first time since 2/23/80. ENSTL had debuted 1/29/91.

! P: s1t04 SM things are not on the same page at the start. JG and Kemper are out of sync, or Jer’s own guitar is not in sync with when he’s singing.

! P: s2t10 They are teasing TWYDTTYD before the tune, and then doing other weird little jams. Something in the water this night.

! P: s2t11 Money Honey love the guitar tone here.

! P: s2t13 RL John takes a feature, but Jerry and Kemper stay nicely forward, so he doesn’t have to carry to heavy a load. It works. This RL is played at a very peppy tempo, to the good!

! P: s2t14 DLG This is a great DLG. He flubs the return lyric, but it’s all good. An exceptional DLG.

! s2t16. (1) JG: “Thanks a lot. We’ll see y’all later.”