Cities Burn and The Show Goes On: JGB at the Warfield, April 30, 1992

jg1992-04-30.jgb.all.aud-vasseur.141475.flac1644

On April 30, 1992, as on other Thursdays before, at least a couple American cities were in flames as protests over racial injustice turned violent and disorderly in the aftermath of a Simi Valley jury’s acquittal of four LAPD officers accused in the March 1991 beating of black motorist Rodney King.

The Garcia Band played the Warfield, part of an extraordinary run of 11 Jerry appearances there with three different bands in 13 days: JGB April 29-May 3, Bob Dylan on May 5th, and Garcia-Grisman from the 7th to the 11th. Selvin provided some context:

With looters and police clashing on the street outside the theater, for the Jerry Garcia Band at the Warfield Thursday night it was business as usual. Background vocalist Gloria Jones traveled from her East Bay home on BART and, with Market Street stations closed, was forced to exit on 16th Street and take a bus back downtown, barely making it before show time.

An attendee posting at JGC remembers, too:

Riot police surrounded the theatre and there were reports of gunshots in the streets. An announcement was made from the stage warning patrons not to leave the theatre.

As Selvin titled his piece, “The Show Goes On.”

I have historically thought that 1992 was absolutely the worst, most boring and useless year for the JGB. I remember *hating* 2/7/92 at one time, despite a luscious Marcus Buick tape. I might still think the year is the most boring, but it’s not all bad. 8/1/92 pleasantly surprised me. On a first listen, this 4/30/92 didn’t move me much, but then I revisited it and I found plenty to like. As has been the case lately, I find myself especially fond of the second set. My bottom line note reads as follows:

Garcia sounds tired, but he probably *was* tired. After his August collapse, he described his state earlier in the year: “I
wasn’t ill. There was no pain. I just had zero energy. I was always tired. I’d
always been able to get through a concert, but now it was getting hard. I
hadn’t realized how run-down I’d got” (Carroll 1992). As was often the case for late era Jerry, weariness
suits the material pretty well. This isn’t one you’d give to a newbie to turn them on to JGB, but aficionados may just be able to appreciate the OG perspective is really setting in at this point. The segment that goes R&C, Gomorrah, DLG and The Maker is quite excellent. First listen DLG didn’t kill me, but this time I found it to be very strong.

There are a few songs at interesting points in their lives: last “Throw Out the Lifeline” (with a spotty performance history note”), penultimate “Let’s Spend The Night Together” (5/2/92 the last, IIRC), newly arriving, the third “Maker”, which would become a late-era favorite. I also note Our Hero playing some slide in “Gomorrah”, which I don’t recall having heard before, which is not to say it wasn’t always there.

Anyway, not bad, old timer. Not bad. Listening notes after the jump.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA
April 30, 1992 (Thursday)
Vasseur shnid-141475

–set I (7 tracks, 62:06)–
s1t01. [0:08] Cats Under The Stars [9:53] [0:28]
s1t02. Señor [7:08] [1:14]
s1t03. Let It Rock [8:37] [1:06]
s1t04. Strugglin’ Man [6:36] [0:53]
s1t05. That’s What Love Will Make You Do [9:00] [0:23]
s1t06. Throw Out The Lifeline [5:08] [0:32]
s1t07. Let’s Spend The Night Together [10:53] (1) [0:06]

–set II (7 tracks, 65:33)–
s2t08. //Ain’t No Bread In The Breadbox [#8:36] [1:38]
s2t09. And It Stoned Me
s2t10. Reuben And Cérise [9:08] [0:33]
s2t11. Gomorrah [6:38] ->
s2t12. Don’t Let Go [14:54] [0:44]
s2t13. The Maker [7:31] [0:05]
s2t14. Midnight Moonlight [6:58] [0:05]

! 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/19920430-02

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1992-04-30

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/6345 (Schoeps CMC34 Dank certified shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/141475 (this fileset).

! 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

! ref: Selvin, Joel. 19920502. Something Else: Show Goes on for Jerry Garcia. San Francisco Chronicle, May 2, 1992, p. C4. “With looters and police clashing on the street outside the theater, for the Jerry Garcia Band at the Warfield Thursday night it was business as usual. Background vocalist Gloria Jones traveled from her East Bay home on BART and, with Market Street stations closed, was forced to exit on 16th Street and take a bus back downtown, barely making it before show time.”

! historical: Folks disgusted by the Rodney King verdict down in Simi Valley were rioting on the streets of San Francisco. JGC reports that “Riot police surrounded the theatre and there were reports of gunshots in the streets. An announcement was made from the stage warning patrons not to leave the theatre.”

! R: field recordist: Chuck Vasseur

! R: field recording gear: 2x Neumann KM54 > DAT

! R: Transfer: DAT Master > CDR (Kyle Porter)

! R: Extract: CDR clone > EAC > WAV > FLAC16 (Bill Shaw aka Shark)

! R: Source Notes: Sometime in the early 2000’s, Chuck loaned Kyle all of his 92-95 JGB masters to transfer to CDR. Kyle “mastered” the DATs to CDR, fading in/out as needed, adjusting levels (as needed) and tracking. Kyle then gave Chuck his masters back, with nice CDR copies of all of it. Chuck offered to clone the entire set for me, so I gave him a spool of 100 blank MITSUI CDRs and the next time I saw him, he gave them back to me, filled with his JGB recordings. Many of the Chuck V. JGB recordings do circulate already, but probably not all of them, and those that do may not be the Kyle Porter transfers. So, Here they are! –Shark

! P: On a first listen, I liked several pieces, but the show overall struck me as lackluster. Here on a second listen to set II, I am liking it more. Garcia sounds tired, but he probably *was* tired, and on this listen, it suits the material pretty well. This isn’t one you’d give to a newbie to turn them on to JGB, but aficionados may just be able to appreciate the world weariness that is really setting in at this point. The segment that goes R&C, Gomorrah, DLG and The Maker is quite excellent. First listen DLG didn’t kill me, but this time I found it to be very strong.

! P: s1t01 CUTS great guitar tone early 6, nice raunch which the crowd appreciates.

! P: s1t02 Señor he fumbles some of the lyrics, but this is pretty powerful.

! P: s1t03 LIR he hits his big growly guitar vibe 5:25. Some pretty clever, unexpected progressions 7:40ish. This version is good, but it doesn’t blow the roof off.

! P: s1t05 TWLWMYD total confusion on the lyrics, repeatedly.

! song: “Throw Out The Lifeline” (s1t06): Weird performance pattern: 10/31/88, 11/5/88, 12/3/88, then shelved for two years; 11/20/90, 11/21/90, 11/24/90 (third straight show), 12/22/90, 1/29/91, shelved again for over a year; this version, then back on the shelf for the duration. This version is quite good.

! song: LSTNT (s1t07): this is the penultimate version of the Stones’ rocker.

! s1t07 (1) JG: “We’ll be back in a coupla minutes.”

! P: s2t11 Gomorrah Garcia is playing slide right around 5-minute mark!

! song: “The Maker” (s2t13): third version, less than a week after debuting.


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8 responses to “Cities Burn and The Show Goes On: JGB at the Warfield, April 30, 1992”

  1. m0thra Avatar

    One of my favorite Warfield shows. Great setlist, very intense. They made an announcement at the set break, something to the effect of "Martial Law is in effect…stay inside and you'll be safe". Of course this was one of just a handful of Warfield shows at which I chose to trip. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YckQMKIcA4E3m86wy6m7sLxG5EJLrsgz/view?usp=drivesdk

  2. Fate Music Avatar

    Thanks, Michael! Must have been intense.

    I was wondering about Gomorrah this night … "left nothing there but fire", and all that.

    Thanks for the stub!

  3. m0thra Avatar

    I remember an unusually late start this night, John Kahn playing the first set with his hat pulled down very low over his eyes, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, ashes tumbling on his belly. And a big crowd reaction to Struggling Man, "every man's got the right to live…"

  4. Matt Stern Avatar
    Matt Stern

    I was at that show and it was eerie. They wouldn't let us inside for a long time, so the line of Heads along the building out front kept getting scorned by the rioters, before they started misbehaving. "Come join us; you can see Jerry anytime" and the like. You could feel the ambient tension rising. In the intermission Jerry came back out. He never does that, so we knew it was important. Crazy times. If anyone is interested, I can tell the entire story of that night. Also, I would love to get a recording of that show.

  5. Fate Music Avatar

    Please do email me at [email protected]. Thanks!

  6. Mr. Completely Avatar

    Might be worth one more revisit with the new Katz onstage (!!!) source available. This show didn't jump out at me before either but what I'm hearing today kinda smokes. The setlist is obviously elite but there's more fire in it than I recall

  7. dharani Avatar

    Awesome show I remember kids walking around saying diamonds for buds that they just looted.there was also the war against the homeless in sf and food not bombs was daily getting beatdowns from the pigs for trying to serve the people food down on market.i remember watching when folks went out of to he Warfield immediately the pigs were waiting and started clubbing them right when they stepped out.that was the sf Rodney king riot day and the next evening was the Berkeley telegraph Ave riot after folks took over sf bridge they marched to tele and I saw a white girl on a scooter try to pass by the mob and they pushed her off it stomped her face in and torched her scooter then came up to telegraph and smashed and looted untill next day was a curfew and they had 2 by 2 groups of 10 people every 2 blocks on both sides trying to enforce.i was living on telegraph at the time and got to see it all .and the Jerry grisman shows were awesome also..thanks for sharing.

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