Last Show at Alpine Valley: JGB, September 15, 1989

Jerry smiling at Clarence Clemons, Alpine Valley, 9/15/89. Photo credit: Todd Darrow.

The Dead played this space all (and very often well) throughout the 80s. Garcia played it once, and it was his last time there. There must have been plenty of room to boogie on this night, as the place was half-full, but Jerry sounds great and the show, as most of its tourmates were, is strong throughout. This is the penultimate show of  twelve in the two-week tour. Nice closing with a good, relatively long and weird “Don’t Let Go” and the briefly-revived “Lonesome And A Long Way From Home”, which never gets out like it used to be still comes off well. Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell wrote this great road tripper. Garcia’s version followed Delaney and Bonnie’s more country arrangement than Clapton’s earlier-recorded R&B take, but Jerry took it out into some weird places, with some 70s versions clocking in at well over 20 minutes. After getting tons of play with the Keith and Donna era Jerry Bands (with both Tutt and Buzz Buchanan drumming), it reappeared twice in ’81 (7/26/81, 8/20/81), then made five appearances on this tour (9/3/89, 9/5/89, 9/9/89, 9/11/89, 9/15/89) before being shelved for good.

Clarence accompanies the proceedings well enough, and it sounds like a good ol’ time.

Jerry Garcia Band
Alpine Valley Music Theatre
2699 Highway D
East Troy, WI 53120
September 15, 1989 (DOW)
SJ MAC all-1 shnid-118330

–set I (7 tracks, 6 tunes, missing one song, 48:42)–
[MISSING: How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)]
s1t01. crowd and tuning [0:50]
s1t02. Stop That Train [8:00] [1:15]
s1t03. Forever Young [8:34] [1:02]
s1t04. Run For The Roses [5:36] [0:34]
s1t05. Like A Road Leading Home [8:35] [0:06]
s1t06. My Sisters And Brothers [4:11] ->
s1t07. Deal [9:#46] (1) [0:14]

–set II (9 tracks, 7 tunes, 79:53)–
s2t01. crowd and tuning [1:01]
s2t02. Harder They Come [11:16] [1:33]
s2t03. Mission In The Rain [1:17] [0:33]
s2t04. That’s What Love Will Make You Do [9:56] %
s2t05. crowd and tuning [1:04]
s2t06. I Second That Emotion
s2t07. Waiting For A Miracle [6:36] [0:20]
s2t08. Don’t Let Go/ [20:44#] %
s2t09. Lonesome And A Long Way From Home [5:54] (2) [0:02]

! 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;
! guest: Clarence Clemons – saxophone.

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.