Rehearsals: Club Front, San Rafael, CA - May 1987 The Times They Are A-Changin', When I Paint My Masterpiece, Man Of Peace, I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, The Ballad Of Ira Hayes, I Want You, Ballad Of A Thin Man, Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Agai, Dead Man Dead Man, Queen Jane Approximately, The Boy In The Bubble, The French Girl, In The Summertime, Man Of Peace, Union Sundown, It's All Over Now Baby Blue, Joey, If Not For You, Slow Train, Tomorrow Is A Long Time, The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest, John Brown, I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, Don't Keep Me Waiting Too Long, Stealin, I Want You, Oh Boy, Tangled Up In Blue, Walkin' Down The Line, Simple Twist Of Fate, Gotta Serve Somebody, Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking, Maggie's Farm, Chimes Of Freedom, All I Really Want To Do, John Brown, Heart Of Mine, Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms, John Hardy, Heart Of Mine, The Wicked Messenger, Watching The River Flow
Thanks to Wolfgang's Vault for use of the photo.
Sullivan Stadium, Foxboro, MA - July 4, 1987
JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, PA - July 10, 1987
Giants Stadium, E. Rutherford, NJ - July 12, 1987
 Thanks to Wolfgang's Vault for use of the photo.
Autzen Stadium, U. of Oregon, Eugene, OR - July 12, 1987
Oakland Stadium, Oakland, CA - July 24, 1987
Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim, CA - July 26, 1987
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 A Simple Twist of Fate: Jerry Garcia and Bob Dylan
 Photo by Herb Green
 Photo by Herb Green
Since the 1960's, there had been a strong connection between between Jerry Garcia and Bob Dylan. Throughout Garcia's musical life-- with both the Grateful Dead and his various solo projects-- -Garcia regularly mined the Dylan catalog for its many chestnuts. As early as 1966, the Dead were performing "It's All Over Now Baby Blue," a song that the Dead performed a few times in the late sixties and early Seventies-- and then played more regulalry in the Eighties and Nineties, typically as an encore. When Garcia and Saunders first started playing together, Garcia added "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, A Train to Cry" and "When I Paint My Masterpiece" to their repertoire. Both songs were later covered by the Dead in the late Eighties and on into the Nineties-- though Weir sang "Masterpiebce" instead of Garcia (Note: The Dead also took a stab at "It Takes a Lot to Laugh" with the Allman Brothers at the June 10, 1973 RFK Stadium show). As the Seventies continued, Garcia added "Simple Twist of Fate," "Tangled Up in Blue (with an epic second solo)," "Tough Mama," "Going, Going, Gone"and "Wicked Messenger" to his setlists. "Going Going Gone," "Simple Twist of Fate" and "When I Paint My Masterpiece" also fit in nicely with Garcia's acoustic sets with John Kahn (Jerry also performed "She Belongs to Me" with Kahn a few times). The first shows Garcia played after recovering from his diabetic coma in 1986 were with the JGB-- and Jerry added a couple of Dylan tunes to the set: "I Shall Be Released" and "Forever Young." These songs, which seemed to have been written just for him, remained regular staples of his repertoire. In the 1990's, he added "Senor" and "Tears of Rage" and resurrected "Tough Mama."
On November 16th 1980, Garcia joined Dylan onstage during a two-week marathon run at San Francisco's Fox Warfield Theatre, Garcia playing on the following tunes: "To Ramona," "Let's Keep It Between Us," "Covenant Woman," "Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power)," "Simple Twist Of Fate," and "The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar." In 1986, Dylan, who, at the time, was touring with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, joined forces with the Grateful Dead for some East Coast Stadium dates (the same tour that Garcia collapsed into a coma after). Dylan joined the Dead on stage for two of these shows and they struggled through uneven versions of "Desolation Row" (sharing the vocals with Bob Weir), "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" and Don't Think Twice It's Alright" (sharing the vocals with Garcia). These were very rough performances, but evidence of a musical spark could be heard. Dylan must have enjoyed it because soon after, in 1987, he was rehearsing with the Dead at Club Front (Grateful Dead studio) in San Rafael. The rumors of a studio album never panned out, but they did arrange a six-city stadium tour of the United States. Three shows on the East Coast:
and three shows on the West Coast:
Again- the playing was often uneven, but there were some really quite extraordinary moments. Dylan die-hards tend to accuse the Dead of being too laidback and not up to the task, but a careful listen to the tapes from the tour reveals that Dylan was basically screaming the lyrics, expending little time and effort towards offering any subtle nuances to a song selection that featured some of his best songs-- many that had not been played in a long time. The Dead, on the other hand, did their best to fill the gaps-- and Brent Mydland's playing was paticularly excellent (some of his best ever). Highlights from the tour were Garcia's pedal-steel driven on "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight," some very inspired guitar work on "Wicked Messenger," and some fairly good vocals from Dylan on "I Want You" and "Shelter From the Storm." All in all the Dead provided an interesting backdrop for Dylan, but What should have been a match made in heaven ended up being merely an interesting experiment. Warner Brothers later released a live album taken from the tour: but the producers of the album managed to overlook most of the highlights from the tour.
A year later Dylan invited the Dead to help out on the quite strange album . with Dyan covering two songs penned by Dead lyricist Robert Hunter: "Ugliest Girl in the World" and "Silvio," which featured the Dead singing back up vocals [Silvio became a regular part of Dylan's live repertoire for many years]).
 Dylan joined the Dead on stage a couple more times in the years that followed:
And Jerry Garcia, in addition to the 1980 show at the Warfield, sat in with Dylan's band two other times. He came onstage and picked up Dylan's black and white Strat for a run through "Idiot Wind" and "Cat's in the Well" at the Warfield Theatre on May 5, 1992 and then, in 1995 at the RFK Stadium in Washington D. C., Garcia joined Bob for the encore ("Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35").
Even though the 1987 tour may not have been everything Dylan fans and Deadheads wanted, or in my case fans of both, their short tour had an affect on boh of their repertoire. Dylan started to bring back more and more of his old classics, playing some of them for the fist time ever-- and he continues to so. The Dead added a number of songs, "All Along the Watchtower," "Knockin on Heaven's Door," "Maggies Farm," "Queen Jane Approximately," "Stuck in Mobile With the Memphis Blues Blues Again," and "Desolation Row," to their repertoire. Phil Lesh had been singing "Just Like Tom Thumb Blues" since 1985-- the same year Garcia performed< beautifully, "She Belongs to Me" a song that did not stay in their repertoire nearly long enough (Check out the April 28, 1985 version from the Frost Amphitheatre). Arista has released a collection of some of the Dylan songs that the Dead performed: and Rhino Records has released Garcia Plays Dylan  , a collection of Dylan songs performed by Garcia with his various solo projects over the years.
After Garcia died, Dylan started adding a few Dead tunes to his live repertoire - including "Friend of the Devil" and "Alabama Getaway."
 Garcia's voice was deep and earthy, but also fragile and, at times, a bit off key, making it a perfect match for Dylan's lyrics (especially Dylan's earlier music), and Garcia's performances of "She Belongs to Me" and "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" were highlights of the 80's and 90's Grateful Dead shows and when Garcia sang about being "Forever Young" with the JGB, you wished it were true. The most heartfelt performance of a Dylan tune by Garcia can be found on Garcia and Grisman's , a good recording that features a sweet and soulful cover of "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" that makes you miss Garcia even more. |
Dylan Sits in With Dead During 1986 Joint Tour w/ Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
*Don't Think It's Alright (Dylan and Garcia Share Vocals)
*Rubber Bowl, Akron, Ohio July 2, 1986
 Dylan sits in for most of the second set-- playing guitar, and singing a couple of songs.
Great Western Forum, Ingleside, CA Feb 12, 1989
 Thanks to Jim Anderson for permission to use photo.
Madison Square Garden, NY, NY October 17, 1994
 Thanks to Jim Anderson for permission to use photo.
Dylan Songs Covered By the Grateful Dead
* Sung By Jerry Garcia
Dylan Songs Covered By Garcia Solo Projects
* Garcia-Saunders
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