Search Grateful Dead Setlists:

Set 1:
Hell In A Bucket
Iko Iko
Little Red Rooster
Ramble On Rose
Stuck Inside Of Mobile
Loser
Let It Grow
Blow Away

Set 2:
Box Of Rain
Scarlet Begonias
Fire On The Mountain
Estimated Prophet
Standing On The Moon
Drums
The Other One
Wharf Rat
Turn On Your Love Light

Encore:
Knockin' On Heaven's Door

Download/Listen to this Show at Archive.org

Comments:

This was the show that closed old J.F.K. Stadium. It was condemed the next day. Wild show, wild crowd. Jerry Played a black and white Stratocaster.
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The authorities considered cancelling the show because of the condition of the stadium but there was a huge crowd there a day early so they thought it best to let the show go on.

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The "Blow Away" to close the first set was dynamic! Brent was testifying, crying out to the crowd to show him their "real love". I remember his command "Hold up your hands... show me your real love!" And then a chastisement, "All I see is clenched fists... open those hands! Show me that real love! Open those hands let that cool breeze blow across them..." The crowd opened their fists the breeze started blowing... Brent POPPED up in the air in glory shouting, "Now you got that real love now you got that real love..."

Maybe the best 1st set closer I ever saw.
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Seems like the "Blow Away" will be released on "Beyond Description" as bonus material on "Built To Last".
-Andy Black

It was only fitting that the Dead closed JFK; not agreat show, but not that bad either
-jerryg

I was this show and I agree about the Blow Away...brilliant. I knew it that day and the recordings show it. I disagree with the other person who said it was not a great show. I challenge him to listen to the Scarlet-Fire that day. It was one of the best I had ever heard and I still think it is. Very underrated.
-Tom

Extremely hot day in Phila. Great show, scarlet fire nice. City officials wanted to cancel the show, but with 25,000 plus already inside by noon , they decided against it.
-Anonymous

Hardly anyone ever brings up the Scarlet>Fire from this set, but it's the best I've ever heard, and I've been searching for anything better. (Why? Because I've played this so often I want something as good, but that I don't know note for note.) Even the '77 sets don't come close to this. On Fire Jerry is just making his guitar weep. Never heard anything like it before. It'll make your bottom lip quiver.
-Aaron Beck

Jerry didn't play a strat at this show. I was there.
-Seth Marchino

Jerry played a strat during Space during almost all the summer 89 shows. It was only during space though....he used The Tiger for the rest of the show.
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My first show. Standing on the Moon was haunting. Jerry's on this day. Beautiful, warm day, tie dyed banners fluttering in the breeze adorned the sides of the stage. A crazed man with a blue snow cone was tripping out in front of me...
-Dave (06/08/2007)

Loser, SOTM & Heaven's Door in one show!
Garcia ballad suite for your mp3 player.
-Perrinswolf (07/08/2007)

I was at that show - and at the Dead/Dylan show a year or two prior.
The Dead/Dylan show was a raucous dance party (well, the Dead part was). I was boogying on the bleachers of JFK.

When the Dead came again to JFK, I anticipated another outdoor summer dance party. That night the Dead gave a great performance - but long on the noodley jams and short on the raucous dance music. In fact, the show seemed under-amped and not quite loud enough. It was a night of sweet music under the stars, mellow.

We found the next day that the building inspectors had condemned JFK but let the show go on because there were already thousands of people there, and the Dead promised that they would keep us in our seats — which they pretty much accomplished!


- (08/06/2007)

Kudos Dave on the SOTM...measured pace and chilling to add to your haunding descrption of his lyrical delivery. Would love to see a pic of the venue before the wrecking ball came down.
-Brianmerrilyn (03/14/2008)

second set was awesome; first set was kind of a bore and the heat until the sun went down was brutal.
the 7/4 show in buffalo was excellent.
-bryan (11/16/2008)

let it shine!!!!!!!!
-steven (02/12/2009)

Present and accounted for on that hot July day; "Blow Away" clearly set the stage. Greatest first set closer I ever saw. "Scarlet/Fire" seemed like it went on forever; certainly the best "Fire" I ever witnessed. Who can resist a "Lovelight" closer for the 2nd set? This was my first SOTM. The "Knockin" encore was a bit of a letdown; would have liked a rollicking encore, like a nice "US Blues" or "Box o' Rain" or something, since the rest of the show was so upbeat, but Jerry was bound and determiend to make every human being hear him sing "Knockin" at least once between '87 and '91.
- (03/26/2009)

17 years old and my first Dead show. So hot being stuck on the Walt Whitman Bridge forever- but a great scene with people walking all over the road. Hearing Iko-Iko and seeing the beach balls flying and all the people dancing in the sun literally altered my view of the world.
-keith (04/21/2009)

this show was great the sound in such a big place sounded so good,i remember the rolling stones cancelled there show the very next day,iam glad they didnt cancel the dead show,it was a good one







- (10/02/2009)

My 60th show!! I had a blast. So much room to move around. Spent the show with an 'ol non-Deadhead friend...and he said to me...."here hold this and pretend it's yours"; and I was like, chills down my spine....."Oh, no!". Turns out he didn't want his Helen Reddy loving wife to know he had a big bag of weed. Pretty funny.

Show was excellent from my recollection. Loser...a treat. On board thru Alpine, only missing Deer Creek.
-rob cal (01/30/2010)

about to be released in cd/dvd format. i guess we will see who is telling the truth about this B&W Strat!
- (02/19/2010)

To be released as "Crimson, White and Indigo" CD and DVD set on 4/20/10. More here:

http://www.dead.net/features/dead-world-roundup/new-philly-89-dvd-cd-set-coming-soon

A close-up of Phil starting TO1 is enough for me to shell out for this.
-Anonymous (03/22/2010)

I was in the front row for this show. [For the record: Hornsby and the Range opened.] I met a friend there who, just a year earlier, had been walking around in a Minor Threat t-shirt. Somehow, hearing Garcia's guitar had been a transformative experience for him. He was quite high on acid, as I recall, and in some interesting spiritual space. I probably wasn't; this was a period where I was really into seeing the shows straight, because I felt I was having a more "real" experience of the music (and one I could remember better.) I'm not sure if I believe that now... or that I don't! I do recall that my parents were somewhere up in the nosebleeds... all the more incentive not to be wrecked, though I never ran into them. The idea of seeing my father-- more of a fan of Brahms and Mahler than of rock n' roll-- at a show still makes me chuckle... but he and my mother both loved it! Such was the power of the Grateful Dead to transform.

I remember enjoying the show thoroughly, but I didn't think it was anything exceptional. I'd really adored the show a few days earlier at Rich Stadium and, at the time, at least, I felt that this show paled by comparison. I wish I'd realized then something I've since come to realize: There isn't much of a difference between that unbelievable diamond and the diamond that is ever so slightly more included than it. I wish I could go back to those times and enjoy each show uniquely for what it was (of course, whenever possible, that is; we all know that they were legendary for playing the occasional total stinker show). But I recall coming away from it happy, having gotten my "money's worth."

I just listened to the CD set in the last day... called Crimson, White & Indigo. Holy shit! I put on some headphones and pumped the volume... not so great for the ears, but recreating at least some semblance of a sound similar to that at the show. I'd forgotten what this period was like. There wasn't much in the way of the slickness and finesse you might have found in the late 70s... or the insane spirit possession of the late 60s and early 70s... but there was MOTHERFUCKIN ROCK N' ROLL!!! Lovely. This was really a great period for the Dead, much as some members may have disparaged the "stadium Dead" format.

I never much believed in buying shows on tape, back in the day, when the band was playing... and it does feel strange purchasing these post hoc created live albums (unlike, for example, Live Dead or Dead Set, which were "during Dead" released)... but it was well worth the money. Hearing that rolling thunder of the drummers, Phil's thudding bass, Jerry's wailing guitar (at the peak on Hell in a Bucket... a tune that, at the time, mind you, I didn't much care for... is just screaming hot)... it brought back the memories.

Final note: Garcia's voice was fantastic this night. None of that weird old man waver that began to characterize his singing in the later years. He was fresh... sounded more like the Jerry of 80-81.

It's strange how memory deceives... how one can have one experience of music and, listening back to it, have an entirely different one.
- (05/24/2011)

I fornicated with my lovely ex in the top row of this stadium during this show. Others were doing the same.

Good times. Good show.
-Dave (10/21/2011)

Crimson, White, and Indigo is a great release; beautiful sound and presentation of a great show. Garcia is having loads of fun onstage, esp. w/ Brent; there are far too many highlights to go into here, but suffice it to say Blow Away absolutely gives me the chills, and S>F is, as usual, something to behold.
- (07/08/2013)

This show was great. Nearly every song was jamming,even Wharf Rat. Yes,even Wharf Rat was jamming at this show. A nice breath of fresh air was Standing on The Moon,after the epic Scarlet/Fire and great Estimated Prophet. The only letdown was the encore,could have been something rocking from the time like Victim or the Crime ,or Gentlemen,Start Your Engines or,how unlikely it is,a bust out. Either way the show was great from start to finish
- (03/29/2014)

Was a wild crowd best half time wave ever fun fun time . Place was a shithole glad Jerry closed it down right
-Jeff (07/06/2017)

This was a great show. Originally I wasn't going to go to this show as I already had tickets for the Meadowlands two days later and didn't have anyone to switch shifts with me at work. A couple of days before, it all fell into place; a guy asked me to take his shift the next week or something, and my buddy calls up and tells me he scored some tickets.

So off we went. It was a total DH caravan through South Jersey all the way over the Walt Whitman, so even sitting in traffic was fun - passing J's and beers back and forth in the traffic jam, playing hacky sack, etc. It was the first (and last) time I was ever in JFK. During the show the Dead literally "tore that old building down", as big chunks of concrete started falling off. I took a big chunk home as a souvenir, the kind of thing you do when you're a young man high at a great show. I think it's still in my mother's attic.

We were about 10 rows from the stage and it was a freaking sauna. Guys up front started hosing us off lightly with fire hoses. Bruce Horsby opened the show and he was great; I recognized a lot of the songs as he had heavy airplay in South Jersey at the time.

The Dead of course were amazing. The three songs I remember best was Iko, and Scarlet-Fire which was mind melting, and I was melting physically and mentally at the same time. Years later, seeing this video was really a time traveling experience. I ended up doing a bunch of shows on this tour, as I was leaving for the military in August and ended up doing mini tours from the house. Everything I saw on this tour was great, and this show left a good feeling for me about Philly; before JFK, every Dead show I saw in Philly was at the Spectrum, and the cops were serious assholes, busting everyone and cracking skulls, and the scene outside was just depressing. JFK was a total love fest; the cops were mellow, security was mellow, it was just a great time.
-JD (06/12/2018)

Crimson, White & Indigo

Disc 1

Hell In A Bucket 6:49
Iko Iko 7:46
Little Red Rooster 9:32
Ramble On Rose 7:35
Stuck Inside of Mobile ... 9:17
Loser 7:15
Let It Grow 12:42
Blow Away 12:28

Disc 2

Box of Rain 4:46
Scarlet Begonias 9:58
Fire On the Mountain 13:42
Estimated Prophet 9:12
Standing On the Moon 8:19
Rhythm Devils 10:08

Disc 3

Space 10:09
The Other One 7:47
Wharf Rat 10:32
Turn On Your Lovelight 8:20
Knockin' On Heaven's Door 8:41

-Bookkeeper (04/21/2020)

In my opinion nobody and I mean nobody cover's Dylan better than Grateful Dead! NFA65-95!
- (03/03/2021)

What a great show and amazing day. The only let down was probably the "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" encore. The GNR version of that song was popular at that time and was being played on the radio constantly. Knowing that the building was already condemned I kept waiting for a Samson & Delilah so everyone could sing "I'm gonna tear this ole building down"!!! But alas, it never came. That would have been a great encore to leave with! Aside from that I'm still grateful to have been able to experience this epic show. Jerry's MIDI is still ringing through my head after all these years!!
- (05/28/2022)

I'll have what Brent's having
-Just Exactly Perfect Band (07/15/2023)

Been jamming this show today

THe opening trio of Bucket, Aiko and Rooster are incredible
-Anonymous (07/29/2023)

Like the gentleman above--this is my new all time favorite Scarlet>Fire

From the euphoric Scarlet, the completely unique jam in the transition and a boppin' Fire complete with some intense Caution-like fanning towards the end it's perfection

Watching it on video even gives it more of a punch, after I had first listened to it, and Jerry is in fine voice
-Anonymous (07/31/2023)

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