Speaking of anniversaries, this August will mark 40 years since I saw the Grateful Dead at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City. Anyway, January 2, 1994 finds us somewhere in Munich (I can’t recall the name of the venue–we’d fire the archivist if it were anyone but me), traveling Europe with 18th Dye. Looking over our setlists from the tour (the archivist didn’t mess everything up), I had completely forgotten about our most common method of ending the show (played on this night, among others): We’d perform a truncated version of “Out the Window,” ending right as the drums are at their wildest, before the final chorus, and go right into “Mushroom Cloud of Hiss.” Without stopping, we’d play “Sudden Organ” . . . concluding with the final chorus of “Out the Window.” Who saw that coming? Perhaps anyone who was at Roosevelt Stadium, where the Dead did “He’s Gone,” “Truckin’,” “The Other One” and “Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad” after most but not all of “Sugar Magnolia,” closing the show with the latter number’s “Sunshine Daydream” outtro. Obviously, at least one mind was blown.
