On Octorber 20, 1984, The Grateful Dead played their third and final show at The Carrier Dome in Syracuse. It would be the last East Coast show of their Fall 1984 tour, following two nights at Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, NJ a few nights prior. Playing to a clearly packed Dome, the Dead throw down a vintage show full of original classic and noteworthy cover songs.
After a brief warmup, the band jumps headlong into a bubbly and downright perky “Bertha.” Brent Mydland is engaged right from the get-go and peppers this one with soulful organ fills throughout before Jerry Garcia takes his first prolonged guitar solo of the evening. It’s not quite a segue, but at song’s end there is an immediate shift to “Greatest Story Every Told” with Bob Weir taking over on lead vocals and Mydland supplying harmonies. Garcia’s tone, again, sounds immaculate on guitar, providing a thick, funky vibe to this one. Once completed, after a brief tuning lull, Garcia starts up “West L.A. Fadeaway” and the Dead are off and running again in the Carrier Dome. It’s a somewhat slow and moody “Fadeaway” that works nicely in this early slot in the first set and even features some slight vocal effects.
Things shift back to a bluesy mood with Weir taking back the mic on a classic run through of “C.C. Rider.” The full band soon gets involved and this is a version that reeks of blues and stretches out naturally. At it’s conclusion, Weir plays the role of traffic cop and leads everyone’s favorite crowd instruction for those crammed up front in “Take A Step Back,” replete with super echoey vocal effects for good measure.
With this seemingly resolved, the band then leaps into a pleasant and lively “Ramble On Rose” with Garcia belting out the lyrics flawlessly. However, afterwards, Weir gets even more dire and serious with a second and third renditions of “Take A Step Back” that seems to be for the benefit of the crowded “bug-eyed” folks up front at the behest of the fire marshal. It’s pretty remarkable that a venue as massive as the Carrier Dome can have the floor fill up to near fire-hazard capacities.
After a quick jaunt through “My Brother Esau” that almost sounds like it’s cut off preemptively at the end, “Birdsong” then starts the ending sequence of the first set with a poignant version that again sees Garcia up to the task on vocals. This one bobs and weaves for a while enjoyably before eventually straightening out, eliciting a long round of applause from the Syracuse faithful.
There would be time for only one more number in this set and the Dead make it count and then some with a pristine “Jack Straw.” Garcia and Weir belt out the poignant lyrics from the outset on this one before it slowly intensifies into its usual pace with Garcia leading the charge with some impeccable work on the fret board. Once finished, Weir notifies the crowd that they’ll be right back and makes one more plead for everyone to “take a step back” before they leave the stage. Was the floor just oversold? People sneaking in from the sides? Maybe a little of both.
The second set later begins with an audio clue of sorts, as some signature funked out tuning licks give way to a full fledged “Shakedown Street.” The Dead rip through the composed section which contains some more echoey vocal effects, clearly taking advantage of the Carrier Dome acoustics. This elicits a thoroughly funked out jam that sees the rhythm section fully engaged and on point, led by bassist Phil Lesh. This leads directly into the drum-heavy intro of “Samson & Delilah” in a true segue that’s executed flawlessly. An extended intro fuels a powerful take on this classic Dead number that features some more timely organ fills from Mydland although it doesn’t get stretched out very far, coming to a fairly abrupt stop. Things then get considerably more mellow with a heartfelt take of “He’s Gone,” a nod to the late Pigpen, one of the founding members of the Grateful Dead. Both the “steal your face right off your head” and “nothing left to do but smile” lyrics get noticeable rounds of applause from the Carrier Dome crowd and Garcia drops some more dazzling guitar licks in the middle of this one.
“He’s Gone” elicits another soulful, bluesy extended jam which feeds directly into a quasi-bust out of sorts with the return of “Smokestack Lightning.” Before its last performance eleven days ago in Worcester, this one hadn’t been played by the Dead since March of 1972. Some beautiful interplay between Garcia and Mydland highlight this performance which fuels one of the more sizable and extended jams of the evening. Once it begins to dwindle out, this sets the stage for the “Drums” portion of the show with Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, aka The Rhythm Devils, taking center stage on percussion.
After the rest of the band returns to the stage, the closing leg of the show kicks off with “The Wheel” whose jam serves as the launching pad for a spirited “The Other One” that features some more sublime work on the piano from Mydland early on. It’s one of the more powerful songs of the whole show with Lesh dominating the rhythm on bass while Garcia throws in a bevy of fast-paced licks on guitar. As the jam lessens in intensity, it slowly funnels into a “Black Peter” with Garcia belting out the soulful lyrics flawlessly.
Instead of getting stretched out, “Peter” shifts almost instantly to a rousing version of “Turn On Your Lovelight.” It sees Weir doing his best Pigpen impression with some soulful, freeform lyrics towards the end as the second set comes to a close. For an encore, the Dead treat the Carrier Dome to a cover of The Beatles’ “Revolution” with Garcia on lead vocals as the third and final show at this iconic Central New York venue comes to a close.
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View this and more Grateful Dead shows from across the years in New York State with our interactive map below
Grateful Dead Carrier Dome – Syracuse, NY 10/20/84
Set 1: Bertha-> Greatest Story Ever Told, West L.A. Fadeaway, CC Rider, Ramble On Rose, My Brother Esau, Bird Song, Jack Straw
Set 2: Shakedown Street-> Samson & Delilah, He’s Gone-> Smokestack Lightning-> Drums-> The Wheel-> The Other One-> Black Peter-> Turn On Your Love Light,
E: Revolution
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