In the Spring of 1993, the Grateful Dead would begin one of their final runs at one of their favorite venues in all of New York, Albany’s Knickerbocker Arena. This would be the second to last run of shows at the downtown arena in the capital city. Already home to such legendary Grateful Dead shows such as the ones captured on their Dozin’ At The Knick live album, the band would continue to play here until their final shows in 1995.
This first show of the 1993 run is the first of eight in a row that the band would play in New York State throughout late March and early April. It sees the band playing at ease, with a show that’s small on jams but big on substance, and the last performance ever of an iconic Grateful Dead song.
To kick off this massive New York State run, the Dead launch into “Hell In A Bucket” to begin tonight’s show at the Knick. Now firmly entrenched as a show opener, the band cruises through this “Bucket” effortlessly with Phil Lesh sounding spry on bass and a couple of signature runs from Jerry Garcia on guitar. This is succeeded by a standout “Bertha” that’s spearheaded by an absolutely blissful Garcia solo who also sounds fully engaged on vocals.
Next is the return of “The Same Thing,” an extra bluesy number that was originally sang by Pigpen in the late ’60s a handful of times which the band dusted off and returned to their live shows in the late ’90s. It’s a pretty slow, drawn out version with Bob Weir handling the vocals and Garcia supplying the harrowing guitar fills. Things pick up considerably with a crisp, lively and down near uptempo “Peggy-O” that follows whose verses are bridged beautifully by another vintage Garcia run on guitar.
Next is Weir’s turn to sing about a lady as he leads the group through a rather soulful and peppy cover of Bob Dylan’s “Queen Jane Approximately” before the mic gets passed over to Lesh for a an ultra rare performance of “Broken Arrow.” The Robbie Robertson-penned tune would be played only 35 times by the band between 1993 and 1995 with this one being the fifth time it was ever played. It’s another smooth and dialed-in exhibition from the band with a version that’s rife with feeling and slowly builds in emotion from beginning to end.
To close out this opening stretch of night one at The Knick, the Grateful Dead return to some of their classics, beginning with a quick but spirited take of “Loose Lucy” and then a late set “Cassidy” that goes noticeably deep and seems to instantly lock into a jam that pushes the song’s normal boundaries. The no-frills “Casey Jones” set closer gets a noticeable round of applause from the Knick crowd, both at the beginning and end of the song, and for good reason. It would be the last one the Grateful Dead would ever play live.
The second set kicks off with a traditional powerhouse combo of “Eyes of the World” > “Estimated Prophet.” The “Eyes” has a slow, deliberate intro with the band clearly at ease and in no rush at all and is highlighted by its traditional lengthy jams between verses, powered once more by the dulcet tones emanating from Jerry Garcia on lead and the fervent vamping coming from Bob Weir on rhythm guitar. With the lyrics completed, the music shifts into a brief exploratory jam that fizzles out rather quickly, creating somewhat of a rolling stop into “Prophet.” With Weir passionately belting out the vocals, it yields a powerful version that seems to increase in intensity throughout and finally sees some exploratory jamming from the Dead, ushered in by some saxophone-like MIDI effects from Garcia. The Dead then shift things back into a lower gear, courtesy of the Robert Hunter-penned “Comes A Time” that follows, the second to last one ever performed by the band.
A driving, pulsating version of another Hunter song in “Corinna” follows, not to be confused with the Taj Mahal song by the same name. This helps fuel one of the other improvisational jams of the evening, albeit another brief one, setting the stage for the Rhythm Devils tandem of Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart to weave their collective percussive magic in the “Drums” > “Space” portion of the show. From this psychedelic mist a familiar face arises in “The Wheel” and the the band eases through this classic number before quickly moving on to a roaring cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower.”
The Dead slow things down once more with a downright somber and spiritual “Days Between” which is offset nicely by the raucous “One More Saturday Night” set closer that follows. As encore for this opening night at the Knick, the Grateful Dead do their take on “I Fought The Law,” a Top 10 Hit for the Bobby Fuller Four Band in 1966. It’s a cover song first played by the band on this tour, one they’d go on to play twice more the following week in Nassau Coliseum as they continue their New York State run in the Spring of 1993.
Listen to a full audio recording of the show at Live Music Archive here.
Grateful Dead – Knickerbocker Arena – Albany, NY – March 27, 1993
Set 1: Hell In a Bucket, Bertha, The Same Thing, Peggy-O, Queen Jane Approximately, Broken Arrow, Loose Lucy, Cassidy, Casey Jones
Set 2: Eyes of the World > Estimated Prophet, Comes A Time, Corinna > Drums > Space > The Wheel > All Along The Watchtower > Days Between > One More Saturday Night
E: I Fought The Law
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