Thirty years ago tonight, the Grateful Dead played the second and final night of their tour-closing run at Chicago’s Soldier Field featuring an opening performance from The Band. The show marked the completion of a long and winding spring/summer trek—a run throughout which lead guitarist Jerry Garcia appeared to many like a shell of his former self.
Garcia was beleaguered by health issues and addiction once again—this time in front of huge, stadium-sized venues packed to the brim with excited fans. He struggled through equipment difficulties all night in Chicago, eventually having to replace his “Rosebud” guitar with the older “Tiger.” According to Bob Weir in his Netflix documentary The Other One, he and Garcia shared some short but sweet words as they walked offstage: “Always a hoot,” Garcia said, “Always a hoot.”
Exactly one month later, on August 9th, 1995, Jerry Garcia passed away, his heart finally giving out after years of hard living and declining health. July 9th, 1995 at Soldier Field became the Grateful Dead’s final show.
While not among their best shows by a long stretch, 7/9/95 still packs an emotional punch to this day in light of its significance as Jerry’s last performance. You can feel the weight of the show’s finality throughout, particularly on songs like the encore closer “Box of Rain”, which played a more hopeful foil to the solemn “Black Muddy River” that preceded it.
Related: A Brief History Of Jerry Garcia’s Most Well-Known Guitars
Of course, there was also the gorgeous, bittersweet “So Many Roads” in the second set. Garcia’s raw, moving vocals on the song still pack an emotional punch three decades later. You can watch a full video of “So Many Roads” from the final Grateful Dead show at Soldier Field on 7/9/95 below, via YouTube user taste4phree:
Rest easy, Jerry. We hope you found your way home.
Grateful Dead – “So Many Roads” – 7/9/95
[Video: taste4phree]
Relive the emotional second set in the remastered YouTube clip below, along with full-show audio from Jonathan Aizen:
Grateful Dead – Soldier Field – 7/9/95 – Set Two Video
Setlist: Grateful Dead | Soldier Field | Chicago, IL | 7/9/95
Set One: Touch of Grey, Little Red Rooster, Lazy River, Masterpiece*, Childhood’s End, Cumberland Blues, Promised Land
Set Two: Shakedown Street, Samson & Delilah, So Many Roads, Samba in the Rain, Corrina -> Drums -> Space -> Unbroken Chain, Sugar Magnolia
Encore: Black Muddy River, Box of Rain
* Weir on acoustic
*(The Band opened)*
[Originally published 7/9/17]