The latest installment in the Grateful Dead‘s All The Years Live archive video series is available now on the band’s YouTube page. This entry highlights the Dead’s performance of “Morning Dew” at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA on October 1st, 1988.
Taken from night two of three of the Dead’s second-annual hometown run at Shoreline, this rendition of “Morning Dew” is a paradox of relaxed and strained. From the first note, it’s clear that Jerry Garcia‘s voice isn’t in the best shape, but he powers through and plays to his strengths. A song like “Morning Dew” can carry even greater power from Jerry’s strained vocals, as his physical state echoes the post-apocalyptic wasteland originally described by Canadian songwriter Bonnie Dobson in 1962.
Grateful Dead archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux notes in the video’s description,
From the middle night of the Grateful Dead’s second run of shows at Shoreline Amphitheatre, this Morning Dew occupies a somewhat usual placement for this era for this Jerry-sung standout, as a second set closer. This was one of 13 performances of Morning Dew in 1988, the final year Dew was performed into double digits.
Watch the Grateful Dead perform “Morning Dew” at Shoreline Amphitheatre on 10/1/88.
Grateful Dead – “Morning Dew” – Mountain View, CA – 10/1/88
[Video: Grateful Dead]
Previous installments of the Dead’s ongoing All The Years Live series have included: