The latest installment in the Grateful Dead‘s “All The Years Live” archive video series is available now on the band’s YouTube page. The video showcases the band’s performance of an old original in “Cumberland Blues” pulled from the Dead’s concert at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI back on July 17th, 1989.
This uptempo live cut of the Workingman’s Dead classic may already be familiar to some fans, as this show was also featured in the 1997 concert film, Downhill From Here. The band also previously shared the pro-shot video for “Uncle John’s Band” from 7/17/89 in a previous installment of “All The Years Live”.
The July 17th performance kicked off a three-night run at Alpine Valley for the Dead back on July 17th–19th, 1989. Unfortunately, this would mark the band’s final performances at the iconic Midwestern venue, as the city of East Troy eventually chose to ban the group from ever performing there again, citing the rise of drug use and crime.
Related: Watch Full Video Of The Grateful Dead’s Final Performance At Alpine Valley
As Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux notes in the video’s description,
From one of the Grateful Dead’s first home videos, ‘Downhill From Here,’ this is the Dead at a later-era peak. “Cumberland Blues” was a song that always seemed to be played well, and when they nailed it perfectly, as they do here, it’s a six-man unit running at breakneck speed, acting as one unified force.
Revisit the band’s July 17th, 1989 performance of “Cumberland Blues” below.
Grateful Dead – “Cumberland Blues” – 7/17/89
[Video: Grateful Dead]
Previous installments of “All The Years Live” have included: