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 the New Orleans anthem “Iko Iko” at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA on May 11th, 1991.
Taken from the second of three nights of the Dead’s annual Shoreline run, the cover came in the two-slot of set two and got the blood pumping on a chilly spring night on the California mountain. With dueling keyboards from Vince Welnick and Bruce Hornsby, this latter-era setlist regular glides along. The song, originally released as “Jock-O-Mo” in 1953 by James “Sugar Boy” Crawford, gets some added NOLA flavor thanks to Jerry Garcia‘s extensive MIDI use throughout the song.
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Grateful Dead archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux notes in the video’s description,
Its first appearance on 5/15/77 in St. Louis was a low-key affair, and it would make rare appearances in 1977-1978, usually later in the second sets. When it came back in the 1980s, it was much peppier, and would often open shows, giving the concert ahead a party vibe from its first notes.
Watch the Grateful Dead perform “Iko Iko” at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA on May 11th, 1991.
Grateful Dead – “Iko Iko” – Mountain View, CA – 5/11/91
[Video: Grateful Dead]
Previous installments of the Dead’s ongoing All The Years Live series have included: