The Grateful Dead belt out “Rain” by The Beatles in the latest installment of the All The Years Live video series, now available on the band’s YouTube page.
“Another great cover of a Beatles song by the Grateful Dead, Rain debuted in December 1992 and stuck around until March 1995, played a handful of times as an encore,” Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux says in the video description.
Captured live on August 26th, 1993, the rare Beatles cover indeed served as the encore of the Dead’s performance at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA. The show was the second night of a three-night run at the venue that closed out the band’s 15-show summer East Coast tour. The night before, the Dead closed with another, more well-known Beatles cover, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, which they debuted earlier that year. Both songs showcased the band’s unique, spontaneous vocal harmonies, with additional lead vocals by Jerry Garcia. They would go on to close out the tour the following night with a cover of “I Fought the Law” by The Clash.
Watch the Grateful Dead cover “Rain” by The Beatles at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA on 8/26/93 below, and click the icon in the top right of the video or use the arrows in the bottom left to navigate through the full All The Years Live video series playlist (skip over the Christmas karaoke unless you’re feeling it). Scroll down to watch them perform “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” at the same venue the night before.
Grateful Dead – “Rain” (The Beatles) – 8/26/93
Grateful Dead – “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” (The Beatles) – 8/25/93