Rhino Factoids: The First Last Dead Show

As we bask in the success of last weekend's Fare Thee Well performances by the members of The Grateful Dead in Chicago, we would be remiss if we neglected to mention that today is actually the 20th anniversary of the last time The Grateful Dead played a final show, even if they had no real way of knowing at the time that it would be the last time they'd play live with Jerry Garcia.

Sure, when Garcia stepped offstage after the Dead wrapped up their performance at Soldier Field on July 9, 1995, he certainly wasn't in the best health of his life, but did his fellow bandmates really think that they'd never perform with him again? No, but they knew that he'd broken his streak of staying off drugs, which resulted in a stay at the Betty Ford Center in the wake of that performance. From there, he found his way to Serenity Knolls, a treatment center in Forest Knolls, California, where he suffered a fatal heart attack precisely two months later, on August 9, 1995.

Last year, we pulled together a playlist featuring as many of the songs performed at that Soldier Field show as we could find on Spotify, and we're presenting it again today, since it seems like the most appropriate way to commemorate the occasion.

For purposes of clarification, however, we'll also include the explanation about what's missing:

If you've seen the set list from the show or perhaps heard a bootleg of the performance, then you know that, between “When I Paint My Masterpiece” and “Cumberland Blues,” the Dead delivered a performance of a Phil Lesh composition entitled “Childhood's End.” Unfortunately, although the song turned up in almost a dozen Dead shows during the last year or so of the band's existence, they never got around to recording it, and it's not featured in any of the shows that they've seen fit to release officially.

And then, situated between “So Many Roads” and “Corrina,” there's “Samba in the Rain,” a song with lyrics by Robert Hunter and music by Vince Welnick. There weren't many Welnick compositions in the mix for Dead setlists during his tenure with the band, and - with all due respect to the former member of the Tubes - the few that did make the cut were never terribly well received by the fans. Although the song was never recorded by the Dead, nor has it turned up on any official concert releases, Welnick did release a version in 1998 with his own band, Missing Man Foundation, but as it's not available digitally, we can't include it even if we'd wanted to.

So, no, we haven't been able to present a playlist featuring the complete set list from Jerry Garcia's last show with the Grateful Dead. But we've come as close as the officially-released material will allow, so hopefully you'll still find yourself enjoying plenty of fond memories from Jerry's days with the Dead.