Jerry Garcia fronted Grateful Dead for the last time just weeks before his death in a staggering set at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. On this day in 1995, the band would perform their last-ever show with frontman Garcia, who died of a heart attack on August 9 at the age of 53. Grateful Dead would continue on for decades more but it was never the same without the veteran frontman who closed out his final performance with Box of Rain.
Featuring in the 18-song set was a cover of Bob Dylan’s When I Paint My Masterpiece, as well as covers of Willie Dixon and Chuck Berry. Grateful Dead and Dylan would work together closely for several years in the 1980s. The All Along the Watchtower hitmaker would join Garcia and the band on tour, with a live album released in 1987 of their work together. While Dylan and the Dead is hardly spectacular, it does offer up the only official release of the band and Dylan performing together.
Garcia would perform his final performance with Grateful Dead on this day in 1995, two years before Dylan would mount a successful comeback in the studio with Time Out of Mind. A full setlist for the band’s show at Soldier Field can be found below.
- Touch of Grey
- Little Red Rooster (Willie Dixon cover)
- Lazy River Road
- When I Paint My Masterpiece (Bob Dylan cover)
- Childhood’s End
- Cumberland Blues
- Promised Land (Chuck Berry cover)
- Shakedown Street
- Samson and Delilah (traditional cover)
- So Many Roads
- Samba in the Rain
- Corrina
- Drums
- Space
- Unbroken Chain
- Sugar Magnolia
- Black Muddy River
- Box of Rain
Bob Dylan would pay tribute to his friend Garcia shortly after his death. He said: “There’s no way to measure his greatness or magnitude as a person or player. I don’t think eulogising will do him justice. He was that great, much more than a superb musician, with an uncanny ear and dexterity. He is the very spirit personified of what ever is muddy-river country into the spheres. He really has no equal.
“To me he wasn’t only a musician and friend, he was more like a big brother who taught and showed me more than he’ll ever know. There are a lot of spaces and advances between the Carter family, Buddy Holly and, say, Ornette Coleman, a lot of universes, but he filled them all without being a member of any school. His playing was muddy, awesome, sophisticated, hypnotic and subtle. There’s no way to convey the loss. It just digs really deep down.”
Grateful Dead would continue in various iterations, but this particular version of the band, without Garcia, would return to Soldier Fields 20 years on from his last performance. Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead would feature Phil Lesch, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Trey Anastasio, Bruce Hornsby, and Jeff Chimenti, would be the band’s last-ever performance. A full setlist of their final show together can be found below.
- China Cat Sunflower
- I Know You Rider (traditional cover)
- Estimated Prophet
- Built to Last
- Samson and Delilah (traditional cover)
- Throwing Stones
- Truckin’
- Cassidy
- Althea
- Terrapin Station
- Drums
- Space
- Unbroken Chain
- Days Between
- Not Fade Away (The Crickets cover)
- Touch of Grey
- Attics of My Life
You can listen to Garcia’s last-ever performance below.
Discover more from Cult Following
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
