By the summer of 1987, the Grateful Dead were riding a wave of unlikely mainstream momentum. "Touch of Grey" would hit MTV and crack the Top Ten within months, and the band that had spent two decades as a beloved cult institution was about to become, improbably, a pop phenomenon. But in June, they were still the same road-tested outfit playing the sheds and amphitheaters of America with Brent Mydland firmly established as the band's keyboardist — his bluesy, muscular playing having long since won over skeptics who missed Keith Godchaux. Garcia's voice was still in reasonable shape this year, and the band as a whole had a focused energy that made 1987 a genuinely strong year in the archive despite the commercial upheaval just around the corner. The Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley is one of the great outdoor rooms in America, full stop. Nestled into the Strawberry Canyon hillside above the Berkeley campus, it holds around 8,500 people in a natural stone bowl that creates an intimacy almost unheard of at this scale. The Dead had a deep history here — it felt like a home game, with the Bay Area faithful turning out in force and the eucalyptus-scented hills at dusk providing a setting that borders on mythological.
Shows at the Greek tend to carry a looseness and warmth that you don't always get in bigger arenas, and that relaxed confidence comes through on recordings. The two songs confirmed from this show give you a reasonable sense of what was in rotation that summer. "New Minglewood Blues" was a reliable first-set opener or early-set kickoff — a roaring, good-humored rocker that let Garcia and the band stretch their legs without venturing too far into the deep end. When it cooks, it's a genuine barn-burner, with Mydland's organ pushing hard against Garcia's lead. "My Brother Esau," a Bob Weir original from the 1984 album *In the Dark's* predecessor era, was a charged political number that Weir delivered with real conviction — listen for the way the rhythm section locks in behind him, Mydland and Weir trading the verses with that tight mid-'80s crunch. Recording quality from Greek Theatre shows in this period varies, but a number of strong sources have circulated over the years, including some excellent audience recordings that capture the natural acoustic warmth of that hillside bowl. Whatever source you land on, this is Berkeley in June with a band very much in the thick of things — reason enough to press play.