By the fall of 1993, the Grateful Dead were deep into one of the more underappreciated stretches of their later years. Vince Welnick had settled into the keyboard chair after Brent Mydland's death in 1990, and Bruce Hornsby had come and gone, leaving Vince to find his footing alongside the band's elder statesman chemistry. The Dead had released *Infrared Roses* in 1991 and were still riding the wave of the early-nineties surge in their fanbase — Deadheads were everywhere, the lots were enormous, and the band was filling arenas with a regularity that was both a triumph and, for some longtime fans, a sign of how much had changed. Jerry Garcia, now past fifty, was navigating his own complicated relationship with his health and his playing, and nights in '93 could swing anywhere from transcendent to workmanlike, which is part of what makes digging through this year's archive so rewarding. Boston Garden was a beloved if imperfect room — a legendary old barn that housed the Celtics and Bruins and carried the kind of lived-in energy that arena shows can sometimes lack. Boston was always a strong Dead market, the New England faithful packing the floor and balconies with a fervor that often pushed the band to dig deeper. There's something about playing a city with that much institutional Dead history that you can feel in the tape.
The songs we have from this show are a fine cross-section of what the Dead were doing in this period. "Truckin'" was a set-closing warhorse by this point, a song that the band could play on autopilot or absolutely ignite depending on the night, and when Jerry locked in on the lead lines, it could still feel urgent and electric. "Jack Straw" is a perennial favorite — the vocal interplay between Jerry and Bob is always worth hearing, and a tight "Jack Straw" is one of the purest pleasures in the Dead's catalog. "Ship of Fools" brings a more tender, introspective quality, Garcia's voice carrying a kind of weathered grace that late-career versions often do especially well. "Aiko Aiko" is the loose, joyful counterpart, a crowd-pleaser that tends to get the room moving, and "Althea" is one of those songs where Garcia's guitar can take genuinely unexpected turns when he's engaged. If you find a clean soundboard or matrix source for this one, settle in with "Jack Straw" first — and let the rest of the evening follow.