Unfortunately, this isn’t a “Holy Shit! We Have New Sets” update.
Those seem to be a thing of the past now.
Instead, this is more of a “I’m finally getting around to giving the site a facelift” update.
Here’s the plan: I want to update every setlist, link, and image I can track down; even if it’s just ticket stubs. Ideally, I’d love for the site to stand as a kind of historical marker for a very strange and specific moment in Grateful Dead history.
At this point, I’ve pretty much given up on tracking down the remaining missing sets. If they still exist, they’re probably sitting in someone’s garage under a layer of WD-40, dust, and dead mosquitos, never to be heard again.
That said, I think I did a pretty good job over the last 30 years tracking down a lot of those missing sets. But it’s been well over a year since anything new surfaced, so it might be time to accept where things stand.
Speaking of 30 years, part two of the plan is to start putting together a file/torrent for each night of the tour, using what I think are the best sounding sources currently in circulation. We’ll start with the 1996 tour this summer.
One last note: the updates probably won’t happen in chronological order. I’ve spent the better part of four decades organizing these shows in a rational linear way, and honestly, the thought of doing it again breaks my brain. So I’ll just update things as I go. Each page will have refreshed links and a date noting when it was updated.
Thanks to everyone who’s stopped by over the years. The door’s always open. Hopefully you found some things you were looking for and got to relive a few memories along the way.
Throughout the past 32 years I’ve been fortunate enough to have attended multiple hundreds of concerts, of varying types of music, from sea to shining sea. Legend has it that this lifelong obsession of searching for the sound began at some point in the early 80’s at some Ohio State Fair (and multiple OSF’s that followed) with a Willie Nelson concert, but I have absolutely zero recollection of this, so when I think back on my life on the road it started on Saturday, October 1st 1994 at the Boston Garden with my first Grateful Dead show. That’s the line of demarcation for me. That’s when it started.
Obviously I got on the bus pretty late in the game, but you can’t choose when you’re born and I was 15 when I walked into the Garden that night and – without sounding hyperbolic or dramatic – my life changed forever. I chose a path that night, and that path would lead me all over the country, and most of the time it was in the fumes of Bobby Weir’s tour bus. In ’95 I would voyage up to Vermont for my last Grateful Dead show. When Jerry died, I was in the parking lot at Hampton Beach (after a failed attempt to bumrush the door even though I had a ticket) listening to Bob try to save us all in the darkest of times imaginable (“We are on our own…Papa’s gone… – Throwing Stones, 8/9/95).
In ’96 I completed my first real run of shows (4 Furthur Fest shows), in ’97 I hit the road for real with the Furthur tour driving from New Hampshire through the midwest hitting 12 of the shows and falling in love with moe. along the way. Finally in ’98 we (me, JPR, Doug, and some other rube) hit the road like true fucking champions on a trip of a lifetime seeing most of the Furthur tour before jumping off in Colorado, hungry, smelly and a long way from home. The one common denominator in these trips…Bobby Weir.
Mama, Mama, many worlds I’ve come since I first left home.
A bumper sticker that may or may not have been on my 1986 Powder Blue Dodge Omni
In the late ’90’s and early ’00’s while I was being studious, the long trips were fewer and furthur between, but I still made my way all throughout New England and northern New York when Ratdog, or Weir/Wasserman, or The Dead, or The Other Ones were on the road. There wasn’t a show at the Orpheum or Memorial Auditorium, the Flynn, or the State that I didn’t hit. Hell, I even went to Providence a few times! If Bobby was coming within a 150 mile radius, I would be there.
In the late ’00’s and early ’10s when I was busy raising up kids and shows were at a premium, I spent whatever available time and concert funds I had on Bobby (and Phil). He was still out there doing it, why shouldn’t I?
In the mid’10s and early ’20s, among other adventures in the crowd with Mr. Weir, I was able to introduce my kids to seeing Bobby in a live setting taking them to D&C shows at SPAC, Gillette Stadium, Greatwoods, and Fenway Park. The last D&C show I took them too was in July of 2023, it was hot as fuck, brutal…it was the last Northeast D&C show, the band was on fire and we slithered back to the hotel in a trail of sweat and mystery, wondering why they decided to pack it in now. It was important to me that my kids experienced these moment, even though at a young age. It’s something they will have forever, what they choose do with it is up to them.
Couple of youngens in the lawn at SPAC for their first Bobby experience in 2017.
Over the past five years I had the pure honor of seeing Bobby in unique spaces. JPR and I made a 24 hour trip to NYC to see one of the Ace shows at Radio City, which is an experience I’ll never forget. We also went VIP style to the Cap; at the time it wasn’t worth it, now, it was a priceless experience. Finally, I was able to see four Sphere shows over the past two years; the first two with some of my closest lifelong friends, and the last two with the lady who stole my heart.
Through all of this, Bobby was there, playing a whirling tapestry of chords, creating sweet songs to rock my soul while I was zig zagging across the country in search of something that’s impossible to describe. Maybe I found it. The truth is in the journey, there’s really no destination.
All of the significant moments of my life featured the same soundtrack, and the theme of being called to where it was being played in a live setting. Bobby was the maestro for all of it. Good times and bad. And now, we’re at the end of the road.
The last time I tallied it up I had seen Bobby on stage in one configuration or another over 150 times. That’s where the number stands. It’s more than anyone else. I’m eternally grateful for the ride, and the only thing I want to say is this:
Thanks.
The world is better because of the small window in which you occupied it.
Fare thee well.
Keep on dancing through to daylight Greet the morning air with song No one’s noticed but the band’s all packed and gone Was it ever here at all? But they kept on dancing
Man, what a mess. Files everywhere. This is taking forever.
Side Note: To any of my friends over at shnflac.net, if you have the Ratdog SBD’s from the ’96 tour still on your computers as torrents, could you kindly open them up so I can grab them? It seems I’ve misplaced 7/6-end of tour.
More soon. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Update: Thanks friends at shnflac…man that was quick! You guys rule!
I’ll admit, this takes a lot longer than I anticipated. It’s predominately my own fault because over the past few years the files and pictures and setlists and all of that have scattered over multiple hard drives. So, figuring out what exists and what is still missing (probably forever) and corralling it all back into one logical place is a bit of a challenge.
That said…I do have this question for all of you out there…why the hell is the 6/30/96 World Music Theater show so difficult to track down? For the majority of these shows, I don’t expect to find the Alvin Youngblood Hart or John Wesley Harding sets, even the Hot Tuna ones can be difficult to find, but the fact that the Bruce Hornsby and Los Lobos sets are essentially missing (not only are they missing but neither has ever had a shnID at etree) is incredibly perplexing (especially when you factor in that setlist do, in fact, exist…something fishy is going on here).
Did people skip out on shows on Sunday’s in the Chicago area?
Are there dozens of copies of these sets rotting in someone’s attic right now?
If you have these, or any other missing sets from these tours, shoot me a message at thefurthurproject@gmail.com
More soon. This update will go in chronological order.
It’s been forever and I’ve now finally got to the point where I realize that the missing sets are going to just be missing sets. So. Over the next couple of weeks as I ramp up the anticipation of my return to the Sphere, I am going to complete the missing set lists and links. The plan is to go through every show, make sure I’m not accidentally sitting on some missing sets, update everything, and then leave this site to be a time capsule for the hoards of teenagers who will undoubtably be doing research projects on the Furthur Festival some 20-40 years from now.
As always, if you are reading this, and sitting on any of the missing sets (or hell, even upgrades of existing sets because some of them are pretty janky), reach out to me at thefurthurproject@gmail.com. I can transfer Cassettes, CDs and DATs. I’d like to get more of these shows out there before retiring this site for good.
It’s been pretty quiet around these parts. That’s mostly for two reasons. One, I’ve been lazy, and two, there’s no lines on any new missing sets whatsoever. The last part of that sentence is a total bummer.
So, here’s the plan for 2024. All of the setlists / links and show notes will be updated this year. If it means that this site exists solely as a library for what happened in the summers of 1996, 1997 and 1998, then so be it. But I’m feeling less optimistic that many more missing sets are going to come trickling in. It’s been seven months since we got anything.
That said, I did recently – thanks to Michael Pfeil – get a few sets that sort of act as the precusor for the Furthur Festivals. They are listed below.
In the meantime, if you are sitting on any Furthur Festival related stuff, no matter the media, hit me at thefurthurproject@gmail.com. Despite the fact that the DAT transfers that are happening for the boilerinthebasementmusic.wordpress.com site have now become the priority, any and all Furthur Festival related transfers get moved directly to the top of the queue.
As for the precursor sets, enjoy!:
Ratdog – 5/25/96 – Laguna Seca Recreation Area – Monterrey, CA
Ratdog 5/25/96 Laguna Seca Recreation Area – Monterrey, CA
Source: (FOB in Hat w/Light Windscreens) Schoeps CMC64>Sonosax SX-M2> Panasonic sv-255 Transfer: DAT > WAV Taped & Transferred by Michael Pfeil Tracked & Seeded by Bill Graves
~ Leguna Seca Daze ~
1. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl 2. Walkin’ Blues 3. Take Me to the River 4. City Girls > 5. Fever > 6. Eternity 7. K.C. Moan 8. When I Paint My Masterpiece 9. Juke 10. Kansas City 11. The Winners > 12. Easy to Slip > 13. Drums / Bass > 14. Easy Answers
~ Encore ~ 15. Crowd 16. Turn On Your Lovelight 17. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Massive Thank You to Michael Pfeil for sending me this file!
Mickey Hart’s Mystery Box 5/26/96 Laguna Seca Recreation Area – Monterrey, CA
Source: (FOB in Hat w/Light Windscreens) Schoeps CMC64>Sonosax SX-M2> Panasonic sv-255 Transfer: DAT > WAV Taped & Transferred by Michael Pfeil Tracked & Seeded by Bill Graves
~ Leguna Seca Daze ~
1. Stage Introduction 2. Only The Strange Remain 3. The Sandman 4. Look Away 5. Where Love Goes (Sito) 6. Down the Road 7. Planet Drum 8. John Cage is Dead 9. Don’t Let Him Take Your Love From Me * 10. Sangre De’Christo 11. Band Intros 12. Fire On The Mountain ^ 13. The Next Step 14. Full Steam Ahead
~ Encore ~ 15. Crowd 16. Not Fade Away
*-Mint Juleps Only ^-w/Bob Weir (Guitar)
Massive Thank You to Michael Pfeil for sending me this file!
Once or twice a year for the past few years shows come into the project that absolutely make my year. These are generally shows that I attended that have never seen the light of day. Sometimes they’re Furthur Festival sets that have been missing forever. Running this site is like constantly searching for needles in haystacks.
In the parking lot at Deercreek on 7/22/97 I was fucking exhausted. I was tired. I was really, really hungry. I just wanted to sit somewhere and watch TV for like a month. At that point Original Tour Pal Doug and I had been on the road for over three weeks. This was the first time we ever were out this long or this far from home. We had tickets to one more show, it was 7/25/97 River’s Edge Park. I remember sitting in the car looking at the map and being like, goddamn, that seems far away. While sitting in the parking lot we met a young family who had been on tour for a week or so, but never got into a show. Why? I don’t know. It’s not like these were sold out, and the tickets weren’t particularly expensive. So, after having a few Miller High Life’s, Doug and I decided to miracle the Somerset tickets to them and start to head back east after Deer Creek. Refusing free tickets, a trade was made and I had the time of my life at Deer Creek. Afterwards, we headed back to the campground and were off for home in the morning.
That was the last time I ever heard of 7/25/97 or River’s Edge Park. An ironic side note of all of this was that in the original tour planning stage we were going to jump off Furthur tour after Deer Creek and drive south to Texas to jump on Phish tour on 7/25/97 which would have eventually brought us back home. River’s Edge Park was seemingly never in the cards.
Over the 26 years that followed, I’ve tried multiple times to track down sets from all of the Furthur Festival shows and aside from a pretty meh version of the Black Crowes set, I’ve never been able to track anything down. There are a couple of days like this, but for the most part at the very least the moe. set is out there. But 7/25/97…nothing (same goes for 7/15/97 in Burgettstown…I refuse to believe there aren’t a load of Pittsburgh tapers that have these sets rotting in their collections). Did this show even happen? Is the River’s Edge Park even a real place? Did I accidentally send an entire family into a black hole in Wisconsin, near the Minnesota line? Maybe. Maybe I did.
Last weekend I got an email with a fileset from Michael Pfeil. It came at a time when I was still recovering from a sudden loss of a close family friend. It helped. Music usually does.
So, here, I’m happy to present, for the first time ever, the Arlo Guthrie and Ratdog sets from 7/25/97. Brand spanking new to circulation. Great sounding recordings. It gives me hope for all the other sets sitting in dank basements out there. Dig them out folks. These tapes don’t last forever.
Arlo Guthrie 7/25/97 River’s Edge Park – Somerset, WI
Source: Schoeps CMC64 > Beyer MV100 > DA-P1 (44.1) Transfer: DAT > WAV Taped by M.W. Transferred by Michael Pfeil Seeded & Packaged by Bill Graves
Alice’s Restaurant
Massive Thank You to Michael Pfiel for sending me this file!
Source: Schoeps CMC64 > Beyer MV100 > DA-P1 (44.1) Transfer: DAT > WAV Taped by M.W. Transferred by Michael Pfeil Seeded & Packaged by Bill Graves
1. Take Me to the River 2. Juke 3. When I Paint My Masterpiece 4. West L.A. Fadeaway 5. I Need a Miracle > 6. The Other One > 7. Bass > 8. Corrina > 9. Touch of Grey
Massive Thank You to Michael Pfeil for sending me this file!
Updated: 1997 is up to date through the end of June. More to come soon.
The setlists / sources for the 1997 Furthur Festival tour are, simply put, a disaster. There’s so much stuff compared to ’96 and ’98. I’ve legitimately been putting this off.
But.
I’m also in the process of trying to really get all the music organized and part of this is sorting and storing this tour, so, it’s time.
This is going to be a slow process, but all days will be updated with their own page and the links will be at the top of this website.
More soon. Sorry for the stagnation here. The fact is that I haven’t been able to track down a single missing set in years now, so I suspect that what we have is what we have. Unless you’re sitting on missing sets and shows. And if you are, reach out at thefurthurproject@gmail.com. It’s time.
Well it seems like a million years since I’ve updated this page, but I’m back to give it some love.
Earlier this year there was a run on shows by the good people over at Lossless Legs, so I spent a few hours / days polishing off the work that I was doing on the ’96 Tour. For all intents and purposes, if there’s a setlist or source to be found for any of those shows, it’s documented under the “Furthur Festival 1996” tab.
When that ended I started working on 1997 and realized there’s a shitload of work that needs to be done to actually have the ’97 Tour in the same shape, both as it relates to tracking down setlists and sources, and organizing my own sources. Turns out that for some reason my ’97 Furthur sets are scattered over multiple hard drives. It’s a daunting task and taking a lot of time. So, I did what everyone would do, I quit. Temporarily.
Over the past few months I’ve been putting up a lot of shows from the ’98 Tour over at the boilerinthebasementmusic site. So, I figured that while I keep chipping away at ’97, I can probably fairly quickly finish off ’98. So, over the next few days, weeks, etc. the ’98 Tour will be updated in the same manner as ’96 was.
Got all of that?
As always, if you have any of these missing sets kicking around in your collections on pretty much any media, give me a shout. These sets are pretty much impossible to come by now. For a while I had a source that was sending me tapes left and right and he just…disappeared…
Thanks for stopping by and keep coming back for more. Love and attention is being diverted back to the Furthur Project!
As always, if you have tapes kicking around that need transferring, let me know. And, if you’re looking for something non-Furthur related, check out the main site:
The Furthur Project 