April 7, 1991

The matrix makes the show

April 7, 1991

What’s this? Another underrated show? You bet — and, in this case, the majesty really only comes out in the Hunter Seamons matrix. Let’s dig in.

Date Listened

January 23, 2025. I was able to finish the entire 2 1/2 hour show despite running my wife to the airport around lunchtime. Long story — but one that will forever be linked in my mind to this show.

Sources

The only source you want to touch is the Hunter Seamons matrix, which is SHNID 150456. Go directly to this recording. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. I’ll explain why below.

Reputation

I’ll be blunt. I don’t have a copy of The Deadhead’s Trading Compendium Volume 3 at the moment. I’m not going to be able to grab reviews of these newer shows until I’m able to buy one of those babies on eBay. That might take a few weeks.

There are almost no Reddit threads about this show. Seriously — nobody talks about it at all.

Heady Version has largely ignored it:

And yet I’d consider this to be one of the best shows of 1991.

Rubin and Cherise, a staple of the Jerry Garcia Band, was only performed 4 times by the Grateful Dead. It ranks 3rd out of the 4th versions on Heady Version:

Note that the Grateful Dead did not play this song on September 3, 1977. Somebody done goofed.

Discussion

This show is underrated.

The problem is that the Seamons matrix didn’t come out until 2020. There are also no officially released copies of this show.

Seamons did an absolute miracle with this show when given the source material. There are numerous copies of the soundboard in circulation. Hunter used the first set of SHNID 137081 and the second set of SHNID 31953 as the base of his mix, and added in the front of board recording SHNID 138128.

I guess he could have opted for Charlie Miller’s soundboard recording SHNID 149622, though I doubt it would have made much of a difference.

I spent some time comparing the recordings. Each of those soundboard recordings sound wooden to me. It’s pretty clear that this is from the era of simply recording the soundboard at the levels played in the audience hall without having a potential future audience in mind.

That front of board recording is nice and warm, though the levels are a little bit low and the PA sounds a little bit distant.

I have no idea how Hunter pulled it off, but he did. This recording sounds absolutely amazing, and is far greater than the sum of its parts.

The performance is good as well. Jerry sounds lively and with it, and the band goes off on a few interesting and somewhat dissonant jams. This isn’t 1973 or 1974, of course, but it’s still quite refreshing for a 1990s show.