Jerry Garcia Band

August 10, 1991
'Electric on the Eel'
French's Camp on the Eel River
Piercy, CA
Sets I & II


From the Gastwirt Collection

AUD: unknown taper > unknown gear > DAT *

Charlie Miller Transfer: Dat (Sony PCM-R500) > Sound Devices 744T > wav 16/48

Joe Noel Edits: Track, Flac, & Pack: Wave > Audacity > track/label > export multiple > flac 16/48

Checksum & tags created in xACT.

* Don't let the lineage fool you. This is the reference recording as per what circulates. It's definitely FOB & sounds like a Schoeps pull to me.

Patch info:
- Source #33421 - unknown; FOB Schoeps CCM4
- both tuning tracks
- The Way You Do The Things You Do - 7:13 - 7:20 & 10:06 - 10:54
- Think - 1:49 - 2:08

Notes:
- Rescheduled from July 13
- Clan Dyken & Wooden Ships opened.
- The cool waters of The Eel River were more than refreshing ;)
- some mic bumps were buffered, a shrill scream or two softened & some chit chat canceled


- Set I -
01 - tuning
02 - The Way You Do the Things You Do
03 - And It Stone Me
04 - You Never Can Tell (C'est La Vie)
05 - Waiting For A Miracle
06 - Struggling Man
07 - My Sisters And Brothers
08 - Deal

- Set II -
01 - tuning
02 - Shining Star
03 - Think
04 - Lay Down Sally
05 - Twilight *
06 - See What Love Can Do **
07 - Lazy Bones
08 - Everybody Needs Somebody To Love

* final of only four performances.
** final of only three performances.

- The Players -
John Kahn - bass
Jerry Garcia - guitar & vocals
Melvin Seals - keyboards
David Kemper - drums
Jaclyn LaBranch - backing vocals
Gloria Jones - backing vocals


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(J.Noel 15 June 2017)

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1991-08-10: �Electric on The Eel� French's Camp at Peircy, Peircy, CA


On this day it was West Texas hot making the cool waters of the Eel River a godsend. Man, French�s Camp was Hippie Heaven with its stage tucked into a bend along the river. There were about as many nude hippies frolicking in the river behind the stage as there were in the dusty field. While JGB only played a one nighter, the powers that be at the Hog Farm let people camp in the lot a day before the show & a day after. The thinking, as I found out many years later, was to lessen the impact on the pristine wilderness & to keep concert goers off disputed land. Back to the later in a second.

I have no clue why people bought tickets for a show at French's Camp. Okay alright, support the musicians. I get that now, but I sure as hell didn't then. The dirt lot is right up against the backside of the concert field where there was equal parts dancing on either side of the simple fence. If memory serves, the backend of the venue had no barrier at all. It�s a natural barrier, one big ass hill. If your were thinkin� you might wanna try to come in from that direction, you had to go onto Hog Farm land & they made it pretty clear they didn't take kindly to trespassers. Even the Dead Head kind. There were apparently some land disputes with the government, so the Hog Farm took a zero tolerance stance on trespassing. That said, it was just about as laid back as one can imagine. Did I mention nudity?? Sweet Jesus! There was something for everyone at French�s Camp & in an abundance. I�ll get back to that in a moment.

While I love this show, some people seem to right it off, calling it dull & uneventful. While others give it high praise. Okay, to each his own. I�ll go as far to say location, location, location can make up for why a show gets accolades. This section of Northern California is a magnificent, spiritual place. Peircy is untroubled, peaceful & about as off the the beaten path as you can have for a show. Just the drive up the old serpentine logging roads is magical. When you add topless concert goers on a beautiful summer day & include the extraordinary location, the show just got three stars before a single lick of music gets played. One other added factor, many were there for the first time. I had heard the �Electric on the Eel� stories from the tour for years & was fortunate enough to be on hand for the �89 show & this one. So, when you add �folk-lore� to the mix, things become bigger than they really are. For me, getting to the Electric on The Eel� shows was a right of passage.

As for calling it lack luster I wouldn�t call it that. I�d call this performance location appropriate. According to Dennis McNally�s read Jerry was on the wagon & making attempts at better living. I think this was Jer's first foray as a performing artists while in the methadone program. Due to this "rehab", Jerry hadn't performed live since late June. So there that & theres the temps. While being surrounded by Redwoods, French�s Camp is actually a clear cut area. When Garcia took the stage it was towards end of the day & still in the lower 90�s when he got under the lights. It was really hot at French�s Camp & one would have to think it would impact the performance.

The other thing I think offsets people is the setlist. There was a change in the setlist over the last several months. I personally think thats what makes this show special. �The Way You Do the Things You Do� had been out of JBG�s repertoire for five years. It returned a year prior; reworked & tuned down. This pass is especially tuned down, its down right relaxed. As is Van Morrison�s �And It Stoned Me�. I love this song & have a bias for the JGB rendition, but this pass needs a lil CPR. Other numbers in the first set like �You Never Can Tell (C'est La Vie)� & Jimmy Cliff�s �Struggling Man� were brand new in the repertoire. I personally can�t get enough of �Struggling Man� & think its one of the highlights of the set. As for the Chuck Berry cover, it goes to show that Jerry was ahead of the curve. I think every person that reads this thread has seen the lovely Uma Thurman get her twist on, to this number, at Jack Rabbit Slim�s nearly five years later. What that scene did for Chuck Berry sales is pretty crazy.

While those were the only new covers in the first set the rest of the play is solid & unhurried. The Cockburn cover �Waiting for a Miracle� never did much for me, but this pass will always make my highlight reel. I was grooving with Laggie Aggie in a real sweet spot when one by one the spinners started to appear around us. When they get twirling, those folks can kick up a think cloud of dust. It was then that I made the best decision of my touring days. I asked Aggie if she wanted to wash off some of the dusty dirt in the river. She thought it was a marvelous idea. As we approached the river, with one fell swoop, she discarded her clothes & descended into the river like a snowflake falls from a cloud. Jerry could�ve broken out Mountains of the Moon at that moment in time & I wouldn�t have noticed. I�m so easy to please, my summer was made as I�d seen the glory. We laid in the cool waters of the Eel through �My Sisters & Brothers� then just waltzed back in. Did I mention I didn�t have a ticket & Aggie had forgone the confines of her top?? I snuck in through an entrance marked �food�. It didn�t seem to have a purpose, but a bunch of us used it to walk in undetected. When Aggie & I we�re making our way back in, she was nervous that I�d get turned away without a stub. So was I, but I just swallowed the lump & acted like I owned it. No one bothered to check either of us for a re-entry stub. In fact, one of the ticket takers was hootin� & hollerin� as Jerry was firing up, the other highlight of the set, Deal.

The entire second set is a highlight reel in my opinion. The relaxed play continues with a glorious �Shinning Star� opener. JGB�s rendition of The Manhattans R&B classic may have peaked early, cause this pass is one of the best I�ve had the pleasure of hearing. I�m sure there are better ones as this became one of the staples through JGB�s remaining years. This pass has everything going for it, even the lucky ole sun decided to roll around on the other side of heaven. Once that sun set & the temps dropped, the band started to fire things up. �Think�, is where Howard Wales� shines & where the band stretches the musical rubber band, fallowed by an outstanding �Lay Down Sally�. Again, another fresh number in the setlist. I was ecstatic to hear the band perform it live & not disappointed. But I think the ultimate highlight of the set was next. Robbie Robertson�s �Twilight�. This was another one of the new covers injected into the setlist & the one that seemed to have that something special that only Garcia & his band could interpret. Sadly, this was its final play & appropriately it happened at twilight. I�ll never understand why it was dropped. Another song that was recently added to the repertoire & unceremoniously dropped after this show, was �See What Love Can Do�. That made more sense to me than the Robertson tune. �Twilight� has that certain amount of ambiguity to it that makes the Garcia/Hunter catalogue so intriguing. Ce la vie. Okay, so I�m an admitted sucker for a slow Jerry, this pass at �Lazy Bones� gives new terminology to, at a turtles pace. Hell, even Hoagie Carmichael�s 1933 rendition caught up to this one & blew it away. While the song has an interesting history, it never caught on with me. But the closer sure did. I�m a bit young to be a Solomon Burke fan from back in the day, but I was ripe, ready & willing when it broke out in the 1980 classic The Blues Brothers. I was hooked on King Bishop from that minute on. I was fortunate enough to have seen the first rendition of �Somebody to Love� at the Warfield, this pass & Squaw Valley. They all rocked my world & left me deeply satisfied.

That, boys & girls, was my last �Electric on The Eel� in a nut shell.