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Set 1:
Hell In A Bucket
Sugaree
New Minglewood Blues
It Must Have Been The Roses
Stuck Inside Of Mobile
To Lay Me Down
The Music Never Stopped

Set 2:
Touch Of Grey
Man Smart-Woman Smarter
Ship Of Fools
Truckin'
Drums
The Wheel
Gimme Some Lovin'
All Along The Watchtower
Stella Blue
Turn On Your Love Light

Encore:
Happy Birthday
Brokedown Palace

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Comments:

This was my very first Dead show. I was just hanging out on the porch of the house I lived in at college, when a friend walked by and asked "Hey, you wanna go see the Grateful Dead in Detroit?" Why not. I had no clue. I must admit, I fairly well fit the description of the burgeoning 'problem' of the late eighties; I went to party. And what a party it was. I remember sneaking down onto the floor and getting chased by security as the Minglewood Blues throbbed all around me. Eventually I settled into a spot and got lost in the music. I remember being astonished that a band would go from such a full blown rocker as Watchtower to the tender Stella Blue. It was a great time, a great show (I think; I've never heard a recording) and definitely a life-changing evening.
-JS

I recall this show being very disappointing. While I had listened to the Dead on record for years, since the late 70's, I didn't go to a show until Alpine Valley in 1987, and I was blown away. Unfortunately, between that wonderful summer and this spring of '88 show, the band gathered up a mainstream following due to widespread airplay of In the Dark, and both the audience and the venue setup resembled more of a conventional rock atmosphere than what I had seen outdoors the previous summer. What is more, the band didn't seem to have the enthusiasm for innovative exploration(which probably had something to do with the two factors I just mentioned) and put on a more conventional rock show, with the drums/space section just being something they felt obliged to get out the way.
-Peter

Peter, you described many of my GD concert experiences from mid '87 to '94. At the end, I just didn't enjoy the shorter, perfunctory concerts with the overly enthusiastic, uncritical new fans.

I wondered why did it seem that everyone else was getting off except me? I will always have Winterland in my memories to offset these less than stellar later shows.
- (02/25/2012)

Peter and Kaye frisco are douchey and wrong
-Anonymous (04/10/2018)

This was my first show as well. Had nearly seen them in 84 at Pine Knob as well as couple of times in 87. Finally in 88 I got to see them live for the first time. I will say this was tight Grateful Dead not that loose at all but the energy was really hot. I just watched a horrid quality video of this on youtube but yet you can still feel the energy on the video and Wheel > Gimme Some Lovin> Watchtower are smokin just like they were at the show. In the video it is clear they aren't just going through the motions but they are into it. I was way up in the upper rafters at this show so it is nice to see the video of the band up close. Jerry was very animated bouncing around raising his arms during Touch, Women Are Smarter and maybe a few other times too. I recall thinking as they played Touch, Bucket and Truckin' "well they are kind of just like any other band they play their hits." All in all not the most jammy show but tight high energy. A great way to start seeing many shows by them.
- (09/28/2023)

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