The Incredible Grateful Dead Jam Jerry Garcia, Bruce Hornsby & Bob Weir Played At MSG

In September 1990, the Grateful Dead held their first concerts since the untimely death of keyboardist Brent Mydland in July at age 37. The first run of shows in Richfield, Ohio and Philadelphia introduced Vince Welnick as the band’s newest keyboard player.

On September 15, 1990, when the Dead played the second show of a six-night run at Madison Square Garden, a second keyboardist was onstage alongside Welnick, with Bruce Hornsby beginning his two-year tenure playing in the band.

Prior to the MSG run, Bruce Hornsby & The Range had opened for the Grateful Dead a number of times between 1987 and July 1990. Hornby’s potential recruitment seemed evident right away, as he explained in an interview with the Wall Street Journal in 2015:

“The real pitch happened in 1990, after [keyboardist] Brent [Mydland] died. The morning after he died, I was in Seattle walking down the street and someone came up to me on the street – Brent hadn’t been gone nine hours. And someone came up to me and said ‘Hey Bruce, you joining the Dead?’ It was so insane. The next week, [Jerry] Garcia and Phil [Lesh] came to my show at the Concord Pavilion and asked me to do it.”

Hornsby, who had also sat in with the Grateful Dead several times, accepted the offer to be part of the group and was soon onstage at Madison Square Garden with Welnick, guitarist Jerry Garcia, bassist Phil Lesh, guitarist Bob Weir and drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart. Regarding that first run of shows at MSG, Hornsby told the Wall Street Journal:

“When I came in winging it off the street with no rehearsal at Madison Square Garden in September 1990, I knew about 30 or 40 Dead songs. It meant that I didn’t know about 130. Their master list was about 160 songs long. It was a lot of quick catch-up for me …

“It felt really natural to me. I knew the music and I knew the approach. I was very comfortable playing improvised rock music. I’d done it ever since I’d started playing the piano. And I knew them at that point. I’d played with them several times, so I felt pretty comfortable – as comfortable as you can feel with no rehearsal, starting at The Garden.”

One of the memorable moments that occurred during Hornsby’s initial MSG run was a jam he participated in during the second set of the penultimate show, which took place on September 19, 1990. Materializing out of a Weir-led “Let It Grow,” Garcia continued riffing on his guitar, which Hornsby picked up on. As the other members of the band left the stage, Bobby, Bruce and Jerry launched into a splendid trio jam, vigorously engaging in a musical conversation that showcased exactly what the newest keyboard player brought to the band.

Hornsby’s piano playing fantastically answered and meshed with Garcia’s masterfully evolving guitar run while Weir injected stabilizing chords. The captivating sequence eventually dissolved into a spacey section, like a pre-“Drums” version of “Space,” before Hart and Kreutzmann returned for “Drums,” followed by “Space” proper.

The 11-minute musical excursion was officially released as part of the Grateful Dead’s Road Trips archival series. Listen/watch the memorable trio jam from this date 33 years ago below:

[Originally Published: September 19, 2023]