The Grateful Dead Performs ‘Wharf Rat’ In 1990: Pro-Shot Video

The Grateful Dead shared video featuring a version of “Wharf Rat” from 1990 as this week’s installment of their All The Years Live video series. Jerry Garcia led the band through the ballad he wrote with Robert Hunter during the Dead’s July 6, 1990 concert at Cardinal Stadium in Louisville.

While a few songs from the show were featured on the 2000 concert film View From The Vault, “Wharf Rat” was not one of them. The band’s lineup at the time saw Jerry joined by guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh, keyboardist Brent Mydland and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann.

“Debuted on 2/18/71 in Port Chester, NY, ‘Wharf Rat’ was staple of the Dead’s live repertoire since it first appeared,” GD archivist David Lemieux wrote in a note accompanying the video. “By 1973 and onward, it was generally played toward the end of the second set, in the Jerry ‘ballad slot,’ which included songs like ‘Stella Blue,’ ‘Black Peter,’ ‘Morning Dew,’ and later ‘Standing On The Moon’ and ‘Days Between.'”

Watch the Dead’s version of “Wharf Rat” from July 6, 1990 below: