The Days Between include special meet-up screenings of the Grateful Dead’s 6/17/91 Giants stadium show
MEET-UP AT THE MOVIES: GRATEFUL DEAD GIANTS STADIUM 6/17/91
Multiple venues
August 8 & 10
www.meetupatthemovies.com
August 1 marked what would have been Grateful Dead cofounder Jerry Garcia’s eighty-fourth birthday; this Sunday, August 9, marks what will be the thirty-first anniversary of Garcia’s death in his home state of California at the age of fifty-three. This period is known as the Days Between.
To mark the occasion, Trafalgar Releasing and Rhino Entertainment are presenting the latest “Meet-Up at the Movies,” showing the Grateful Dead’s June 17, 1991, concert at Giants Stadium in theaters across the country, including here in New York City on August 8 and 10 at such locations as the Alamo Drafthouse in Staten Island, the IPIC at Fulton Market, and the AMC Kips Bay, AMC 34th Street, and AMC Empire 25.
Since Garcia’s death, various remaining GD members have toured as the Other Ones, the Dead, Furthur, Dead & Company, and Phil & Friends. But everything changed on January 10 when cofounder Bob Weir said farewell at the age of seventy-eight, joining Garcia, Donna Jean Godchaux (1947–2025), Phil Lesh (1940–2024), Vince Welnick (1951–2006), Brent Mydland (1952–90), Keith Godchaux (1948–80), and Ron McKernan (1945–73). The only remaining longtime members are drummers Mickey Hart and cofounder Bill Kreutzmann, who are not expected to put together a touring band affiliated in some way with the Grateful Dead.
We’re nowhere near ready for a summer without the band, so the only chance you have is to catch one of these special screenings of a show that opened with “Eyes of the World,” included such faves as “Brown Eyed Women,” “Cassidy,” and “Uncle John’s Band,” and concluded with “The Weight.” Also on the bill are a sneak preview of “Shakedown Street” from Merriweather 6/30/85 and an intro from Grateful Dead legacy manager and archivist David Lemieux.
“The summer tour of 1991 was widely considered one of the best of the 1990s, and the June 17, 1991, show at Giants Stadium was nearly universally acclaimed as the best of the tour. From the ‘Eyes of the World’ opener to the sixpack of ‘Dark Star’ teases woven throughout the night, the one show from 1991 whose reputation grew as time went on was this concert,” Lemieux said in a statement. “Because it’s one of only two shows captured on forty-eight-track analog tape, the audio quality is spectacular. Hearing this mix in a theater with fellow fans is going to be transportive, and we’re thrilled to sweeten the pot with an exclusive look at ‘Shakedown Street’ from the upcoming ’85 Merriweather release.”
As lyricist Robert Hunter wrote in his and Garcia’s 1990s song “Days Between”:
“There were days, and there were days / And there were days between / Summer flies and August dies / The world grows dark and mean / Comes the shimmer of the moon / On black infested trees / The singing man is at his song / The holy on their knees / The reckless are out wrecking / The timid plead their pleas / No one knows much more of this / Than anyone can see / Anyone can see.”
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]