This show was one week after my 18th birthday and graduation from high school. I spent the weekend with a friend biking back and forth to Autzen Stadium to hang in the crowd and enjoy the music. Lifelong memories were made that weekend.To be fair, my 5 star rating has more to do with nostalgia than being the best live Dead show I ever heard, but there it is. Long live The Dead!

I am listening to every 1994 show in order, mining for gold.

Set 1 Highlights: BERTHA>GREATEST STORY. Not quite sure, but this Lazy River Road might be the best I've heard thus far in '94. THICK Wang Dang Doodle. Phil really lays it down this set. Jerry is wide-awake for Ramble on Rose. Beautiful delivery, that is until he tries to switch from the Mutron pedal to MIDI, and it fails. He gives up after missing the key solos, and then tanks the lyrics lol. Very good Black Throated Wind, but 3/25/94 is still the winner thus far.

Set 2 HIGHlights: Rain is back baby! Not the best I've heard though. Nice Eyes into Samba. Saint is quite good, with some cool MIDI effects thrown in by Phil (I think?). One of the best I've heard from the '90s. The rest is all very well-played, with a heady Drums>Space, Wheel>Attics (can you really go wrong there?), and perfect Throwing Stones>NFA. Very strong opener to the Oregon '94 run.

1994 had some pretty tough spots for us Jerry heads... including the start of this first set, but the closing sequence of Black Throated Wind, Tom Thumb's Blues, Deal was excellent. It was awesome to see that sequence of Bob-Phil-Jerry to end the set and it was very well played.

But the reason I'm writing is to explain the deal with Rain. So the boys reaaaallyy took their time starting the second set. 45 minutes going on an hour kind of thing and the rain dappled crowd was getting impatient. So in response to the "Let's Go" vibe from the crowd Phil was all "hey we're a democratic band". That's what he was talking about on the crowd track here. Classic Stuff. And they launched into Rain, a Beatles song they were covering at the time. It's a terrific version complete with loud crunchy Jerry guitar. Woo-hoo.

Sweet little outro jam > after the Saint "rain falling down now". And yet another huge late-era drums > space and then yes The Wheel > Attics Of My Life. Another excellent sequence of songs and the natural, sensitive nature of the songs really gelled with the earthy Eugene vibe. Super good stuff.

This was my first show in Eugene and the scene lived up to all the hype. Camping in the lot and the afternoon show time lent a unique vibe to the scene. The Furthur bus was parked out front and Kesey and the Pranksters were in attendence.
As for the show its an above average 94 show, which aint sayin much. This show has some definate highlights but the second set on sunday(6-19) has the best that Eugene 94 had to offer.
First set is solid with Ramble on Rose, Black Throated Wind and the set closing Deal providing the highlights.
Second set is magic. When they came out after setbreak it seemed like they couldn't decide what to play. The crowd was getting restless so Phil walked up to the mic and said, "We're workin on it, we're workin on it. We're a democratic band...really" It was pretty humorous. At setbreak my freind called the Rain>Eyes opener, the only time they ever played this combo. This Rain is like a ray of pure light shining down from on high, the vibe in Autzen was through the roof. Good vibes just radiated out from the stage. My favorite version of Rain. The Eyes that follows is no 3-29-90 but it does nothing to stop to good vibes. Lots of mellow strumming and sparkling piano. Samba in the Rain was well recieved and fit the vibe perfectly. This is a really good Saint like someone pointed out below. Phil does this crazy sustained note thing during the jam that makes this a unique version. Marathon Drumz into a exquisite Wheel with an extended intro jam. A stunning Attics follows with the boys in fine voice. Average Throwing>NFA closes. US Blues was a disapiontment as they had played it just one show before in Seattle.
This is above average for summer 94 but Jerry is still a bit off at points and the highlights are most definately found in the second set. The Rain>Eyes and Saint>Drumz>Wheel>Attics are pure magic. Those moments were becoming rarer and rarer by this late date.
Decent Aud=3 stars
Rain>Eyes and Saint>Drumz>Wheel>Attics=4.5 stars
Rest of show=3 stars.
I'll give it 4 for 94.

My first & only Eugene shows.
By this point I had awakened enough to be on the bus full time & catching as many shows as possible. Coming from the Great Lakes I had heard of these legendary Eugene shows and the experience was more than I could even have imagined. I mean c'mon....even the cops here were Deadheads!

I seem to recall my Brother & I came across some very good tabs and well....the rest is historic eh!
Expansive...Magical....this run of shows.
Beautiful times....Beautiful people.
I sure do miss it.

Peace

Caught the Seattle/Eugene shows. My last time of seeing the GD. Firts night in Eugene scored some really good shrooms. During second set Phil hit a note and I lost my lunch. Never before, never again.

This was my first Dead show and my buddy Ted (who had just moved to Oregon) arranged for this to happen. I had been into the dead since I was pretty young, and knew that the shows were like nothing else but this show exceeded my expectations GREATLY! Just hanging out in the area was fun in itself. One of my favorite memories is all the sharing, like the time we were walking around the area and the girl in front of me just turned around and offered a bit of her chocolate chip cookie.

But the biggest impact was the start of the 2nd set. I was up at the top of the stands (in front of a urinal, if you must know) and being a huge Beatles fan, when I heard "Rain" kick in I can't tell you how stoked I was. What a great song in itself, but the Dead couldn't have done a better job covering it. I remember running down the stairs singing along, when I spotted another guy doing the same and we high fived. I still get chills just listening to that track.

That day will forever be seared in my memory as being one of the single best things that ever happened to me. It was raining, so most of the weekend warriors were absent. We got ahold of some great doses in the lot and there was just a feeling around that place that something great was gonna happen. The Dead Set skeletons were mounted on the side of the stadium, outside, and cut out of that big Aiko eye stared down at us as we graced the west entrance. The whole perimeter of the stadium was adorned with tie-dyed flags, and there was a huge Steely right next to the fighting duck over the press box. That stadium was definitely OURS for the weekend.

During the break was when things started getting noticeably weirder (what's new, right?). It was a pretty steady drizzle at that point, and those flags were waving around the top of the bowl, birds were swirling all around the place checking to see what all the excitement was about. Time was definitely standing still, and what was going on inside that stadium was definitely NOT connected to the world around it. We were somewhere else.

After the break, the boys came out, I remember Phil blowing a kiss to the clouds, and they all grabbed their instruments and just kind of huddled up in Jerry's area. They all kept discussing the next play, and looking up into the stands (and at the rain), and Jer was smiling and grabbing his beard. Phil blurted something out about how they were getting to it, and then they took their positions and, in unison, all started singing RAIN. Angels could not have sung a more perfect or powerful melody. It blew everyone away. That word at that moment changed my life, and I have a feeling I wasn't the only one. Fucking amazing show from there on out.

Be sure to check out the extended intro on The Wheel out of space. Still my favorite Wheel of all time for that reason. Bob is to this version what he is to that jam between Alligator and GDTRFB from Fillmore East. Beautiful things were happening in that stadium during that song.

And the Attics.......
I mean, wow. I was on a one way ticket to heaven at that point. I didn't even notice that the transition from TStones to Not Fade Away was like someone walking into a closed sliding glass door. it was just ON, for me.

Get this show. It's one of the best of the later years, and we all know we need a little of that now and again.

The Eugene shows are one of the highlights of my life. This trip around the wheel wouldn't have been the same without them.

get it

OJ and Al Cowlins were doing the Bronco Boogie during this show...

I remember walking up front for the post-drums portion and thinking that the sound was about the best I'd ever heard. As for the music...well, pretty good for '94.

This show boasts one of the strongest performances of Saint of Circumstance ever played. Band on fire.

You can't beat Eugene for a show. The city was so welcoming to deadheads and enjoyed us being there. Having camping right out the stadium was an unbelivable scene. The show was great and you can tell the band was having a great time. The rain during the show was perfect and only added to the energy

Show definately started off slow...Rain was a nice cover, with an airy solo. Other than that..nothing very "stand out" here IMO.

great weekend. fun show with a sunshower. i can remember opening my eyes the morning of the first show and hearing the boys soundcheck lucy in the sky i think 2 or 3 times, samba in the rain and something else i dont know of. does anybody remember seeing a pirate ship sailing around the stadium in the lots? with the shows starting early and ending before the sun went down left a lot of room to party after the show. i could write a novel about all the fun-maddness going on. the show itself was great. i remember the sound getting better as the show went on and saw lots of people recording 15-20 feet away from the delay towers on the lawn so i would imagine this sounds good. 5 stars because it was a fun show to be at and an excellent time for the whole weekend.

yes indeed this is truly a great show, if just on vibe alone. it was one of those magic days that, while the band was doing "rain" it was both sunny and raining a beautiful, warm, summer sun shower! absolutely perfect!! everyone was just a squealin' with joy cuz we wuz all wet and we wuz lovin' it!!! what a day!

i have to agree with the above post to a degree. The Eugene shows were the highlight of this tour to me. The 17th show rained for a bit but not the whole show, during the break we made a big slip and slide on the tarp that cover the grass field, it was so much fun :) the rain songs were very appropriate that day and the show increased its quality as it went on but started out slow. oh ye i remember before the rain they had some difficulties gettin the second set started and Bobby telling eveyone that they are workin on it, that they "we're a democratic band"

ok,

readers must be sick of me by now. but, shit god damn, this was an awesome day: camping scene, country fair still to come, coffee, greens, rain?, who cares. well, THEY cared. this version of rain is no joke. in fact, besides the saint and space->wheel, rain IS this entire show. get it for the vibe, i can't explain its presence, but it is present.