G.B.5 Turning Point: Rainforest Benefit 9-24-88

Tabula Rasa.

Having cleansed myself from the lackluster show on 9/23/88, I was ready for whatever the Grateful Dead could serve up at the long awaited Rainforest Benefit.

More than the music though which was good but lacked the flow of a traditional Dead show due to all the start - stops and special guests, was the message that I took away from the show. Yes, it was that life-changing. Think Globally, Act Locally.

Yes, the formerly apolitical Grateful Dead were taking a stand on Amazon Rainforest Preservation. Between appearances on the Today Show - nice blue sports jacket on Jerry, and Mickey Hart telling the story of his son's aversion for fast-food burgers because, "Daddy, I don't want to eat the burger if it came from the rainforest grazed beef," there was good publicity for the concert event.

I attended the show and pondered the improbable. What would happen if the energy of 23,000 concertgoers (+ thousands more listening on the radio simulcast) could be harnessed for the good of one issue: Protecting the Rainforest. How would one make a difference for the rainforest? Well, the Grateful Dead in conjunction with Greenpeace handed out fliers and printed matter. The Drums / Space segment was jungle-like drums with Discovery Channel style video footage on the "light screen" of all species great and small thriving in the rainforest. It was an excellent conveyance of the message.

I caught the train back home and my best friend, John Flaks, picked me up at the Penn Station - Baltimore. From there it was nose to the grindstone during my first semester at Towson State University - my return to college after taking a semester off following my father's untimely death in January 1988.

Carpe diem, I seized the day. Imbued with a renewed purpose and new-found discipline, I now had an outlet for my energies: environmental protection. Yes, there would still be shows and tours to follow. But, I realized in the coming years that my desire to make a difference for the environment, to leave the planet a better place than it was before I arrived, came out of the September 1988 run of Dead shows at Madison Square Garden.

09-24-88 Madison Square Garden, New York, N.Y. (Sat)
Rainforest Benefit Concert - A moving event

1: Iko Iko, Stranger, West L. A.*, Rooster*, Box Of Rain, Ramble On, Masterpiece> Don't Ease
2: Chinese Bones*, Neighborhood Girls*, Crazy Fingers> Woman Smarter, Every Time You Go Away*, What's Going On*> Drumz*> Wheel> Throwing Stones> NFA* E: Good Lovin*, Heaven's Door*

Benefit for the rainforests: Cultural Survival, Greenpeace & Rainforest Action Network - Bruce Hornsby & The Range opened - FM broadcast WNEW-New York, WMMR-Philadelphia - "West L. A." & "Rooster" with Mick Taylor - "Chinese Bones" & "Neighborhood Girls" with Suzanne Vega on acoustic guitar and vocals - "Every Time?" and "What's Going On" with Daryl Hall: guitar, lead vocals; John Oates: guitar; Tom "T-Bone" Wolk: acoustic guitar, then accordion, then bass; Mark Rivera: saxophone; without Phil - "River Drumz" with Baba Olatunji & Michael Hinton - Olatunji stayed for the rest of the set - "NFA" with Bruce Hornsby on accordion - Both encores with Hall: vocals & Oates: guitar & vocals; Jack Casady: bass; Bruce Hornsby: vocals & electric piano, then accordion; without Phil - "Heaven's Door" also with Suzanne Vega - only "Chinese Bones" - only "Every Time You Go Away" - only "Neighborhood Girls" - only "What's Going On"

Setlist and notes courtesy of Deadbase