"One of the largest crowds to see the Grateful Dead perform live in the 1980s and 1990s, at the last-ever concert at Philadelphia's JFK Stadium, the July 7, 1989 audience was treated with one of the best shows of 1989, a year that's widely considered one of the most consistently great of the Dead's 30 year touring history. Opening with Hell In A Bucket, the band then jumped right into their unofficial party anthem, a song that was always certain to get everyone up and dancing: Iko Iko. This staple of the New Orleans sound at which the Dead were adept at playing was always a buoyant, ebullient entry in any Grateful Dead setlist. As you'll see in the video, the band has much fun playing it on this night as we all had dancing to it." - David Lemieux

I interviewed Jerry before this show -- almost 4 years to the day before my first interview with him in Pittsburgh. What a difference. He was full of energy, upbeat, and of course, sober. The last time I talked to him was June of ''95. Again, what a difference. He seemed so tired. I couldn't help thinking the end was near. And of course it was.

When Jerry smiles I can't help but smile too. 89' was a very special year.

Phil is doing his own thing over there and it sounds so awesome. That guy is a Master.

Jerry and Brent were obviously kindred spirits. I love seeing them play together.

I saw the dead for the first time at JFK in the summer of 1987. I was 17 years old and just got my license which opened up a new world for me and my friends. I remember that hot July day as we walked onto the GD lot for the first time and I was like a kid in a candy store. I left that place a different person. So summer of `89 rolls around and I'm certainly not a dead head, I really enjoyed their music and especially their shows. But this time I was staying down the Shore for a week. About 10 or 15 friends rented a place in wildwood and we partied all week. I don't remember how it came about but I woke up that July morning and said I wanted to go to the dead show in Philly. No one Wanted to go or should I say, no one wanted to drive me. I usually drove everywhere but that week I didn't have my car, I went with a friend. So around noon I said, fuck you, to all my friends, grabbed some cardboard and made a sign that said GOIN TO THE DEAD.....JFK, And I just started walking. I walked a while holding up that sign everytime a car drove past. I got a lot of honks but that was it. It was hot and I wanted to give up and just go back. By now I was on the main road heading out of Wildwood to the Parkway. I wasn't standing there more than 10 minutes before this car pulled up, said they were goin my way and asked if I wanted a ride. Perfect I thought until I realized it was a 2 seater hatchback jammed with a bunch of their shore stuff. I remember they made a little spot in the very back where I could lay, scrunched up. But it was better than walking. The only thing that sucked was I couldn't even sit up to look out the window. I was on my back looking up through the hatchback at the clouds. This was hard because I had no Idea where we were going or where we were at. After about 90 mins and a few joints we got there, found parking and I finally was unpacked from the trunk and it was a magical circus. I don't remember much of the day, or I should say this day blended with all the other days I went to dead shows in philly. But I do remember the show itself because this was the last ever event at the historical JFK stadium in philly. This is where they help Live Aid just 2 years earlier. I also remember I didn't have a ticket but in philly you didn't really need tickets. Just wad up some money in your hand, walk up to a busy ticket taker and when he puts out his hand for ticket just shove the cash in his hand. I used to do it all the time for Flyers events and at the spectrum for concerts. The ticket takers were making $3.65 an hour minimum wage. So $20 was a big deal. I would usually get a bunch of ones and wrap a $10 or $5 around it. I never had a person refuse it. So in I went and on I turned. What a show. I loved it and I didn't have any preconceived notions about the dead so I didn't lament about the old days. I wasn't so into them that I could tell the difference between midi, keys or real horns. I didn't know brent used to be background and now he shared vocal leads. It didn't matter. The only thing that mattered that day was my trip, and the good time vibes everyone was rockin. I went on to see the dead a few more times when they came to philly. most of the time I just went to the Lot and was considered "part of the problem", but I was cool about it and didn't cause much of a problem...but I understood what was going on. I never did become a deadhead. I would listen to their music but it never really hit me in the way it did with some people. It wasn't until after Jerry died that I realized how good they really are. I think back to those shows and how lucky I was to be able to go. So now when I listen to these shows some 33 years later and I think back to those days and how young and carefree I was I feel a bit of happiness to know that I had it good, and I still have it good but man those times were special. There will never be another time like those times. The world keeps turning no matter what I feel or what I think. Every time the world turns it changes just a little when it comes back around. All those revolutions add up until one day you look back and realize it can never be the same.

When Jerry looks at Brent, he smiles, and it melts my heart.

It is mind blowing how many humans love the Grateful Dead

This show was one of the greatest days of my life. It was pure joy and love.

The summer of 1989 when I was able to see the Who, the Dead and the Rolling Stones in concert. I was a lucky man indeed.

I was there and the place damn near levitated when the boys played this Gem Simply EXCELLENT!!!

Jerry’s voice sounds great and his playing is superb. RIP.

Man I miss those days so much Love seeing Jerry and Brent smiling at each other playing off each other. All it does is make me Smile, Smile, Smile

"I've always loved New Orleans music. I always loved it when the Neville Brothers opened up for the Grateful Dead and the Dirty Dozen and all that." ~ Bill Kreutzmann

great version....Jerry looks really engaged and healthy. And Brent, he was the shit man...he just had this psychedelic soul that bubbled up through his organ playing

Brent gave every single bit of his soul into every single song that he played with these guys. He is absolutely the glue that holds all of this together with his unmatched playing abilities, as well as his ability to sing high harmony without moving out of his normal chest-voice range. This always injected a bit more power to the harmony vocals of the group at-large than if someone was singing high harmonies in falsetto. Took me a long time to come around to Brent (and I still haven't really came around to his cheesy 80s-90s synth sounds), but these days I am getting him more and more. Any song where he plays B3 like he does in this one is automatically head-to-head with _any_ 70s Dead (an era which I believe to be the best overall in the band's career), in my opinion.

The day after my 10th birthday and all I wanted was to be there, luckily my mom took me 2 years later and I’m forever grateful!

Just fantastic. Good ole Grateful Dead at its finest! My main man Brent flashing that awesome grin and goin crazy, Jer looking happy, Phil dropping bombs, Mickey and Billy being the right and left arms of the same body Bobby rockin his quintessential short shorts, and all the beautiful people in the crowd. I’m getting choked up, this was one for the ages. Nothing like The Boys. Edit: I cannot stop smiling at Jerry smiling at Brent as if to say go ahead man, you got it!!

Can you imagine if Jerry was quasi-sober and he and Brent had the chemistry they had in '89-90 from 1979-1988? The greatest band ever with so much greatness left on the table.

I once dreamed that I was at Bob Weir's house. And he gave me a guitar. That was so real. And he was so nice

3:10 - 3:50 is pure awesomeness! Jerry and Brent in their element... totally in sync and just showing pure joy playing together!

I just loved to watch Jerry smile at Brent while he was wailing away on the keys!!

Brent & Jerry enough said

You know its summer when you turn to this great song and it's in Philly at JFK. Live Dead.

The Dead was Smokin Hot In 89' !!!!! So many Great shows I have In my collection !!!!! 💀✌🏼❤🙂🔥💎✌🏼🎶☀🌷🌈

Damn Dave, really making us wait for that "never before seen" footage

The band is so tight. Jerry and Brent feed off each other like I have never seen before.

You can tell how much Jerry loved Brent.

Jerry and Brent... the soul of the Dead for me. Great performance

Truly epic show but I love Brent's part on the keyboard and Jerry looking over at him so stoked.... They were all feeling it ❤️💛💚

Wonderfully fun cover version of a classic. If there was ever any band that could take any song and use it to get thousands of people off their feet and into a happy place...it were these guys!

Probably my favorite organ solo of all time. Brent is the man.

Brent tearin' it up. . .Jerry on farr. . . yes!

Incredible. The Dead at the height of their powers.

Terrible day at work. This slowed down Iko hit me just right. Still keeping me right Jerry. Miss u brother.

I was there at JFK with my brother 7.7.89 and this is the last concert ever. I also saw Grateful Dead at JFK with Bob Dylan 7.11.87!! I loved GD and my brother and I saw them plenty of times together. 12 times! I outdid him by seeing them 33 times since 1978. Long live the Grateful Dead! 🎤🎧🎼🥁

I was at this show, but barely have any memory of it, except for the fact I hitched hiked from Seaside Height's that morning and 2 deadheads in a Datsun 280-zx picked me up and I rode in the back hatchback laying between a bunch of gear. I could only see out the back hatchback window looking up. I had no Idea where we were until I started seeing taller buildings and stuff. I didn't have tickets and about an hour into the first set I walked up to a guard taking tickets at the door, I handed him a rolled up wad of money, about $6, on the sly, and he looked around, grabbed the money and stuck it in his pocket quickly and waved me in. It's a trick I learned from going to Flyer's games at the spectrum. The ticket takers were making $3.35 an hour, minimum wage then, and I figured they either take the money and stuff it in their pocket thinking it's a fortune, or they tell me to get lost. Worked like a charm. This was before they had to scan tickets. But somehow the turnstiles were supposed to count the people and match with the tickets he took. They probably never checked it. It was one of those hot, sunny, philly days and shakedown was shakin. The only other thing I remember was standing on the benches that was the seating and I passed a whippet to the dude next to me, I turned and watched the band for a minute and when I turned around, he wasn't standing there anymore, he had hit the deck and passed out after the whippet. But If I close my eyes and think hard I can still remember seeing them on that JFK stage where 2 years earlier was Live Aid, and I also saw a Pink Floyd show there, sometime in 87 or 88, i guess. The first time I ever went to a dead show was just 2 years earlier in 1985. I didn't miss them coming to town until around 1990 when I went off to college.

30 years!? Where does it go? I dunno if I gotta cry or laugh...

I hope when I die and go to heaven when the pearly gates open wide this is what I walk into! ❤❤❤

Please let this kind of joy back into this world...

never forget this concert....rocked Philly to close out JFK

Brent with the magic keys!

You know jerrys on fire when hes was dancing!!!

One the best Iko Ikos out there! Just lush and gorgeous! Good recording too!

He and Brent seem to be having so much fun. It was a sad day when Brent passed and a sadder day when Jerry passed.

enjoying those that discover the grateful dead, all over the world, forever 🌹

They were on fire, high energy, love it

Jesus Chris Brent....you revived these guys in so many ways. RIP LEYENDO.......

I was there, wow so much fun, what a day, man I miss the big guy!

Sum of the parts, Jerry hell yeah, Bobby's crazed beat rythm and freaking phil just keeps laying it down paving the way

The love and connection between Jerry and Brent is very palpable and it's one of my greatest versions ever my first show was UVA Hall 1981 peace out

Oh how I miss this man

Still love the way Jerry and Brent look at each other when one of them has a solo. Such a huge mutual admiration society going on between those two. Musical soulmates, if you ask me.

Love the dead and would love for other lovers of the dead to hear the work we are doing to keep this kind of music alive in 2020. It isn't as good as Jerry and the boys, but it does have a little something going on. We are just unknown local rockers who march to the beat of our own drum. Please give us a listen; It isn't for everyone, but surely it is for someone.

I was at this show, but I was just a dumb 19 year old kid who was too busy buying acid on shakedown, to realize what I was witnessing. Even years later I never understood the magic of the dead, or Jerry. I liked the dead, but I was more fascinated with the culture of the deadheads than the music. It wasn't until much later that I understood the music and the magic of The Grateful Dead. When I see this, with Brent and Jerry trading licks, it makes me sad they're not here anymore, but then I'm reminded of that hot July summer day and I am grateful for the memory.

So awesome to see Jerry happy and healthy - ‘89 was a great year - Bobby’s shorts...😳

This was the Dead's best lineup.

Take me back 💀🥲

I must possess over 1000 hours of Dead on tape, but I don't think I'll find a finer performance of this number among them, what a blessing to have not only audio but video of it

It’s really amazing the size of the crowds the Dead would play to. Filling up these massive football stadiums. ‘88 they did a 9 night stand at MSG! 9 nights! And in the 90’s their fall runs at the Garden were usually 6 nights. Here we are in 2019 and if you’re a big time musical act and can sell out Madison Square Garden, maybe you’ll do a 2nd night, which is rare. They Dead would come to town and move in for a week and sell them all out! Then go up to Boston and do a 6 night stand at the Boston Garden the next week! The good ol’ days of the Grateful Dead shows, there was nothing like it.

Dam man it makes me cry a little to see Jerry playing so good and having a great time. It’s a sadness and happiness thing at the same time, but dam this show was smoking.

Awesome!!! Wish I could have at least seen Brent and jerry once. Either way I still love the dead!

I have never seen anything more beautiful in my life. 😢

What a concert.

I love the grateful Dead ❤

Good bless the Grateful Dead!!!

I'm 53 still jamming out with the jfk 89 show. I was 19 almost 20 when I was there. I tell the young deadheads what a great show. I can't wait for dead and company citizens bank park.

i was there and it was a great show to say the least

Damn, Brent knew how to make that B3 sing. How can you not smile and dance with such a fantastic groove as this epic rendition of “Iko!” Pure joy.

3:16 you can just see the joy on Jerry’s face during Brent’s solo

Gives me chills ! Fine Art !

Nothing left to do but smile smile smile love and miss jerry so much

Fond memories including sunny 😎 afternoons and The Grateful Dead

So very grateful to have been at this show. Miss seeing the real deal.

I’m from Philly and a huge Dead fan. What a trip to see this! Rock on Deadheads

This is absolutely fabulous!

Thanks for the upload !!!

Seeing Brent slam the keys on a B3 is one of favorite hobbies.

This is just fantastic

Only seen The Dead 30 times or so since I was 13. The music is still with me Every Day. Changed me. This eong is about wariing tribes in Loisiana. I always love Thre Dead’s cover of Folk music. Saw them do tis ar Red Rocks where they played many times. Thanks for the amazing life moments!

Their concerts were always lots of fun, so laid back.

Does it get any better than this with all the boys in prime form? Absolute trippy; has me dancing around the office this morn.

I wish I could have went to just one more show

The grateful dead , soundtrack of my youth . How grateful am I still .

Jerry's solos soothe the soul..

Simply awesome and amazing It is very touching and watching his facial expressions and saying how much of his heart and soul he puts into the music you can tell he loves every second of it and nothing ever gets old

Love when Jerry smiles ✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Brent. Jerry. This was IT for me. Good times. I love you guys and the memories. Cheers. IG

I Love You. Aloha from Maui. A mix of tears, sadness and joy all in the same moment. Brokedown Palace, Shoreline. Last song I heard from Jerry. Mahalo Grateful Dead And Everyone, and I mean everyone who made decades of dreams come true. "its all a dream we dreamed one afternoon long ago"

One of my all-time favorite shows!

Great performance ❤

No other music hits the soul like the Dead!

This is one of the greatest !❤️🐰🐇👽🪐🌹🌹💥☄️❤️‍🔥🦅🦋

& again more 80’s to be Very Grateful for⚡️

Awesome love the sound just brings people together...

The show was hot and so was the weather!

I can feel this music from the top of my head to the tip of my toes and everywhere in between.

Pure joy mixed with a little cid a recipe that can't be beat!

They got really popular The Grateful Dead did. Still love listening to all those shows. Still know why I traveled thousands of miles to see them over 100 times. Thanks for performing so much, thanks for letting us tape

Highgate Vermont 1995 what a concert and what a fkn band! Miss you Jerry. Thanks for the tunes and loving vibes you spread amongst us all! RIP