The best of three Madison Square Garden shows (September 18–20, 1990) on a two-CD set? Yes, please! Actually, Road Trips Vol. 2 No. 1 is almost all drawn from the 19th and 20th, but you don't want to miss the September 18th encore performance of ‘Knockin’ on Heaven's Door,' an especially moving rendition given keyboardist Brent Mydland's death two months earlier.
This is the tour when both ex-Tubes member Vince Welnick (on electric keyboards) and Bruce Hornsby (on grand piano) ably stepped into the gap left by Mydland, and propelled the band to new heights. A rare ‘90s 'Dark Star,’ a second set ‘Let It Grow’ that goes off in new and fascinating directions'though Dick's Picks Vol. 9 came from the same set of MSG shows (September 16, to be exact), many folks feel these dates were superior. Peak '90s Dead!