As we turn the corner this weekend into the unofficial start of summer, we have a smokin' hot set of Dead music to serve as the soundtrack. This is set 3 of the band's performance on May 26th, 1973 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. The boys open with a straight ahead rockin' version of 'Mississippi Half Step'.. some beautiful Garcia licks there in the closing.. then 'Me & My Uncle', then we get into the heart of the matter.. a nice, stretched out 'He's Gone'.. including some great Phil bass and baritone vocals.. then we go into a wonderful stretch of music, one of the best of a very good year as the band dissolves He's Gone into Truckin'.. then we go into a great Other One intro and jam, then a beautiful Eyes of the World->China Doll.. what a day! Keith is on the money here and Billy is as always, outstanding.
As I sit back and enjoy this I marvel at the band's energy here after already having played two smoking' sets. Is it one of the best of that very good year? prehaps.. but it is not worth the argument, it is a pleasure to behold..
Kezar Stadium, San Francisco, CA (5/26/73)
set 3
Mississippi Half-Step
Me and My Uncle
He's Gone
Truckin'
The Other One
Eyes of the World
China Doll
Sugar Magnolia
Casey Jones
You can listen to this week's Deadpod here:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/deadshow/deadpod052215.mp3
Have a safe and fun-filled Memorial Day weekend..
take a moment to reflect on the men and women who lost their lives in service to the country.. and work for peace..
thanks for your support.
2 comments:
This is really one of my all time favorites. Pretty sure this was the first Eyes and China Doll, and the first for several other songs as well.
It was not the first Eyes or China Doll. For those of us out here, they debuted at Maples Pavillon (Stanford) earlier in the year. This Kezar show was memorable for a number of reasons. The music tells most of the story, but the other memories I have are that all my friends got severe part burns on the tops of our heads that year. We are not used to getting sunburnt in San Francisco, and it was a very clear, sunny day.
The PA was unusual, as they had additional towers halfway down the field, time delayed, so as to reinforce the sound, but not cause any echoes.
Phil's bass solo (unusual for Phil to take a pure bass solo) was on the quadraphonic pickup. If you listen in stereo you can hear it go back and forth. He had each string assigned that day to upper and lower, left and right PA stacks.
This was essentially the first "Day on the Green" for Bill Graham. Led Zeppelin played the next week, but were so loud, no other shows outside of SNACK Sunday were played there.
Thanks again for posting this. I'm just getting around to hearing it again, and it brings back great memories.
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