3/18/71: fox theatre, st. lous, MO w/the new riders of the purple sage

nestled in between the renowned february port chester shows (that bade adieu to mickey hart) and the historic fillmore east run in late april, march of ’71 had everything going against it. barely any tapes of the march gigs circulate, with the exception of a fine sufi benefit show at winterland. recently, i stumbled onto a second set soundboard from 3/18 at the fox theatre in st. louis that redefined a lot of what i thought i knew about the year. on both the old and new songs, the band seemed to take mickey’s departure and the roster adjustment in complete stride and come out on the other side all the better for it. the recording sounds fantastic, and the energy beaming out of the band on this night leaps off the tape. jerry’s playing is crisp and stirring, and the tone of his custom-built alembic guitar is really special.

the set 2 opening sequence of truckin > drums > the other one > wharf rat is smoking, and must have sounded astounding piped through the mcIntosh tube amps of the ron wickersham-designed sound system. the rest of the set features some of the most enjoyable music of the year. for starters, the boys absolutely nail sugar magnolia; jerry’s wa-wa is switched on throughout, providing an ample amount of psychedelic charm to the weir-led number. they follow this with a greatest story > johnny b. goode one-two combo that, again, is awash with stellar wa-wa action from mr. garcia. the final 35 minutes of the show is classic good ol’ grateful dead. buddy holly’s not fade away kicks it off, and man are the lads fired up. they transition into the oft-paired goin’ down the road feeling bad, a tune they had been working out since the fall of the previous year. after this, it gets really interesting when, instead of returning to the holly opener, the band slides into an older cut from anthem of the sun: caution (do not stop on tracks). the tune is played with a bluesy swagger, and pig’s harp gets a damn good workout. the caution eventually is subverted into a sea of feedback, harkening back to the primal dead of ’68. in fact, this is the last time feedback shows up in a set list like this. after the loop of glorious noise concludes, the band tunes up and leaves the crowd with a superb uncle john’s band finale. culled from a bob mathews 7 inch half track reel master recording, this set is meant to be consumed liberally.

https://archive.org/details/gd1971-03-18.132491.sbd.mathews.wise.flac16/t12.flac