9-11-73: william & mary college hall, williamsburg, VA.

the ’73 fall tour was highlighted by a ten night spin up the east coast. eight of the performances featured tenor saxophonist/flautist martin fierro and trumpeter joe ellis, both members of doug sahm's touring band, who also opened for the dead each night. of the fall run, this night is the one that really speaks to me. it’s a bit more rough around the edges than the cleaner, jazzier, playing that characterized much of 1973. garcia’s solos gnaw at the bone, lesh’s bass work is fierce and exploratory, and keith plays the saloon style piano reminiscent of his first tour in the fall of ’71. after the band finishes their warm-up tunes, they get down to business with a fiery china > rider. at this juncture, they’re playing with unbridled abandon like it’s the end of the show. even the el paso is a stunning success, as jerry solos from beginning to end with the utmost exuberance. the set-ending playing in the band is a rousing version, performed with just the right amount of furious jamming and unpredictability.

the second set is loaded with new tunes from wake of the flood, including a weather report suite that features some spicy horn-blowing from fierro and ellis who, despite the fact that this is their first gig of their brief tenure with the dead, seem numinously locked into the structure and nuance of the song. after the horns depart, garcia sings a bittersweet version of row jimmy with just the right plaintive guitar and vocal touches. this is followed by a trio of rockers: big river, deal, and beat it on down the line, each thoroughly peppered with virtuosic stick-work from billy kreutzmann.

the set-closing dark star > morning dew is surely a highpoint of the evening. early on, lesh steers the ship, taking pleasure in undercutting everyone else’s ideas. in time, a more jazzier feel emerges, led by keith on electric piano. jerry eventually guides the band into the first verse, but as the vocal track fades out, phil begins assaulting the crowd with bruising chords. this turns into one of the loudest, nastiest solos lesh has ever played. pure exposure. lesh continues shoveling sounds loose from his bass making this one of the strangest sounding beginnings to morning dew ever. garcia sings it sweetly as if nothing unusual is going on. the closing jam is outstanding with jerome joining phil for some lunar riffs of his own. all in all, this is an exceptional show and definitely should be considered for an official vault release.

https://archive.org/details/gd73-09-11.sbd.lanum.184.sbeok.shnf/gd9-11-73d1track08.wav.shn