12/15/72: long beach arena

the final month of a historic year filled with unbelievable tours featured five performances, four of which were played at winterland. on the whole, december of ’72 is a bit of a dark horse; the shows are loaded with technical issues, dodgy sound, and bad cuts in the tapes. even so, for those who venture within, many surprises await.

the last stand-alone grateful dead performance of 1972 in long beach, CA, finds the band playing with the same ragged intensity they brought to the fall tour. the first set is typical ’72 fare. highlights include: a country-tinged sugaree, a smoking tennessee jed with a passionate outro lead by jerry, a slow and heartfelt candyman, a few weir-led cowboy numbers, a whopping playing in the band, and a punchy casey jones. the crowning jewel of the ninety-minute first set though is the playing in the band, which rivals many of the more renowned versions on the archive. to begin with, keith is loud in the mix and this is one of those rare playing in the bands that begins with a prominent piano drone. the jam is ominous and heavy, with jerry hanging in the background releasing guitar licks from behind the fray. the result is a menacing, relentless feeling, fueled by garcia’s inspired and tortured licks arising spontaneously from the soundscape to a point where it seems that he is musically fighting the rest of the group. to make matters all the more beautiful, lesh maintains a consistent open-ended structure that appears to be facilitating the rambunctious spirit that has possessed the lead guitarist. the result is a playing in the band similar to the big ’72 november versions—it never calms down for long before a storm boils up again.

set two opens with a scathing greatest story ever told—with just the right amount of wah-wah pedal—and it’s clear the band is fully warmed up. a few numbers later, they head into an extended he’s gone; their take this evening is nearly identical in structure and intensity to the version they laid down four nights earlier at winterland. next up, we’re treated to a suite of music that, like many of the second set jams of this period, begs your full aural attention. an energized truckin’ is followed by a long improvisational jam, loaded with complex themes and varying meter signatures that slowly drifts into one of the most distinctive dark star passages committed to tape. the former vault keeper, dick latvala, once commented on his fondness for this dark star based on the unique and inventive style of playing that bookends the verses of the song and the complexity of melodies and phrasings that arise throughout the piece. garcia’s guitar work is beautiful and sinister, lesh’s bass playing is uncanny, weir’s licks are at once divergent and complimentary, kreuztmann’s polyrhythmic jazz/rock groove is unrelenting, and godchaux provides a haunting keyboard effect throughout. the last dark star of 1972 drops elegantly (and appropriately) into a poignant and inspiring morning dew. at this point in the band’s career, they could do no wrong when traversing any type of improvisational jam. this night is no exception.

https://archive.org/details/gd1972-12-15.sbd.yerys.2329.sbeok.shnf/gd72-12-15d3t03.shn