12/10/72: winterland arena, san francisco, CA.

after a 2 week vacation from touring, the dead rolled into winterland for a 3-night hitch filled with the same vigor and energy that made the november ‘72 gigs so legendary. the first night of the run is my favorite, even with the sound issues and tape cuts. despite the mix changes, the recording is ultimately quite satisfying and chock-full of great ensemble playing and rich improvisation. garcia completely dominates the concert with blistering solos throughout, and the barnstorming tones of his stratocaster highlight every tune.

the soundboard recording is missing a good deal of the first set. even so, the three songs we have are more than enough to wet our appetite. bertha is revved up from the start, and jerry’s solo is ferocious. the playing in the band that follows is absolutely immense. like many of the ’72 versions of the song, it is a vehicle for boundless expression, chaos, & feedback. as the boys descend into the jam on this night, jerry is already in deep space and wastes no time digging in even deeper. about half-way through, he enters a quiet wah-wah section, which builds into a tempestuous sound explosion and then dissipates. in time, the band slowly forges their way back to the reprise, with jerry’s keening notes swirling around the sonic landscape like an atonal cloche. casey jones closes out the first set, deftly returning the audience to planet earth.

set 2 begins in standard 1972 fashion and includes a stirring early take on stella blue, which regrettably gets chopped off at the end solo. things start to heat up again with china cat sunflower > know you rider, which features a bold and inventive transition sequence. the oft-paired truckin' > the other one occupies the next 45 minutes of the set; as you might expect, the jam out of truckin' is absolutely fierce, with jerry spitting out notes at a furious pace. the entry into the other one is a bit restrained but quickly grows into a more energetic jam. garcia’s guitar phrasing is splendid at the opening of the first verse and soon morphs into a burst of feedback and unhinged freeform improvisation; the cyclical jam that follows is both haunting and unnerving. garcia continues to explore various melodies, eventually dropping into a quiet formless jam that the other musicians mine for a while. from here, an eyes-style chordal theme emerges and serves as the framework for additional themes. the result is astounding and is one of those moments that makes listening to this band so goddamned gratifying. a few rockers round out the set, including a fine uncle john's band encore with some tasty, laid-back solos from jerome.

listening to this performance from start to finish, one can’t help but gain a greater respect for jerry’s unique ability to steer the grateful dead ship into uncharted territory. the way he attacks the entire performance is not atypical of many 1972 shows, it’s just that on this night he dials it up a few more notches in his relentless introduction of new, inchoate ideas within the context of what the band is playing. it’s a wonderful example of the dead’s ability to make format out of chaos. plug in some good headphones and see for yourself. https://archive.org/details/gd72-12-10.sbd.gorinsky.5801.sbeok.shnf/gd1972-12-10d1t02.shn

4/21/71: rhode island auditorium, providence, RI.

april of 1971 is most famous for the dead’s final run at the fillmore east, despite the fact that the boys had been busy ripping it up at just about every college gym on the eastern seaboard. this performance is one of those real gems that has been unfairly overshadowed by the fillmore shows. the low generation soundboard source has a good mix with minimal hiss, and provides a wonderful definition of vocals and instruments. the gig crackles with energy from beginning to end, and surely contains highlights that could have made the cut for the skullfuck LP. down to a five-piece configuration for the first time since 1967, they were back to what jerry called ”prototype grateful dead.”

the night opens with a spirited casey jones. the band sounds loose and strong, with good harmonies. after a few more short numbers, the lads really open things up with a truckin > other one > wharf rat sequence; the improvisational explorations during the other one are intense and vital, resulting in some of the finest moments of the show. lesh’s bass dances over and around garcia’s leads, while weir, pig, and kreutzmann comp beautifully through the tangle. the complex interplay of instruments and the seamless translation between jam and spatial motifs is exquisite. it is a reminder of why the pioneering jazz critic ralph gleason once described what the dead were doing in the sixties as “really jazz, even though the sound of the electric guitars at first inhibits you from saying that.” the first set continues to heat up with a scorching take on hard to handle, loaded with a solid pigpen funk groove. jerry’s guitar break about 3 minutes in is nothing short of remarkable, not to mention phil’s syncopated baroque bass line bouncing and running over everyone. the set closes out with an up-tempo cumberland blues, an elegant birdsong, and a sweet version of me & booby mcgee with a smooth country-style into.

set 2 kicks off with a fired-up bertha with just the right amount of shoot ‘em up barroom flavor. sugar magnolia has a nice flanging effect on garcia’s guitar at the start; bobby’s vocals carry well, especially during the final jam. listening to their run through the weir-barlow number, we’re reminded why the band really liked playing this song. a few other highlights of the set include: a badass rendition of good lovin’ with plenty of mckernan mojo; a well-jammed not fade away > goin’ down the road > not fade away; and a fine uncle john’s band > johnny b. goode double encore. culled from bob mathews' 7-inch half track reel master recording, this show is meant for liberal consumption.

https://archive.org/details/gd71-04-21.sbd.kaplan.8227.sbeok.shnf/gd71-04-21d1t04.shn.shn