I’m a day late for a TDIH celebration of this one, but I just finished a big term paper and am treating myself to a little Monday night trip around the event horizon. I was thinking about what I could possibly write about it, when I remembered that I already did five years ago. Whoa. lightintoashes plucked this from a defunct GD forum and was nice enough to save it at his blog. I still stand by every word of it.
I don’t know that much more is needed. I think this show is one of the very upper echelon shows, very likely in the Top 10 of all time. It didn’t dawn on me until just now how the second set must be one of the most Jerry-heavy sets ever: Bob just gets two country tunes and Sugar Mags, while Jerry has the Dark Star>Eyes>Stella, a titanic HCSunshine, and a Ramble On Rose for good measure. I also noticed for the first time that there’s this one dude in the crowd screaming, “I need water! Jerry, give me some water!” over and over after Stella Blue. Where’s a Venusian Red Cross recruiter when you need one?
That's all.
For the statistically minded, Jerry was on a second-set roll that week.
ReplyDelete12/2/73 second set - Garcia: 4 songs + Dew encore; Weir: 3 songs
12/4/73 second set - Garcia: 3 songs; Weir: 1 song + encore
12/6/73 second set - Garcia: 5 songs; Weir: 3 songs
Balance was restored on 12/8.
Not to take away from the glory of 12/6, but 12/2 also has one of the most amazing and unusual second-set sequences ever.
Phil was really getting into the feedback on that tour, which divides listeners! Since the Dead were diving into the noise in show after show, I think it must have been inspiring them...
Oh, you'll get no argument from me about the virtues of 12/2/73 -- that's an all-timer for sure. Top to bottom, though, I do think 12/6 is a better show. And that's an interesting point about the short spell of Garciacentric setlists -- maybe Weir just had a cold or something?
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