on the eve of what would have been jerry garcia’s 81st birthday i thought i might take a quick look at the most recent box set that the archive team has put together.

‘here comes sunshine’ is a five show release from the spring of 1973:

iowa state fairgrounds (5/13), u cal santa barbara (5/20), kezar stadium, san francisco (5/26), and then 2 shows at rfk stadium in washington d.c. (6/9-6/10). the latter 2 were a twin billing with the allman brothers. the dead opened up the first show, and the allmans opened up the second show.

it has always been a bit of a mystery why that last show had not been released until now, because it has been highly traded as a bootleg for a long time, nearly legendary in status. the dead did three long sets, lasting nearly five hours, and dickie betts and butch trucks sat in for the third. i had a raw version i downloaded of the internet back when the dead still allowed that, but this sounds much better. owsley stanley (bear) did the sound and the recording of the jfk shows, and betty cantor jackson did the other three. if you have already gotten this box, or intend to, be prepared to spend some time digesting it. all of these shows are long, the shortest one being three and a half hours.

but much more importantly, these shows capture them at what i consider to be one of their finest iterations. there has always been a lively debate as to which touring year was their best – 1971, europe 72, the wall of sound in 1974, and the fantastic run of spring 1977 to mid 1978. you could even throw in there the spring of 1990. but to my ear and taste, i think they were never better than in 1973, pretty much all year.

what do i attribute this to? there were a number of factors, starting with the fact that all of them were much better players then they were previously, and the effects of the rock and roll lifestyle didn’t start to take hold until the grueling wall of sound tour the next year. they were also arguably at the most cohesive level they would ever achieve, at least on a night to night basis. they were vastly familiar with their older material, and they had a new batch of music (‘wake of the flood’, which turns 50 this year) to show off.

most observers of this period (and to a certain extent 1974) comment on the fact that the band took on more of a jazz influence than in any other era. they were nimble, creative, and brave enough to stretch a song out at anytime. to me the key to this was the rhythm section of phil lesh and billy kreutzmann. phil almost plays the bass at times as a lead instrument, and you will find the drumming on this tour better than on any era over their thirty year history, period. once you had that solid architecture at the bottom, jerry, bobby and keith were able to flesh it all out.

most of the shows had 25-35 songs in each one, and my only very small gripe would be that there is quite a bit of overlap. i think there were at least 3-4 ‘box of rain’ renditions, which at this stage of phil’s singing career were probably three too many. i believe i read it in the liner notes that they only played it a few more times after this before abandoning it for at least a decade.

but don’t let that discourage you. this is a wonderful pickup for the end of your summer or for those early fall firepit sessions(it is a limited edition, by the way). so much great music, even when they do repeat a song from the last show. there is an ‘eyes of the world’ on each show, and they are all completely different and glorious.

i know it is a big package, but if you are still reading this, then it is likely you might find it to be a good addition to your collection.