Been in a deep Dead hole the last month and a half or so, checking multiple sets daily. Every few years this seems to happen, and its striking how when returning to the sounds, it is often the songs and jams which i had no time or appreciation for which stick out.... maybe it has something to do w turning 40/embracing the inner boomer, but really vibing on set 1 energy over set 2 (def never skipping those second sets tho!)
1973 is a truly crazy year for The Dead. Coming out of heavily streamlined LIGHTNING style of the 72 Europe tour, early 1973 shows bring a more in the pocket yet jazzy underbase for the pineal diving. Summer 73 to me is marked by “Here Comes Sunshine“ being an ELITE JAM VEHICLE (a top of a Revolver or “Octopus“ style reverie); bubblebath/West African style guitar leads being played by a west coast biker house band trying to keep spirits cool and open, seeing into the dust and light creeping in through small cracks, illustrating the endless opulence of eternity microscoped in the most mundane nothings. Second sets that summer go way out, but its no longer a “buckle up and hold on tight“ feeling (tho it absolutely still GOES there), much more gentle and inviting; “if you want to come with us you are welcome, and we will go somewhere very far (in fact we may already be there, even stuck there, and this is the sound of finding the comfort in the uncanny and the abstract, slowly revealing the deep beauty inherent in the slight brokenness)“. Second set often has some sort of He‘s Gone -> Truckin -> Dark Star -> MINDLEFTBODY -> Eyes Of The World -> China Doll thing going on.... At least the majority have some sort of jam which more or less ends with EYES, which in this era is a truly strange and satisfying vehicle. Laid back yet deep in the cut, it has an almost house music energy, Weirs guitar sounding like a loop just kinda cooking back and forth, the rest of the band spilling forth slow motion pinwheel melting style in all directions at once, but always contained, inviting and soothing no matter how out we are going. Moving from LIGHTNING to FLUFF here, which brings me to the set posted.
Winter 73 to me seems to continue the slow squeeze into the fluff, which by 1974 has kinda given way to the space zone we see them truly lock into by 77, but as soothing as it all CAN be, there is always a strange undercurrent of “its after midnight and things are going good, but there is a lot of shady people here doing shady shit and things might flip in a split second“ energy. Dead fans love to pontificate on what drugs the band members used which years, which drugs the fans used, what personal shit was going on in the band members lives etc etc, all that boring shit. I prefer to look at the band as translators, masters of tuning to the energies of now, tomorrow and eternity. Of course drugs play into this deeply, but it is also slightly reductive and misses the true hard WORK this band had put in with hands, minds and souls, to serve and shape an ever changing amorphous force we all exist with always but never see fully and often never see. Maybe the fact that we try to see it is the issue, as it is something spirit and not sense based.
Grateful Dead at Winterland is always special, always deep relaxed hometown advantage energy, showing the home team, the original players, what the front line has built across the world over the years with a cast of characters they would never know yet always be linked with. First 4 songs of this set is like a locomotive blasting off then slowly finding its groove, Promised Land/Bertha/Greatest Story/Sugaree. Jerry’s guitar is slowly melting behind Bobby’s in the verses of Promised Land, a very relaxed illustration of the beauty in things coming apart from the inside out and finding their place among the invariant. Sugaree here is insane, the train slows down and allows us all to breath. 3rd record Velvet Underground type energy but tied to something much scarier, realer, easier, inviting and eternal (yes i realize some of those may seem contradictory). Bubblebath fluff drips from every corner, Bobby’s backing really making the track here and Jerry situating himself within with slow, controlled mini solos which do more to elucidate the whole band’s playing than his own. To Lay Me Down is unreal here, fluff burial energy, the acceptance of death and ending as one of the most beautiful parts of being. Even songs which often seem like filler are played so well here and with such depth and feeling.... the best Dead sets force you gently to accept what you have never been able to appreciate and this is a standout example of that. Like even BIG RIVER/El Paso/Me and My Uncle sound great here. First set ends w a killer Weather Report Suite/Let It Grow, heavy Quicksilver SF 1968 eternal energy.
Set 2 has a great fluffy Dark Star, endless expansion but not forced, welcoming at all times. Heavy jazz vibes, very nice sparkling bubbling guitars, Kreutzmann really holding it down, Keith sounding great w both Kreutzmann and Jerry, Phil laying down equations which never complete but create a proof of structure which illustrates what the rest of band is both doing and not realizing they should be doing. Definitely some short segues into the lightning, but it is much different than years prior. Even the feedback sections are FLUFFED. A great, great, great relaxed EYES follows with the weird Egyptian Coltrane yet country bar band at all times energy it has in 73, the level of relaxation with the engaged interplay is truly impressive.
There is a maturity which is coming into being in this year, the band taking their role as guides a bit more seriously. No need to take deep plunges into the unknown from the immediate jump, no need to create a perfect counterpoint to a shared psychosis of sorts, and instead lets just be and channel what it is and its all good. And it is definitely far far beyond all good.
Very nice FLUFFY Uncle John’s Band for the encore but it has nothing on 4/29/72 Hamburg, but that is definitely for another day.
“Right outside this lazy summer home
You ain't got time to call your soul a critic, no
Right outside the lazy gate of winter's summer home
Wondering where the nut-thatch winters
Wings a mile long just carried the bird away“