• Robert F. Kennedy Stadium - June 9, 1973

setlist

  • Promised Land
    Deal
    Looks Like Rain
    They Love Each Other
    Jack Straw
    Loose Lucy
    Mexicali Blues
    Row Jimmy
    El Paso
    Box of Rain
    Sugaree
    Beat it on Down the Line
    Tennessee Jed
    China Cat Sunflower
    I Know You Rider

    He's Gone
    Truckin'
    Playing in the Band
    Loser
    Me and My Uncle
    Mississippi Half-Step
    Big River
    Eyes of the World
    China Doll
    Sugar Magnolia

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    gary88keys
    17 years 4 months ago
    Heat and the Parking Lot
    Arrived the night before with a cousin of my friend Jack. She was really short and I lost her for most of the show (a GOOD thing). Up all night drinking and trippin'. Mad rush to get in. General Admission. Dead opened that night for the Allman Brothers, who were outstanding. They hosed down the audience on the field every 30 minutes. Must have been 110 degrees; at least. Decided to lay down on the field during China>Rider; (lucky I didn't get trampled). Finally had to make it to the stands durin the Allmans. Doug Sahm band was annoying
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17 years 7 months
setlist
Promised Land
Deal
Looks Like Rain
They Love Each Other
Jack Straw
Loose Lucy
Mexicali Blues
Row Jimmy
El Paso
Box of Rain
Sugaree
Beat it on Down the Line
Tennessee Jed
China Cat Sunflower
I Know You Rider

He's Gone
Truckin'
Playing in the Band
Loser
Me and My Uncle
Mississippi Half-Step
Big River
Eyes of the World
China Doll
Sugar Magnolia
show date

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17 years 4 months
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Arrived the night before with a cousin of my friend Jack. She was really short and I lost her for most of the show (a GOOD thing). Up all night drinking and trippin'. Mad rush to get in. General Admission. Dead opened that night for the Allman Brothers, who were outstanding. They hosed down the audience on the field every 30 minutes. Must have been 110 degrees; at least. Decided to lay down on the field during China>Rider; (lucky I didn't get trampled). Finally had to make it to the stands durin the Allmans. Doug Sahm band was annoying
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17 years 4 months
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Great show, drove down early from Philly, The Dead played a very good show, we hung on the field, Allman Brothers were excellent too. John 3:16
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17 years 1 month
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Hooked the first time! Still got the program. I remember that they passed out garbage bags after the show and if you filled one up you got a free ticket to the next days show.
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16 years 11 months
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This was my first Dead show. Attended the next day show as well. If I'm not mistaken, this show began around 11:00 a.m., lasted all day, and didn't end until after midnight, or something. The Dead and Allman Brothers were alternating throughout the day, and Wet Willie played, too. We were on the field of RFK about 1/2 way back, and everyone was wasted. I remember ending up with about 4 roachclips, and didn't take any to the show. lol These were the days when the Dead seemed to play forever. You could go for a pretty cheap price, and listen to awesome music all day long. Plus you could take coolers into the stadium back then. Nothing like attending a Grateful Dead show, especially at one of the best football stadiums in the U.S.A. Too bad the Redskins don't play there anymore! 1973 was one of the better years for the Grateful Dead, if you liked some of their more mellow music.
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16 years 10 months
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I took the train down from Jersey, I skipped the last week of Freshman year in H.S. to attend the show. I didn't know much about the Dead or The Allman's other then the lead members were Jerry and Greg. This was an experience for me and a life time of memories. As it turned out my life long buddy attended the same concert that weekend, prior to us meeting. we since attended some 75 shows together, We still talk about the awsome weekend and the heat of RFK stadium. Funny thing, we went on a bus trip some 15 years or so later to see the dead at the same place and it was just as hot, so much so our, coke salitified in our pockets, major bummer!!!...lol
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16 years 5 months
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Hitched a ride with my friend the do dah man, we both had an oz with us. Slept on the grass before the show, baked all day long, good times
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16 years 3 months
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Hot day, the Dead played ALL day from noonish well into the evening. The Allmans came out did thier show, which was great. Then a combined jam which I remember as "One Way Out". It was general admission, we walked around RFK and at one point made our way to the stage, stepping over bodies... quite the obstacle course in the infield. When we exited back to the stands we again tippy toed through the prostrate bodies and after we "made it" through the field, it was a GREAT relief. Hot, yes indeed. But D.C. is alway hot in the summer time.
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16 years 10 months
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What a weekend! Went with friends - we did it up right and got a hotel room. Opened the blinds on the room to discover we were directly opposite a window in the police station - at least that's what I think I remember........Just out of High School - not a care in the world - seeing my two favorite bands together - couldn't get much better!
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15 years 9 months
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Traveled up from Florida with a few friends....stayed at buddy's parents house in Maryland (in the basement) Great show, I still have the program. Had some wicked Orange Barrel....My well meaning buddy's mom came to the basement sometime after our return from the show and all I can remember her saying was, "I hope you fellows had something for your head!!" (referencing the sun)...We all laughed so hard, I thought I was going to puke. I also remember all the skyrockets being shot at the stage....at least, I think I saw them. I'm 61 and headed for Greensboro..
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15 years 9 months
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CRIUSED DOWN FROM PEQUA L.I. --TO M-NOW DECEASED BUDDY--HE'S UNCLES; PLACE----YOUNG RAGING LOOOOOAAA TICKS TO SEE A CONCERT IN RFK STADIUM WASH, D.C.------OOHH I FORGOT TO MENTION MY FREIND;S UNCLE A PRIEST R.C.--IN A TOUGH SIDE OF TOWN----DIDN'T MATTER TO A BUNCH OF INDUCED AMEAOBAS---2 DAYS OF "DEAD" ANDOTHER MUSIC!
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15 years 7 months
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Six or seven of us headed in a VW van to Washington, DC to see the Dead and Allman Brothers (from Rhode Island)...Junior year, college.. I was happy to be going on a trip anywhere, much less to a stadium named after Robert Kennedy, Jr. We camped in an open field nearby that seemed to "appear". I remember hearing Truckin and singing it all night long...I remember hearing Jessica and watching Dickie Betz (?) and needing water. I didn't think I would ever stop laughing/THE BEST entry!
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15 years 9 months
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I had just graduated from high school and went with friends from Philly. Still have a picture. Would not have remembered the set list though!
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17 years 4 months
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the temperature, I mean! I just have snapshots in my mind of moments from that weekend. Like a fever-induced dream.We drove down from the Bronx the night before, and slept under the shade of the Washington Monument. I had never seen DC before. All I remember of the concert is the HEAT...well, I DO remember Doug Sahm, I liked the song Mendocino...but I think I was asleep when the Dead came on. Well, I do remember waking up at "Playing in the Band". I know at the time I thought it was a GREAT "PITB". But....damn it was HOT that weekend! On the way back up to NYC, we ran out of gas money for the van, and had to panhandle at a rest stop in Maryland. A nice couple on a motorcycle gave us FIVE DOLLARS, which seemed like a LOT of money at the time!
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13 years 3 months
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Drove to this concert with my brother Rick and 2 girls from Carteret,NJ. I got separated from them going in to the concert. They went on the field while I found a shady spot sitting behind the stage. Doug Sahm Band opened, then the Grateful Dead played, followed by the Allman Bros. It was a hot and sunny day in DC.
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13 years 8 months
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Stories I won't put in writing. Entirely too much fun. Life altering event. Good Times with Good Friends (who still talk about it today......2011 !!)
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16 years 7 months
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6-10-73 was the better show but not because this one didn't try hard. It pales to 6-10 and that's it. I seem to remember orange barrels, window pane and bottle rockets shot into the hot soupy over RFK. Second set highlight included Playing and Eye's. The 6-9 Eye's pales in comparison to 6-10 version. IMHO.
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11 years 3 months
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I remember my roomates in New Brunswick , NJ urging me to drive them to Washington DC for a Dead concert. We didn't even have tickets. My car was new and I was reluctant. I gave in and we got there Friday evening. We scalped tickets and slept outside of RFK on the grass. I was an ABB fan but not so much the Grateful Dead. After that concert on Saturday I was a fan for life. Yeah , it was pretty hot that day ,somewhere about 95 to 100.I have a few pictures from a bad camera whose battery gave out after 4 - 5 pictures. I'd like to see if anyone remembers what I remember. The Dead played a very long time. China Doll , then Sugar Magnolia. Then the long wait. The Allman Brothers were late. The Dead had finished their show but the Allman Brothers weren't there. Initial word on the field was that we weren't going to get the full show. Then the Grateful Dead came on stage to do another set. The Allmans came on stage it seemed around dusk. No where on the set list does it show Uncle John's Band or Casey Jones but I know the Dead did those songs when I was there. Workingman's Dead and Europe '72 became my go to music after that concert. And I figure it had to be 6/9/1973 because the Dead came on first. My parents wouldn't let me go to Woodstock. I consider this to have been my Woodstock.
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12 years 6 months
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Followed Dead around the country that summer, helped set up at RFK; DC was hot, also saw AB at New Haven CT that summer - it all seems like a dream today. One of the best years of my life! Today I have Sirius 24/7- tomorrow GD Meet in Austin. So long as We broadcast the Dead, one day in star system or galaxy far away our star brothers will see and hear the digital sights and sounds we experienced in our lives - and in an unrecognized tongue say "what a long strange trip . . ." Love is all
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16 years 7 months
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6-10-73 is the stronger of the 2 and has always been my favorite show! The highlight of 6-10 was the Eyes. This one discovered new areas of heaven and earth much like Magellan, De Soto, Columbus and Neil Armstrong. It was a real treat to get the Allman Brothers to return to stage for a complete set alongside the Dead. Heady times indeed!!!! VaDead
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11 years 1 month
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My sister gave me this show for my 18th birthday and drove me down from CT, then drove me back all night so I could graduate high school on Sunday the 10th. It was only my second Dead show but it is at the top of my list of memories. A better sister one could never have.
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9 years 6 months
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This was my first show. I was 13. my cousin and I and another friend rode our bikes down to the nearest Metro bus stop{Potomac} we asked the driver how to get to RFK...without a beat she tore off three transfers and handed them to me any my friends.....and off we went...on the Bus for the first time!! I remember lotsa naked people in the crowd, great music, and I'm sure we got handed quite a few joints! but, strangely, I did not partake in the Bears Fine Water ...at a Dead show, Until Capitol Center, 1980!
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16 years 6 months
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My first Dead show, and actually I was there primarily to see the Allman Brothers. We'd procrastinated back in the spring and missed the Baltimore GD show, so nobody wanted to miss this one, and the huge size of the venue ensured it wouldn't sell out. I drove down to DC and parked within walking distance of the stadium, but the people I was supposed to meet ended up getting thoroughly stoned and thoroughly lost on the way, and I later found out they didn't arrive until the middle of the Dead's first set. We never met up. As others have noted, it was brutally hot. I got there early and went right up front while Doug Sahm was playing, but got so dehydrated I had to go into the tunnels and drink fluids and sit for awhile. When the Dead came on I was back out in the crowd at the front of the stage, but by the second set I had retreated to a seat in the shade along the right-field line, where I remained for the rest of the show, hanging out with some people who'd driven down from Pittsburgh. I was impressed with the Dead-- their music, their vibe, and their adoring audience. But it didn't make me a Deadhead overnight. As days went by, their music started to seep into my consciousness more and more. I started buying up as much of the catalog as I could afford, and by the time they came back a year later I was a full-on Dead freak. And so the journey began. Two years later, I was in Fairfax, California, at a JGB show. During the break I wandered out to the sidewalk for a little air. The bouncer had taken a break, and perched on his stool, all by himself, was Jerry Garcia. This was 1975, remember; it was stil possible to talk to Jerry like just another human being, and he welcomed it. Here's how I remembered it from a piece I wrote for UPFRONT magazine years later, after Jerry had passed: "I stepped forward and stuck out my hand: 'Sounds good tonight, Jerry', I said, with what must have been a idiotic smile on my face. "He just grinned and shook my hand: 'Thanks, man. Glad you could make it.' "I asked him about some of the shows I'd seen, and mentioned an all-day extravaganza at RFK Stadium in D.C. with the Allman Brothers' Band. "He leaned forward, interested. 'Tell me,' he said, 'which of those shows were you at? The first one or the second one? Did we play in the daytime or did we play at night?' "'You played in the daytime,' I said. "'Oh, man,' Garcia chuckled, and he shook his head. 'Listen, I want to apologize to you for that show. We were HORRIBLE.' "'Gee,' I said lamely, 'I thought it was OK--' "'Uh-uh. We were horrible. I'm sorry you weren't there the next night, 'cause that one was great.' He laughed. 'Really, I apologize, man. We weren't ready to play, and it was really hot, and we were just... horrible.' He had not stopped smiling since I'd walked up. "There was so much more I wanted to ask him, to tell him, even if he'd heard it a million times before. But nothing he might have said could possibly have been more revealing than the few simple words and gestures by which he assured me, one of several million fans, that I too was as deserving of his time and attention and good humor as anyone else who might have come along."
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16 years 3 months
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My late brother Mason and I attended this show. We were living at our parents' house in DC at the time (me just out of college and job-hunting) and took public transportation to RFK on a hot humid day with general admission tickets. We were out in the middle of the field from noon until after dark and must have gotten water somewhere! We enjoyed the music and the jamming by some of the Dead members with the Allman Brothers at the end.
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2 years 8 months
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It was a brutally hot day. We squeezed in with thousands of others early in the day, and waited for hours before the show began. I lost the food we had brought, and my friends and I were separated. Only at the end did we find each other. I'll never forget what I remember of the show, though.

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11 years 3 months
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Does anyone remember the kid who yelled out " Uncle Johns Band" during intermission and Bob Weir looked out to the audience while bending over to lay a guitar down? Yeah, that was me.