Grateful Dead

and it was magical...

this was my first dead show and it was a great experience. i have a bootleg of the show i got from someone who i knew years later. this was a completely different music experience than i had ever experienced.

I know it sounds nuts, but I just discovered The Dead 2 years ago. This cd was a random buy. I saw the cover didn't have any GD from 1973. I enjoy this show. The low sound quality in some spots is the only low point of this nugget.

my first show but they did 2 nites ok,city

I was streaming GD.net. They had Sugaree playing, 1973-10-19. I don't see it listed in this set list? KF "Be the change you seek in this world." Gahdhi and Paul Wellstone

I always look at the dates on Sirus Dead channel as to when the shows were. I dont know why, but I just try to remember were I was or what I was doing during these time periods. It usually brings me good memories. I was one month old when this show went down.

This was not my first show, I had seen the Dead many times before, but this was one of the best shows in Oklahoma City that they ever played outside of the shows in the Zoo Amphitheater. I thought the Dead was going to blow the roof of of the building, really, it was so loud and Phil was so powerful, there were moments of pure fear, and I loved every moment of it. I was an Architectural student at the University of Oklahoma at the time, and I really thought there might have been real damage to the structure. The floor was shaking and the columns were shaking, and my head was shaking! Wow, what great memories, of an awesome evening!!! I was so glad that this show made one of Dick's Picks, as all I ever had of this show was a poorly made bootleg copy, and now I have a beautiful CD of that night. Thanks Dead for some of the best memories of my life!!!

I was able to go thanks to a very short-term free-form Rock station in Tulsa known as KTBA. Hippies had taken over a low power FM station in Broken Arrow, OK and they had a contest called the "Dirty Book Contest". Entrants had to finish the sentence: I don't read dirty books because _____________. My Dad heard their commercial for the contest and finished the sentence "because I don't have any". I said "Thats it, thats the winning answer". I did win tickets. Offered one to a work-mate of mine (we were both Jrs in HS) and we hopped in his custom painted black 1968 firebird and drove down the Turner Turnpike. At the end of that turnpike, my musical journey took a detour that to this day represents the essence of my love for live rock and roll. Truly, there is/was nothing like a Grateful Dead show. I've never looked back. When I found the Dicks Picks show years later, I was talking on a cell phone, browsing through a mall music store that was going out of business, and noticed the wheat on the cover and when I read the date I about crapped my pants! I was so happy to be able to relive this, the first GD show I ever got to see! The sound is amazing. The band, a bit tepid to begin with but by mid-way through the 1st set they were cooking with gas and the Fairgrounds Pavillion was infused with the trippy, mesmerizing sound of the greatest american rock band that ever existed!

Here are my notes on this great show (which is really just an elaborate way of saying what Tulsa Steve said in 1 sentence-"The band, a bit tepid to begin with but by mid-way through the 1st set they were cooking with gas and the Fairgrounds Pavillion was infused with the trippy, mesmerizing sound of the greatest american rock band that ever existed!"): Set 1 -Promised: 1st show in almost a month, getting the kinks out -Sugaree: well-sung, couple of slow, short but nice solos, no big solos/jam -Mexicali: Bobby has some trouble with lyrics; feel like the band is still finding its legs -Tenn Jed: final solo is the long one, slow, relaxed, spare, country-pickin’, very good -LL Rain: spare yet compelling, feeling is that this is very important; very good version -Don’t Ease: nice, energetic -Jack Straw: Bobby seems to cut off Jerry’s solo with return to lyrics; “next train we can ride;” very good jam, but too short -TLEO: smile smile smile for the wonderful, joyous solo; a highlight -El Paso: solid -Row Jimmy: very good solo, very good version -Playing: jam starts at 3:08, gets serious early on, heady stuff, hypnotic, Jerry starts teasing the main them at 14:02 mark, back to the reprise at 16:05 Overall: band is warming up for the first few tunes, everything from then on is very good, peaking with TLEO and then again with a great set-closing Playing Set 2 -China Cat: long, excellent jam features the Feelin’ Groovy Jam; excellent version -Rider: very good solo and jam -MM Uncle: blistering 1-run solo -1/2 Step: pretty jam before the “across the Rio Grand-e-o” portion” -Big River: really nice final solo -Dark Star: long, spacey, intro jam, dreamy, return to main theme at 12:10, 1st vocals at 12:24; bass-lead outro; excellent -Mind Left Body Jam: separate track on DP and I will follow that; soft, jazzy drums from Bill; long build-up, so good, big smile, head bouncing, awesome; around 5:37 mark a return to space; excellent -Dew: slow, serious intro; 1st vocals at 0:50; love how the temp picks up before the “where have all the people gone this morning” verse; picks up again during the “I thought I heard a young man” verse; solo 5:48- 6:57, intense, mind-shattering, emotional; back to peaceful, serene vocals, outro 8:50-12:25 , begins serene, delicate, picks up run by run, layer by layer, Jerry playing fast and furious, the band working as one, rolling thunder, awesome -Sugar Mag: I don’t know how they continue after that, but they do; very good short 1st solo; 2d solo/jam (before the stop/Sunshine Daydream) is very hot, Jerry is on fire; Bobby screaming in the Sunshine Daydream portion -E: Eyes: good 1st solo; 2d solo, fast, note after note, very good; 3d solo/jam is long, intricate and wonderful, absolutely incredible -Stella: very nice -JBG: short, band has to be tired after the monster 2d set+ Overall: Sometimes something is more than the sum of its parts. This show is a little ragged to begin with as the band takes a while to find its legs. By the 4th song of set 1, Tenn Jed, onward, everything is at least very good. TLEO and the great Playing are the highlights of set 1. Set 2 features a strong China Cat opener, with an excellent Feelin’ Groovy Jam, a dreamy Dark Star, an awesome MLB Jam, an emotional Dew, and an out-of-this world jam in an encore Eyes. Great show, 10/10

This show was released as Dick's Picks Vol. 19 and it is truly awesome. Promised Land led off the show, not Mexicali Blues.

Thanks for quoting me and thanks AGAIN for the excellent review. Well stated sir! This show means more to me than any other Dead show I was fortunate enough to attend and reading your detailed review brought that into focus for me one more time!!