Week of September 21, 1998
First of four shows presenting the complete unreleased soundboard recording of February 9, 1973 at the Roscoe Maples Pavilion on the campus of Stanford University.
This was the Dead's first show of the year, and it included the first public performances of seven songs: "Row Jimmy," "Loose Lucy," "Here Comes Sunshine," "They Love Each Other," "Eyes of the World," "China Doll," and "Wave That Flag" (which evolved into US Blues). So the band had lots of new territory to explore in what turned out to be a year full of great performances and deep collective improvisation.
Corry Arnold, writing on the wonderful blog Lost Live Dead, speculates that "Loose Lucy" was written for Pigpen:
"My own opinion, unsupported by any evidence, is that if Pigpen's health had allowed, he would have had a song on Wake of The Flood, but it wouldn't have been "The Stranger" or any of his other songs. I think it would have been "Loose Lucy." The song was written and rehearsed in early '73 with a much slower arrangement, and it seems custom made for Pigpen. To be clear, I can't remotely prove this. However, Hunter had facilitated Pigpen before, with 'Easy Wind' and 'Operator'--why not 'Loose Lucy'? Pig could have put his own inimitable stamp on it, probably a lot more bawdy than Garcia's..."
It was also the debut of some new sound equipment. Sound man Dan Healy told me this story in an interview on May 22, 1982:
I remember one time, we were playing at Stanford, debuting the first version of the ‘74 system. We spent maybe $20,000 on amps, crossovers and stuff, started the show, and in the first two seconds of the song wiped out every brand-new tweeter. Smoked every single one. “Oh, okay, we learned about that!" you know? We went through all these changes to put these protection devices, and they never worked! They blow long after the speaker’s gone.
Enjoy!
Grateful Dead 2/9/73 Maples Pavilion, Stanford University
PROMISED LAND
ROW JIMMY
BLACK-THROATED WIND
DEAL
ME AND MY UNCLE
SUGAREE
LOOKS LIKE RAIN
LOOSE LUCY
BEER BARREL POLKA
MEXICALI BLUES
Every Wednesday, we post a program from the Grateful Dead Hour archives for your enjoyment and enlightenment. You can browse or search the playlists at gdhour.com or on the GD Hour Search page, and let me know what program(s) you'd like to hear by emailing me at gdhour@dead.net.
Thank you for listening!
- David Gans
Producer/host