Grateful Dead

10/2/72Springfield, MA Set 1 -Cold Rain: opening notes cut, always a good show & set starter; solo 1:55 -2:45, reminds me of a Mick Taylor solo, very nice; definitely a smiler, very good opener -Mexicali: excellent, short & fast 1st solo; 2d solo 2:12 – 2:28, manic, very nice; really good version -Tenn Jed: Phil providing some good background vocals; 1st and 2 instrumental breaks pretty short and basic; solo 5:14 – 7:18, Jerry puts something into this one, excellent ending, very good overall, we get a “woo” from someone at the end -BIODTL: solo 1:44 – 2:31, 2 runs, 1st mellow, 2d faster and very good, Jerry’s guitar slightly buried though; Keith tickling the ivories -Bird Song: Bobby plays nice rhythm; solo 2:55 – 8:05, Jerry wastes no time here, emotional, a little bit other-worldly, harsh but still beautiful, changes tone around 5 min mark, prettier, plaintive cries, EXCELLENT solo; the first solo doesn’t even include the excellent bridge, quick drums, and back to the main riff; next vocals at 9:15; outro jam 11:24 – 13:02; definitely a special Bird Song -BT Wind: Phil’s bass in the forefront; good emotion, especially on the “you ain’t gonna learn” verse; no solo but still a very good version, one of my favorite songs -Big RR: love those twin guitars, Bobby shadowing Jerry; 1st solo 1:04 – 1:39, 1st run doesn’t have much to it, 2d nice; 2d solo 2:16 – 3:11, 3 runs, low, medium and hot; very good version -El Paso: good tempo, enjoyable version -BE Women: solo 1:41 – 2:05, just 1 good run; 4:45 total, pretty short; Jerry is still looking for his place musically in this song I feel like, Bobby & Keith both seem to know theirs -Cumberland: solo 2:50 – 4:18, excellent screechy, bluesy; very good version -Jack Straw: Bobby & Jerry each have his own verse; quick solo 1:20 – 1:42; 2d solo 3:34 – 3:56, just a shuffle -Don’t Ease: 1st solo 0:48 – 1:16, 2 runs, rock & roll; 2d solo 2:01 – 2:59, very good -Playing: great howl from Donna before “standing on the tower” verse; jam 2:54 - , little bit of a lack of direction at the beginning, Phil’s all over the place!, Jerry starts playing furiously around 8:45 mark, lasts about a minute, tough to describe what is going on, little bits and pieces, that might be much individually, but collectively it is pretty cool; note how much longer the song has become in just 5 months (from the 10 min versions of Europe 72); around the 17 min mark a cool little jam starts, leading back into the main theme; Donna howl at 19:50, vocals at 20:00; might not be a great Playing but still very very good -Casey: solo 2:27 – 2:52, short but excellent Highlights: Bird Song Notes: Everything is well played, with only BE Women & Jack Straw being somewhat disappointing; the Playing is very good but not quite great; this is an 8.5 – 9 point set that has me looking forward to set 2 Set 2: -Promised: solo 0:40 – 10:06, 2 good runs; Keith solo 1:44 – 2:09; short outro jam -He’s Gone: good solo 4:07 – 4:47; jam 8:54 – 12:50, moving pretty slow, gets interesting about 2 mins in; “nothing gonna bring him back;” outro jam, decent; good version -Me & Bobby McGee: opening notes cut; solo 1:35 – 2:35, 2 sad but hopeful runs -China Cat: solo 1:04 – 1:26, short but dreamy & excellent; 2d solo 1:49 – 2:56, smile smile smile excellent; jam 3:20 – 6:07 , short outro, transition jam starts at 3:45, Bobby in the lead, nice job from Bobby, at 5:20 Jerry takes the lead and lead us home; excellent version -Rider: Bobby throwing some China Cat licks in during the 1st verse; solo 1:29 – 2:03, one very strong run; jam 3:53 – 4:29, firing on all cylinders, stop on a dime -Tomorrow Is Forever: Donna is off a bit at first but she finds her voice in the 1st verse, she really forces Jerry to sing loudly; solo 3:05 – 3:44, very nice; I think this is a really nice version -GSET: solo 2:55 – 5:03, starts off just ok but gets hot, Donna howling over some good parts; very good version -1/2 Step: 1st solo 1:05 – 1:35, nothing fancy; 2d solo 2:34 – 3:00, nice but nothing fancy; Keith playing nicely during the “across the Rio Grand-e-o” portion; solo 5:50 – 7:00, excellent; back to “across the Rio …”; 15 second outro to end leads to Stella -Stella: weird moment around 4:25, just before “and nothing comes for free” where there is some sort of blip, maybe a cut; very good outro -Truckin’: jam starts at 5:10, greasy and dripping, very nice, leads into Nobody jam -Nobody’s Fault jam: mellow, excellent riff, gets quiet and spacey in middle, ends with just Phil & drums -Drums: real quick -Jam: jazzy, early 70’s funky to start, Keith’s playing is excellent; speeds up around 1:50 mark, Phil laying it down; Jerry gets spacey around 3:15, more than hints of Feelin’ Groovy from Phil and Bobby, pretty little jam, Phil really wants to force it, Jerry grabs it, beautiful! -Morning Dew: emotional start, this is gonna be a heavy one, ’72 style, great pace; Bobby playing really well during the verses; solo 5:50 – 7:11, powerful, excellent; Jerry messes up the lyrics, singing very quietly, SOOO emotional; outro starts at 9:00 mark, real slow to begin, crying guitar from Jerry, like a violin, switches to regular guitar tone which is just as good, brief fan, awesome outro; wonderful Dew -Sugar Magnolia: superfluous after the Dew really, no need for another song; quick solo 1:30 -1:45; jam 3:13 – 5:35 , Jerry gets going here, everyone is working hard, very good; Sunshine Daydream at 5:50, cuts out at end -UJB: excellent solo 2:07 – 3:26; jam 5:00 – 6:30, excellent again -JBG: Chuck Jerry to end the night Highlights: China > Rider, Jam > Morning Dew, UJB Overall: VG show, 9/10 overall, the highlights are great, and everything is well played. A mixed tape of this show should include: Cold Rain, Mexicali, Bird Song, BT Wind, Big RR, Playing, China > Rider, Truckin >Nobody > Drums > Jam > Dew, UJB. I graded this as a SBD A, and it is, but the sound isn’t perfect, an officially released version would be welcome, and Jerry’s guitar is just ever so slightly too low in the mix

After this show i went home and worked to save more money for road trips.This show was good band was hot jams great.

This was my first show-I've been on the bus ever since!