With only two shows to choose from for this date, it is pretty easy to pick the February 10, 1979 show at the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas, as the Dead of the Day. The first set is solid, but not extraordinary, with a rocking Jack Straw featuring some solid vocals capping the set and providing the highlight. It is during the second half of the night that the Dead really start to blaze, beginning with a very strong Scarlet>Fire and a mind bending Other One into a riveting Wharf Rat. The only complaints about the second set regard the Godchauxs. Keith contributes nothing to the mix – by this point he was deeply addicted to heroin and practically in a “vegetative state” according to Lesh – and…

Without a doubt, our Dead of the Day is February 9, 1973 at Stanford University’s Roscoe Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, California. Not only is the show historic, with seven first time playeds and the debut of the proto Wall of Sound, but it has some very good moments and a wicked setlist. With the new sound system, the band encountered a host of technical problems, including blowing out all the tweeters as Promised Land just got started, kicking off the first set. They also clearly had difficulty hearing themselves on the stage, especially in the first set. Still, this show is one for the ages with a spectacular They Love Each Other and smoking Truckin’.

There are only two Dead shows on this date in history, and our pick for the Dead of the Day is the first of a five-night run at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland, California in 1986. The show is fairly good on its own merit, but stands out among the best of a very difficult year for the Dead, which helped us justify this pick over the 1970 show and its killer Smokestack Lightning. The ’86 show features a solid first set with nice vocals and a good mix, highlighted by a rousing Iko, a well-executed Stagger Lee, and an unusual One More Saturday Night set-closer. And, for those counting, there are nine “anymores” on the Bertha. The second set includes a fine stand alone Franklin’s, and then a…