This is the first show without Mickey Hart, who was dealing with depression after his father, Lenny Hart, embezzled 155,000 dollars from the band the previous year. Lenny was a preacher, drummer, and music store owner who more or less established himself as the Dead’s first financial manager and quickly started to purloin some coin. After Lenny ran off, the Dead sued for the lost money, about 55,000 of which they eventually recovered. Though the band did not press charges, the district attorney pursued an indictment and won a conviction, which put Lenny behind bars for six months. Robert Hunter wrote He’s Gone, which debuted on the Europe ’72 tour, about the theft and subsequent disappearance of Lenny.

It was not at all clear on the 19^th that Mickey had taken a long-term hiatus from the band. In fact, Phil and Jerry made comments on stage later in the run that Mickey was just sick. Mickey wrote later about the affair and his departure from the Dead, saying “I didn’t want to play, didn’t want to go out on the road. Confused, unbalanced, I wanted to flee and hide, bury my head and cry…. The band didn’t blame me for Lenny’s thievery; they made that clear. They even kept paying me, treating my departure as a leave of absence that would end whenever I managed to pin to the ground the demons I was wrestling.  Whenever I was ready, I was welcome back.” But all that was in the future; here at the Cap, the rest of the band was just dealing with what they hoped was a short-term absence.

The Dead released this night from the Capitol Theater as Three from the Vault in 2007. That release uses the same soundboard recording as in the top player above, but they worked some magic on it for a crisper and cleaner sound. The second player on this page is an audience recording from the same show. Though filled with many more faults, the crowd noise offers a unique perspective on the show and bestows a certain beauty. To get a good sense of the difference between the two recordings – and really experience what it would have been like to be on the floor at the Cap in the latter – compare the first thirty seconds or so of The Other One.