Dead of the Day: 05-20-1973
Campus Stadium, UCSB
Santa Barbara, California
There are only three shows on this date in history, so it makes picking out our 1973 Dead of the Day from the University of California, Santa Barbara, a bit easier. A sharp and up-tempo Bertha opens the show with a solid Box of Rain and Looks Like Rain standing out in the early going. Then we get an incredible China> Rider with the China Cat spilling forth into some other realm before sidling into the I Know You Rider. Keith is impressive on the BIOTDL that follows, and the They Love Each Other that comes afterwards is some seriously lovely music. But then we get an outrageous, face-melting, twenty-minute Playing to end the first set.
The second of the three sets opens with a rocking Promised Land. On the Brown Eyed Women that follows, Jerry plays exquisitely, but he clearly has a cold, making him sound, at times, like he is going through puberty. The same could be said about the Row Jimmy a song later. But you won’t even notice the issue on the Here Comes Sunshine that comes next because it is an otherworldly piece of music with Jerry’s luscious guitar, Phil’s bombs, and Billy’s great drum work all coming together.
Even with the great fireworks to this point, the first two sets take a backseat to the third, which is utterly amazing, starting off with Truckin’. The jam in the midst of it is some tasty stuff as Jerry puts all his energy into it. But it ain’t over there, as the boys extend it out for another ten minutes, entering into some insane territory while working with the Nobody’s Fault But Mine theme. Finally, Billy takes over, clearing the air for a devilish Other One, which has an intense face-melting section about three-quarters of the way through. The Eyes> Stella that follows is beautiful beyond measure, even with Jerry’s voice issues. Then, Bobby and the rest of the band send the third set out with a crowd-pleasing Sugar Mags before coming back for one last trip with a Johnny B. Goode encore.
Podcast about this show:
- Heads’ Tales – S1 E6 In the Shadow of the Sphinx: Don Defenderfer – As a high school freshman, Don Defenderfer caught his first Grateful Dead show on this day in 1973 while visiting his brother at UCSB. Listen to Don talk about this show and his many other incredible experiences with the band beyond description on this episode of the Heads’ Tales podcast.

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