Dead of the Day: 09-27-1972

Stanley Theater

Jersey City, New Jersey

There is nowhere else we would rather go for our Dead of the Day than one of the best shows of 1972, at the Stanley Theater in Jersey City. Morning Dew cracks the show open, tumbling out in resplendent fashion and building to an incredible crescendo. If Jerry’s guitar does not give you goosebumps on this track, then you are not listening closely enough. According to Bobby, the drummer’s choice comes next, beginning with a seven-beat intro into BIODTL. Magnificently well-played songs pile up on one another with Bird Song and Brokedown rising above even this rarified group. And the set goes out on a high note with the China> Rider, Playin’; really, what more could one ask for? Well, as the second half shows quite a bit more of that effervescent, crisp playing, starting with a He’s Gone and Me & My Uncle that are on the Dick’s Picks release from this day, but not the soundboard available on Archive that we have here. Still, the Deal – third song in the set, first one in our recording – is as sharp as it gets in the years before they started really jamming out the tune. The energy the band conjures at the end of the Deal carries right on over into the Greatest Story Ever Told as Keith and Phil drive the tune and everyone else piles on top. Ramble On Rose then bridges the gap – in splendid fashion – over to an epic thirty-minute Dark Star. The Dark Star begins subdued and jazzy, gaining some added momentum through the middle as Billy’s cymbals push the pace and provide a base around which everyone else gathers. From that point, the band launches off on a heady, calamitous charge, before slowing it down in a spacey interlude. In total, the Dark Star is one of the best, lucid and momentous. What’s more, it segues into one of the most fiery Cumberlands ever. From there we get a beautiful Attics Of My Life, the first one since 1970 and one of only two in 1972 before they would put it away until 1989. And then the boys take it out in rocking fashion with Promised Land and Casey Jones bookending a mellow, but fresh Uncle John’s Band.

Recording info
Use alternative player
Identifier:
gd72-09-27.sbd.vernon.18106.sbeok.shnf
Source:
Soundboard
Notes:
SBD Reel>Reel>PCM>DAT from “People’s Choice tree” via Jeff Blaney, encoded by Matt Vernon
Description:
Morning Dew, Beat It On Down The Line, Friend Of The Devil, Black Throated Wind, Tennessee Jed, Mexicali Blues, Bird Song, Big River, Brokedown Palace, El Paso, China Cat Sunflower-> I Know You Rider, Playin’ In The Band He’s Gone, Jack Straw, Deal, Greatest Story Ever Told, Ramble On Rose, Dark Star-> Cumberland Blues, Attics Of My Life, Promised Land, Uncle John’s Band, Casey Jones, E: Around & Around
Lineage:
SBD Reel>Reel>PCM>DAT
Transferrer:
Play
Pause
Back
Forw.
Volume
00:00
1
Morning Dew
11:57
2
Beat It On Down The Line
03:31
3
Friend Of The Devil
03:44
4
Black Throated Wind
06:39
5
Tennessee Jed
07:35
6
Mexicali Blues
03:30
7
Bird Song
11:14
8
Big River
04:34
9
Brokedown Palace
05:58
10
El Paso
04:30
11
China Cat Sunflower
07:13
12
I Know You Rider
05:22
13
Playing In The Band
15:49
14
Deal
04:32
15
Greatest Story Ever Told
05:05
16
Ramble On Rose
06:16
17
Dark Star
30:10
18
Cumberland Blues
06:48
19
Attics Of My Life
04:56
20
Promised Land
02:57
21
Uncle John’s Band
07:26
22
Casey Jones
06:13
23
Around And Around
04:54
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The venue for this night was the Stanley Theater in Jersey City, New Jersey, a massive 4300-seat theater that was the second largest on the East Coast when it opened as a movie palace in 1928. By the time the Dead played there in 1972, the theater was starting to fall into disrepair, a victim of changing demographics in Jersey City and the accompanying drop in movie attendance. In 1983, the Watch Tower Society of the Jehovah’s Witnesses purchased the dilapidated theater and immediately renovated it. They have used it as an assembly hall since then, renovating it again in late 2012 and early 2013.

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Comments

4 responses to “09-27-1972”

  1. Thom Reed Avatar
    Thom Reed

    BIODTL. Not BIOTDL. Great show.

  2. kosiorek Avatar
    kosiorek

    Thanks, Thom. We fixed it. Sometimes it is hard to keep the beats and the acronym straight at the same time!

  3. Thom Reed Avatar
    Thom Reed

    B| it’s all good, I just happened to notice it, which was weird just because when I get confused I usually just listen to the music play.

  4. Elliot Avatar
    Elliot

    My first Dead show! 51 years ago…

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