I haven't heard either 2/15 and 2/22 for a longtime. And I can't remember if the aforementioned pair of songs tonight are third best or fourth best compared to 2/15. But honestly, does it really matter? If you have #1 11/11/73, #2 9/21/72, 2/15/73, and 2/22/73, that's all you'd need for your collection if you had to chose four. https://dailydoseofdead.wordpress.com/2021/02/22/today-in-grateful-dead-history-february-22-1973-assembly-hall-university-of-illinois-champaign-il/

Second night at the unique disco volante concrete dome. I'm surprised that in '73 they could play two nights at a place this size, in a college town. They played here just once again, in '81. The show is not as good as Madison (obviously) from a few nights before or Lincoln & SLC right after, but has strong highlights. Not sure why people are talking about the Wall of Sound - that was still a year and three months away.

First Set. Promised Land is a warm-up, but these early versions of They Love Each Other are golden. This is only the fourth one. Bobby often flubs El Paso but here he's the only one that doesn't; making this a rarity of sorts? The rest is average fare until the end, though I dig the snarling pre-Wolf '73 strat-tone on Deal. There's a Beer Barrel tuning that, very oddly, showed up on Dick's #28. I also dig versions of Box of Rain with Donna. The Playing is the reason the set is noted. It's uptempo with a very aggro jam, great Billy and minimal Donnaskreech™ .

Second Set. Wave that Flag is the fourth one and it's a wash, with equipment problems. It was still gaining lyrics. Me & My Uncle is super-uptempo with an incredible solo. All sources have a glitch @4:42 in Dark Star. It's kind of an out-there version. Eyes was very hot on this tour and this night is no exception. Check out the twin-guitar attack of the chorus. Bobby is amazing, though the end jam is a tad vampy (1:54 of this is a patch for the 2/28 version on DP28). There's a great seg into China Doll but it's still early for this one. The rest is average '73. All sources have a slight cut in the first verse of Goin' Down the Road.

1st Set:   C
2nd Set: C+
Overall = 3 Stars

Highlights:
They Love Each Other - early ones with the bridge are golden
Playing in the Band- uptempo & aggressive
Me & My Uncle - super uptempo
Eyes of the World - two guitars weave and collude

SOURCES: The miller.111169 has all the tracks (you need it for Around & Around and Casey Jones) and the complete tunings. It doesn't have the image and presence of all instruments like the elliiot.10963 and it's slightly fast, but it has the better versions of GDtRFB>1 More Sat. The Beer Barrel tuning is on Dick's Picks #28. (Wha?)

truely the truth, wooweeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

So nice to see all these `73 soundboards release. if I had a time machine, I'd travel back to 1973 start here!

Great show; great sound

The Playin' by itself makes this worth 5 stars. Holy crap. Maybe I toss out too many 5 star reviews, but giving this one a grade of B seems almost criminal. Sound is tremendous, everyone is clear. Donna for the most part hangs in the back, and her audible contributions are actually pretty good. The interplay during the Playin' just cements for me how huge this band was when they were firing on all cylinders. Individuals meshing into one formidable beast that laid waste to all before it. Any chair that might be in the vicinity of this one should just be destroyed in advance.