After this 2nd Denver show there would be a gap of 4 yrs before the Dead returned to Colorado. Seven songs in the 1st Set were played the night before, all of them slightly better (two more repeats are in the 2nd). Maybe it's not quite the monster show of 11/20, but that one has one of the year's best 1st Sets and this show has the better 2nd Set - known for it's long sequence: ½ Step>Playin'>El Paso>Playin'>Wharf Jam>Wharf Rat>back into Playin'>Dew.

First Set. Me & My Uncle is a fun, change-up opener. The set is average '73 up to the unusually strong Mexicali. There's also a Mexican Hat Dance going into it (that's not complete on Road Trips 4-3). They Love Each Other is faster than the previous night's shuffle. Very RIYL an uptempo, bouncy version. Here Comes Sunshine is a personal fave version. Somewhat similar to the great 11/17, the factor is arrantly X! Parts are more succinct and cohesive than usual, with original jamming - even if fairly mellow in tone. X Factor continues into Big River; Jer's 2nd solo is one of the year's best. Brokedown also ticks every box - and may surprise, if you are expecting yet another run-through. While not the whopper of the night before, Weather Report Suite is still great, and if you prefer it uptempo it's quite distinct from that one. It has the "Born to sail the tide" & "It's just a state of mind" lyrics. The Let it Grow jam has 24sec of AUD @8:21. The official release patches this with a little more than one measure from the night before (29sec @8:27).

Second Set. This hot Mississippi Half-Step is just the start of this great sequence. A good Playin' does a cool tranny into a very active El Paso. The second Playin' morphs into a long, unique Wharf jam, into Wharf Rat proper [not a Dark Star or Dark Star Jam, as sometimes labeled]. The Wharf itself is just yr average '73. The third Playin' has a 21sec AUD patch @2:36. Oddly, the official release just plays across the cut (blending the two ends, which isn't too noticeable). You wouldn't expect this jam out of Wharf to be the longest jam of the three (or the set), plus one of the most out-there jams of late '73. The 1hr 3min (whew!) sequence finalizes with a Dew. It's not 10/19 or 12/02, but still a hella kewl 'quence. The jam part of Truckin' almost immediately heads toward Nobody's Fault. Phil has to tease it a bit before Jer picks up Goin' Down the Road. On the official release, 4:38>5:31 of GDtRFB comes from 11/9/73, excising one measure (4:39>5:15 on the miller SBD) for, oddly, a measure and a half. Most '73 versions of One More Saturday are a notch below '72s & '74s. Not this; a nice punctuation before the encore. Uncle John's is good enough for satiety (hopefully 4yrs worth).

1st Set:  B
2nd Set: B+
Overall = 4¼ stars

Highlights:
They Love Each Other - brisker companion to other show's shuffle
Here Comes Sunshine - arrantly X Factor
Big River - Jer's 2nd solo is ka-blam
Brokedown Palace - may surprise
Weather Report Suite - great, also rendered uptempo
Mississippi Half-Step - so solid
El Paso - very active
Playing in the Band - the sequence section into Wharf is unique
One More Saturday Night - a best-of-'73 candidate

SOURCES: Most of the SBDs are pitched fast and have a few cuts. The miller_97468 remedies problems but does have the tunings cut. The whole show is on Road Trips v4 #3, except for complete tunings and the complete versions of: Weather Report, Playing III, & GDtRFB.

How do I get there from here?

Absolutely love Late Fall 73... Spacey Jazzy and full of Psychedelia

I caught the PITB>EL Paso>PITB> Wharf rat section of this show on the Grateful Dead XM radio channel on my way to work this morning and was absolutely blown away. I came immediately here in search of the full show. What a thrill to experience this fantastic show on its 40th anniversary. This show overall is a real gem. The first set is, IMHO slightly above average for a 73 show but the second set is incredible. I’ll hit my personal highlights:

Set One opens with Me & My Uncle, which I find to be an awkward (albeit rare) opener. It doesn’t really have anything to do with performance quality, but more likely that I’m so used to hearing it later in the first set. This one seems to fit nicely though and IMHO feels like far less of an “abrupt” start than the 11/17 UCLA show. Maybe it’s because the narrator is addressing a hometown crowd in the Mile High City. Who knows? Sugaree features some solid Jerry soloing and some very emotive vocals on the last few “Shake it, shake it, Sugaree”s with the whole band following suit in pleading intensity. Jack Straw is dripping with the lighthearted, sun-drenched glow it consistently embodied through the early 70’s, Jerry’s guitar taking that familiar weightless, soaring tone. Dire Wolf has a grooving syncopated jazz swing to it, Keith bringing a lot to the table rhythmically. HC Sunshine is tasty as always, Phil really delivering the goods, his bottom-end melodies weaving through Garcia’s like an intricate, collaborative tapestry. Brokedown Palace, which has started reappearing back in late October, Hunter’s words shining over the crowd aloft on the band’s collective sunbeams. And then we come to the real crown jewel of the first set, WRS. I’m a huge fan of this tune and this one rounds out the set nicely, sweeping us away . The boys are off to an amazing start.

Set Two starts off with another new tune off Wake of the Flood (released about a month prior) Mississippi Half Step. This song is still wet behind the ears, mostly lacking the passion “Across the Rio-Grande-eo” would gain in later years, but it’s already well on its way to growing into the awe-inspiring juggernaut it would become. The ending jam feels a little cut off but when the band heads into PITB, all is forgiven. Little does anyone know at this point that we are embarking on a full on PITB-fueled excursion that will launch us through space and time. He race through the desert on horseback in search of love in the Old West, sit by a dock to hear the heartbreaking past and hopeful future of an old blind man, and finally wait restlessly in a nuclear fall-out shelter and dream of the world outside. Whirlwind segments of stunning psychedelic improvisation usher us from place to place, oozing with 73 jazziness and at some moments and surging with Dark Star-esque energy. (Note: IMHO The track labeled here as “Dark Star Jam” would probably be better titled something else, or just added to the beginning of Wharf Rat. While the jam shares a lot of characteristics with Dark Star, it sounds to me like the band is jamming on the Wharf Rat chord progression. 73 is just so damn wonderfully jazzy that almost any spaced out jam is going to take on a Dark Star “feel”) By the end of Morning Dew, this would truly be enough…if the show ended there not a soul in attendance could say that they went home “hungry.” But, true to 73 form, there are more roads to be traveled. Starting off with a rollicking Truckin’, the latter part of the second set races headfirst in the Rock N Roll direction. The Truckin’ is pretty standard for the era which, IMHO means it’s an excellent one from an overall career perspective. 73 was definitely a hot year for Truckin. It segues into another favorite of mine, Nobody’s Fault But Mine. It’s short but sweet, Phil soon calling up a rollicking GDTRFB. You never need a calendar to spot a Saturday Grateful Dead show. This version of One More Saturday Night is well above average, probably due at least in part was the transition from GDTRFB. All that momentum had to go somewhere.

Who doesn’t love an UJB encore? I can’t think of a better song to serve as benediction to the experience that was a Grateful Dead concert, soothing a soothing chorus singing verses of sage advice and sending you gently back out into the world. Come here to the riverside…as always, the boys have some things to talk about.

Some wonderful, wonderful things.

If this had all been one track, it could have gone down as the longest introduction to a Wharf Rat. Unfortunately it was decided to be named Dark Star jam. In my opinion, Wharf Rat starts at the end of the first Playin'. In case you couldn't tell, I'm a fan of Wharf Rat.

Did the sunflower man do support at this gig?

never met a 73 show i didnt like,they may not have been quite as energetic this night,but in 73 they could do no wrong! I always felt this was kieths at his best. Laid back space jams with beutiful transition. Ionly attended a dozen show this year, I wish i had attended them all

4&1/2 stars

now I know not to purchase it

this show is easily one of the best of 73. 12/18/73 is pretty dam good too. Theres a real clean copy on here.

http://www.archive.org/details/gd1973-12-18.sbd.miller.97511.sbeok.flac16

get a life......seriously.

and a great recording which the lack of labels and track numbers makes impossible to keep track of in one's library as streams. Still, that's probably why it hasn't been taken offline yet even though it's been (partially) published. A nice listen. Not a show I'd buy.

God Bless The Grateful Dead.God Bless The Archive.God Bless Charlie Miller

This a great show! Does anyone know how I can get this on a c.d.?

and entire show for that matter! A must have show. (well said Dylan)

Up There with the best of the early 70s powerhouse jam segue masterpieces.

Half-Step>Playin'>El Paso>Playin' Jam>DS Jam>Wharf Rat>Playin'>Morning Dew

Who wants to tell me that is not extraordinary? This is one of the top five shows of 1973, along with Watkins Glen Soundcheck, Winterland November 11th and yadayayyada.

Just listen to Keith and Jerry toy around in the playing in the band jam, or Phil bounce in between the spaces of Dark Star. This is the jazziest the band ever got, and the tightest!

JERRY WAS BEARDLESS AT THIS SHOW FOR CHRISSAKES!!!

5 star transfer by Charlie Miller
5 star classic performance by the G-Dead

you need it!

Great Show overall just focus on Jerry and Bill and let Phil,Weir and Keith sneak up on you and you won't be disapointed

This has got to be my favorite Here Comes Sunshine. I've listened to many, many versions of this song and this one has just got an unbeatable groove. In fact, there are parts of the song that remind me of that amazing groove the boys would come into a few years later during their 77/78 tours.

The rest of the show is worth it's weight in gold, for sure. But this Sunshine is something altogether incomprehensible.

Enjoy this wonderful performance. This band has changed my life.

Every song is great.

While the harmonies may not be as perfect as 70, vocally this has got to be one of the best shows I've heard. 1st set is amazing and the small audience patches are very well spliced in. Highlights for me in this listening of the first set were:Jack Straw and everything after Looks Like Rain.
Second set is no slouch either continuing the vocal integrity with Miss half step which launches into a night as uniquely unparalleled as the any of the best out there.
5 stars for sound and cut splicing 5 stars for show. This IS 73 mindblowing perfection done right.