Dark Star Orchestra payed homage to this excellent show by covering it from start to finish at the State Theater in Portland, Maine on Dec 4, 2014!

I can't believe after all these years I found a recording of this concert. 41 years later, this ranks as the best GD concert I ever saw and one of the top rock concerts in my almost 50 years of concert going.

The Dead tore the roof off the Spectrum that night (no pun intended). The concert bordered a religious experience as evidenced by the other fanatical reviews of this show.

This may have been the pinnacle of their music.

Bertha has initial SQ issues, but irons out quickly.
BIODTL
Don't Ease Me In
The Race is On rounds out a trifecta of fun but simple songs
Cumberland Blues has a nice energy level, with Garcia nailing his solos with the proper twang.
Box Of Rain is fun, and if you think Phil and Donna sing well you’ll really enjoy it. Garcia is lower in the mix.
Row Jimmy is rather slow, doesn’t do it for me.
Jack Straw decent.
They Love Each Other is where the set really starts sparking. Great tempo and you can tell Garcia was having fun with it.
Mexicali Blues comes out at ludicrous speed, the band having sped things up after TLEO. Jerry doesn’t miss a note as he jams through with that western sound. Awesome.
Tennessee Jed is a solid presentation, energy for the set has maintained. Jerry practically duels with himself during the jam, changing keys in the solo period as he goes from riff to riff. Bob joins him later on for that double guitar tone this song achieves when firing on all cylinders.
Looks Like Rain
Wave That Flag is well done, Garcia’s guitar is a bit low.
El Paso is what we know we’re getting. Again, Garcia could be louder, I hope it is just the source, which is almost over.
Here Comes Sunshine is full of brightness as the group has fully gelled. Tempo is perfect, jamming coherent and structured, and vocals fine (not even Donna is particularly offensive).

This show seems to have garnered a bit of the attention that it so deserves. The second set He's gone->Truckin'->Jam->Philo Stomp*->Spanish Jam->Space->Dark Star->Sing Me Back Home segue begs for your attention! Some might observe the criminally short DS and thereby dismiss this show. That would be a fool's errand, folks! The aforementioned suite accounts for a solid hour of sweet ear candy. This clean SBD picks up on the enthusiastic crowd at times, and hints at the joyous moments they were undoubtedly experiencing.

As aforementioned, the DS clocks in at only four minutes (the only shorter version that I know of is the actual studio single, released in April of 1968, and clocking in at 2:44). But again, the monster jam(s) leading up to the DS are worth the price of admission alone.

The first set of this night offers great renditions of many classics, including Box of Rain, They Love Each Other, and Loser. The Playin' to close the first set is, as expected, of interest.

I used to be under the impression that the corn-belt tour of February ’73 couldn't be topped, but this show, and the one two days before in Utica give those great February shows a decent run for the money. Of course, later comes the great months of October, November & December. But those are reviews for another time…

One thing I've come to realize over the years is that virtually every show where the boys played The Spectrum deserves respect!


* I wouldn’t necessarily peg this jam segment as a true “Philo Stomp", but I labeled it as such since Phil & Billy display that conversational interplay sometimes known from the Fall of ’72, and carrying over into various shows drizzled throughout ’73 (found into, out of, or during Dark Star or The Other One). Three examples of a true Philo Stomp can be found in the Dark Stars of 10/18/72 & 11/13/72, and The Other One of 10/24/72.

I wish I was a passenger on a northbound train...
back in March 1973 and heading to the Spectrum.
I might have been 2 years old but what the heck! Love the Music more than ever, love the set list! Big Thanks.

This was my first Dead show! Grateful for Archives that I can actually hear it nearly 40 years later. Only wish that I was tripping but that didn't happen till a few months later. MONSTER SHOW!

If this don't float your boat, yer boat don't float!!!


Never better, until we meet again, this is the house band in my heaven.

if this china cat sunflower dont get ya to boogie, well then i dont know what to tell ya

This show really highlights the transitional sound of 1972 into 1973 Grateful Dead. The group still retains a lot of their '72 twang (BIODTL, Big River, Cumberland Blues), but the jazzy, liquid, Wall of Sound cohesion born in the spring and summer of '73 is beginning to solidify. The song arrangements and performances are super tight. More free form improvisation is starting to occur, especially in Playin' and Here Comes Sunshine. Garcia's solo phrasing, speed, and agility are beginning to cross the threshold into a whole other plane of consciousness. Every note is intentional; every run is a piece of a whole. Bobby and Keith are in top form. Phil is pinging bombs and picking wild bass runs all over the proto-Wall's speakers. Billy is "playing like a young God." Just listen to Keith's fills in PITB; pure psychedelic jazz.

The Box of Rain is good this night. This is a song that they rarely played well live. Row Jimmy, Here Comes Sunshine, TLEO, Truckin', China>Rider...all amazing performances. Great SBD quality and transfer. Five stars all around.

May the music never stop.

This is an interesting time for the Dead. This show has some 72 feel to it but then also some 73. A time of change here with it being relatively early in the new year heading into the jazziness of 73. This is especially evident in song combinations like the Box of Rain then next Row Jimmy, or HCS to Bobby McGee. Early 70s dead and mid 70s Dead. Either way it is a great show both sets.

So help me understand this discussion the "Feeling Groovy" jam is somehow different , and that it is why it is considered "Mud Love Buddy". Not sure I'm getting it yet I suppose.

A solid 4 stars show. Good stuff

Yo dudes there actually is Mind left body jam is the china~Rider, sometimes labeled Mud-love-buddy jam or something like that.

I have to admit, there aren't a lot of shows I can listen to in their entirety without pressing the skip buttons a couple times (usually I end up skipping a couple Bobby-songs...I'm not a believer in GD infallibility...). But this show is a treasure. I love every performance of every song...even if Donna does sing a little off-key...

Just personal preference...the sound is close on both copies of this show (SBD) but this one sounds much more clear to me. Fabulous show, would have been a dream to catch em at this stage of their career!!

the biodtl-dont ease-race is on-cumberland slice of jugband/americana/folk blues at the start of set 1 is a real treat!

but the meat of this show is obviously the segment of set 2 starting with he's gone and ending with sing me back home, or more specifically the huge post-truckin jamming.
following the very solid truckin the band quiets down into an exploratory mode, garcia actually teases dark star for a second but i guess decides against it - good thing. weir and lesh pick things up, and the band lands in this dizzying, groovy jam. lesh and kreutzman really shine here, and even get their own bass-percussion duet section to stretch out on. the music is pretty fluid and upbeat for the most part. around 10 minutes in, garcia plays a little lick that sounds a bit like slipknot, and the band slides into an amazing spanish jam (probably my favorite one)... starts off slow, deliberate and with attitude, almost funky, and builds in momentum and intensity to a fiery peak! after spanish, they go into space mode. the noodley interplay between garcia and weir is almost spooky, but def. weird. the segue into dark star is perfectly smooth and totally logical, even if this is a 4 minute dark star. just a nice little cap on the jamming.

the only thing that would have made this better is a mind left body jam thrown in somewhere :)

Another great show from the Spectrum. Great playing and quality. Download it before it's too late.

P.S. I wish they would have kept the FUNKY TLEO style rather than the slower version later on.

Phil on fire here-even Donna sounds decent. Jerry is Jerry.

The Big Jam is monstrous and elevates this show to being the best of the early part of the year. But I don't think the "Sunshine," "China>Rider," or most of the first set is all that. It's all very decent, but nothing like late in the year. "Here Comes Sunshine" would become a gooey hunk of luscious loveliness by November.

1973 was as banner year for the Dead and this is one of many great shows. Nice sbd quality and many highlights, including Here Comes Sunshine, China->Rider, and a smokin' Truckin. Winter '73 is one of my favorite periods and this show is certainly worth the download.

Definitely get this show for the entire sequence starting with He's Gone. A fine rendition, and then an awesome Truckin' with a really great, long Phil and Bill jam leading into an extremely compact little Dark Star. The crown jewel of this show is Sing Me Back Home. This is Jerry at his most emotional, singing his heart out and Bobby and Donna somehow manage to sound like a gospel choir in the background. Pigpen had to have been on everyone's minds for this one. I wish everyone could hear this version of S.M.B.H. to fully understand the magic, and power, and beauty of the Grateful Dead.

A great little show that sneaks up on you and takes you by surprise.The 1st Set contains many gems - Phil delivers a strong Box of Rain,TLEO is jaunty and well played, as is Tenn Jed. Loser is slow and soulful. And Playin features some great interplay between Phil and Keith, with lots of spacy wah-wah from Jerry. The 2nd Set includes a poignant He's Gone (only the 2nd played since Pigpen's death on 3/8) and then kicks off an unusual jam sequence that makes this show really unique. After a firey Truckin, they pull Spanish Jam out of their magic hat (not since 2/11/70)and travel thru some amazing jam territory that spans over 20 minutes, finally landing you in what must be the shortest Dark Star on record - under 4 minutes! Get this one for the jam.
Dr. Flashback :-)