Grateful Dead - 1973-03-16 - Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY (SBD)

Grateful Dead 

1973-03-16

Nassau Coliseum

Uniondale, NY

Soundboard Recording

320 kbps

Artwork Included

1st Set:

01. Bill Graham Introduction

02. China Cat Sunflower >

03. I Know You Rider

04. Jack Straw

05. Wave That Flag

06. Looks Like Rain

07. Ramble On Rose

08. Box Of Rain

09. Beat It On Down The Line

10. They Love Each Other

11. El Paso

12. Row Jimmy

13. Mexicali Blues

14. Bird Song

15. Playing In The Band

2nd Set:

01. Promised Land >

02. Bertha >

03. Greatest Story Ever Told

04. Loser

05. Big River

06. Don't Ease Me In

07. Me And My Uncle

08. Dark Star >

09. Truckin' >

10. Morning Dew

Encore:

01. Sugar Magnolia

Grateful Dead - 1973-03-16 - Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY (SBD)

As mentioned in earlier posts this month, the Grateful Dead were inducted into the Rock & Roll Gall of Fame in 1994. In the true spirit of the 1960s flower power era, the band attempted to be incredibly inclusive, listing 12 members as part of the band for induction. In addition to the then current line up of Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Vince Welnick, Mickey Hary and Bill Kruetzmann, the Dead also included fomer keyboard players Ron "Pigpen McKernan, Brent Mydland, Keith Godchaux, and  Tom Constanten, not to mention vocalist Doann Jean Godchaux. They even included lyricist Robert Hunter, who in collaboration with Garcia, had written some of the band;s most famous tunes, including Uncle John's Band, U.S. Blues, St. Stephen, Eyes Of The World, Ripple, and Touch Of Grey, just to name a few.  That said, I still think they missed 2 other members of the Dead family who should have been inducted.  First is Bruice Hornsby, who played keyboards for them for almost 2 years alongside Welnick, about the same length of service as Constanten.  Hornsby obviously was not offended, as he indcucted the band.  Second was John Perry Barlow,  who worked with Weir in the same way Hunter partnered with Garcia. Weir/Barlow tunes, while not as numerous or famous as Garcia-Hunter compositions, included such staples of the Dead's live performances as Estimated Prophet, Cassidy, Looks Like Rain, Throwing Stones, and The Msuic Nver Stopped, just to cite a few.

Thsi soundboard recording captures the Dead at the Nassau Coliseum on March 16, 1973, 51 years ago today, a time when the band was in peak form while simultaneously undergoing substantial changes.  In early 1973, original keyboardist Ron "Pigpen" Mckernan passed away at age 27, the first of the band's keyboard players to die tragically. The Dead's sound began a new evolution, with Bill Kreuztman handling the drums solo, while Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux added new musical elements to the mix. Keith's piano playing was more jazzy compared to Pigpen's bluesy sound, while Donna Jean helped fill out the band's harmonies. New tunes such as Jimmy Row, Let It Grow, Eyes Of The World, Loose Lucy and Wave That Flag (an early version of U.S. Blues) entered the band's repertoire. By year end, the band would even launch their own record label!  All that turmoil could have spelt disaster, but The Dead seemed to revel in it, a sevidenced by the fact that 14 shows from the period February to June 1973 were deemed so good, they have been officially released.