Not a true Dead show ... "This is still a test."

Got to play more Dead.

Got to play more Dead.

Got to play more Dead.

How about a show?

Grateful Dead - July 27, 1973

Grand Prix Racecourse Watkins Glen, New York

"This whole thing is a fraud;
we're really clever androids."
--Phil Lesh--

1st Set: The Promised Land, Sugaree, Mexicali Blues,
Bird Song, Big River, Tennessee Jed

2nd Set: Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo,
Me & My Uncle, Jam->
Wharf Rat, Around And Around

For this not actually being a true Grateful Dead show, it's one helluva show! Let's see what longtime GD archivist Dick Latvala had to say in Deadbase IX...

The most people ever to see a musical event (750,000 by some estimates) came sloshing through the mud and debris on 07-28-73 to see The Band, Allman Brothers, and the Grateful Dead. The day before the Dead did a sound check for the many thousands who came early and played for over two hours! The first set has some rousing playing on Mexicali Blues and especially on Bird Song. Tennessee Jed is even above average, but Mississippi Half Step and Me & My Uncle are uneventful. Next we get another major treat -- about thirty minutes of improvisational material that I have never heard elsewhere! This is very extra special and highly unique, constituting an example of what I call "Primal Dead." This is another tape that one should go out of his or her way to obtain. It is an audience, but quite listenable.

Is it blasphemy to disagree with Dick? Some of what he says is dead on (no pun intended) but at the same time I've gotta wonder -- did he maybe not listen very closely to this or something? One thing's for sure, whenever he wrote that, this beautiful soundboard didn't even exist in the hands of the public. Whew, thank God it does now! Makes the music and the recording really come alive. There's a moment in Half-Step where Jerry, whoops, he repeats a line and he knows it immediately; you can hear him let out a little laugh at that. It's an exceptionally played Half-Step but that one little moment just makes it pure gold. You know this just ain't some boring run-through to get the sound right for the next day.

Also, the Jam into Wharf Rat on this source is just under 20 minutes. I think there's a cut in there on the soundboard so it might be longer in Audience form (which I've read isn't that bad sounding ... I will definitely need to give that a listen in the future.)

Very cool near the end of the Jam to hear a whole few minutes of Fire On The Mountain goin' on -- 3½ years before it would ever be played in a Dead show. It blows my mind that this is all off the cuff and not something written out and practiced and perfected. Also blows my mind how some people would rather go to a concert and hear songs played live exactly as they are on the album. Whaaaa???!! Man, if the Dead did that then I wouldn't even be typing this!

All around an incredible hour and a half of music. Not two hours; each set is relatively short... but wow, just a lot of damn fuckin' great music packed into these 90 minutes!

Quality: A+
Source: Soundboard Reel Master > DAT > CD

7/27/73 @ Archive.org includes this SBD for listening only. There are also 2 Audience sources for listening and downloading.

-or-

Download The Soundboard Right Here

GD 7/27/73 Watkins Glen - 1st Set

Set 2 - Watkins Glen 7/27/73

7-27-73 a.k.a. 7/27/73 a.k.a. 73-07-27 320 kbps mp3 download & setlist