Grateful Dead—Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA, Road Crew Benefit w/NRPS, October 9, 1972
1972 is so chock full of stellar Grateful Dead performances that one can literally queue up any show on the Archive and find something good to chew on. I’ve highlighted a number of dates over the years on the Mangrove Valley Blog, including two March Academy of Music gigs, some personal favorites from the Europe vacation, the August Berkeley Community Theatre run, a handful of unheralded December dates, and the excellent New Year’s closer from the Winterland Ballroom.
Amid a 12-show East Coast hitch and ten dates in the northern Midwest, the band made time for a single hometown performance in the form of a road crew benefit at Winterland. Of course, the Dead were no strangers to benefits. Beginning with a handful of fundraisers in the mid-sixties, the band subtly pursued opportunities to aid various groups and causes. Some of the more famous of their charity gigs over the years include performances for the San Francisco Mime Troupe, the Hell’s Angels, the Black Panthers, Yogi Bhajan’s Sufi Choir, the American Indians, and, of course, the Springfield Creamery field trip in Veneta, OR. The October ’72 Winterland concert raised in the neighborhood of $10,000 to reportedly help the Dead’s roadies purchase a house. What other band comes to mind for playing benefits so that their road crew might buy a home?
As was the case for the first and last California shows of the year, the New Riders opened the festivities, followed by a more typically generous two sets from Jerome and company. The first set is notable for the live debut of Box of Rain, which features Phil Lesh in his first lead vocal for the band. Other highlights include nice renditions of Black Throated Wind and Friend of the Devil, a well-jammed China > Rider, an exquisite Sugaree, and a fiery, 20-minute version of Playing in the Band, reminiscent of some of the more interesting takes performed during the European junket.
The second frame begins with an oddity: a brief blues jam featuring a clearly inebriated Grace Slick, messily adlibbing in front of the bemused band. Fortunately for us, her appearance is short. The music recommences with a warm He’s Gone, complete with the recently introduced vocal coda. A blistering run through Johnny Cash’s Big River follows, with some lightning picking from Garcia alongside Keith’s remarkable piano work. A few songs later-including a fledgling Mississippi Half Step-we arrive at the real meat of the set via a superb Truckin’ > Other One > Wharf Rat medley. The Lesh and Kreutzmann duet at the end of Truckin’ is terrific, highlighting both musicians’ extraordinary fluidity and uncanny ability to switch tempos and styles. Tonight’s take on the Other One is jazzy and succinct, clocking in at a mere 10 minutes; it doesn’t pack the untethered punch that many of the ’72 versions exemplify, but it is quite satisfying nonetheless. Rounding out the triad, the Wharf Rat is wholly affecting, complete with that brilliant Garcia bridge that moves the time signature into waltz time and back to the A Major diatonic.
The night closes out with a robust Sugar Magnolia and an energized fragment of Casey Jones. Overall, this is an exceptionally well-played show, clearly reflecting the many miles the band had logged on the road over the previous months. Recorded by Bear, mastered and retracked by Bill Guarneri, this night at Winterland is worthy of a few listens. You be the judge.