Sunshine On A Blazing Hot Day
Grateful Dead, February 17, 1973
Sunshine On A Blazing Hot Day
What do you do when it hits 100 degrees with high humidity?
Out here in the Washington D.C. suburbs, I listen to a show from February 1973 and wish the sun would go away.
This show was certainly played in the cold. Looks like the high was in the mid-20s, which sounds absolutely fine to me right now:
This was played indoors, of course. However, that didn’t mean this show was free of technical issues.
All sorts of things go wrong. The soundboard is more than patchy in parts. In fact, in some places Jerry completely goes away, and the sound does some absolutely bizarre things.
The band had trouble during the show as well. He’s Gone is fantastic until Jerry’s guitar suddenly disappears. Keith, who was at the height of his game at the time, took over the solo from Jerry to help the song along.
Just about every track has issues in the soundboard I listened to. I opted for SHNID 150300, which is probably the best sounding copy — although the excellent Here Comes Sunshine > China Cat Sunflower transition is screwed up by something or other.
And, let me tell you, there’s nothing like fighting the traffic in Northern Virginia only to discover that the music you were listening to suddenly has turned into nothing but bass guitar. Good times.
Anyway, even with the technical issues it’s clear that this is an absolutely stellar 1973 show. I just wish we had an audience recording.