Between the May/June stadium shows that were recently released on the Here Comes Sunshine box set and the huge Watkins Glen concert with the Allman Brothers and the Band, the Grateful Dead did a short west coast tour that included three more stadium shows in Vancouver, Portland and Stadium (all released on the Pacific Northwest: the Complete Recordings 73-74 box set), followed by a three-night stand at Universal City’s intimate new concert venue, the Universal Amphitheatre. The Amphitheater had been created as a regular stop on the Universal City studio tours where western-style stunt performances were performed during the day. At 5200 seats, the venue was one of the smallest venue the band played that year (the Pershing Auditorium in Lincoln, Neb. was a tad smaller at 4800), but certainly the smallest place they played that summer of big stadium shows. The amphitheatre was well designed for music, with a wide arc of seats that was not deep so that the farthest seats from the stage were less than 150 feet. Although it was later enclosed, the venue was outdoors when the Dead played there. It also had quite a bit of LA glitz, with the ushers all in tuxes and the backdrop behind stage curtain showing the wild west décor that was the setting for the afternoon stunt shows.
Although I had just seen the Dead in May at UCSB, another out of town show beckoned, and the fact that my friend David’s well-connected father got us primo seats for the Saturday show was an added incentive, so I took a cheap commuter flight down and joined David and my roommate Tim, also in LA for the summer, for another memorable 1973 Dead show.
Despite the small venue, the Dead’s sound system was much the same as what they used at UCSB, with stacks of McIntosh amplifiers and hard trucker speakers behind the band and much taller columns of speakers on either side of the stage. Despite the enormity of the PA, the sound was not overwhelming, and, as the PA committee moved towards the wall of sound, all of the instruments and vocals were crystal clear. With trim body and his hair newly styled into a black halo around his face, Jerry Garcia was dashing in his trademark black t-shirt and jeans, and Weir, Lesh and Donna Godchaux were also a tad more dressed up than was the norm at the time.
The first set was pretty standard, relying heavily on material from Garcia and Weir’s solo albums aamd Europe 72, long with newer tunes destined for Wake of the Flood. Weir opened with Promised Land while the sound was tweaked. Next up was a bright, letter perfect rendition of “They Love Each Other” followed by equally crisp renderings of “Mexicali Blues,” “Tennessee Jed” and “Looks Like Rain,” on which Keith Godchaux contributed some gorgeous, delicate piano. The set’s first extended excursion was “Bird Song,” on which Kreutzmann masterfully driving the bus with mostly cymbals and kick drum. Garcia, Weir and Lesh stretch out, especially during an extended coda, out of which they charged directly into a spry “Cumberland Blues,” with Garcia and Keith G. playfully jousting licks. As the song concluded, some smoke drifted across the stage, but was quickly dispersed, prompting Garcia to quip “Don’t panic folks. This is the movies, remember?” Weir came back with “Wait until they see the volcano.”
Next up was “Row Jimmy,” with lush vocals by Garcia and Donna, Keith switching between electric and grand piano above Kreutzmann’s crisp martial drumming. After a fine “Jack Straw,” Keith shone again with barrelhouse licks on “Beat It On Down the Line,” after which things slowed down with a rare first set “Black Peter.” A long set-closing “Playing in the Band” found Garcia and Weir trading spicy chordal stabs while Keith kept the proceedings grounded on his electric piano.
The second set opened with a bang with “Greatest Story Ever Told” followed by “Ramble On Rose” and a lively “El Paso.” We were lucky to catch the run’s “Dark Star” next. Medium in length, the introductory part was all about Garcia jousting with Lesh, until Keith asserted himself with some ambient electric piano about five minutes in, and getting a delicate near-solo passage starting at about 6:30, with the electric piano sounding eerily like an old toy music box. Garcia then re-inserted the Dark Star intro and went into the first verse. After the vocal interlude, the light, airy mood devolved into feedback and darker chaos for several minutes before stopping abruptly as the band shifted gears radically and dropped into “Eyes of the World.” “Eyes” was a long version played to perfection. The coda to “Eyes” featured two runs through the proto-“King Solomon’s Marbles” section with a lengthy instrumental interlude between them where Keith, back on the grand piano, played some virtuoso jazzy passages with Jerry. The post-marbles jam continued for a while, the volume decreasing and the pace slowing as the band shifted nimbly into a gorgeous, moody “Stella Blue.” After a tuning break, the set concluded with a double dose of Weir-sung rock and roll with “Sugar Magnolia” and a “Saturday Night” encore
After a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast, I headed back to northern California very satisfied with the weekend. The Universal Amphitheatre was a really special place to see the Dead, and a treat to see such an intimate show in a year of big arenas and stadiums. Although the Dead never played there after this run, Garcia appeared at the venue twice in 1989 and 1991, although it had been converted to an indoor hall by then.
