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Set 1:
Promised Land
Bird Song
El Paso
China Cat Sunflower
I Know You Rider
Black Throated Wind
Big Railroad Blues
Jack Straw
Loser
Big River
Ramble On Rose
Cumberland Blues
Playin' In The Band

Set 2:
He's Gone
Truckin'
Black Peter
Mexicali Blues
Dark Star
Morning Dew
Beat It On Down The Line
Mississippi Half-Step
Sugar Magnolia
Friend Of The Devil
Not Fade Away
Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad
Not Fade Away

Encore:
One More Saturday Night

Download/Listen to this Show at Archive.org

Comments:

My favorite Dark Star. mellow and jazzy at points but gets scary about 27 minutes in. Get this show!!
-

Probably my favorite show of all time...the Dark Star-->Morning Dew is just really wild, from dark psychedelia to bluegrass to Dew in the space of 40 minutes or so. Also, the setlist just never seems to stop!
-Pappy Rob

ANOTHER GREAT 72 PLAYIN'
-FZ

This "Dark Star" is a Top Fiver!!!

The 'Acid Bluegrass' Jam at about 27 minutes is Phenom!!

-- A truely wonderful Allman Brother Type feel! --

I think I hear the birth of "China Doll" in the form of a tease at around the 20 min mark!! Check it out!!
-Jeff Oyler

OOPS!! I mean.....The JAM is at the 30 min mark and the "China Dollish tease" is at the 27 min mark.
-Jeff Oyler

Holy ass fuck batman!!!!
This show makes my dick jiggle and my balls bounce. I simply can not beleive this show, just wow!!

-

I love the point in this bird song where Keith takes over the jam, maybe Jerry broke a string...its rare to hear him up front like this and he steps up to the occasion and delivers some nice runs up and down his piano
-mase

DP Volume 36. Coming soon. get it if you dont already have it.:^))
-Ga-DeadHead

This was my first show. Hooked for life. I have not heard it since. I could swear I saw Pigpen play some harp then but he has no songs in the set list. Was I then or am I now halucinating? I do recall giant circles of dancers on the floor. And some huge biker guy offered me a rose...
-Anonymous

You were hallucinating..Pigpen wasn't playing with the band since July or August....
-

I was there. The best I ever saw
-Anonymous

One of my favorite shows.
- (10/25/2008)

This show happened 16 years before I was born but it's definitely affected my brain's development.
-drunks (03/23/2009)

I revisited this Dick's Picks last night! WOW! I can't beleive I don't play this show more, I think its one of my favorites from the 72-74 era. The Dark Star is in my top 3, along with 2/28/69 and 9/20/90. What I found most interesting last night is several of the jams within this Dark Star, first off, it starts out with a real '69 feel to it. It is a lot slower that a '69 Dark Star, but it just reminds me of the way they used to start them back then. Then, another jam much later has an almost Ollin Arageed feel to it, I know its not but it sounds VERY Middle Eastern. Finally, there is a full blown Mind Left Body Jam at the end, if you don't beleive me check it out. I would say it goes on for about 2-3 minutes, just before they go into Morning Dew. A crown jewel of the Dick's Picks collection, and sadly the last.
-Anonymous (09/24/2009)

This is the absolute best Dark Star we ever played.
- (05/07/2011)

Biggest BIODTL buzzkill in 2nd set history. Bobby brings this show down. I just wish he had the humility to just get out of Jerry's way on some nights when Jerry was absolutely transcendental like this night. I mean we're in the throes of an absolutely awe-inspiring Dark Star-Morning Dew and Bobby gives us BIODTL. Tragic. Bobby was not good enough for this band. Jerry and Phil shoulda stuck to their guns and got rid of his ass in 1968.
- (05/07/2011)

This is also a somewhat underrated Morning Dew to follow the brilliant, Top 5 Dark Star. To me the handling of the climax is what separates a good Dew from a great Dew and the best Dews are powerful throughout and hit the climax perfectly. This is a GREAT Dew climax, the guitars shred beautifully and Jerry's delivery on "I guess it doesn't matter anyway" fits the energy perfectly. Great Dew. The Dark Star-Dew combo here must be in the best ever conversation.
-Anonymous (05/07/2011)

It's easy to see why this show was originally considered to be the first Dick's Picks although it wouldn't be released until the last. Smokin' show!!!
- (11/15/2011)

This one is The Eliminator
- (11/23/2011)

Sit back and enjoy the heady goodness that is the grateful dead...morning dew mmmmm rosary.
-sean (05/12/2012)

1972
-scott (09/23/2012)

Ok I just laughed for about 15 minutes envisioning Robin saying Capt N Fats comment above
-Anonymous (04/20/2014)

This is the first Dead show I went to. I was a sophomore in high school at the time. Took some serious convincing to get my parents let me go on a school night. I remember that the show was not very crowded and you could walk up to the front of the stage any time to watch for a while then find a seat and relax, it was great. The next show at the Spectrum was a different story as the word got out. What an introduction to live Dead, I was hooked.
- (05/30/2014)

Remains my number one show of all time. This is an "island" show. Bust our the fine china, best drink, best (fill in) and set your self free for a morning, noon, or night with this show. This one has been handed down from the gods. Holy grail!
- (02/13/2016)

Is that a taste of "Dear Prudence" that I hear around the 35:40 mark, and going forward for almost a minute after that?
- (02/18/2016)

Spanish Jam at about 28 minutes into the Dark Star.

Top 5 Dark Star for sure.
-Ralph (02/08/2017)

Yo
There is no Spanish Jam at 28 mins. The first reviewer said the Dark Star gets scary about 27 mins in...it does not. For instance, a scary dark star would be 5/11/72.

What this dark star does provide, especially in the last 10 minutes, is just exceptional beauty with a formed jam. It might be MLB but it's not...the classic 4 chord Mind Left Body never comes out. In fact, its a jam all unto it's own. It's not even listed in the definitive, ultimate guide of Grateful Dead Thematic Jams (http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2010/01/deads-early-thematic-jams.html).

It is a highlight. It's up there with the very best jams ever!
-Yo (04/29/2019)

Yo above is correct!
-YoYo (04/29/2019)

Dick's Picks 36

Disc 1

Promised Land 3:50
Bird Song 13:40
El Paso 5:06
China Cat Sunflower 5:28
I Know You Rider 6:49
Black-Throated Wind 6:47
Big Railroad Blues 4:10
Jack Straw 4:52
Loser 7:12
Big River 4:42

Disc 2

Ramble On Rose 6:34
Cumberland Blues 7:40
Playing in the Band 16:47
He's Gone 14:18
Truckin' 11:51
Black Peter 9:39
Mexicali Blues 3:26

Disc 3

Dark Star 37:08
Morning Dew 12:10
Beat It On Down the Line 3:34
Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo 10:02
Sugar Magnolia 8:30
Friend of the Devil 3:37

Disc 4

Not Fade Away 5:57
Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad 7:26
Not Fade Away 3:31
One More Saturday Night 4:56

-Bookkeeper (07/22/2019)

This is a prime example of "how good could the Grateful Dead get?" 9/21/72 Philly Spectrum!!! This is among the 50+ shows that I put in the group 'tied for best show of all time'
- (09/28/2019)

Best show of '72 and a strong contender for best Dead show ever. Nearly 4 hours and not a single second of this show is sub par, fabtastic Bird Song, great China > Rider, mesmerizing Playin' and the Dark Star > Dew is one of the greatest pieces of music ever. An absolutely essential show and one of the best of all time by any band
-Snow the Jam Man (11/18/2019)

still have my tape made in the 1990s of the whole second set. What a bargain. don't need to buy the dicks picks or whatever. still have 800 tapes i rotate through.
-jim (06/26/2023)

Like Jim above I had this on cassette tape back in the day way before it came out on Dick’s Picks and even before CDs were around. I remember the Dark Star > Morning Dew took up a whole side of a 90 minute tape and cut off before the end. For years this was the only Dark Star I would listen to (along with the DS on the Live Dead album). After years of hearing all the other Dark Stars they did, this one here is still my favorite and what I consider to be the best! It runs the gamut of everything a Dark Star can be!
-Peace Pipe (08/16/2023)

Ironically, the Dead would play at the Philly Spectrum on the same exact date the following year...although they sounded like a completely different band by then and they were exprimenting with a horn section for a brief period.
-Peace Pipe (08/16/2023)

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