The Grateful Dead Will Drop Previously Unreleased 1973 Concerts Known To "Wear Out Tape Decks" In A New Boxset As Well As A 4-CD, 8-LP Set Of The Group’s Famed Performance At RFK Stadium In Washington (BONUS - Bob Dylan Covering "Truckin")

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Rolling Stone - "That old saying, ‘I listened to that show so often, I wore the tape out?’ It was created because of shows like this," said manager David Lemieux in a statement.

DEADHEADS WILL RELIVE the Spring of 1973 thanks to a new, limited-release boxset. On Tuesday, the Grateful Dead announced the release of Here Comes Sunshine 1973, a 17-CD boxset featuring five previously unreleased concerts.

The entire box set is about 20 hours long and features audio from the group’s show in Des Moines, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and two shows in Washington D.C., between May 13 and June 10, 1973. The collection will be worth $190 and will be limited to 10,000 numbered copies.

Deadheads rejoice. 

"Happy Hell Yeahs" all around.

One thing I will always give credit to The Dead, and their fans, for is being so goddamn good at documenting and preserving pretty much everything. 

Even in the ages before everything was digital, and memory/storage space could literally fit in our pockets, they managed to capture almost everything. And in great quality. 

The amount of bootleg cassettes, CDs, and even white-label vinyl's they have is astounding. And the fact they continue to press and release stuff officially for their fans to jump all over is fucking awesome. It's really hard not to like this band and all they stand for. Even if I do hate what Wrigleyville turns into every summer when they come to town, and the nitrous balloons everywhere, but at least their peaceful and loving people. 

They aren't just quick pressing this shit and throwing it out there to make a buck. Actual thought and effort went into this.

Among the songs featured on each tracklist are tracks like “Bertha,” “Looks Like Rain,” “Loser,” “Mexicali Blues,” “Tennessee Jed,” “China Cat Sunflower,” and “Wharf Rat.” Also featured in the tracklist are the first performances of tracks from Wake of the Flood, which they would officially record the following summer.

The box itself was designed by Masaki Koike, who used “vibrant graphics and unexpected treasures” to put it together. Ray Robertson penned the liner notes. Each show will be held in individual, custom-designed folios with additional, show-specific notes by Robertson. It will also feature a poster of an illustration by Mary Ann Mayer.

They also announced more big news for all the 70s dead heads who followed them around, or managed to catch them in the D.C. area.

Along with Here Comes Sunshine 1973, the group is dropping a 4-CD, 8-LP set of the group’s performance at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. Owsley “Bear” Stanley recorded the show that the press release describes as the group’s “most unique, powerful, and inspired performances.” The group is also dropping “Ramble on Rose” from that show as a digital single.

Granted, their limited releases are not cheap. 

Fans can purchase the boxset on Dead.net and digital versions for $100 or $125 on the website. Also in the collection are tracks like “China Doll,” “Loose Lucy,” and “Wave That Flag” from their 1974 From the Mars Hotel.

But their fans are rolling in the big bucks these days so it all works out.

BONUS - Bob Dylan covered "Truckin" this week while on tour in Japan.

NME - Dylan, who is currently on the ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’ tour in Japan, pulled out the surprise cover at the Tokyo Garden Theater on Wednesday (April 12). It marks the first time that Dylan has performed the song, as well as one of Dylan’s rare surprises in an otherwise standard setlist for the tour, which began in 2021.

Dylan wrote about The Grateful Dead’s ‘Truckin” in his recent book The Philosophy of Modern Song, noting that it has “a fantastic first verse, which doesn’t let up or fizzle out, and every verse that follows could actually be a first verse.”