Twenty-Seven Performances in Twenty-Four Days: April 6-30, 1973

update 20240414: we now know that the Four Nights at the Boarding House were all two-show nights. Math may have to be updated. I am also dinging the uncertain 4/28 at the Plant, as recently discussed here. I now believe this was spurious.

Yup: I now count 27 performances in these 24 days. Edit title yet again.

update: commenter RoG has brought two more gigs to my attention, Wed-Thurs April 25-26 with JGMS at Keystone, so the title has changed from "Twenty-Two" to "Twenty-Four". All the more remarkable.

update2: oh yeah, I forget to mention another little detail from this period: on April 19th, the Dead decided to start up their own record label (Perry 1973, 50; Troy 1994, 155). Because Garcia didn't have enough going on.

I got to commune with more Chronicle microfilm a few days ago, and managed to spin through January 1, 1973 through August 10, 1973. I didn't gather every last listing, just too little time, but I gathered a bunch. These first eight months of 1973 yielded three New-to-The-List gigs, all Garcia-Saunders: April 10-11, 1973 at the Orphanage, and May 24, 1973 at the Keystone.

SFC19730409p45, listing for 4/10/73 JGMS at the Orphanage

SFC19730410p36, Datebook listing for 4/10/73 JGMS at the Orphanage

SFC19730411p41, listing for 4/11/73 JGMS at Orphanage

SFC19730523p58, listing for 5/24/73 JGMS at Keystone

Ah, Garcia, you amaze me.

The last entry lets us see that Jerry played with three bands, three different styles, over three days in May '73: Jerry and Merl on the 24th, plus already-known shows with Old And In The Way at Bimbo's on the 25th, and of course the Dead, with NRPS and Waylon Jennings also playing, at Kezar Stadium on the 26th.

Even more strikingly, these new-to-The-List April shows, Tuesday-Wednesday gigs, fill in a remarkable run from that month. I have already written about OAITW in Santa Barbara on the 12th, a four night run at the Boarding House right after these gigs, two with Merl playing inter alia black contemporary, and two with Dawg and Pete Rowan and the rest playing white roots music, taking a deep dive into Friday the 13th, which got a review in the Stanford Daily (Harlow 1973), and also some listening notes from the 16th. But with these shows, we see a truly insane month of shows once the Dead got back from the east coast.

April 6-8: JGMS at Keystone

April 9: off night (Monday - slacker)

April 10-11: JGMS at Orphanage

April 12: OAITW at the Granada in Santa Barbara (2 shows)

April 13-14: JGMS at Boarding House (4 shows)

April 15-16: OAITW at Boarding House (4 shows)

April 17: off night (Tuesday)

April 18: OAITW session at the Record Plant (uncertain)

April 19-21: OAITW at Lion's Share

April 21: afternoon FM broadcast live from the Record Plant

April 22: off night (Sunday)

April 23: OAITW at Orphanage

April 24: OAITW at the Inn of the Beginning

April 25-26: JGMS at Keystone off nights, only consecutive nights off since this run started, and since 3-4-5 after Dead flew back home

April 27-28: OAITW at Keystone

April 29: night off (Sunday)

April 30: OAITW at Orphanage

Now, there are a few uncertain dates in there. But if my reckoning is correct, and without counting thigh dubious 4/18 session in Sausailo, this is 272422 performances in 24 days, 

I note that Selvin referred to the Orphanage as a "cocaine speakeasy" (Selvin 1996, 37). This which might have come in handy given the unprecedentedly hectic pace of the month's musical pursuits.