The Grateful Dead – RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C. 6/10/73

best dead show you will ever be able to own on record or cd!

Mine looks and sounds amazing...the mastering is great IMO, it smokes on my simple system with Fluance TT. I disagree with some of the comments regarding the mix. EQ may help in that department. Either was I'm happy to own this beast and play it LOUD!

I wanted to love this set, and I finally got around to hearing it for the first time while throwing a listening party for two buddies this past Saturday.

While the playing and setlist is top shelf throughout, the quality of the mix just killed me—especially when played loud (as live Dead should be)! On some tracks ("Beat it On Down the Line") the vocals are so loud the drown out the band. Elsewhere ("Truckin") they are practically inaudible. Phil's bass is all over the place and redlines his rig again and again with a gravelly, rattling sound that totally pulls me out of the show.

There are SO many great moments in this show and I want to love it, but I just can't. I believe the issues are with the recording, not the pressing, as I've listened to the Spotify release on AirPods and in my car, where the sound quality is the same. It's too bad, because this is a time capsule of the band at one of its peaks. But for my money, all the Europe boxes are the way to enjoy the Dead on vinyl. The recordings are just so much better.

Wonderful box set

The box is spectacular, really nice finish and sturdy. The essay on inner top cover nice tough

Excellent QC on the disks, mine are basically perfect

I think it sounds great overall, although I do agree with others that at times the EQ (especially vocals) are really suppressed but this is just the recording, so if that bugs you look for other shows that are more highly regarded in that department

Love the set list for this show

It is so fun to hear Dickey/Butch & Merl's sound melding with the Dead's. "That’s All Right" is 12 minutes of fabulousness. Sound is great, maybe not top-tier, but it's great. No pressing issues on mine, very nicely mastered.

Going to differ from the predominant flavor of these reviews. As far as Dead boxes go, the sound on this one is just ok. It's good, but it's not on par with the spring 77 trifecta, Saint of Circumstance, Wake Up to Find Out, Truckin Up to Buffalo, or DP 33, all of which I consider top Dead vinyl boxes for sound quality. I think this suffers a bit from being pressed too quietly and losing dynamic range as a result? The show and the music make up for it though, so it's still a keeper.

I’m really happy with this release. I went 8 for 8 with beautifully clean, flat vinyl that plays super quiet and true.

There is no booklet with this set, but I was very glad to see that there is an essay on the inside front cover. The outer box is gorgeous and of sturdy quality. The sleeves are high-quality paper with full plastic inside.

If you are strategizing vis a vis Grateful Dead vinyl, I figure you can’t necessarily do a lot better than this show, in of quality music across 16 sides that is played at a high level during a peak era.

Good set!

Wow this is a great set, great set list and some nice long laid back jams ( HCS, Bird Song and Eyes) a nice Playin and D Star, a really good 3rd set with some Allmans! the sound is excellent and the vinyl is perfectly flat and dead silent. A great classic 73 show that has it all!
Update…
Im not sure what folks are complaining about, this is an Owsley Stanley ( Bear) tape/mix and it’s absolutely beautiful, yes u have to turn it up but it’s probably one of the most spacious live GD recordings ( zero compression) every detail is in the mix! This is also one of the longest GD shows at 4 hours and 40 min and a laid back one at that so just settle in and let it take u away… 😀

Some sources indicate that Merl Saunders also plays on the Third/Final Set.

Phenomenal show. The past two years have been great for 73 vinyl releases, with Dicks Picks 1 repress, and Dicks Picks 19.