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10/19/73 Oklahoma City Fairgrounds Arena, Oklahoma City, Ok. (Fri)This review is written based on DP19Promised Land ;Sugaree ;Mexicali Blues ;Tennessee Jed ;Looks Like Rain ;Don't Ease Me In ;Jack Straw ;They Love Each Other ;El Paso ;Row Jimmy ;Playing In The Band [17:00]China Cat Sunflower >;I Know You Rider ;Me And My Uncle ;Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo ;Big River [4:50] ;Dark Star [27:04] >Mind Left Body Jam >Morning Dew [8:#12] ;Sugar Magnolia [9:24]Encore: Eyes Of The World >Stella Blue ;Johnny B. GoodeComments: First "Mind Left Body Jam", {Dark Star 0:00 > First Verse 12:05 to 13:45 > Mind Left Body 15:35 to 20:50 > the tiger 22:35 to 23:40-ish > cut 25:05 > end 25:20} DB IX lists Eyes > Stella as E1, JBG as E2______________________________________________Bobby starts us off with Promised Land, and though this is an official release, it still suffers from early balance issues, with the keys figuring in prominently while the guitars are barely to be heard.Sugaree provides a nice opportunity to get those guitar levels where they need to be, and it is fixed fairly early.Mexicali brings what you would expect.TN Jed is really the first song where things start to get weird, in the finale.LLRDon't Ease surprised me, but maybe it has been the lackluster setlist thus far that made it stand out?Jack Straw, the answer to the previous question is, the Don't Ease is where the energy really was injected into the set, followed by a great Jack Straw...And a great, upbeat TLEOEl Paso could have used a bit higher Jerry in the balance.Row Jimmy is a bit slow, of course, but the Jerry solos are special.PITB starts with a great tempo, energy and weirdness seem to be where they need to be, with Billy having apparently sprouted extra limbs during the verses. Hitting the jam, Jerry immediately goes into slow cooking his noodles. He turns up the temperature around the 6 minute mark, as we get into prime PITB territory. In the 8th minute we get deep into some X-factor, with the two guitars and Keith getting synching into each other. Jerry pushes out ahead of the pack, as we would expect. A psychedelic return to theme followed by an only somewhat offensive Donna groove bust scream, and we've got A+ version of PITB, definitely the set's highlight!Phollowing a Phil-tastic couple of notes Bobby breaks into the opening pattern of China>Rider to open the second set. This China is great, coming off the heels of the PITB, the intermission doesn't seem to have hurt the boys. Though China is listed at 9 minutes, as soon as they hit the transition they make the switch into the Rider portion (before the 4th minute) which means we get about 5 minutes of Rider Jam! Just what the doctor ordered. Around 7:30 they do the feeling groovy jam or whatever it is called, which I think they could have done without in general, but the do manage to keep some of the intensity the Rider Jam was creating.MAMU is brimming with energy, great stuff! Bobby gets a little overzealous vocally, but that's from time to time. He has kept it legit most of the show.1/2 Step is one of the best of the year, maintaining a nice tempo and energy.Big River is exactly what you would expect, specifically in the pre-meat sequence slot.Dark Star> MLB Jam> Dew> Sugar MagnoliaDark Star goes into the weird zone quite quickly, but maintains a good tempo before hitting the verse at around 12 minutes in. The CD tracking cuts into MLB, but that doesn't actually begin until just over a minute into the jam. Great MLB Jam, some would say the first, I wouldn't but I'm scoring it that way. By the 6th minute it disintegrates into just some noodling, but it was a nice little jaunt. The noodles take us into a Tiger Jam, which while it doesn't reach the highest, scariest heights that it can was welcome. Dew makes it way out of the madness in good time. Serious Phil Bombs and Jerry crescendos around 6 minutes in, and the finale beginning just before 11 minutes is also heavy, though leaning more of chords (including fanning). Out of the ashes, Bobby finds his Sugar Magnolia, blossoming it as well as ever.Encore: Eyes> StellaEyes is a great choice for the encore after what just went down to close the set.JBG, always a favorite.______________________________________________Performance SummaryThe first set was marred with sound issues, lack of energy issues, plus a crappy early setlist. It does pick up with the Don't Ease, surprising as that was to me, and by the end of the set we get a masterfully done PITB.The second set, on the other hand, is brimming with energy and improvisational chances that pay off, including the first solid MLB Jam they ever played.Sound QualityWell, the initial sound issues are a case of "you can't polish a turd", if the master's are poor, or the sound crew blew the balance, that's tough to finish. I would have expected the balance issues to be easier to mitigate for a qualified sound crew.