Sugar Magnolia
Feb. 9, 1973
Roscoe Maples Pavilion - Stanford University
Sublime performance, I can't get over how amazing Jerry sounds amazing. The first solo is just so melodic and pretty. The jam after the "take me out and walk around" verse has this soaring vocal quality and a very pure, beautifully saturated guitar tone that sounds absolutely ferocious when Jerry begins to really dig into the chords before the long pause. Listening to this longer solo from this recording makes me realize how much I prefer the sound of Jerry's guitar amplifier straight into the Alembic sound system, as was common in this era. When Jerry began using distortion pedals in the later 70s for certain songs, I feel like he would lose some of the dynamics and articulation that came from him just playing through his amp. Anyways, the "Sunshine Daydream" coda is perfect, and Jerry gives us one last beautiful melodic run in the songs final 15 seconds, as Billy plays his final fill. Love it.