Grateful Dead Set to Release ‘Here Comes Sunshine,’ Featuring Unreleased Concerts From 1973

The Grateful Dead will release Here Comes Sunshine, a project that contains unreleased concerts from the spring of 1973—a transformative year for the world-renowned rock band. 

The group that became an American treasure has announced (May 2) a limited-edition 17-CD box set. The project will include five unreleased recordings from legendary shows. The tracks are from the Iowa State Fairgrounds, Des Moines, IA (5/13/73), Campus Stadium, UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA (5/20/73), Kezar Stadium, San Francisco, CA (5/26/73), and Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington, D.C. (6/9/73) and (6/10/73).

The spring of 1973 was a turning point for the Grateful Dead, as they were known for their state-of-the-art series of performances. They delivered some of the best shows in their career for the final five sets in their sequences. For instance —back-to-back nights at RFK Stadium, where they co-headlined with the Allman Brothers Band and the five-hour long finale on June 10. The must-hear Dead concert included an encore with Dickey Betts and Butch Trucks of the Allman Brothers. 

Grateful Dead – Here Comes Sunshine 1973/ Rhino Entertainment

The collection that displays their musical excellence is available to pre-order and will be released on June 30. There will only be 10,000 copies accessible to fans, and can exclusively be purchased on Dead.net for $189.98. Listeners can buy the complete audio as a digital download on their official website. 

The limited-edition box was designed by GRAMMY Award-winning Art Director Masaki Koike, and will feature colorful graphics and “unexpected treasures” like liner notes by Canadian author Ray Robertson, The Owsley Stanley Foundation, and Grateful Dead’s Archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux. 

The project will include the five unreleased performances in individual custom-designed folios. Each piece will consist of show-specific notes, a custom-dyed Tenugui, and an exclusive poster. 

“In my early tape-trading days, 1985–1987, I only had a few 1973 shows, but my goodness, did I ever love them. There was a fresh, nimble feel that was entirely different from the 1972 Dead sound taking all of the great elements of the Year of Europe and building upon that excellence,” wrote Lemieux in the liner notes for Here Comes Sunshine 1973. “The few shows I distinctly remember having in my collection were 2/9/73, 5/26/73, and 6/10/73. Even with hundreds of tapes at my fingertips, I returned to these 1973 shows frequently. That old saying, ‘I listened to that show so often, I wore the tape out?’ It was created because of shows like this.”

Although their legendary run has gone down in history, it followed the death of co-founder Ron’ Pigpen” McKernan. The esteemed instrumentalist died on March 8, 1973. 

Alongside new music, the Grateful Dead is expected to release exclusive merchandise related to the collection. Season seven of the band’s official podcast, GOOD OL’ GRATEFUL DEADCAST, premieres on Tuesday, May 2. Within each episode, the band looks back at shows from Here Comes Sunshine 1973 and how they conducted business. Listen now, HERE. 

Photo by Kirk West/Getty Images