Dick's Picks Volume 28 contains most of two concert performances from February 26 & 28, 1973. It includes two versions of "They Love Each Other", in its original arrangement, which featured an additional bridge. It also includes two versions of the Johnny Cash song, "Big River", which was played on both nights. Several other songs that were played both nights, but only one version of each is included, namely the February 26 version of "Promised Land" and the February 28 versions of "Beat it On Down the Line", "Mexicali Blues", "El Paso", "Box of Rain", "China Cat Sunflower", "I Know You Rider" & "Row Jimmy". Additional songs from February 26 are missing from the archival tapes.[4]
The album cover continues the postage stamp theme begun with Dick's Picks Volume 26. Liner notes list vocalist/keyboardist Ron "Pigpen" McKernan as one of the band members "in spirit", as he had, at this time, been too ill to play with the band for eight months. He died, age 27, about a week after these concerts, on March 8, 1973.
Enclosure and article
The release includes three sheets of paper stapled together in the middle, yielding a twelve-page enclosure. The front duplicates the cover of the CD and the back is a mostly blank, textured grey that matches the background of the front.
The first two pages inside the front cover contain a collage consisting of a Dead Heads Newsletter and a clipping of a short newspaper article. The next two pages are a photomontage of black-and-white photographs of each of the band's members, and the middle two pages feature a large black-and-white photograph of the band playing on stage. The next two pages contain another photomontage of black-and-white photographs of each of the band's members, and the last two pages list the contents of and credits for the release.[5]
Article from the Salt Lake Tribune
The article on the third page of the enclosure is from the Salt Lake Tribune, was written by David Proctor on March 1, 1973, and is entitled "Rock show rolls 'em into the aisles". Just five paragraphs long, it is a very positive review of the light show, the warm up band, which was The New Riders of the Purple Sage, and of course the main attraction, the concert by the Grateful Dead.[6]
Caveat emptor
As with all releases in the Dick's Picks series, the notes also contain a "Caveat emptor", this time reading:
Dick's Picks Volume 28 was mastered directly from the original analog 2 track tapes, running at 7.5 ips. Although these 30 year old tapes have held up remarkably well, they may exhibit some very minor effects of the ravages of time. However, we've done all we can to ensure your listening pleasure.
Track listing
February 26, 1973 – Pershing Municipal Auditorium, Lincoln, Nebraska
