22. 1968-10-20

9071 (also on 30 Trips) UC Berkeley 10:17

Main theme at 1:41, and a variant thereof at 2:35.
First verse at 2:59.
Verse melody at 5:42.
Sputnik at 7:18.
Bright Star at 8:11.
Main theme at 8:37.
Second verse at 8:55.
Goes into St. Stephen.


The very beginning is cut. Pigpen is back, but he’s not too far forward on this one. This is the advent of the SG and Garcia’s tone really cuts here! He sounds particularly nimble and avid on the pre-verse stuff. Garcia throughout his career has had a truly distinctive tone on the bass notes, and see 4:09 here for a great early example (he managed a similar effect when he began to play Fenders and then his custom guitars, although of course it’s somewhat different—later on, his low notes at times remind me of a giant insect!). Here he switches pickups at times almost mid-phrase, for instance compare just before and after 5:20; the effect is almost as if he’s having a conversation with himself, as has been remarked several times here (but it always seems noteworthy). Check out the variant of the verse melody at 6:55; at this stage, he is very adept at threading hints and quotes of the song’s themes throughout his improvisations. The transition to the following Sputnik is seamlessly sudden. Light Into Ashes considers the Bright Star here an “Amazing Climax” (“Dark Star 1968”) but the band as a whole keeps a pretty even keel throughout this one, to my ears. Some versions are exploratory, and some are kind of tours de force (a preeminent example of the latter, I think, is 1969-02-27), and the difference by the two seems to me to be determined by what Garcia does. That’s not to say that he always leads the jams, although at this point that is the most common scenario. This one is a tour de force, and Garcia held my attention throughout; I had to listen to it again to pay closer attention to Lesh and Weir. The latter is a little quiet in this mix. Phil is fairly subtle for much of this one, gradually introducing variations and most often keeping to a pretty straightforward approach. In any case, this is a wonderful rendition, although we still seem to be in a consolidation phase rather than a period of revolution…


What was said:

Nice intro! Not the normal riff intro, possibly because it is not the first in the set now? First time for that?
Strong jam before the theme statement into the verse, Bobby and Phil starting it off before Jerry jumps in. Pigpen with a decent level (whew) I see from pics of the show that he’s on a Hammond.
(Jerry is loud, the SB mix is weird, Jerry and Phil on the right, vocals and Bobby on the left. You can hear Jerry’s guitar amp bleed into the vocal mics, gloriously! Those Fender Twin Reverbs are strong amps.)
Jerry’s doing some interesting bends in the 4:30 area, rolling from his tone-knob-rolled-back sound to a brighter sound, then pickup change at 5:24, that whole thing from 4:00-5:45 one big upward surge to the melody statement and then excellent jamming by the 6 minute mark after the overshot note at 6:02, serious statements on the returning theme with that bright lead pickup. Really strong playing going into sputnik. Interesting feedback play from Bobby (?) at about 8:00
Pictures on Dead.net Jerry is leaning in heavily to the band, it actually has a little aggressive look to it like the Jazz (or folk/country) guys capping, “come on man, keep up with me!” though who knows, maybe he’s telepathically communicating! I mean Phil groks, the band sounds like it. The show as a whole is very hootenanny, fast major key stuff! Looks like a daytime show but they were definitely pumped! The rest of the show is intense also, and they’d already done two relatively long jams before DS here (Schoolgirl and Lovelight) so they were ready to dive in so it starts faster and gets heavier quicker. Unreal segue to St Stephen, so fluid.


Jerry’s guitar tone is unmistakable and magnificent; the path to 2/27/69 becomes clearer although there’s plenty more to do before they get there. I really like the intensity of this version which to @bzfgt’s point seems mainly driven by Jerry, although the mix may be a factor in that too. I’m glad that Pigpen is back although he’s not always easy to hear in the recording.


It's interesting the difference a mix makes in how we respond to a Dark Star. In this case Jerry's louder than everyone else, so the band doesn't sound as integrated as they did at the Avalon....Bob doesn't seem to stand out here. Phil keeps a bouncy groove. Pigpen's back but his organ's mostly off in the distance. Mickey gets his own percussion track with gong and cymbals, but if he's on the scratcher in this one, I could hardly hear it. (Now that's a big difference from before!)
I couldn't tell that Jerry's on a different guitar, the tone didn't sound that different to me except that he's not quite as much hovering on the edge of feedback like at the Avalon shows, his sound is a bit more "clean." (Maybe just due to the stage setup at a different venue.) But he does pay a lot of attention to his tone in different parts. One striking thing is his sense of drama, like he'll play a long phrase and then end it with a strong conclusion and pause for a bit before starting the next theme (like at 5:35 and 7:15).
This is a condensed 10-minute Dark Star, but beautiful nonetheless. I've noticed in the Dark Stars lately, the Dead aim to have a big climax right before the second verse, so it adds to the feeling of "return" when they come back to the main theme....they're not just doing themes in any random order.
One change here is that Mickey's tapping the gong during the brief Sputnik and the band sort of floats a little while, they're already looking for a different sonic texture in this section. Little by little the Dead are inching towards the idea of having a little spacey section in Dark Star, but I'm not sure of the idea of a "consolidation phase." It's not like there's going to be a period of revolution in Dark Star for a long time to come (not until 1971?), it's more like incremental inch-by-inch developments. In this case one small change since the Dark Star just a week earlier, which may not sound like a big shift at first but will add up to more over the next couple months.



I think there is a photo on dead.net of the stage at 10-20-68 and it looks like Jerry's still playing the Les Paul. The photo is a side angle but the little you can see of the outline of the body says Les Paul to me. This assumes dead.net is attributing the photo to the right date!


This LIA guest post notes 10/20/68 as the starting date for the SG and FWIW the author claims everything was confirmed through photographic and video evidence: Grateful Dead Guide: Jerry Garcia Instrument History (Guest Post) I should go back and compare it to the preceding shows as maybe I was caught up in the moment yesterday. But to me his tone on 10/20 is distinctive, particularly in the second half of the song, and it reminded me of the classic FW Feb/March ‘69 shows. So it felt like turning on to a new trailhead that would lead to 2/27/69, albeit with twists and turns along the way.
The photos on Dead.net are indeed a Les Paul, (but they also say it was Oct 19th...) They have one pic (I swear I had seen more) of the band there in 1967, and it's a different amp setup, so this must be pics from '68. Possibly he switched to the SG during the show? Dark Star is no longer the first tune in the set... ...We are really nerding out on this stuff, I love it. That JG instrument guide post is amazing. So many nice guitars.
I didn't hear much difference in tone from the Avalon but I don't think I could tell one of Jerry's Gibsons from another just from the sound! The only shots I saw of Jerry on 10-20-68 (from bad angles) suggest the Les Paul instead of the horned SG. Maybe there's other evidence for that show, or you guys can tell from the tone....or maybe that site's mistaken and Jerry didn't make the switch til later? More Dark Stars may tell the tale!

It's very possible that the black Les Paul broke a string or something and he switched to the SG (his at the time?) during the show, so it may be that these photos are the classic "first 3 songs" photo pit pass for press people. I'd imagine with many bands, daytime show, it's more like festival vibe of off/on/off, you can see the drumset of the next band set up by stage right. So I don't doubt the SG first appearance here. With that many bands, even if Jerry didn't bring it, possibly he took it home. If they got paid. I've always heard these stories of these guys giving guitars to each other, like the Nash Strat and whatnot (or selling? like Joe Walsh getting Page to the Les Paul?) but who knows. People write that Jerry gave guitars away as well.