26. 1968-12-29

80197 Gulfstream Park, Florida 10:25
Main theme at 2:14, and again at 2:44.
First verse at 3:00.
Verse melody at 6:31.
Main theme at 7:21 (Jerry), 7:40.
Sputnik at 7:49.
Main theme at 8:46
Second verse at 8:56

Goes into St. Stephen.


TC is again pretty faint, as he cranks out the ROR right after the intro. Garcia is aggressive and masterful, employing a rough-edged sound and some feedback in his introductory leads. The little figure coming out of the verse is gone at this point, it seems. After the verse, TC plays some good stuff; it would be nice if he were louder, but Garcia really dominates the mix here. Jerry weaves hints of the verse melody and the main theme into his soloing and at 7:21 he plays something with the feel of a Bright Star which is really more of a forceful statement of the main theme. Lesh is active but stays pretty close to home for most of this. The Sputnik at 7:49 comes abruptly, and in general this version feels sort of rushed, as though it isn’t given a chance to unfold at an organic rate…


What was said: 

This is quite different from the more ethereal version on 12/7. There’s a harder, more rock-like edge to Jerry’s guitar and since he’s dominant in the mix that dictates the overall vibe as well. Being part of a festival set also probably influenced both the shorter length and their overall approach. It’s still a good version though.

This was a pretty forgettable Dark Star, I thought. The mix is unbalanced....it's mono again, Jerry's way up front and the rest of the band pushed to the back. The effect is like sitting right in front of Jerry's amp....you can hear his every note very clearly. The band sounds like a guitar trio most of the time.
I guess the Miami Pop Festival wasn't too conducive to great Dark Starring....Jerry's amped-up in the rest of the show but in the Dark Star he doesn't seem quite as fluent or inspired as he was in other recent versions. There's not much drama, or anything really memorable at all, or much of a structure to his solo....he just jams a little while and then stops short for the verses. Not much to analyze in this version.
But I bet the lost New Year's Dark Star at Winterland two days later was probably great.

Weird that it the SB recording versus the outdoors situation makes the mix sound like the Matrix shows in a way: all Jerry then Phil and then a guiro or ride cymbal. Same tempo. But it comes after Lovelight in the set, they’ve maybe figured out the sound by now? Though JG is having tuning issues on the SG (humidity, I’d bet.) I can’t quite figure out the reason for this mix, from a logistics point of view, in that, if Jerry is loud in the soundboard mix, that should have been making up for him being quiet coming from the stage, which from all audience tape perspectives seems untrue (he usually used Fender Twin Reverbs at this time, right? Hard to tell from the pic, but it does look like one big Fender cabinet has a Courtney-type tie dye front!) Bass always needs boosting from the board if possible, of course, more wattage to get those low freqs out there.
Jerry sounds convincing on the verse, he’s trying to do all the dynamics, TC likes that lyrical “through” (the transitive nightfall) volume swell, JG plays it also. The ability to have any sort of dynamics is kind of amazing at an outdoor show!
At 4 min, he uses an open D string against the fretted melody, this is new, very folky, even starts using a C natural a bit. Overall, hard to believe this deepness of tone from an SG, but I’m assuming this is close to the mic for his amp so he can play with the dynamics really well. (Amp? If it’s a Twin, he’s gotta crank it to get distortion like some of these bits, though easier from an SG with humbuckers.)
It’s a quick jam, up and down, not really into “space” so much. One little dip in the middle, Phil and Bobby mostly just chug through it, a few times doing the verse rhythm things when the main melody comes in (the straight first line, 3+3+3+3+2+2 for the second, then riffing off that for the third). Little sputnik making itself a standardized part of the jam that goes into the brightest tones, into the second verse lead in. He’s barely there for the first line of V2. Feedback accompaniment on line 3!
Anyway, a quick run through!


Hahaha...so my brother and I went to this Miami show around Christmas 1968, which was one of the first rock festivals and on the East Coast. I was keen on seeing Procol Harum and Marvin Gaye, who also played that weekend and neither one of us knew much about the Dead, other than they were one of the San Francisco psychedelic bands, lesser known than the Airplane was at the time.
Anyway, from what I recall, the band started out with Lovelight, which true to form, was kind of plodding with Pigpen’s forced vocals - nothing close to Bobby Bland’s urgent soul - not that I knew who Bobby Bland was either.
So when they finished, the guitarists started fiddling with their axes, under no great rush. After a minute I looked at my brother and he looked at me and we both could tell we were not impressed with these mooks. While they’re tuning their guitars, lets get some beers, I told him and he agreed. When we got back, 5 minutes later, they were still tuning up. We drank, bored.
It wasn’t until we heard Live Dead, a year or so later, that we realized the haphazard tuning we endured was Dark Star. It’s now our Dead favorite.