49. 1969-03-29

141435 Las Vegas 21:19 (21:01)
Main theme at 4:53.
First verse at 5:48.
Sputnik at 10:58.
Main theme at 15:25.
Verse melody at 16:12.
Bright Star at 17:20.
Falling Star at 18:18.
Main theme at 18:53.
Second verse at 19:46.
Goes into St. Stephen


“The next one we’re going to do is something we wrote especially for the Ice Palace here in Las Vegas. We wrote it this morning.”


--Mickey Hart


There is an interesting sort of swell at the beginning before Garcia starts playing lines. When he comes in, he’s in good form, with some excellent passages before the verse. There’s not a lot of exploration in the introductory jam, but by the time we get to the verse this would already be a top version from early 1968!


After the verse, Weir lays a base down and TC plays an ascending flourish before Garcia starts tolling; this time, Lesh is not highlighted in this section, unlike in other recent renditions. He comes to the fore a bit more as Garcia starts playing lead lines again, however. At the same time, TC and Weir recede a bit (at least in this mix) which somewhat mitigates what otherwise would be an early peak soon after the 9 minute mark.


There is a little dynamic retrenchment after this, and then Garcia gets things rolling again with some heavy riffing from about 10:25. This rather quickly pulls back into what feels like a sort of early Sputnik, however. Lesh makes this one rather heavy in the front half, with heavy notes that don’t come with an entirely predictable spacing. On the second half, Lesh plays a lighter series of runs, and the whole thing winds up in a little staccato interlude that is quite different and remarkable, before Garcia finally switches on the insect weirdness.


One of the drummers is scratching something quite loudly during this insect interlude, which soon gets hairy and weird. When Garcia switches back to a more quotidian tone, the jam gets heavy for a while. There’s a sudden break at around 15 minutes, though, which threatens to become a moment of confusion, so Garcia starts hammering on the main theme. It’s early yet, however, so rather than the verse, they follow this up with the verse melody.


This opens up into a rather furious section, with everyone going gangbusters right into a quasi-Bright Star at 17:20. Perversely, as Bright Star emerges, things quiet down a bit, but they build it back up before discharging it in a rather extended and spirited Falling Star. This leads directly to the main theme and the verse.


This is another excellent version, with outstanding work from Lesh and Garcia. It kicks up a fuss at times, but seems to hold back from going over the top. In small ways, they seem to be pushing and prodding at the form, and this yields some gratifying moments of weirdness although, as yet, these don’t last long. Very good overall.


What was said:

48. 1969-03-28

81543 Modesto 22:45

Main theme at 2:28.
Main theme at 4:32.
First verse at 5:56.
Sputnik at 13:53.
Verse melody at 18:01.
Bright Star at 18:35.
Falling Star at 19:17.
Main theme at 19:39.
Second verse at 21:07.
Goes into St. Stephen.


Garcia flicks on the bridge pickup and gets down to business early, welcoming us with a little feedback and some particularly limber licks. He goes to the main theme very early, but he doesn’t stay there, as this is not going to be a quick run-through like last time. However, the main theme seems to remain as a quasi-perceptible axis around which the early jam revolves, while at the same time Garcia at times seems to be pushing against the tonality of the piece a bit. One wonders whether he is starting to get restless with the harmonic form of Dark Star, which will of course be broken open in various ways in future days.


When Jerry returns to the main theme a couple minutes later, he really lays into it, and it seems like the verse is bound to follow. However, he unspools the theme into a repetitive little bouncy section which unloads itself into another piercing lead section, which in turn quickly winds down and then leads to the verse. A small detour, then, but nonetheless an interesting one.


The immediate aftermath of the verse again puts the spotlight on Lesh, which seems to be common lately, before Garcia starts banging around on the bell tones. The transition to the next section is remarkable, as Jerry again unleashes some feedback, from which his lead emerges like a spotlight through the fog. In fact, there is an awful lot of feedback on this version; it could almost be said to be the theme of this Dark Star, although it is never allowed to overwhelm things.


At about the 9 minute mark, Garcia is playing bouncy little leads, and then pausing as Weir answers him with little bursts of chiming chords, as if they are revving up for the jam. Then, at 9:35 they simultaneously dig in for a longer passage, with Weir acting as a springboard for Jerry’s soaring lead, until, at 10:04, Garcia brings it down to a repeating two-note figure which appears to be setting the stage for a Sputnik, or in any case another phase of the jam. Again, what stands out is how responsive they are to one another, and how genuinely collaborative the jams have become.


This settles into a spacey interlude, with feedback again playing a role. Lesh begins calling for the verse melody at around 10:37, but at 10:55 Garcia starts playing a bright melody unlike anything we’ve heard yet in Dark Star, and which reminds me of what he’ll play over the “Soulful Strut” modules that lie in the future. However, this makes its way back to more familiar territory in fairly short order.


By 12:55, the verse melody seems imminent, but instead the band comes to a rousing peak which functions much like Bright Star, without ever quite articulating the relevant notes. After cresting the peak, at 13:35 there is a somewhat sudden drop into a pre-Sputnik sequence until, at 13:53, Sputnik duly appears.


Tonight Garcia displays extra enthusiasm for the little double stops at the end of Sputnik, but then the band almost comes to a stop before the insect weirdness gets things moving again. One is almost tempted to count the passage beginning at 15:48 as the verse melody; the melody isn’t really played, although it’s hinted at, and we wind up dropping into E minor. As we flip back to the A, Garcia is playing some piercing and frenetic lines, and the excitement level is rather high.


At 18:01, Garcia clearly and powerfully initiates the verse melody, and the drop back to the E is charged by Lesh’s rather explosive remarks. After all that, they tear into a Bright Star that takes the whole thing over the top! This is followed by the heavens opening to emit a brain-piercing Falling Star.


Even the return to the main theme is remarkable tonight, as Garcia adds in grace notes and seems to roll through the riff, then switches to a staccato peppering, so that rather than a return to normalcy, the appearance of the theme here is another opportunity for expression. Garcia lays the vibrato in thick on the second verse; he’s probably still excited by the jam he’s just played. Anyway, I know I am.

This is an absolutely outstanding Dark Star. It is one of the most dynamic, varied, and exciting renditions they have played up to this point. Absolutely outstanding. And, absolutely outstanding! What else can I say? Outstanding.


What was said:

47: 1969-03-22

8994 Pasadena 14:47
Main theme at 2:01.
First verse at 2:23.
Verse melody at 6:05.
Sputnik at 9:28.
Bright Star at 11:27.
Falling Star at 12:17.
Main theme at 12:42.
Second verse at 13:17.
Goes into St. Stephen.

TC is still hammering the ROR at the beginning. Garcia sounds ready to go when the bell rings today; he gets some nice leads in before even a minute has passed. He seems quite attentive to his peers are doing—at around 1:17 he’s tickled by Weir is doing, and they tangle themselves up together for a while. At 1:41 a breach opens up and TC jumps in with some licks that Garcia then grabs ahold of and transforms beginning at 1:48.

However, the first verse comes quickly, despite all that promise. Garcia picks up where he left off at the close of the verse, bouncing bright guitar leads off the band. At 4:35 there is a quasi-Bright Star passage, and this breaks out again at the 5 minute mark. This leads to a series of little peaks; Lesh and Weir are pushing, and Garcia is quite responsive. They quiet down at around the 6 minute mark, and Jerry puts in the verse melody, which allows them to kick it up again, a bit, on the E minor.

All three string players are effusive here, with Weir ascending above Jerry for a while, which adds to the sense of excitement. They all seem tuned in to one another quite closely tonight; as if by prior consensus, they reel it in at about 7:18, and Garcia begins his bell-like tolling on another E minor. This results in a little build-up which is full of promise and foreboding, and soon Garcia is hinting at a Sputnik in the offing.

At 8:58 Garcia returns them to an A major, and submits some brighter licks. The tension mounts until a taut Sputnik finally emerges at 9:28. Garcia comes out with his weird insect sound, which he doesn’t stay with for long this time, instead building things back up, with both drummers engaged and adding to the urgency, as they push toward Bright Star. This continues the tense and urgent mood, pounding rather than flowing, until it is discharged in a (now somewhat rare) Falling Star.

At this point they are ready to wrap it up. It’s not clear whether there was a time constraint, or whether they felt they’d already poured so much concentrated energy into Dark Star that there was nothing left to do with it; the former seems more likely, given the short renditions of the songs that follow. For all its brevity, however, this is a fantastic version, with not a dull moment in it. There are deeper versions, and ones that range farther, but I pronounce this the little Dark Star that could!


What was said: