56. 1969-04-17

St. Louis (Download Series 12) 21:35

Main theme at 6:13.
First verse at 7:21.
Sputnik at 14:04.
Main theme at 19:36.
Second verse at 20:01.
Goes into St. Stephen


Starts out with some sort of percussive licks from Garcia. Starting at :35 the band swells for a little bit, which is pleasantly weird. At 1:32 there’s another pre-verse almost-Bright Star. At around 3 minutes things hit a holding pattern and it seems like the main theme is coming, but instead they draw it out a little and go into another little jam. At 4:39 Garcia starts a remarkable passage, his playing exaggeratedly slow and distorted. There’s another pseudo-Sputnik starting at 5:39 which leads to the main theme. Garcia starts messing with the theme a bit, playing it almost like Bright Star.


After the verse Garcia goes right to some lead lines, then at 9:34 it’s as though he suddenly recalls he’s supposed to be tolling. They then build up a lot of tension before Jerry breaks out again at 10:51. A rather intense jam follows, with a strong peak starting at about 12 and a half minutes.


At 13:21 Weir starts Sputnik, but Garcia isn’t ready yet; he finally starts it at 14:04. The end of Sputnik is rather intense; after a squally bit of feedback, Garcia switches on the insect weirdness, and the guiro gets really loud. There’s then another pretty intense jam, and this leads to the main theme and the verse without a Bright Star or a verse melody tonight.


This is another strong version. In general it felt like it could have done a little more, but it is very well played and there are some really strong jams here.


What was said:

55. 1969-04-15

31435 Omaha 20:21

Main theme at :36 and :47.
Main theme at 6:14.
First verse at 6:53.
Bright Star at 12:18.
Sputnik at 12:44.
The Main Ten at 17:17.
Main theme at 18:23.
Second verse at 18:52.
Goes into St. Stephen.



This one sort of segues out of a Cryptical reprise, although they start it with the intro lick. All we have here is an audience recording, and, although it is a decent one, it’s not great, and there’s some talking going on in the beginning. Unlike the previous version (04-13). the band sticks with the main theme chord pattern for a good while in this first section, and Garcia dips in and out of the theme. At 2:26 he unleashes a striking flourish, and the band begins to move away from the theme a little, but they soon return to it. At 3:19 Garcia plays on the theme a bit, without exactly stating it. Once again there is a sort of variant of Bright Star beginning at 3:41.


By around 4:25 the band has finally broken away from the main chords in earnest, and at 4:34 Garcia starts repeating a low note that TC picks up on; this goes on for about half a minute, and there is a little breakdown at 5:10 or so where everyone has almost stopped. At 5:19, Garcia starts hinting at a riff that sounds like it may be a precursor to the main theme; at 5:33 he elaborates on it, adopting an exaggeratedly distorted tone. This peaks, with shades of Bright Star, at 6:03, and things suddenly seem rather frantic for a few seconds, until it all settles into the main theme at 6:14. Garcia plays the theme such a (variant) way that it harks back to the riff he’s been playing.


After the verse there is the usual build, with Garcia laying out for a few seconds before he starts tolling toward a crescendo. It’s interesting to hear this from an audience recording; the band sounds rather noisy here (and, notably, TC is relatively high in the mix). After a brief caesura, the jam starting at 9:04 rings in with cleaner tones and a calmer mood, as a brief restatement of the theme reinforces the feeling that order has somehow been restored.


Garcia again, at 9:30, uses a repeated note to break the band out of the main chord pattern. At 10:16, with the band hovering on the edge of the theme, Garcia again tries a repeating phrase. At 10:41, though, he’s again stabbing at something like the theme, and Bright Star almost emerges; then it’s back to a repeating single note at 11:03. He plays around with this for a while, as the band rallies around him, working toward another breakout at 11:41, then back to more repetition and another sortie which runs into a rare pre-Sputnik Bright Star at 12:18.


The inevitable Sputnik at 12:44 brings this section to a close. TC’s swirling accompaniment is quite loud on the recording, and it makes the first half of the Sputnik a rather clamorous affair. The second Sputnik segment is much quieter, and it stays that way, oozing into some volume knob fiddling which gets us to the insect weirdness at 15:05. This segment is spacey, with Lesh plaintively moving above Garcia, and things get even spacier until, at 16:35, Garcia plants a tentpole and beckons the band back to firmer ground.


A lightfooted groove emerges, and at 17:17 Garcia starts playing The Main Ten. Garcia starts a lead at 17:46; the band continues with the Main Ten groove in E, and then at 17:59 Garcia modulates back to A, sliding into it to telegraph his intentions, and then promptly returns them to the main theme and the second verse.


This version is characterized by a continual tension where the band seems to never be far from breaking into, or out of, the main theme chord pattern. While this ensures that things never go too far out, they also never seem to truly settle in; this Dark Star in a way feels like a duel between structure and chaos, with neither getting the upper hand.


What was said:

54. 1969-04-13

87378 Boulder 23:56
Main theme at 3:46.
Main theme at 7:14.
First verse at 7:55.
Sputnik at 14:56.
Verse melody at 18:46.
Bright Star at 20:39.
Main theme at 20:32 and 21:58.
Second verse at 22:23.
Goes into St. Stephen.


Things start in a pretty standard way; note, however, the little downshift at :56. It doesn’t really amount to much, but it’s another example of how tuned into each other the band has become. At 1:41 Garcia flashes Bright Star. There’s another little lull around 2:15, and Lesh and Weir are hitting the main theme, but Garcia spins out some more leads, and his tone here seems kind of unique for a few moments. Things really get flowing after that. At 3:19, Garcia gets into a little pseudo-Sputnik segment, and this intro starts to feel a little like a microcosm.


At 3:46, Garcia dives into the main theme rather emphatically; they hammer it for a little while, then the volume drops again, and a sort of meditative segment follows. By around 5:25 things are very quiet, and Garcia is playing some wonderful and ethereal guitar. A little after the 6 minute mark they start to build it up again, but by 6:30 they have again taken it down several notches. Then they build it up again, hitting a little peak, and then on to the main theme at 7:14.


After the verse there is the usual tension building; when things kick off at 10:06 it seems there has been a small edit in the recording. They settle into a funky groove at 10:30, but this quickly, and smoothly, turns into a kind of build-up to a series of little peaks. The jamming here retains a rhythmically funky flavor, and Garcia plays some increasingly aggressive lines, hitting a peak at about 13:55.


At 14:20 everything quietens again, and Sputnik seems imminent; after another half a minute or so, it duly appears. It seems like Garcia is prodding at the form a bit lately, varying his line and bending it a little out of shape. The insect weirdness comes on the heels of Sputnik, and there is a spacey little interlude here, with very loud guiro. Garcia gets back to his normal tone pretty promptly, though, and the band roars to a quick peak; they then settle into a groove again until Garcia begins the verse melody (more or less) at 18:46.


The band hovers for a bit, with Garcia at 19:29 fiddling with the volume knob for a while. At 19:48, he starts a beautiful little melody, and then begins a build to Bright Star; they are already hitting a peak when this comes in at 20:39, taking it over the top, then Garcia rolls right into the theme at 20:32, which brings us to the end of the middle jam. The audience is clapping along when they get to the second verse.


The Dark Stars of this era are almost uniformly exciting, and this is no exception. This one is well played, and has some really nice work by Garcia in particular.


What was said:

53. 1969-04-12

14914 U. Utah, 21:40 (cut)
Main theme at :06 and 1:58.
First verse at 2:43.
Sputnik at 8:40.
Verse melody at 14:11.
Bright Star at 17:42.
Falling Star at 18:30.
Main theme at 19:06.
Second verse at 20:11.
Goes into St. Stephen.


The beginning is cut, and it comes right in with what sounds like the beginning of the main theme. At :21 Garcia varies it a little, and plays it a bit like Bright Star. Garcia and Lesh both sound inspired in this early section, but at 1:58 Garcia brings it back to the main theme again and then to the first verse.


Garcia briefly returns to the 1968 lick after the verse, and then goes to the tolling sound. Both Garcia and Weir throw in some feedback as things build, and then Garcia immediately and rather aggressively begins the middle jam. The whole band, in fact, sounds rather jacked up here; there is a minor peak shortly before the 6 minute point and, as is often the case, after this there are little peaks and valleys that follow one another in short order.

Between 6 and 7 minutes Lesh keeps toying with the bass line to the main theme, keeping things anchored. At 6:48 Garcia begins an ascent with some palm muting; at 7:08 he starts playing an aggressive sequence with some rather rock and roll double stops while Lesh goes up the neck for a bit, and then climbs back down, leading to an utterly remarkable moment at 7:16 where Lesh starts hammering on a low A in sync with Garcia who starts playing the “rock and roll” lick again at the same moment. This is some of the most locked in, focused and intense playing yet to appear in a Dark Star. As the band brings the level of intensity down, Garcia again plays some palm muted licks, and then at 7:45 he introduces some volume knob fiddling into the mix.


At 8:28, Garcia seems to have switched on an effect and starts playing longer, feedback notes which seem to signal an end to this section. Perhaps he wants to get out of this part before they do something to mar its perfection; in any case, at 8:40 he rather abruptly begins Sputnik. The rest of the band may not have entirely expected this, as they were still chugging along, but it comes together seamlessly nevertheless. In any case, this Sputnik, which seems to appear somewhat early tonight, proceeds rather briskly until 10:16, when Lesh decides he wants to bring it down and get softer and weirder. Garcia obliges with some scratchy and increasingly fractured Sputnik licks, until at 11:00 it seems like everyone is deciding to weird out.


A kind of space lasts until 11:29, when Garcia switches on the insect effect and things seem headed back to something more familiar; instead, they hover on the edge of space for another minute or so. By 12:38, Garcia has returned to a more usual tone, but things stay balanced on the edge of chaos, with Garcia and Lesh pushing and tugging at each other until at 13:37 Garcia more forcefully asserts himself and the band fully kicks in again.


Garcia plays the verse melody at 14:11; then, after his licks on the E minor, he pauses as they return to A. Weir starts playing the main theme, but he, Lesh and TC soon wander away, while Garcia lays out. There’s a nice little jam here with the three of them, until at 16:36 Garcia takes the lead again for the first time in two minutes. There’s a triumphant little peak just after 17 minutes, with Garcia playing piercing lines until things quiet down a bit at 17:40; Garcia immediately signals Bright Star, which again begins in a bit if a lull (compare 04-11). The drums sit the first part out; when they return at 18:00, things again come to a peak, and again this is followed by Falling Star, from whence we return to the main theme and then the verse, although not before things almost fall apart.


This is one of the tightest and most intense Dark Stars we’ve heard. Once again, it seems like it had the potential to get stranger than it did. There’s little to complain about, though, as this is a stupendous rendition.


What was said:


Archtop:


The 4/12/69 DS is indeed something of a landmark. It's decidedly well-grounded while, at the same time, pushing new ground over familiar waypoints.


Mr. Rain:


I didn't think this Dark Star was as far out of the norm as you did, or any giant step forward....seems like there have been others just as tight & intense. But it's still an excellent A+ version, for sure.
Bear recorded on cassette again; fortunately this copy isn't as battered as 4-11 was. About the same mix as usual, with Phil & Jerry up front; TC's present but inconspicuous.

Big cut at the start...might be missing a couple minutes. I think there's usually at least a minute or two of jamming before Jerry plays the main theme, which starts this tape. Mickey's on guiro (switches to gong for the verse, as always). The band already sounds jacked-up as you say....Jerry does a minute-long tease of the theme before he returns to it at 2:00, and he has a biting delivery. He seems to sing the verse more forcefully than usual, too.
It's funny when Jerry kind of accidentally hits his standard '68 post-verse lick, sounding like he's forgotten how to play it -- 'oops, not that' -- before he gives us his tolling bell. Big buildup with feedback on this -- then when he soars out of it at 4:30, Bill can't wait to join in, he's right there on drums. Things get intense fast: this is going to be a more aggressive Dark Star. A driving jam hurtles forward with Jerry doing some cool muted rhythm for a bit. (Big surprise when he briefly breaks out some volume-knob turns at 7:40; those rarely show up in Dark Star).
Mickey makes the guiro known. Jerry turns on his Sputnik tone with some feedback, nice moment of anticipation, then he plunges right into it.... This does seem early for a Sputnik to show up and the others keep playing normally -- there's some off-mic shouting after 8:40, and they regroup and join Jerry in his Sputnik. Things get wild, tapping & feedback & rhythms going off-kilter...it fades out, then returns. (Notice the percussion: Mickey's matching Jerry's guitar with his scrapes, while Bill continues on the drumset.) It comes to an end around 10:50 -- Mickey dashes to the gong while Jerry scrapes out mechanical noises, Phil droning & Bob doing some cool support in the back. Then it's time to break out the insect weirdness! Jerry's especially piercing in this...but the others are gradually building back up to the regular jam behind him, and he joins them once more. The mood's a little more floaty than it was before the Sputnik, but still relentlessly driving, not as dreamy as some previous versions. (Bill's still drumming away, Mickey's back on guiro.)
The jam gets very rock & roll-y around 13:30, then Jerry hits the verse melody, very aggressively -- maybe too much so, I think he breaks a high string at some point after 14:20 and has to drop out for a couple minutes while he puts a new string on. The others carry on with a nice gentle little jam -- finally, I notice TC doing something! (just his ordinary licks). This is a good spot to notice Bob's quirky rhythm playing, not so different from what he'll do later in the China Cat jams.
At 16:30 Jerry announces himself with some feedback and comes back in. The jam quickly ramps up again, and Jerry hits on a nice transition to a cheerful Bright Star. (And boom, at 18:00 both drummers come pounding in!) This ends with the Falling Star lick again, really intense....Jerry wants to change it around this time, he plays around it a little differently and tries on-the-spot to find a new transition to the main theme. The others ease him down gently....just like 4-11, they fade to extreme quietness before the verse, softly bringing us back home.

Whew, what a trip. Nothing "new" here really, everything's what you'd expect from the last few versions, but played really fiercely. (I think changes & developments at this point are going to be incremental anyway, tiny shifts that won't be apparent right away.) With Dark Stars coming almost every date on this tour, it looks like the trend toward harder-edged playing & wilder Sputnik spaces will continue.


JSegel:


Utah! Well then. A concert put on by the Students for a Democratic Society two months before emergence of the Weathermen from within their ranks.

Dark Star is a set opener for the second set, and they sound ready to explore, Jerry rips it up within a couple minutes and then settles down for a theme, which immediately mutates and dies off into the verse, hit before 3 minutes! (…There’s missing audio, of course.)

The bell comes in after the verse, while the rest of the guys were starting a jam, but they feedback and mallet right in, and then JG goes off again with a bright tone, and switches it up for some windy ways with Phil and Bill, in with the trap set already. Some nice little eddies in the current, plenty of little waves within a bigger jam with a lot of forward momentum from the band, drums pushing it. This is a pretty exciting version! Lots of exploration in the “normal” mode (E Dorian-ish). Jerry comes down to have a little rhythmic jam with Bob, then goes out of it with some volume swells and back to the exploration. Up and down, settling into a Sputnik. With drums. Somebody in the audience is thrilled! Drums lead a big Sputnik buildup, into a chordal rhythm jam on the chord. This is all still before the 10 minute mark!

Now that the volume has back off, we’re still in the Sputnik space, but with weird guiro and chord jams. Aha, I hear string scrape noises, we may be entering a sound improvisation, and JG goes into the insect tone (We gotta figure out how he does this... I have an SG and I've sort of tried a bit, got some idea that he's tapping on the bridge and it's microphonically being picked up by the pickups or sending the impulse down the length of the string, but I haven't tested it at higher volumes.) However, with Bill in there, it still has a pulse and forward-moving rhythm. It does get weird, but comes out into a tone-rolled-off section of lead playing with a few experimental out-of-mode notes crying out, stretching the sounds. It sounds like heading toward a bright star theme area, at 14 they go through the song-form theme, with really strong line 2 spy rhythm, but then weirdly as line three starts they go astray, it all dies down into a quieter area with some Bobby jamming and TC wandering around. TC does some riffing, JG has dropped out. String change? I bet he broke a string during the song-form statements. Bob playing super melodically with his chords and hammer ons, Phil jamming along.

Jerry comes back, maybe he was just lighting a cigarette. He’s back in the eight notes, heading to the higher register but taking his time to state a bright star theme, when he gets there, Phill is up in his higher areas too, and they rock out on the initial 5th, E-to-B, part of the riff, and as it builds, JG stretches the notes to make ‘em cry. Theme proper a little after 19 minutes, as it quiets down to get to verse 2.

People applaud at the return of the singing, wow, we all came along and got here with you!

The multi-part vocal ending leads perfectly into the outro, toward St Stephen. Nice one!


Adamos:


Nice grungy tone from Jerry as the tape cuts in; after the 40 second mark they shift into a dreamier vibe, deep and low, but still some bite. First verse, gong wash and bell tolls, then starting around 4:30 Jerry takes off again soaring upwards. There’s a nice musical tapestry being woven over the next few minutes and you can feel the power and intensity they’re bringing; it’s got an edge.

Sputnik comes into play early-ish and it has excellent bite too; I’m really digging the sound of this performance. Starting around 9:50 Jerry has a repetitive screechy thing going for a bit then things briefly quiet down before wandering into weirdness.

After 12:35 they’re back into a more structured flow but it still has a different feel; starting at 13:05 Jerry does another repetitive thing but it’s lower and then this shifts into a faster paced, edgy groove until they find their way to the verse melody, which is sharp edged too!

Starting around 14:45 Jerry fades back and TC and the percussion come forward, accented by Phil and Bob. The broken string theory makes sense but it turns out to be a nice interlude that gets cooking pretty well. By 16:35 Jerry is back in the fold.

From there they build to a nice peak before rising yet again into Bright Star and then Falling Star. Things are somewhat less edgy now; it’s more a triumphant declaration of awesome. Then the main theme and second verse bring it home. An interesting and compelling performance.

52. 1969-04-11

15404 Tucson 19:59
Main theme at 1:21 and 4:02.
First verse at 4:29.
The Main Ten at 9:40.
Sputnik at 11:54 (11:37?).
Verse melody at 15:09.
Bright Star at 16:13.
Falling Star at 17:10.
Main theme at 17:29.
Second verse at 18:22.
Goes into St. Stephen.


This is a very noisy recording. The beginning section chugs right along, with some nice work by Garcia, who goes to the main theme rather early at 1:21, and then takes off again. The rest of the band stays pretty close to the main theme, however. At 2:28 there is a quasi-Bright Star, which brings things to an early peak, and finally gets the band out of the two-chord theme pattern for a while; just as things start to get interesting, though, we head back to the theme.


After the verse there is a quiet little interlude before Garcia begins tolling. Lesh breaks out of this a few moments before Garcia does. The overall feel is brooding, rather than triumphant, as the middle jam begins. Things start to get busy a bit before 9 minutes in, but it stays kind of dark. At 9:17 Garcia starts playing a repeated lick, and TC copies him; when Garcia changes the lick, TC stays with him for a little while.


Garcia continues to employ repetition, giving this almost a ritualistic feel. At 9:40, the band starts playing The Main Ten riff; Garcia joins in with the riff at 10:15. The playing gets very subdued shortly after the 11 minute mark, and Sputnik seems imminent.


At 11:37, Garcia starts playing a rolling figure that is almost, but not quite, Sputnik. At 11:54 this turns into Sputnik proper. TC is playing a swirling figures that gives this a unique flavor. The beat is a little syncopated on the back half; this Sputnik swings a little bit. It gets a little cacophonous at the end, in a very good way. Garcia has turned on the insect weirdness, but he holds back with it until 14:00. Here there seems to be a moment of confusion, although it’s not too detrimental; somebody yells something, and the band is in a bit of disarray.


This never gets too spacey; it gets swirly, however, and the band flies out of this with the verse melody. This brings things up but they quickly settle back down, and the band is again playing pretty quietly. Garcia gently lays in Bright Star at 16:13, and they start to build to a head. Falling Star seems to be standard here once again, and this one peaks nicely, and then they head right back to the main theme. This time they take it down so far that they almost stop playing before the second verse comes in at 18:22.


This one is kind of dark, but with plenty of dramatic parts. It would have been a good one to get spacey with, but they never break into anything really weird. The appearance of The Main Ten riff casts doubt on recent reports that David Crosby wrote this riff…


What was said:

51: 1969-04-05

136650 Avalon 17:27
Main theme at 2:01.
Main theme at 3:36.
First verse at 3:59.
Sputnik at 9:40.
Bright Star at 14:32.
Falling Star at 15:12.
Main theme at 15:31.
Second verse at 15:53.
Goes into St. Stephen.


Dark Star emerges from one of the more substantial transitions out of “Mountains of the Moon” that we have encountered, a full two and a half (wonderful) minutes. Garcia jumps right in after the introductory riff, and Phil is likewise raring to go. The feeling early on is more frenetic than ruminative, however; we get to the theme rather quickly, and just as quickly it dissipates, but the early jamming all stays rooted in the chord structure of the song. At 2:30 Garcia is playing some almost surf-y double stops, which turn into a kind of rhythmic chopping, until just after the three minute mark things finally wind down; for a moment it seems like they’re tying to open it up, but instead it goes right to the theme and then the verse.


The middle jam begins dramatically; after a post-verse build-up that establishes a mood of tension, Garcia swoops in with a darkly incandescent lead tinged with feedback and dissonance. At 5:51 the guitar poses a woozy question, responding to itself at 5:57 with a high, piercing assertion that loses none of its forcefulness as it moves into a series of elaborations.


Lesh pushes and pulls underneath the guitar, at times dropping back to dramatic effect, and then rushing forward again. At 6:14, the bass emphatically rests on a low A, seeming to call for a reset and a reestablishment of the main theme; when Garcia responds by settling into a repeating pattern that seems headed for a resolution, Lesh starts pushing again and the guitar begins to rise in pitch and intensity once more. At 6:54 there is another lull, this time initiated by Garcia, and then things resume in a bit more subdued fashion. Things soon start to build yet again, and there is a little peak beginning at around 8:25. At 8:47, Garcia starts playing a choppy, muffled staccato bit, and the band again starts to wind down a bit, as everyone seems to be trying to get to Sputnik before working themselves into a lather too soon.


The Sputnik that follows seems relatively brief. Both halves begin softly and build in intensity as they progress, but overall this one is somewhat subdued. The band keeps playing in Sputnik mode for a little while after Garcia finishes playing his licks. When he finally switches on the insectoid effect, things keep chugging along, and it seems like there isn’t going to be a space section, until it finally arrives at a little before the 12 minute mark.


Things don’t stay too spacey for too long, but instead there is an odd little jam where Garcia is stabbing and perhaps hinting at a Bright Star, Lesh is dancing around him, and the rest of the band sort of hovers, which is something at which they will become increasingly adept. In the midst of this, at 14:13, Jerry begins playing what is recognizably a precursor to Bright Star (the beginning of which is consequently difficult to pinpoint), and the band builds to a peak. Falling Star, the main theme, and the second verse follow in short order.


This is dramatically different from the previous day’s Dark Star; there, the band seemed out of joint much of the time, whereas tonight they are locked in and listening closely to one another. What this lacks in force it makes up for with precision. Even when the band seems momentarily uncertain, they quickly figure out where they’re going and head there, and the jam after Sputnik seems to prefigure some of the more sophisticated collective improvisations to come.


What was said:

50. 1969-04-04

87542 20:21 (20:01)

Main theme at 3:53 (feint), 4:03 (feint), 4:19 (band minus Garcia), 5:05 (feint), 5:34 (band minus Garcia).
First verse at 5:44.
Sputnik at 12:24.
Main theme at 16:39.
Bright Star at 17:56.
Main theme at 18:24.
Second verse at 18:49.
Goes into St. Stephen.


Things sound rather out of tune at the outset, and a little disjointed. Garcia tears into the bass notes at 1:03 in a way he’ll continue to do on and off for several years, which is always nice. Weir seems further forward than usual here. TC gets rambunctious with a little ascending swell at 2:20; at this point, this seems to be becoming a common gambit in what seems like a fairly limited repertoire of moves.


Weir and Garcia have a sort of staggering, staccato thing going on in the early going. At 3:53, Garcia starts feinting the main theme; when he refuses to go there this causes a moment of confusion, and then the band swings into it without him. He does not follow suit, however, and they start to drift away from it again. Another feint at 5:05 eventually gets the band going without him again at 5:34, but Garcia never plays it, instead going directly to the verse at 5:44. Throughout this, there are moments of evident indecision…


After the verse, Lesh slows the tempo and plays the main theme again, and Garcia tolls. There is a nice little bit of TC in all this, and some cymbal swells, and maybe something is about to start happening…Garcia comes in with his lead line rather authoritatively at 7:30, adding to this impression. Not entirely unexpectedly, things weird out a little instead of going straight to a peak, however. Garcia and Lesh kick up a bit of a fuss from about 8:17, and TC chips in with another little ascending run. Just after around 8:40 the band is doing what we want them to do, gelling yet with everyone playing something completely different…


There is a rather remarkable downshift just before the ten minute mark, and magic seems to be in the air. This seems to settle down into a place of indecision again, however. By 11 minutes or so, Garcia, TC, and Kreutzmann are left alone for a little while…Lesh starts to come back in, but no one seems to know just what to do, and it starts to sound like we’re heading toward Sputnik; instead, Garcia at 11:49 starts a little staccato passage that could develop into something, but at 12:24 he opts for Sputnik after all. As is often the case lately, the first half of this is raucous, but instead of leading to a more contemplative second half this goes on for a while, with Garcia again playing staccato and omitting many of the notes. At 14:37 he shifts to the insect weirdness, and this leads to one of the most intense and extended space passages we’ve yet heard beginning at about 15:28.


By 16:22 Garcia is trying to break out of space, but the band doesn’t allow it yet; finally, he signals for, and gets, the main theme at 16:39. As this settles down around 17:38, Garcia starts to go into Bright Star, and gets there by 17:56. From there, it’s back to the main theme, and the verse.


This is an odd one. It is a bit disjointed, but has some very exciting moments, and more weirdness than you can shake a stick at, albeit mostly in flashes. There are no dramatic peaks, really; even Bright Star never goes over the top. The Sputnik and the following space segment, however, make this one that can’t be ignored.


What was said: