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:

JSegel:


2600 people! This was probably a watershed moment for psychedelia in Tucson, at the University of Arizona, there are some nice reviews posted: Grateful Dead Sources: April 11, 1969: University of Arizona, Tucson

I have a personal association with UofA also, because my mom took a year’s sabbatical job there in 1974, when I was 11, and walking up and down 4th Ave after school poking into the record stores, those clerks changed my listening and entertainment habits immensely! (Psst, kid, ever heard Alice Cooper? Led Zeppelin?) I remember the look of this particular auditorium on campus, having gone to a Science Fiction film festival there over a weekend as well! (My first viewing of “Un Chien Andalou,” as an opening short film, for example. ****. I came back to NorCal as a changed kid.)

These tapes are not great, Dark Star is low and noisy, but overall it’s very competent, sort of a “normal” version of the track going through the sections. (The Barbarella version is cleaned up but lower overall volume, it may be easier listening.) “Normal”, with the exception of hearing The Main Ten in there… sure, is there anything between 4/6 and 4/11 or were they just practicing, getting ready to go out on the road?

So Dark Star starts a set! That sets a tone. And it’s 20 min long. I’m loving this despite the noise. Classic start and some wandering. toward and from thematic stuff. Nice jam until TC whips out his slide and the wave crests, onto the next in brighter areas. No real eddies, it’s been climbing from theme to theme, now we’re approaching the verse.

Song form is stated, with their classic orchestration, though I can’t hear much casting about on line 3. Nice performance, great vocals from Jerry only.

The TN (The description of the "Transitive Nightfall" as one old blogger calls this entire section between verses!) Bell coming, cymbals. Nasal rolled off tone, breaking high. Eventually an eddy in the continuous current of the music, Jerry in continuous counterpoint with Phil, the drums come in, it sounds like both drummers. A formal song form section comes in, but the spy theme line two is gone already, three is out already, onward.

Really gorgeous play going on and here comes that main ten theme, JG gets on board (bzgft, you note that he starts it, but I heard it starting before he joined in? Gotta recheck that), but he takes off within it and they get out of that territory. What a great way to telegraph a song to an audience, months, years in advance. Cool time arcs.

It dies down to a tenuous section, it could go full on noise or stay modal. Oh he’s going Sputnik. TC goes wild up and down. Guiros are back! But I think Bill on drumset still. Really nice in tune sputnik up and down developing new rhythmic stuff. Is it going into weird feedback, bass solo? The insect. Somebody yells, “Bob!” It boleros to a Dark Star song-form theme with all sections, line 3 suddenly quieter and more delicate instead of starting a new build up. Bobby’s doing some wild playing in this song. Into a quiet bright star building up. Bends. Back down to the riff and on into verse 2.

Nice outro, and intro to St Stephen. This is a great upbeat version, not many sidetracks but a lot of forward momentum, and for 20 minutes.

I like this one!


Mr. Rain:


A good Dark Star! Not even one of the best of April '69, but still very compelling.
Heavy tape noise....the cassette copies were murder on this one. Low music volume, but listenable. TC mostly very quiet as usual.
Before it starts, someone in the band (Phil? Mickey?) asks the audience, "You guys having a good time? We just wrote a song for ya!" (Shades of Las Vegas.) After some mike adjustments, Jerry: "Here we go into phase two."

Standard intro, a little feedback pause from Jerry. Phase two beckons: they're ready to play and the opening section by itself throws off some sparks. The jam wanders here and there, quoting various themes like an overture. (Good catch on the Bright Star quote!)
Standard post-verse interlude with the tolling bell & gong & ominous bass. This time, when Jerry comes out of it he sounds quite melancholy, not as soaring as usual. The drumming starts early in the jam, Mickey comes in at 7 minutes (Bill seems restrained, maybe just cymbals). The jam gets dense and driving, kind of rock & roll with lots of repetitive licks from Jerry. Phil starts the Main Ten at 9:40 (nudged that way by Jerry, so it's hard to say who starts it). The repetitive riff fits the mood well, and they stay on the theme for a minute until it unwinds. The only previous Main Ten was on 1969-02-19. (I think you should add it to the timings .)
Jerry's in a very circular mood tonight, lots of licks circling round themselves. So naturally he spirals slowly into a Sputnik. Nice swirly version here, everybody meshing together. Mickey picks up the guiro, and in response Bill starts drumming in his place! The Sputnik gets more chaotic and distraught as it continues; by 13:30 Jerry just falls into feedback. Great half-minute of churning tension as they wait for the insect weirdness to pounce -- and when it does fly in, they almost fall apart. (Someone yells "***k!" I think.) Biting tense insect weirdness tonight, really going for the nervous vibes here. But Jerry doesn't drag it out too long, he pulls them back up to a bright verse melody with TC chiming the way. Back to solid ground!
They relax into a calm drift...Mickey still on guiro & Bill drumming lightly. Jerry starts the Bright Star quietly and they raise the volume -- Mickey hops back on drums too. They pound out the Falling Star climax, and head for home on the main theme, dropping the volume steadily before the verse. They're really playing with quiet/loud dynamics in this part!

Great stuff. I agree this one has more of a dark & brooding feel, but it also nods back to the freaky insect chaos of 4/4. That's one section that's sure to develop more soon.
It seems like these Dark Stars are getting more tough and brawny, and more dense all the time. There's so much going on you have to listen repeatedly to catch all the nuances, yet they were only meant to be heard once!


Adamos:


This Dark Star starts gently but at a fairly fast clip as it emerges from the hiss on the tape. They get right into it and the momentum starts to build. The quasi-Bright Star at 2:28 that bzfgt pointed out is much more developed than the brief moment I mentioned about 4/5 which is cool. Things slow down by 3:05 or so then Jerry starts weaving and building again with Phil bubbling underneath. Another nice little peak on their way to the first verse.

Post verse the familiar chords tell us that they're ready to resume the journey; we get the gong washes and bell tolling and they're off again. Starting at 6:28 Jerry's run starts with a more contemplative vibe then as it spirals around it starts to build in sharpness while still retaining the mood. By 8:30ish there's a more chugging rhythm, Jerry soars up again but just briefly; by 9:30 they are bubbling at lower altitudes again. From there they work their way into the Main Ten which is really cool. The whole passage from the verse first to Sputnik is pretty compelling.

The start of Sputnik has a joyous feel like they've come around a corner and found something wonderful. Phil sounds really good underneath and then around 12:40 Jerry eases off a bit and he steps forward nicely. After 13:00 they are building the intensity then ease off again, more bass and percussion prominence, then Jerry shifts briefly into insect weirdness after 14:00 before returning to the verse melody. After that they kind of hover and reset for a bit with some gentle playing before Jerry eases into Bright Star which hits a nice peak; Falling Star comes and then they bring it home through the ending sequence.