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:
Mr. Rain:
Very smooth Dark Star, and a popular favorite from '69. I don't think it really stands out from the April '69 pack of almost unanimously great Dark Stars, but it is the longest Dark Star yet played (24 minutes)....and you feel the length in this one, the jamming is drawn out more than usual.
It gets off to a sprightly start, but Jerry's in no hurry tonight. I think this may be the longest opening jam yet -- whenever they get to the theme, Jerry finds an excuse to extend the jam further. It's almost like a prelude, previewing the themes in the main jam (particularly a Sputnik section which is a surprise to hear in the opening), and sometimes I wonder if they've just skipped the verse tonight! One cool part is after the theme at 4 minutes, they quiet things down and play more quietly and gently for a minute, almost fading out in a lovely bit around 5:15. But Jerry's got his biting tone, and he gradually builds up to the theme again, doing some playful rhythmic lower-string riffing before the verse.
TC is off in the back, adding his usual color in the distance, but he's still doing the ROR at the start. There's some light guiro; Mickey switches to the gong early before the verse, around 6:30.
After the verse there's the spacey bell-tolling gong-crashing part, only this time Jerry leaves the tolling early and moves into feedback noises. Unfortunately there's a cut right at 10:06, so it's hard to tell how long this space might have lasted -- it cuts back in Jerry's climbing solo. A hard-edged jam ensues and carries on for quite a few minutes without a break.
Once again, Bill gets on his drumset right away around 9:30, and continues all through the jam....I think the days of Bill sitting out most of Dark Star have ended. Meanwhile Mickey picks up the guiro again around 12 minutes.
By 14 minutes the jam's gotten quite tough and edgy, but Jerry tamps things down, and he & TC nicely set up the Sputnik. The Sputnik itself is pretty standard tonight, Jerry plays his usual part, getting into the rhythmic beeps. They hover delicately, and the insect weirdness descends, bending us into another dimension. Not very wild or noisy, but nicely done! It doesn't last long though, by 18 minutes Jerry has shifted back into his normal tone. The guiro stands out throughout this section -- Mickey matches his scratches to Jerry's playing very skillfully.
They storm into the jam conclusion, all revved-up....maybe too much so, for the verse melody comes out kind of sloppy. Jerry senses the need to quiet down again and gives us a lovely volume-knob bit, turning the mood back towards beauty. They climb towards the inevitable Bright Star peak in a cascade of shifting melodies. Mickey starts drumming after 20 minutes -- this is the practice now, both drummers banging away during the Bright Star, giving it extra weight. Jerry lingers on the bright-star theme, drawing it out for 45 seconds, but forgoes the falling-star lick tonight and skips right to the main theme.
As they settle down to the verse the audience starts clapping along -- I don't think we've heard that before? One guy at the show commented, "At one point during Dark Star when it was getting a little spacey Mickey bounced out to the front of the stage and started clapping his hands. The crowd picked it up, and the Dead swung into the new beat with us." I'm not sure if this is the moment he remembered (Mickey's beating the toms during this part instead of the gong, which is unusual during a verse, gives it a different flavor).
In the St. Stephen that follows, Jerry breaks a string at the start, and the others have to vamp on the intro for a couple minutes before he returns. Not the last time that will happen! Jerry was an incorrigible string-breaker in '69.
Anyway, good Dark Star, kind of stretched-out, doesn't get very wild or spacey. Personally I don't find it as exciting as the Dark Stars coming up soon...
Adamos:
The opening portion is very compelling on this night. Things get rolling at a fairly brisk pace but there’s kind of a different feel to it. Smooth is a good way to describe it until around 2:40 or so when Jerry’s tone gets a bit more bite, but even then it’s still smoother than some recent versions. From 3:10-4:00 there’s a really nice buildup with that triumphant vibe that is so appealing, then they downshift a little and Jerry starts exploring in other directions. By 4:55 it kind of feels like a lying out on a summer night looking at the stars. From there things ebb and flow, rising up and slowing down again. By 6:15 it’s kind of swirling; at 6:35 there’s a quiet moment and you can hear the audience clapping along, like they know they’re in an experience. All this before the first verse!
Post verse comes the gong washes and bell tolls and the gong seems to have a bit more oomph. About 9:58 a tape cut skips things ahead to a more powerful charge from Jerry. They’ve got a good head of steam now and are cruising along; more ebb and flow, a nice repetitive guitar thing around 12:30, things are building again and they hit a good peak at 13:45. Around 14:20 they collect themselves again and TC steps forward for a little which adds to the soundscape. More edge to Jerry’s guitar and then they find their way to Sputnik.
From there we get some weirdness although not too much. The guiro is prominent and you can really hear Phil too, he’s got a nice thing going underneath the screeching and scratching. Around 18:05 they’re off again, things seem to be rolling and we get the verse melody but then at 19:15 they downshift again and are just kind of floating; it’s a lovely passage. Jerry starts an ascent and the tension builds and they quickly arrive at Bright Star which feels a little brisker and maybe a little hectic too but it grabs you and feels triumphant. The drummers jump in strongly in the latter portion too.
Then it’s the main theme and around 21:45 they briefly find themselves in a quiet, reflective passage again. You can hear the audience clapping along again; they know they’ve gone for a ride. Second verse and it’s off to St. Stephen.
JSegel:
Ha, I’m turning in my homework late now!
Coming out of Morning Dew (which has been really affecting me. Some folks I know, The Third Mind band, recorded a version that came out about a year ago, and I couldn’t listen to the song for a while due to the intensity of its meaning. I recently happened across a version that Bonnie Dobson did with Robert Plant, which was also quite intense. I’m so used to the Dead version that the original/Dobson version lyrics sounds weird—“Take me for a walk in the morning dew” seems odd and rushed! (also GD altered the chord progression, where Dobson’s goes D C G D/ G F C D, the Dead do D C G D/F C em D. Which sound right to me now!)
Anyway, Dark Star opens cold, and is very long this evening, as people have noted, they seem relaxed and able to stretch out. The opening jam drops right after the intro and there’s a foreshadowing bell. Space ahead? Really nice tone and medium volume level improv. Tempo is floating around but picks up with volume and goes at it, lots of exploration. A little sputnik em leads to the defining jam to the theme, then brought down to what could be the verse, but goes in a stasis tonally, a large eddy. It follows this to a tiny whirlpool and then develops back out the other side to an altered thematic area. Really nice sound from the band without much drum, very coffeehouse jam but bigger, only getting to the verse intro after 8 minutes!
Great singing and perfectly executed song and chorus parts. And the classic “transitive nightfall” statements before the jam proper, JG drops for the bell coming in. Trapset is coming in with the gongs and cymbals, but washy rhythmically. JG comes in strong and weird before settling into the mode, a very rhythmically driven jam and then he goes into the diminished mode with gusto! It’s weirding out folks, more jazz maneuvers. This develops into some serious music with forward momentum, stylistically very much on the progressive-jazz side modally and with respect to parts. TC is coming through occasionally, and in areas he’s very present, but his parts are classical in contrast to Jerry’s ‘been practicing’.
Sputnik (em 6 and 7 arpeggios) at 15 minutes, it’s gonna stretch this one out too. Um, into a weird guiro and JG duel. Phil going for a solo, but he takes it down instead of up and this leads into the insect weirdness. Side of pick scraping the string to excite the notes? Like, looks at the guiro, oh, I can do that too. And it’s right into the theme, back to the groove. Song form jam at ~19, line three takes it high and fading, volume knob action. They listened to a lot of music that day driving (what vehicles were they in?) We’re gonna build it up Allman’s style on A for the bright star. And back to the song theme, heading toward verse 2 and the outro. And onward.
This version had some musically developmental strides, especially in the jazzier stuff, which lends well to the coffeehouse vibe versions with the hand percussion. But it was really nonstop jamming, and long jams. It seems like they could all hear each other and react and keep the groove going, so it worked. Sounds like decent levels on the amps, like they were confident that the PA was compensating. Nice version and growing.
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