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:

Mr. Rain:


This is one of the first audience-tape Dark Stars we've had (there were only two in '68). Quality's okay, good for '69, I think it's very listenable. Hot show!
Dark Star comes right out of a long fantastic Other One -- that didn't happen very often! A rare pairing like this is a good sign the Dead are really into it.

At the end of Cryptical, Jerry's sailing on feedback, Phil teases Dark Star, Jerry takes him up on it, and they launch right off. The sound's nicely balanced -- you can hear TC doing his ROR at the start, and the guiro....and unfortunately, idiots chattering in the audience too. Despite them, this has a real magic-carpet-ride quality with Phil's bouncy bass and TC's eerie organ blending nicely -- the jam floats right along, airy but insistent. Jerry's the center of attention -- he & TC hit a peak at 4:30, and Jerry climbs down gently. I love that Jerry bass bomb around 5:30! From there he churns up a heavy little storm with the band, and at the climax deftly flicks it into the main theme. Great opening jam here, magical stuff, almost like a 6-minute summary of Dark Star.
They keep the theme going softly a little while to settle down (even the clowns in the audience have stopped talking!). It's very noticeable in the verse that you can hear TC a lot better than on any of the SBD tapes lately, and he's really integrated well, adding a lot to the texture.
Whoa, Jerry's tolling-bell sounds HEAVY from the audience, TC adds shimmering weight to it so it sounds like a foghorn, with spacey feedback & tape distortion -- then at 9 minutes they suddenly break out of the noise and carry on with a jaunty jam. I get a sense that some of the sound effects in this part haven't been heard so well on the SBD tapes.
I hear Bill coming in on the cymbals. The jamming's loose and agile, getting heavier, and they work up to a peak after 10:45, a little mini-climax with drums, then a rock & roll groove....the momentum won't slow down, and Jerry gets more agitated (hitting more bass notes after 12 minutes) until he can't help himself and slips into an early Bright Star at 12:20. This one's short -- Jerry skips immediately to a Sputnik, and everybody quiets with him.
TC's swirls are dominant in this Sputnik, but then he lays out and Jerry's satellite beeps fade away into the atmosphere. The mood gets spacey with some evocative volume swells from Jerry (he's incorporating these more) and a shrill passage of insect weirdness, accompanied by cymbals and lilting bass. After a minute this turns into feedback, clanking chains, swirls of fog -- wonderful spacey moment, Jerry's feedback cries are incredible. Then Bob signals a way out with a lush chord, and Jerry breaks through with his biting tone again. They search forth, questioning at first, then finding a groove -- and not just any groove, but the Main Ten appearing out of nowhere at 17:20.
Everyone's ready for the Main Ten and it's a short but nice, light version, a touch of samba -- check out Jerry's piercing high notes after 17:50, which get an "Ah!" from the audience. But the Main Ten breaks down after a minute; they don't try to take it anywhere, but return straight to the main theme and a quick verse with drums. (In contrast to 4-13, only one person claps!)

Great Dark Star; I think it's one of the best lately. This is a toe-tapping Dark Star! It's getting wilder -- Jerry's playing aggressively and keeps peaking, not many lulls in this one. TC also shines more than usual. The moments of Space are among the best we've heard in Dark Star so far, they're getting farther-out. It's weakened a little bit by not having the usual climax at the end, but that's made up for by the surprise turn toward the Unpredictable.


Adamos:


Nice semi-evolution out of the end of Cryptical. (I wish the chatty couple had been more into it at the beginning but they probably paid to be there and we’re just listening in 50+ years later, so it’s their trip). Lots of ROR at the start; they kind of settle in early and riff off the main theme. Around 2:10 Jerry starts mixing it up a little; he’s got a good groove going and there’s kind of a magical quality in the air. More TC flourishes starting around 4:35; Jerry’s doing a repetitive thing and his guitar kind of screams out around 5:10, then after a little lull he hits a strong, low note at 5:30 and then launches into a powerful edgy passage before shifting again and working towards the first verse.

Strong, feedback-y bell tolling after the first verse; TC is really prominent too and they’re conjuring up some real power. At 9:08 Jerry gets rolling and they’re off. He’s cutting through the air; there’s a forcefulness to the proceedings. I’m really digging the keyboards on this audience recording too. They’re building; by 12:10 is Jerry screaming into the night and then suddenly they’re in an early Bright Star like it just needed to explode into the night.

From there they quickly shift gears and circle back to Sputnik. TC is dominant in the recording again which gives it a cool feel. They ease back a bit and enter a new zone; it’s more mellow and spacey now like they’ve burst through the atmosphere and are wandering through the cosmos. Weirdness ensues. Around 16:38 Jerry starts something else and they’re kind of cruising for a bit and then suddenly at 17:20 they’re into The Main Ten. It’s brief but cool; they’re still figuring out what they want to do with it. By 18:26 it’s back to the main theme then into the second verse to finish.


JSegel:


Phil’s bass sounds like a tuba. They’re pushing the amps getting the volume to hear in the Music Box. Particularly rockin' (second or?) last part of the set where Dark Star follows CE/TOO, the audience recording has some awesome field recording moments: a couple near the mics during Cryptical quiet parts: “I don’t know how much to take!” “Half?” ...and the conversation continues til right before into the slight gap before the start of the Dark Star intro: “I have a ramp” “You said it!”

The band start at a guitar note's suggestion, they're on it. The conversation continues. The music is pretty well mixed, sounds like, a little pushed, but not bad. But the crowd are just talking their way through it, some girls and a guy, but when the band gets loud enough to cover them it’s good. Some nice eddies, sounds like TC is louder in the hall/box tonight so his sound is a bit overdriven. Weird loud low E from Jerry, like, oops we all spaced for a second, let's get going again. He’s got a rising thirds theme going these days to get to higher registers, TC still following along with scales.

“G’night!” Some dude on mic leaves before the verse!

Decent verse, onto the nightfall bells with feedback developing, and overtaking everything. Volume swells from the organ, very Pink Floyd! Nice "classic British" psychedelia. Into a theme jam the eventually provokes mic feedback and some out of tuneness, full steam ahead build to brightstars. That dude that left missed some amazing stuff. Developing into a new type of groovy jam, but not as jazzy as the two-nights previous and more based in the thematic material. Sputnik has wilder arpeggios from TC, again very, um, British. But beautiful waves of these make the clouds of this section really nice, as JG selects a tiny bit of the arpeggio to take with him somewhere. Into a new kind of sea of volume swell notes and drone strings. The insect tones that come in don’t sound like scraped pick like I thought for the Boulder show. There are some points where it comes out of the sound into “normal” feedback separate from the weird sound, you can hear both like rolling off a sustained note with an ebow (which wasn't invented at this point I believe.) So I can’t figure out how he was making that sound. Films, anyone?

Directly coming out of the quieter nebula into a Main Ten, but trying to maintain it as a jam is still weird, I guess, and it doesn’t last, so they opt out for the verse2 intro theme.

Some slow claps at the entrance of the vocals. Cornfed youth doesn’t know what hit them.

Outro toward St Stephen includes some synthy-sounding weirdness.

Really amazing contrast to the Boulder show 2 days earlier that was modally and rhythmically more “progressive” and this one is all rock. Plus the audience tape really give a different perspective on the presentation of the sound!


Mr. Rain:


The spacey moments reminded me of Pink Floyd too. They kind of hint at what a more ambient, organ-led Dead might have been like at the time.
But so far the Dead aren't giving the spacey bits much room yet; those moments are over in a flash.