110: 1970-11-05

17182 Port Chester, NY 21:07
Main theme at :32, 3:33, and 4:25.
First verse at 4:38.
Feelin’ Groovy at 16:31.
Bright Star at 18:37.
Second verse at 19:32.
Goes into St. Stephen.

Once again the audience recording is far from perfect. Weir lays down a chugging rhythm, and from Garcia there is a variation on the main theme at about :32. I’ve listed this above, although it’s not always easy to determine what is to count as an iteration of the theme. The introduction has a blithe, happy-go-lucky feel, and after three minutes there still is not a clear sense of direction. At this point Garcia starts to heat up a bit, but we soon arrive back at the theme. The band drifts away a little, comes back, and the first verse arrives.

Space emerges as a kind of gestalt this time, a surrounding ambience of foreboding that sort of oozes along. At 9:40 there are hints that a more familiar music might emerge, as we start to distinguish individual instruments and track their direction. However, there isn’t any recognizable movement away from space until 11:14, when hints of Sputnik are given. Weir does his shimmering thing, and then at 11:49 Garcia strikes up a melody. Somebody is out of tune. At about 12:22 Garcia does a rolling sort of thing which is not Sputnik, but may have some genealogical connection to the latter.

By about 13:10 we seem to be in a new jam, which doesn’t sound much like anything we’ve heard before—we are out of space, but the foreboding heaviness remains, and this is almost a kind of funeral music. Are there hints of Feelin’ Groovy poking through this dirge? Lesh seems to be making a suggestion in that direction, while Garcia seems to be pushing it toward a more Dark Star-oriented jam. He alludes to the theme at 15:25. Weir is quite assertive here, and a guitar duet takes shape. At 16:13 Garcia is worrying at the theme again, but then at 16:31 Lesh again pushes for Feelin’ Groovy, and this time it goes through.

This is a gentle rendition, with some very lyrical work by Garcia. The chord sequence dissolves shortly after the 18 minute point, and the band pedals along on one chord until 18:37 when Garcia brings out Bright Star. At 19:09 this transforms into the main theme pattern, although Garcia never plays the theme itself.

At times the introduction felt a bit aimless, but the rest of this is quite entrancing. Dark Star is becoming a much less central part of the Grateful Dead phenomenon, but it will see a renaissance when Keith Godchaux joins the band. For now, though, they still seem to have something to say with the form.


What was said:

adamos:


The crowd is thrilled as things get underway. The recording has difficulty fully capturing Phil but the rest isn't too bad. Nice mellow interweaving at the outset with prominent rhythm from Bob. Jerry touches briefly on the theme and then around :50 he heads out on a gentle line with Bobby still forward and some cymbal action coming in as well. The volume increases and they get a mellow groove going with a Sunday drive kind of feel. Around 3:00 the momentum starts to pick up and Jerry comes out a little sharper; Phil is active too. They hit the theme at 3:33 and then a minute later return to it before starting the first verse. Not the smoothest vocal delivery but part of that may be the recording.

Post verse they briefly reset and then drift into a fuzzy, feedback-y zone before a bell toll brings forth a moment of near silence with faint electric sounds still ringing in the background. They take their time; gong washes come in along with other percussive sounds. There's some string scraping and tolling and things start to swirl a bit. Around 8:30 you'd almost expect a Foxy Lady riff to come forth; things begin to get deeper and weirder and more ominous. After 9:55 there's some stronger guitar strums and oozy feedback that turns into a wailing sound. Around 11:05 they find the quiet again; Jerry starts to play with Sputnik notes but it doesn't fully emerge. They keep it delicate and things start to become more melodic but they aren't out of space yet.

Soon after some stronger, edgier guitar rings out that becomes a transition of sorts into a jam sequence. Jerry is fuzzily at the forefront with Phil and Bob complimenting it nicely. The collective sound is compelling and they explore this area perhaps not exactly sure where it's heading. Around 13:55 Jerry starts to sound more Dark Star-ish and Phil's playing is patient and lovely. They pick up some momentum and the groove sounds really nice. Bobby comes in more strongly and plays off Jerry well. The pace ebbs and flows, Phil reaches deep and then at 16:30 they shift into Feelin' Groovy which again feels UJB-ish.

Feelin' Groovy does its thing and creates a nice, upbeat vibe. They work it well and Jerry starts to soar upwards but brings it back into some winding lines. Phil is hitting repeating notes that build up some rev with good textures from Bob. By 18:00 things appear to have run their course and they downshift but keep moving and we get an Allman-esque feel for a spell as the crowd claps along. Then at 18:37 Phil hits the Dark Star notes and Jerry launches into Bright Star. They keep it to a mellow peak and then quickly shift into the main theme and then on to the second verse.

I liked this one quiet a bit. They don't do a lot with the opening segment but space is interesting and the post-space jam is compelling. The latter portion isn't necessarily complex but I like the overall feel.


JSegel:


Audience recording from the balcony, bass slightly overloading the cassette.

Clapping audience out of the The Other One and they start the riff into a little jam (which in some ways has a little Main Ten idea to it, the rhythm of the E to G to A picking that JG is doing...) and it moves into a nice groove, some audience “woo!” and they’re off. Bob and Phil holding it down, Jerry slowly develops what he wants to explore, some specific notes accented, he’s playing with some riff idea for awhile. It’s a nice mellow groove that they build on for minutes, then at 3:30, the gliss up to the A and to the theme. This holds for a while as a typical Dark Star world and the verse enters a minute later.

Nice verse, interesting stuff from Bob on line two, hammering it on on the last offbeat accent and then playing upward-moving melodic lines on line 3.

The intro riff starts them into the middle section and the band slowly blows away reality and as it fades out there’s a single “bell toll” hit that heads into light feedback, then some bass tapping. (You can hear some heads starting to freak out nearby.) Cymbals, isolated hits, feedbacks, enharmonic sounds, a cavern of metallic noises and odd string noises. Tapping the strings with a slide, playing behind the bridge. Phil starts to take some forward steps at 10 minutes in, the volume goes up with some bass bombs and guitar feedback wailing, bass feedback coming up underneath, long drones. Really intense!

It ebbs at 11 minutes and a Sputnik starts coming in for a second, but is abandoned and then a slow quiet melodic section comes instead. Bob starts the notes for his two-chord thing, A7 and G7, but not in rhythm. There’s still feedback happening, and when guitar notes start happening, it’s still arhythmic, until some runs happen a little before 14 minutes in and Phil starts a slow walk and it heads toward some idea of a slow pulse, in the Dark Star chordal world. Really beautiful transition into and out of space in this version. The tempo picks up a bit, but it has occasional rhythmic dropouts, and remains mellow, though audience start clapping along. By 16 minutes there’s some Dark Star theme elements, and then the Soulful Strut begins for real a little later, when Bobby starts the chord progression, though he veers off a few times. Claves are signifying, sidestick drumset grooving it. The Strut isn’t super ‘hot jazz’ this evening, but it moves into a chunka-chunk rhythm for a bit, and JG uses some feedback to transition to a Bright Star theme and they head back to Dark Star proper.

They reel it in pretty quickly and verse two comes in at 19:30, at a higher energy than verse one, though not much movement on the lines 2 and 3. The outro sounds sort of ragged with all the parts and vocals spun around the hall, they head off to the outro chords and into St Stephen, people yell and clap.


Nice transitions in this version, very fluid. The intro improv is mellow, and not tons of jamming in the latter half, but a beautiful space section. A relatively medium-to-low-energy version, and not a great recording.


Mr. Rain:


Dark Star follows the Other One which is pretty unusual, but they stop for a bit so it's not a jam transition -- it's an Other One, Dark Star rather than Other One > Dark Star. The audience is happy to hear it, then they shut right up. It didn't take me long at all to sink into this warm, deep-sounding audience tape.

The opening jam is really strong, dense & delicate all at once....they're flying in the zone right away. It has an intimate chamber-music feeling, and Phil stands out (in more ways than one, the bass is the loudest instrument on the tape). I loved when they got into the theme before the verse, which didn't interrupt the mood of the jam at all but only made it more dreamlike. My impression is that these opening jams have been getting way better lately, like they're able to dive deep into Dark Star-ness without effort.

Really nice slide into space. Space has a really heavy atmosphere, thick and menacing, like we're in a smoky Chinese opium den (probably coming across better on this aud tape than it would on a soundboard). Boy, this is one awesome space! The bell-tolling fits right into the dark mood; they get freakier after 8:45; the feedback after 10 minutes is just deliciously mind-blowing. After 11 minutes it sounds like they're at a pause and the jam's about to commence....bits of regular music start coming in, just a hint of Sputnik, Bob & Jerry teasing an idea....but they're taking it really slowly, they're just not letting go of space....finally at 13 minutes they seem to settle into a definite progression.

And what a jam opening! So heavy and lovely (and it shares the melancholy feel of 10-17's post-space jam). After 13:40 there's a neat little duet between Jerry & Phil, carefully feeling out which way they want to go. After Bob comes back in it's more of a happy Dark Star jam, close to how they started. Phil has his way with Feelin' Groovy, which is very laid-back & mellow. By 18:00 they're easing out of it, chugging nicely on one chord....which sounds just like an early Bertha!! For 10-15 seconds or so the music's really dense like they're all simultaneously pointing out different possible directions while in this groove....but then BAM, at 18:30 Jerry & Phil suddenly take a leap into the main theme in mid-air, a jaw-droppingly perfect moment. Jerry's only in Bright Star for 20 seconds or less before they quickly subside to the pre-verse theme, hurrying to the end. (There's a hint that Jerry's doing a little finger-picking in the theme, which would be cool if he'd actually sustained it.)

This was fabulous, a super-exciting Dark Star, impressive from start to finish. Very polite audience. Just about every minute of jamming is packed with detail, the mood's so dreamy & intimate & captivating, and my only complaint is that it's too short!