111. 1970-11-08

28609 Port Chester, NY 16:06 + Main Ten Jam 5:51 + Jam 2:58.
Main theme at 5:45.
First verse at 6:38.
Goes into Dancing in the Streets after the Main Ten Jam.

The last known Dark Star of 1970 begins with Garcia playing a repeating pattern that flirts with the main theme. Lesh steps out a little, but everyone is playing gently here, and there is no real lead line. They seem to be suggesting E minor quite a bit as they go on, and the music sort of broods along. Garcia plays a flourish of triplets at 4:12 that stands out as it skims over the top, but for the most part they are blending their instruments into a larger whole. At 5:45 Garcia starts to fire up the main theme, but they maintain a light weave right up to the verse, which is laid in gently.

Coming out of the verse, it seems they are keen to maintain the meditative feel of the piece. Space brings us down to almost nothing but some cymbals. Someone makes bird noises, eliciting a lot of laughter at 9:10; Weir jokingly admonishes the crowd, “This is serious!” The crowd seems rather fired up for the occasion, even as the band tries to play a quiet and spellbinding Dark Star. Space stays at a minimum for a good stretch here, and when the intensity increases it is more or less a deluge of sound, but not a barrage of notes. Again there is some bells or glockenspiel as we near the end of space, and then a repeated note that is almost like a beeping. Garcia finally starts playing The Main Ten, and the band picks it up.

This is also played rather gently, although as is to be expected it gathers some momentum as it goes along. By about 3:50 this turns into a one-chord vamp, and the band seems to consider moving on to something else, but they just sort of hover there for a while. A little bit after the 5 minute mark Garcia starts hinting at a return to Dark Star, but instead they get into another jam that drifts toward Dancing in the Streets. After a couple verses of this, they break into Soulful Strut, and this ends with what briefly sounds like a Dark Star jam, so this could also be seen as a continuation of Dark Star...

The main portion of this is understated but quite beautiful, with a very effective space after the verse. Once they come out of space the jamming seems a bit listless, though, although not without charm altogether. To me this is an ambiguous version: one could surmise that they are running out of ideas for Dark Star, but one could just as easily say that they are still uncovering new possibilities.


What was said:

JSegel:


Sort of hard to hear the beginning over the crowd noise, people are amped after Casey Jones and Truckin’ in the middle of the last set. More Dark Star in the middle of the party.

They are still influenced by the country licks from the beginning of the set, using a lot of hammer-on stuff off the bat. Some high people having a convo near the mics, the band starts exploring the groove in a nice way, getting outside the chords settling in odd eddies of notes (with sly tuning happening on repeated notes.)

Guiro is keeping it rhythmic, sort of. By 4 minutes in it’s still coalescing, never quite settling. Bob has some interesting chords. JG goes on some Sputnik-y arpeggios, and the rhythmic pulse fades in and out, almost gone before 5 minutes, like it’s the middle section! More exploration and odd chordal stabs, then alluding to the Dark Star theme at 6 minutes, slowly, it enters and builds, volume backs off, there’s some glockenspiel and the verse begins, Jerry sounds intense and direct. Bob with his new hammer-on rhythm for the off beats on line two and scalar lines on line three.

The last line of the refrain lands heavily and Mickey picks up a metal bits-shaker and the bands blows everything away into bass feedback (a head nearby says, “whoa, goddam.”) Cymbals and odd sounds, some people make funny bird noises in the audience, yell at the band “rock!”, other people shush them! I hear coughing.

Loud yells of some sort are happening amidst the cymbal wash. Loud feedbacking screaming thing is plugged in and wails a few times too loudly before getting it under control, some volume swell chords happen, and tom tom rolls, cymbals and crashing with lots of feedback guitars and scrubbing bass weirdness. This goes on for a while! Feedback notes and glockenspiel appearing after 14 minutes in, in the mix of weirdness. More arhythmic splashes and a drum starts a pulse for a bit, Main Ten theme starting quietly underneath, at 16:30 or so, it starts that up as a slow groove, plodding along.
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Main Ten as a groove continues for a couple minutes before some breakaways happen, Jerry sticks with the theme element for a long time, keeping it in the Main Ten world, it’s almost like renaissance music in a way, with the theme material on roots and then fifths. Nice development as a jam within Dark Star, but I guess we never get back to Dark Star really.

The drummers start to pick it up a bit, it dives right into the actual theme from JG and Phil a few minutes into this section (3:30 in the new track.) From here they start deviating, though the pulse is kept, and Bob is sort of droning. It falls apart a bit again at 4:20, but picks up from there with JG starting to actually solo, the band is moving away from the Main Ten riff and into improv. The solos settle into chordal bits, it’s fairly static. They start to build intensity on the root chord, and at 7:40 into this section, there’s sort of an idea of a Bright Star, -ish… but we’re heading somewhere else, and they stick on the Main Ten riff idea as an intro to Dancin’ in the Street, which continues at a medium tempo.


adamos:


It takes a little while for the crowd to settle into this gentle Dark Star opening after the preceding Truckin'. The band gets a nice mellow groove going and the crowd claps along almost trying to will it to a higher energy level. But the feel has been established and they continue to work in that vein. Jerry's repeating notes are almost like a drone complimented by Bob's rhythm and Phil underneath. Around 1:20 or so they start to change it up a little but still within the same overall tapestry. It's got a pretty feel. There's a delicate rising line from Jerry around 2:30 and then he continues to wander out patiently, higher pitched at first then shifting lower. Bob and Phil play off this nicely and it's a simple but lovely passage.

After 5:00 or so the feel shifts and by 5:45 they ease into the main theme. It builds a bit before they ease up again (with some pretty bell/glockenspiel sounds) and move on to the verse. Nice vocal from Jerry that suits the mood.

After the verse there's a quick reset and some wind chimes come in as Bob keeps his rhythm going. There are some subtle gong washes and deeper bass notes that give way to cymbal action with a touch of feedback. Things quiet and the gong starts to shimmer but the spell is broken a bit by the crowd shenanigans. The band stays the course and the gong starts to build again, shimmering and reverberating. Subtle electric weirdness hovers in the background and then cymbals come in again clanging loudly as they navigate the ooze. A nice percussive buildup follows and things get louder and freakier to good effect.

They keep it in this zone for an extended period. The glockenspiel comes in again around 14:30 and is pretty active as things remain spacey. Then starting around 15:30 there is a repeating noise that slowly grows; Phil's bass rumbles underneath along with some drums and the combination sounds a little Pink Floyd-ish.

They hover briefly and it almost feels like a Spanish Jam could emerge but instead the quiet notes of The Main Ten come forth. The others fill in around it and there's a tribal feel to the proceedings. They take their time building it up, working the notes again and again while blending in additional flourishes. It's simple but compelling. Jerry's guitar also sounds a bit like trumpet at times. Around 3:25 in what's tracked as The Main Ten they downshift a little, still working the notes, and hover in this zone for a little while. After 4:20 they quiet down but keep the beat going, flaring up briefly but opting to keep it mellow.

At 4:52 Jerry starts a wandering line that could bring them back into Dark Star territory but instead they gently work in a transitional zone before eventually shifting into what's tracked as Dancin' Jam. The tribal beat is still there initially and everyone rises up beautifully and melodically with a little bit of rev. Jerry starts reaching higher with just a touch of Bright Star and then they bring it down and work their way into Dancing In The Streets.

While not as cohesive as some of the grandest versions there are some really nice, pretty moments in this Dark Star including The Main Ten and Dancin' jams, and space gets suitably weird too.


Mr. Rain:


Great boisterous jam out of Truckin', Jerry's fired up. They gracefully fade out at the end, and it seems this might be an actual > segue to Dark Star this time, but hard to hear 'cause the crowd's going nuts. Not much else is hard to hear 'cause this aud recording is superior, all the instruments distinct and sounding great.

Really delicate crystalline Dark Star opening, a total change of mood from Truckin'. The crowd quiets down after a minute and takes it in. I don't know what it was about the Capitol, but a very quiet gentle side of the Dead is coming out here. This isn't so much the usual Dark Star opening but more like a classical "Variations on a Dark Star Theme" -- it's like we're in some Renaissance hall by candlelight. Fantastic interplay! The opening lasts longer than usual before Jerry finally backs into the theme (with a quiet glockenspiel!), and the theme part itself is beautifully done, gaining intensity then quietly flowing to the somber verse.

They head out for space with a splash, then we're lost on the dark waves. This is very restrained for a while, all drones & gongs & cymbals & metal-scrapings with some floating guitar tones. In all this tension, the crowd's getting very excited and whooping it up. Then after 11:50 there's a drumroll and things get hairy with a feedback barrage & bass wreckage. Whew! That shuts up the crowd. After some final feedback squawks, at 14:15 a big bass buzz leads us to the next passage, a more whimsical zone of guitar sounds like UFOs swooping around the sky. (And the glockenspiel comes back!) Very mysterious.

At 15:30 it sounds like the alarm of a truck backing up onstage; a drum starts beating in sync; and out of the weird rumblings & clangings, Jerry quietly starts the Main Ten. I think this was its last incarnation before becoming Playing in the Band. The band joins in and they glide on the theme for a while, staying pretty straight & low-key til the toms start tumbling at 2:45. This theme is all hypnotic repetition; I agree with adamos about the "tribal feel." By 3:30 the guitars are getting quieter, the drums getting louder, and they slide out of the theme with Phil the last to keep it up. (I think he doesn't want to leave.) After 4:30 they're searching for a new foothold, but instead of landing they stay afloat in a light spontaneous jam that kind of combines the Main Ten beat with the wispy feel of the starting jam. It's like the gloomy clouds of the Main Ten have blown over and now they're dancing in the sunshine. The next three minutes defy words, my words anyway, as they sway around the drummers' beat all in different rhythms that lock together & combine in a new rolling riff, rising in a final poignant surge. As this starts to drift apart, Phil teases Dancing in the Streets, and without further ado they spring into that. Great Dancing that brings the show back to a rock & roll party vibe, especially when a feverish Soulful Strut jam pops up.

This Dark Star is mostly a gentle meditation, quiet & patient without being overtly dazzling, so maybe it doesn't get that much attention. But it's magnificent, maybe just as great as 11-5 (as well as the last few versions). I find it very cohesive, it keeps up a certain indefinable mystic mood. One man's "listless" & "static" is another man's "jewel-like beauty!"
The notion that the Dead are running out of ideas for Dark Star, after each version in late 1970 heads in a different direction, getting successively more dense & intricate & bursting with new possibilities, is not an idea I'll support. The main jams lately do seem somewhat condensed, but what I hear is not "uh-oh, what do we do now?" but "which path do we choose from all the infinite choices?" And I think the Dead saw their role as not making the choice, but finding the path that was being created in the moment outside anyone's conscious intention. And in these recent Dark Stars they do that superbly.