34224 Tivoli 30:54
Main theme at :06, 7:35 and 9:24.
First verse at 9:46.
Goes into Sugar Magnolia.
The second Copenhagen Dark Star begins with the main theme, and then a bending liftoff and some harmonics from Garcia as a delicately beautiful introductory jam takes shape. The band floats along on a cloud, each instrument contributing to the multi-headed melody. Garcia quotes the theme at 3:13 and 3:59, and at 4:30 there’s a lovely moment where Bright Star woven into his lead. Shortly after this they move into a minor tonality, where they hover for a while, and the music becomes more loosely wound.
At 6:30 Godchaux wants to take things out a little, and at 6:47 Garcia picks up on his line and elaborates with a repeating figure becomes a new center of gravity briefly until Jerry lets it carry him to the main theme at 7:35. This shifts into a variation on the theme that I don’t think we’ve heard before, and this becomes its own jam, which derives a kind of swing from its relationship to the theme. After a nod to Bright Star at 9:12, the theme proper returns at 9:24, at which point the verse becomes inevitable.
At 11:16, in the wake of the verse, Garcia plays a Sputnik-like roll which continues for a while as Lesh comes to the foreground with some ponderous statements. There’s a moment of uncertainty beginning at about 12:30 where it’s not certain whether this is heading to space or straight into a more straightforward jam. They take until 13:35 before they opt for space, as Garcia starts playing the sort of runs that are often prelude to a meltdown and the rest of the band unwinds a bit. And there is a kind of meltdown, but a pretty gentle one, in keeping with the delicate vibe that’s been in evidence throughout.
By about 16:30 there is a more vigorous and kind of fluttery jam happening. This ebbs and flows a bit, and then at 17:20 Garcia seems to pick up on something Weir suggests and establishes a two chord pattern. At 17:34 Lesh suggests Feelin’ Groovy, but then seems to think better of it. At 18:00 the pace seems to be increasing, and at 18:14 Garcia kicks on the wah and again and sets the course for meltdown territory. By 20:00 we are coming very close to a full-blown Tiger jam and things keep getting stranger for several minutes.
The meltdown seems to have played itself out by about 23:30. There is a period of retrenchment, and then Garcia starts a chiming chordal thing at 24:17. When the band responds, he starts playing lines again as a lovely little syncopated jam comes together, with Pigpen jumping in with some Hammond at 24:57. Typically for the Grateful Dead, this works so well that they tear it apart after about a minute. Lesh starts in with one of his jazzy riffs at 25:15. Then at about 25:25, Weir restores momentum by riffing on a chord pattern that is more or less what will become Let it Grow. This seems to embolden Pigpen, who should be louder in the mix but is swirling away like mad here.
You can almost hear them thinking furiously about how to sabotage this again. At 28:17 Garcia starts plating some chordal lead that starts to sound a bit like the Main Ten lick, and it’s hard to describe what happens next as it all simultaneously falls apart and comes together leading up to a mini-meltdown and a quick reconstruction into Sugar Magnolia.
The third Dark Star of the European tour is yet another outstanding version, both beautiful and adventurous, and with the most developed meltdown we’ve yet heard. This is like the mirror image of the previous Tivoli version, insofar as the introduction has a more cohesive focus, and the post-verse stuff is more exploratory. This is absolutely a top Dark Star of the era, in the best era for Dark Star.
What was said:
Archtop:
"More or less what will become Let it Grow"?
Harmonically, it's exactly what became the intro to Let it Grow when that was detached from the full suite post-hiatus.
Amin7 Ddim7 played at the 4th-7th frets.
My notes on the trunk version have this from 25:18-26:39. Also of note is that Jerry's playing over this is simply spectacular, making that whole segment among their very best ever. I've listened to that segment well over 200 times and I smile, smile, smile every time.
JSegel:
This one was on TV. [ED: not really!] I’m listening before watching it.
After the intro they’re already in stretch-it-up mode with stretching reaches and harmonics from Jerry. Super vibe in the mode with everybody relaxedly floating along. That tropical beach feeling again. Lilting lines, little triple-metered phrases in the lead and then the bass. Then the plaintive swells, allusions to the theme, some waves to catch, up and down.
In the trough it brings it around into a new area of unspecified rhythm and more minor sonority. Gotta say that Stratocaster sounds good. (It’s an odd bird, this gift from Graham Nash, a parts-caster with a ’57 body and ’63 neck that has a maple fretboard which is rare for that year. A fretboard cap on the maple neck, not a solid maple neck like the 50s Strats.)
Seamlessly moving into chromatic space, taking the audience outside the realms of “song” world. And then back in with the main theme at 7 1/2 minutes, with some pedal steel-style bent notes. And strong bass and rhythm pulse backing it up into a new Wharf-Ratty feel, back to the theme and the verse.
Verse 1 at 9:45, with drums chugging away through line one and giving the pauses on line 2 with some rolls back into the rhythm for line 3, with Phil playing a descending “searchlight” wandering (I don’t think I’ve heard that before!)
And the Transitive Nightfall starts as if we’re continuing to play the song. Jerry starts on an arpeggio Sputnik style, fading in and out. Phil with some lead note and Bob with some chordal stabs. Arpeggiated piano. It sort of dispels itself into drum rolls and tremolo guitar, isolated piano notes before Jerry starts with some lines, taking it down, down, down. Back into chromatic space, the whirlpool.
Now we’re underwater. It’s non-tonal, sparse, not scary but disparate. Some soundscaping. Piano waterfalls. Jerry imitating that as well, and then they start chasing each other around a bit. Back into a modal scale, Phil plays with a Dark Star-type riff very quickly. Settling to a major key area for a short moment then running with fast line. The wah wah pedal goes on. More chromaticism, building intensity, some organ swells in here! (Yay, Pigpen!) It’s more action movie than monster movie in this section, fast and really building and chasing each other around. Strong piano statements in the 21st minute, very Rachmaninoff. Bass is rumbling and playing chords. Crying guitar leads, into melodic statements, still atonal, but playing with scale statements.
They hit the bottom of that long wave and sift around in the sand for a bit, first some major 7th chords coming in to establish a new jam area, then onto more minor chord areas. This develops into a jazzy jam and then into the Let it Grow chords (so I hear...). This is a nice late-in-the-Dark-Star jam, feels better to me than the Feelin’ Groovy idea. Jerry goes through some chromatic pulloffs, through a Main Ten-type riff to a sputnik arpeggio to a lead again as the band falls into chaos, he stays on a repeated stretched E, and holds it into feedback, Phil plays through a little Dark Star riff and it dies out into a chordal thing and Bob starts Sugar Magnolia, like a cross-fade.
Well, that was amazing.
Aw, I tried watching the video of the show, but the Dark Star segment doesn’t have much actual synced footage. Most of it’s not actually playing Dark Star, just random other footage of them playing done all psychedelicized with occasional pieces of actual sync. The intro looks real, Pigpen doing some percussion as they start out. I was hoping to get a good look at them playing this thing!
adamos:
A gentle, floaty beginning. Jerry gets into the harmonics that bzfgt and JSegel mentioned. Phil bounces along subtly with nice accents from Keith and the collective sound is lovely. Billy is working a nice mellow beat too. They briefly slow up at 1:45 and then keep gliding along. Jerry works some winding lines, varying his pace and touching on the theme at various points. After 4:00 they get into a drifty, delicate zone with Phil and Jerry playing off of each other followed by some high, Bright Star-esque reaches from Jerry that sound really good.
Around 4:45 Billy brings in some quick, repeating drumming and they hover a bit before Jerry gets into some pinched, repeating notes. That seems to shift them into a spacier zone and they build up some swirling momentum. Keith and Phil step forward around 6:30 and they start to work something up. Jerry slowly latches on and almost sounds a little Twilight Zone-ish as things get weirder and quicker paced for a spell. Then at 7:35 they shift back into the main theme and take it out for a stroll with some bending, stretching lines from Jerry. It's a nice extended groove with Keith adding flourishes along the way. Jerry works up to a Bright Star-ish mini peak and then they shift back into the full theme, punctuating the jam and leading to the verse.
Bill is quite active during the verse; afterwards they briefly reset and begin to drift out. Jerry moves into a Sputnik-style line that works up some momentum with Bill and Keith actively complementing it. Bob hasn't stood out as much in this Archive recording but his textures are more apparent here. By 12:25 it seems to have run its course and they hover for a bit with some nice notes from Phil. There's a gentle, drifty vibe as they consider which way to go next.
After 13:30 things slowly shift towards the weird; you can feel a meltdown on the horizon but they are taking their time and staying in a more delicate zone. There's some slight string scrubbing around 15:00 that has just a hint of insect-ness. And then Jerry sounds faintly Sputnik-ish again for just a moment which Keith latches on to with some quick moving notes. Phil and Jerry dabble a bit and then Jerry joins in on the quick repeating thing that Keith is doing. Phil is working underneath and Bob's accents are more present again.
By 16:15 they are starting to pick up some momentum and it feels like a jam is unfolding. However by 16:45 they opt to hover again; Jerry goes lower and then Bob comes in and it feels like they might work up something twangy. A nice sounding groove starts to emerge but it ebbs after 17:35 and they sort of float again before launching into something more intent after 18:00.
Jerry starts an initially quiet but fast and building line and then he shifts into wah and it's time to get weird. They remain patient but start to work it up; there's a sort of understated intensity and then slowly they kick it up a notch and head towards a meltdown. Pigpen adds some welcome organ swells and by 20:00 things seem ready to boil over but they ebb and flow a bit and then start ascending again. Keith plays some strong classical sounding notes that adds another dimension to the vibe; Jerry and Phil are still working up a maelstrom and Billy is quite active as well. Things stay good and weird until around 23:00 after which they start winding it down and shifting into something more melodic before taking it down into a quiet zone.
After briefly gathering themselves Jerry starts a new, pretty line around 24:20 and a lovely, understated jam comes together. Pigpen can be heard again adding some accents. The groove is short-lived though and by 25:10 they seem to be looking for a new direction. Phil steps forward with a bass line that Jerry and Keith play off and then Bobby comes in with the Let It Grow chords and the jam starts building some momentum. They ride the groove with Jerry winding some nice leads and good contributions from everyone. They slow down a little and then pick it up again; Bob becomes more present and then Jerry gets into some stretchy notes.
After 28:30 there are hints of the Main Ten and then they kind of swirl everything together with Jerry playing some repeating notes. They let it fray and briefly head towards meltdown territory again with strong Dark Star-ish notes from Phil. Then they let that go and find a gentle zone from which Sugar Magnolia emerges.
It's a really good performance with some lovely, delicate passages, an extended meltdown zone and some nice collective jamming to finish.
This one starts a set, which is very rare in '72. Leave it to the Dead to break out Dark Star after the TV cameras stopped rolling!
A gentle opening with lots of pinched harmonics from Jerry...he sticks close to the theme for a while. (Phil drops a surprise Feelin' Groovy tease at 1:45.) Careful playing from everyone, atmospheric, very jazzy feel. Keith stands out with lots of flourishes, closely linked with Jerry like they're in a duet. This is one of those majestic "float away in the cosmos" jams that just flows, the band's like a school of fish in the waves. The playing gets more rapturous til Jerry hits the theme at 7:35, then he works out a great variation of the lick, turning into a cool descending line, then the band ever so sweetly builds up to a swingin' return to the main theme after 9:15. Very impressive! Great opening jam; the verse itself has strong drumming but weak vocals.
The little spot of weirdness after the verse from 11:20-12:30 is like a Sputnik v.2....it sounds to me like a later, gentler phase of the same idea. The jam gets drifty and spacey, dissolving into a fragile fantasia, but doesn't fully unravel til around 15 minutes when it goes into tinkling spirals led by Keith. Like you've said the vibe remains very gentle -- no noisy stuff happening here! -- but around 16:10 Jerry signals a more urgent tone and the band sounds ready to launch. After 17 minutes it sounds like Jerry's setting up a 2-chord jam pattern (similar to 4-8) but nothing takes hold and no structure forms, which feels like an opportunity lost... Instead, around 18 minutes they decide to head for a meltdown in a slow gradual slide, Jerry stepping on the wah. At 19 minutes, Pigpen's organ starts gusting in! (In the middle of a meltdown, no less.) By 20 minutes a fully-formed Tiger is emerging, frantic but holding back from chaos. Phil seems to be trying to start a song in the midst of this (after 20:15 & 20:40), but no one bites. They don't do a full-screech freakout but instead sustain this teetering on-the-edge scary attack for a few minutes, Jerry wailing & Phil booming & Keith pounding & Bill clattering. Eventually it calms down and coasts to a weary halt around 23:30, and they gently drift for a while.
Phil's still pushing for his song at 24:20, but Jerry's putting together chords in a little spontaneous jam idea, which the others quickly pick up; Bill's got the beat, Bob lays down some chords, Phil finds a groovy line. It's a bit closer to a light jazz workout than a later Let It Grow jam! Keith's in his element; I wish Pigpen was louder since he's doin' stuff on the organ. The temperature stays cool, but Jerry soars after 27:20. After 28 minutes the mood gets impatient and Jerry returns to his Sputnik roll at 28:55 and they all pile on together at the end in a grand droning one-chord climax that they sustain for a minute. (Very similar to 27:00 in the 4-8-72 Dark Star.) Things subside gently into calmness -- as the feedback lingers, Phil hints one last time for his song*, but Jerry & Bill very sweetly start up Sugar Magnolia in a unique tender transition, and off we go!
A very tight, sensitive version where everything's well-done. This Dark Star shines more as a whole flowing, breathing thing rather than peaking in spectacular moments.
*It could be that the song Phil keeps teasing is actually Sugar Magnolia, but I don't remember another time he started it off like this.
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