158. 1973-03-16

79186 Nassau coliseum 27:14

Main theme at 13:00.
First verse at 13:47.
Tiger 23:25.
Goes into Truckin’.


This one comes in askew right from the beginning, with Weir playing some odd counterpoint on the intro, and Garcia laying in some harmonics soon after. First there are true harmonics, then pinch harmonics. Godchaux is in a similar register and my ear keeps confusing them for a little while, until Jerry drops down and plays around on the bass strings for a little while. This laid-back and playful early part of the introduction evokes a feeling of the desert, for some reason, although they are playing a hockey rink in Long Island.


Lesh is auguring a shift toward minor key his lugubrious phrases, and by 3 minutes in or thereabouts the sunshine has dissipated a bit. At around 3:30 there are allusions to the theme, and Garcia in particular keeps putting in reminders that this is Dark Star. It’s a great instance of playing around a theme without really playing it, and the ensemble is limber enough to manage seeming to be in and out of Dark Star in successive moments, with the whole maintaining a sense of ambiguity. Why go somewhere, when you can go everywhere?


Kreutzmann is brilliant here, as he holds it all together but avoids settling into a groove. The groove finally comes at about 7:10 and, typically, it’s not clear how it starts, nor exactly when it begins. Weir and Godchaux join the drummer and push, and Garcia whips out the slide at 7:39, bringing back some of the desert haze. Listen to Keith from around 9:19—I’m not sure what to say about it, just listen. His line starts to unravel a little, and then Lesh starts getting funky. All this is enough to create quite a sense of drama, and somehow it keeps building.


They seem to have crested by the 11-minute mark, and they let the center unwind a little until they reach another, looser peak at 11:50 or so, and then another at 12:30. By 12:43 they decide on a more abrupt transition, slowing down and melting into the theme. This plays out rather straightforwardly and leads into the verse a little under a minute later. JSegel will tell you about it.


The return lick, mostly executed by Weir, takes us down into a sinkhole of Garcia feedback and tom-tom clubbing. Kreutzmann, who is (and has been) occupying opposite sides of the mix, keeps a tribal beat going, and the rest almost leave him to it before Garcia starts popping along on muffled strings with the wah engaged; at 18:40 he starts to gesture toward the Tiger. There’s a bit of a shift at 20:00 into more tonal, arpeggiated stuff, however, and we veer away from the Tiger and into spacier territory.


They are threatening to get melodic before Garcia again veers at 22:35, initiating a sawing maneuver in which he is soon joined by Weir. At 23:25 he lets the strings ring out a little more, and we arrive at the Tiger. Lesh is hanging back for much of this. At 24:30 Garcia plays a crushing E chord, and Lesh joins back in as a bendy jam takes us back to desert climes. At 26:00 Lesh’s pumping chords bring us up to a new plateau, and we seem to be heading into a full-blown post-verse jam, and a rather unique one at that. Weir hits on a striking descending lick , and it seems to be heading somewhere quite memorable—but suddenly it’s over, and they’re going into Truckin’.


The pre-verse jamming is spectacular here, as it has been on most recent Dark Stars. After the verse, things never quite coalesce, which is also characteristic of recent versions. There is a nice meltdown, although it doesn’t reach the heights of cacophony that typify the most intense Tiger jams, and then they put together all the elements of a top notch jam before abandoning it almost immediately. This is a little frustrating, but I suppose you can’t have everything, and this is an excellent rendition overall.


What was said:

157. 1973-02-26

1208 Lincoln, NE 25:18 (24:48 actual)

Main theme at :37 and 17:16.
Elastic Ping Pong Jam at 10:19.
First verse at 17:31.
Goes into Eyes of the World.


After some preliminaries, another out of tune Dark Star intro issues forth into the Nebraska night. Even in the early going where the strategy is familiar, each one is a bit different, and this one seems to have a unique character from the outset, thoughtful and well-articulated. After a run through the main theme, the instruments wind around each other in familiar fashion, in a thoughtful manner and at a deliberate pace.


At 2:24 Garcia adopts a brassy tone, playing the bass strings close to the bridge and emoting almost hammily. He winds his way upward, drawing out his lines and exaggeratedly emphasizing his figures. Something’s going on at 4:30, with Jerry spitting out high descending runs and the band momentum coming in fits and starts. They end up in a whirlpool at 5:43, and the centrifugal force sends them upward into a rousing peak at 6:24; all the energy is discharged by 6:39, but before they settle all the way down Phil proposes an ostinato lick that is taken up by Garcia…but then they shift into something more laid back at 6:39, quickly moving on as the music resists settling into a groove.


Garcia starts a three-note pattern at 8:05 that provides the focus for the next groove, but this also plays out quickly. Ideas are flowing to quickly for the music to fully coalesce. By 9:15 they are swirling down the drain in to spacier territory, with Lesh’s tentative riffing doing nothing to halt the general trend to oblivion. However, he again starts up a riff at 10:11 and this time Garcia jumps aboard, followed in short order by Weir and Godchaux, and pretty soon we are in the midst of a lovely Elastic Ping Pong Jam (and this for the first time, although there was a precursor on 1972-08-24).


This winds up being a rather lengthy excursion, and much of the interest comes from Lesh’s variations of his line. At 16:24, Garcia rather suddenly signals a pivot to the main theme; they bring the tempo down as they swing into a Dark Star section, getting around to the theme about a minute later, then quickly going to the verse.


There’s some stormy throat-clearing directly after the post-verse lick, and then they let it get spacier, with Garcia making haunting theremin-like sounds as Phil prophesies doom with big bends and chords. Here we find pleasing disarray as they explore the busier side of space. A bit after the 22 minute mark it seems like they’re ready to go into another song for a moment, but Garcia’s popping and clicking guitar almost does sound like a tortured clavinet as he steers them toward a meltdown. This takes an unexpected turn at 23:59 as an increasingly assertive Lesh starts some chordal riffing sort of in the vein of Philo Stomp. It’s not clear anyone has much idea what’s happening at this point; there’s a brief attempt to build a jam around Phil, and then Garcia starts up Eyes of the World.


Front-loaded Dark Stars are seemingly becoming more of a thing, and this one qualifies; although there is some rather nice chaos on the back end, the overall scene never quite comes together there. The first Elastic Ping Pong Jam is a thing of beauty, even if it begins a bit tentatively, and in general there’s nothing to complain about here. A very nice Dark Star, if a bit limited.


What was said:

156. 1973-02-22

111169 Illinois 13:30

Bright Star at 5:06.
Main theme at 5:23 and 6:30.
First verse at 7:10.
Tiger at 12:55.
Goes into Eyes of the World.


Once again something sounds a little out of tune at the outset. The intro very quickly settles into a Dark Star-adjacent jam, with (this time I’ll say it) plaintive lines from Garcia woven into a polyphonic blend with the other instruments to mesmerizing effect. Garcia’s guitar shifts around the soundstage a bit in the beginning, for some reason. Everything feels on and right—this is how the intro jam ought to sound, one feels.


The band kicks into a disjointed yet funky groove at around 4:30, and it feels like a windup for something; at 5:06 Garcia unexpectedly brings back Bright Star to lead us into the theme, but they veer off again, not ready to end the opening jam. They come to a peak, and the theme comes back around at 6:30, bringing us to the verse. This has all been quite wonderful, if a bit brief, as it has been a while since we’ve seen the verse arrive this early.


The back end of the verse opens into spacey territory, but forward momentum is maintained. Just as in the pre-verse jam, all the musicians seem more or less equally involved here. The crowd sounds rather enthused throughout all of this. By 11:00 the momentum has abated, and Garcia and Lesh come to the fore with more spacey meanderings. Weir returns around 40 seconds later, but Godchaux seems to have disappeared, and the three guitarists wind around each other for a spell. At 12:23, Garcia unleashes some percussive bass notes and the jam becomes syncopated and jerky, launching them into a Tiger. This is brief, as at 13:30 Weir takes them into Eyes.


This is a concentrated blast of everything great about Dark Star except, of course, its expansive and exploratory side. Even in lieu of all that, it's a wonderful piece of music.


What was said:

155. 1973-02-15

150175 Wisconsin 19:25

Main theme at :05 and 12:30.
First verse at 12:56.
Goes into Eyes of the World.


They sound a little out of tune on the intro lick. The music begins forcefully, with a run through the main theme and then off into a series of variations. Garcia hits some spectacularly beautiful runs. He plays a stentorian melody on the bass strings starting at 1:19, and shoots into the stratosphere by 1:43, playing long lines and exploring ideas in depth. Lesh unleashes a vigorous salvo at 2:32 which Jerry briefly latches onto, and then it’s back to a more pastoral scene immediately afterward.


There seems to be a musical core throughout, more or less based on Dark Star, from which Garcia and Lesh at times sally forth. At 3:38 Phil starts up one of his typical bass riffs, and as is often the case it seems to float beneath the surface and recede without seriously changing the trajectory of the piece. At 4:29 Garcia starts turning the volume knob, and the jam starts to slide into a placid lagoon where the two chord structure is finally abandoned for real. By around the 6 minute mark we’re almost in space; at 6:15 Garcia strikes up a variation on what JSegel calls the “it’s all the same” lick, but this turns out not to be the gingerbread trail out of space, which just gets deeper.


Lesh comes to the fore as, at 7:45, Garcia (who has engaged the wah) starts playing with a little Sputnik-adjacent roll pattern. This doesn’t shift things either. At 8:30 Lesh finally starts toying with another funky riff; then at 9:05 Keith emerges more strongly, and he seems to be also using an effect (unless he’s playing electric piano, I haven’t been able to tell for sure yet). Somehow a jam comes together out of all this, although it’s difficult to identify its genesis. Everyone just kind of drifts together, and the music becomes more insistent.


As the jam picks up steam, it gradually gets more Dark Star-like. This is helped along by Jerry’s allusions to the theme along the way, which become quite pronounced beginning at 11:40; by 11:55 he’s clearly playing the theme, but the rest of them aren’t doing the usual theme backing. At 12:25 Garcia initiates a descending transition, and then he kicks off the theme proper at 12:35. The transition here is more organic than we sometimes find, without a drastic tempo shift. This proves to be a brief iteration of the theme, and when Jerry starts singing at 12:56 it feels rather abrupt.


Phil Lesh emerges as the main focus after the proceedings associated with the verse are through. He gets into some rock-oriented riffing, although it seems he is through with the Philo Stomp at this point. This time recording allows us to hear how he makes use of multi-phonic speakers, as he seems to be coming from different places on different strings. At 18:17, Garcia enters with a piercing lead line, duetting with Lesh. This is a beautiful segment, but it’s pretty brief, as a little over a minute later they’re into Eyes of the World.


This is a nice piece of music, and one that is much beloved of Deadheads. The pre-verse stuff is quite powerful. Not a whole lot happens after the verse, though; there’s some Phil stuff, and a brief duet with Garcia which is very good, but not all that lengthy. All in all, it’s some good Grateful Dead music, and part of a strong sequence, but there are Dark Stars that cover more ground.


What was said:

154. 1972-12-15

17186 LBC 25:00 (I. Jam 14:04; II.Dark Star: 10:56)

Main theme at II. :00
First verse at II. :26
Goes into Morning Dew.


As will become more common, there is a jam here which at some point it becomes Dark Star, and the placement of track breaks and boundaries remains ambiguous. The jam comes out of Truckin’; Hollister does a good job of placing the first break right around where they seem to depart from the structure of that song.


As Truckin’ winds down the band pedals on E for a bit, and there’s a kind of bluesy vamp. Godchaux is playing wah, and Lesh has some kind of fuzzy doomy thing going on. At 1:01 of Jam, Garcia alludes to Dark Star briefly, and then they head into a moody section where the music seems to hang in the air. At about 2:45 Kreutzmann lays down a beat, and a gentle groove starts to form. They migrate toward A; there are allusions to Dark Star throughout, until the groove picks up momentum, and then a little two chord jam pops out that has little overt connection to Dark Star.


This starts to rock pretty hard; they roll back the volume a little after 7:00, but the playing remains intense. At 8:21 the jam has run its course, and Lesh comes to the fore. He leads a Garcia-less section which doesn’t take on a distinct character, until the latter returns at 9:51 and the music begins to coalesce a bit more. There is a kind of pure improvisation happening where they don’t seem to have a destination in mind yet. Godchaux again adds a percussive muted part, as in the last Dark Star. At 12:30 they seem to be pulling it all together; a three note lick emerges that serves as a holding pattern, and then the music again disperses.


Finally they go to the Dark Star theme, which is where the next track begins. They stay with it for a rather short time before getting to the verse at :26. The jam out of the verse heads into space after a minute or so and becomes very sparse. Godchaux continues to make use of muffled strings, which is an interesting development lately. At 5:05 Garcia and Weir unleash some eerie moaning feedback, and they seem poised for the next phase.


This begins with Lesh and Godchaux, with the latter now letting his piano strings resound. Garcia joins in with a line that seems to point toward meltdown territory. He lays in some Tiger licks; Lesh joins him, but the overall effect is very restrained. The train is gaining momentum, but the feel here is spooky. If there has been a Tiger, it was dispersed in time, and it never comes to a head at any particular moment before sliding into abstraction. By 10:00 they are back in a holding pattern, and there they stay until Garcia starts Morning Dew.

They spend a lot of time in limbo during this sequence. I kind of like it, though; you can hear them thinking and communicating with each other, which is one of the charms of improvisation. This is no tour de force, but it’s a fine place to observe the band dynamic and reflect on the defining features of Grateful Dead music in this era.


What was said: