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:

JSegel:


Again, they seem pretty upbeat here, as they settle into the groove after the intro it’s got a definite lilt to it. Jerry builds the melodic areas well within the Dark Star theme world, playing it up and down, stretching the mode a little bit with leading tones. It develops into a relatively quick-paced jam, interjected with several stretches. It eddies into a lower area after 3 minutes to build a new wave. Some more mixing board play on Bob here as there had been for a second on Jerry earlier, jumping around in the stereo spectrum. This wave of the jam comes to a high mesa at 4:30 or so and finally comes down the hill at 5 minutes, into a lightly played Bright Star, with Keith rolling around under it.

About 45 seconds later they have moved into a faster groove, Bill on ride cymbal, but it doesn’t last long and comes back to the theme at 6:30, (people clap). Rather than slowing it down, Jerry pretty much sticks with the tempo and starts the verse at 7:10, to the glee of the crowd. Line one continues in rhythm, line two’s fermatas really bring it to some stops, from which line three slowly builds it back up a little bit. A very (plaintive?) emotional refrain from the vocals. People clap and yell, the band sinks into some depths following an arhythmic bass, wah-backed-off guitar notes and some chromatics from Keith. Jerry starts a chromatic trill low and breaks little waves of it, other follow suit, into atonal slow music immediately. Cluster chords from Keith. It’s moving along, not lulling in the deep sea exactly, Bobby on arpeggiated dissonances.

Whoa! A flexatone at 10:40, that’s weird, and somebody in the audience is obviously way into it. Atonal sparse music continues, sort of a sideways/bizarro world type of counterpoint between the bass and lead guitar. Jerry gets into classic atonalism with some tritones. By 12:20, he’s heading to a Tiger, starting low with the wah rolled off and building it up quickly, the wah gets its treble by 13 and it climbs over the hill with pounding drums and everything and bass jumping all over the spectrum, and suddenly we’re in Eyes of the World!

Wow, short and concise. Lots of energy, all the spots hit in sequence. Good version, if a relatively tiny version! I guess a lot of jam is shunted into Eyes here.


adamos:


They kick things off and quickly settle into a smooth, gliding groove. Phil sounds full and buoyant on the recording. Jerry heads out on a high, dreamy line accented by textures from Bob. Bill works a patient beat in the background. Keith's fills slowly enter the picture as well. They wind along a path, building some momentum and interweaving well.

By 1:50 they're moving along and the groove has some swing to it. Notes are flying off of Jerry's guitar as they wind and weave. Around 2:45 they bring it down a little and then after some lower rumination take it back up again. Really nice winding groove. Bob's rhythm gets more forceful as the energy builds.

At 4:30 the groove shifts into something more staggered. The rhythm bounces back and forth between the players before settling down. This creates a space for Jerry to start up an unexpected Bright Star at 5:06 that is brief but welcome. From there he starts heading to the theme but they opt to move in other directions first. After some winding and charging and briefly soaring lines they settle back into the theme at 6:30 and then work their way to the verse.

After the verse there's some strong plucks from Phil and then a few guitar notes from Bob that seem to already hint at Eyes Of The World. From there they slip into a spacey ooze, casting about in semi-melodic freakiness with everyone contributing various sounds. The momentum slowly builds and then eases up, staying freaky. There's a howl from an audience member and everyone seems pretty psyched. Jerry continues to wind out into space with Phil playing off him and assorted percussion from Bill.

Things start to get deeper and heavier. Jerry shifts into some fast moving low notes around 12:25 which leads into a brief Tiger. They work this minor meltdown to pretty good effect then pause briefly before shifting into Eyes Of The World.

Really good short version. It's tight and concise, punchy and energetic and the collective interweaving is compelling. They even manage to get weird for a spell.


Mr. Rain:


It's funny to hear, here and in other shows, how Jerry & Phil will tease the Dark Star intro to the band before it starts, and the audience apparently doesn't pick up on it.
Anyway, the opening jam sounds bright and happy. The recording sounds great, but Kidd's still tinkering with the mix: Jerry's guitar flies around in the mix for a bit after 1:30, which is trippy but unusual. (Bob's guitar does the same at 3:40.) Keith's pretty quiet in Jerry's background.

The jam's lively and relaxing; they've got their soothing polyphonic mindmeld going where all the lines somehow fit together, but Jerry's in the lead and he's feeling restless & energetic. A busy, assertive Phil & gently chording Bob are right with him, and they cover a lot of changes in a short time. Jerry strays briefly into a bright-star theme after 5m, but it's just a feint, they soar on the jam a little longer to some lofty heights. (Kind of reminiscent of earlier phases of Dark Star when he would repeat the theme every so often in the opening jam.) Then after 6:30 Jerry returns to the theme for real, the rest of the band resisting at first and carrying on with their own things, but at 7:05 they settle into it, and Jerry sings the verse right away. (Applause!)

A good verse -- then Jerry steps on the wah to take the band into space. The crowd's pretty excited by this. For a while it's just spacey noodlings, going nowhere in particular -- I imagine the soundtrack to an octopus wandering around the ocean floor. (Bill makes a weird wobbly glass-tinkling sound at 10:30 -- aha, a flexatone, not heard in Dark Star since 1970?) By 11m they've settled more into a profound space, and a meditative aura descends. This part's the highlight for me. But Keith doesn't seem to be playing anymore; it's just the guitars. Suddenly at 12:25 Jerry kicks up the Tiger warbles, and they take a quick spin around that, diving in fast. And boy, it's quick! This is the speed tour of the Tiger; they wrap it up within a minute and it's all over by 13:30. Then right away they strike up Eyes while Phil's still blooping in stereo.

This was a return to a 1968-length Dark Star, without a whole lot of deep jamming -- it's like an alarm clock went off in that last minute. I don't know why this was so short. They were in good spirits and jamming well. My guess is, either they were facing a curfew, or they couldn't wait to get to Eyes. Decent nonetheless, but it's a very minor Star.