135699 London 31:18
Bright Star at 20:15.
First verse at 22:29.
Goes into Morning Dew.
The intro riff takes us into a deliberately paced jam with Lesh very high in the mix. Everything is otherwise very balanced and clear. Weir plays a rolling triplet figure at 1:24 that I feel sure we’ve heard numerous times before, although I don’t know if we’ve ever discussed it. He uses this as a template and builds out from there, subtly pushing the jam along. Godchaux adds color on the Rhodes.
The jam gathers steam, moving along cohesively, with Garcia picking up the triplet theme. This gives the music a surging feel, with several small peaks occurring in the first five minutes. At around 5:20 they start to get restless though, and the edges start to fray. Lesh is hunting around for a lick, playing something sort of Footprints-like several times, but at a very slow pace. They seem to be hovering, waiting for a new direction. Garcia spins off some frenetic runs, and at 6:55 Lesh starts the Elastic Ping Pong lick, but he doesn’t stick with it.
Garcia launches into some high triplets at 6:13 and Lesh and Godchaux find something to work with here as the jam ascends to a new plateau. Phil brings the Elastic Ping Pong back at 8:42, which they take in stride—they seem disinclined to build a whole jam segment around this now. The jam gets kind of weird instead, with Phil edging them into adjacent tonalities. Various modular possibilities are hinted at, but they opt to keep it free. They are creeping toward more conventional territory, though, and at about 11:10 Lesh and Godchaux have converged on a basic groove in A.
At 12:14 Lesh slips in the King Solomon’s Marbles lick a few times. Godchaux has been building a head of steam, and at 12:50 he takes flight; he’s mostly grooving along, but he starts elaborating his part with some healthy flourishes. The jam has taken on a fusion flavor. It all seems to wind down at 14:45, and there’s an interlude with a minor cast to it, with Lesh pushing them in sort of a Spanish Jam direction before leaving the scene for a bit.
Kreutzmann subsides, and Lesh bows out again. At 16:35 we’re down to a duet between Jerry and Keith. Lesh and Weir come back pretty soon with some subtle additions, but Kreutzmann stays out until 17:30. There’s a melodic minor sort of Spanish Jam theme continuing throughout, although at a very relaxed pace. Kreutzmann gets a little backbeat going, with a similar feel to Death Don’t Have no Mercy. Keith duly brings in some ghostly organ tones, and it’s turning into a really beautiful jam, but at 19:20 Garcia declares that it’s all over and leads them back toward the Dark Star theme.
They pivot very smoothly, bringing the energy up and edging back into Dark Star territory, and as the jam swells Garcia breaks into Bright Star at 20:15. They take their time getting to the verse, though; Bright Star aside, it seems like it’s been awhile since we’ve had this kind of Dark Star jam. They draw it out, and eventually Garcia sings the verse without ever explicitly stating the Dark Star theme.
They enter what at first seems like a place of swirling indecision after the post-verse lick. Garcia sets the agenda with his rolling wah-wah line, and they let it build into the next thing. Garcia, Weir and Godchaux play triplets, and Jerry nudges them toward a meltdown. The band gains focus and cohesion on the way there, hitting a thunderous peak at 27:30; as soon as they hit it, Godchaux drops in a funky riff, endorsed by Lesh and Kreutzmann. Jerry is emitting otherworldly sounds, and Weir is of a similar mind. The band, then, is half grooving and half melting, until at 28:33 both camps suddenly subside. A space jam ensues. Godchaux still seems inclined to groove, but now everyone else has decided to melt. They hang around like this for a couple of minutes until Garcia starts Morning Dew, which (spoiler alert) will be the best one of the year.
This is a tremendous Dark Star.
What was said:
JSegel:
They stop to tune and then they begin Dark Star all together, at a stately and slow pace, though it heads into the groove and seems leisurely and sparse, it's not bogged down. Some very nice playing around the mode, ups and downs, the band sounds pretty together for this jam (coke or acid notwithstanding!), little filigree from piano and rhythm guitar offsetting the lead guitar and lead bass—Phil is within his bass duties but off in his own rhythmic world often. Before the three minute mark, Jerry plays out some fast runs and pokes at the edges of the mode, but they come back and he pauses in an eddy of specific notes that leads to a small wave crest. Out the other side, he starts low and builds it up, the band cranks it out, they’re getting more intense and into it for this wave. Down the other side, Jerry quietly plays some Dark Star theme for a second before running away again. It starts to dissipate.
By 6 min, it’s no longer in the Dark Star groove exactly, Bill is playing away and Phil lets him go, tries to catch him up in the ping pong riff for a bit, but it leads to single notes and Jerry into a Sputnik in the 7th minute and they pound away at this for a quite a while building it to a weird cadence at 8 minutes or so and out the other side into a more Starry groove, but Bill is still riffing away on the drums and Phil tries to find some riffs to match for a period of time.
At 9:20, Phil hits on a leading tone riff, but instead of leading them to a key area, they go outside for a bit and then Phil and Bill hit it off into a syncopated rhythmic area with Jerry running lines all over, it gets to the jazzy fusion stuff as he starts some chordal lead playing (fourths?) and Keith buzzes around.
Rhythm section continues their groove, it’s solidifying into something. Lead guitar is getting higher and higher, piano is doing quick little runs. They get to a call and response thing between bass and drums.
This continues in a jazz-rock area with Keith doing some leads, Jerry drops out for a bit in the 12-13th minute. String change? Bobby finds a nice melodic chord thing with some extended notes, heading to tremolo notes.
Jerry comes back in with fast runs again in minute 14, but it all winds down by the end of the minute into longer notes and slower rubato melodies, they start moving into a more chromatic world of abstract melody and whole tone bits, jazz chords planing, little runs in between. Drums mostly drop out, bass is quiet, it’s mostly Jerry and Keith for a bit, landing on major-7 type jazz modes before the 18th minute, though there’s a hint of Dark Star melody right around 17:50. It remains in rubato slow world, Bill starts up a slow beat, Keith switches over to organ! Sounds very slow/quiet blues for a bit here!
And then, just when it seems like Dark Star will never come back, at 19 minutes it slides in a bit and picks up, then off racing away again for a bit, and back to the theme at 20, with a little bounce to it, then on to a more four-square statement of the theme with strong downbeats, rising lines and frittering away into pinch harmonics for a time instead of taking us directly there. It takes its time to get back to a groove and the verse starts at 22:30, line 1, with rising lines from Keith, Bill playing his way right through line 2 instead of the fermata, warbly scary-movie “searchlight”. A nice refrain with some jitter.
Bob does his lick a few times introducing the next section as it fades off, he spaces it out more and more, sticking with it. (Note, recently heard the 11-08-69 version while on the subway, and he plays the lick after the refrain going into the “transitive nightfall” so it definitely has been around a long time, I should have noted that. Now I have to go back and do it all over again.)
This next part is labeled Spam Jam on the Dick’s Picks album. Not sure exactly why… It starts with tremolos and wah pedals moving out of harmony into diminished chords and trills. Little creatures are stirring. The beginnings of a Tiger freakout are building. It develops into a frenzy and the tiger’s claws come out! They stay high for a while, and Keith settles back into some groove in it, Phil and Bill pick up on that. They go on with that while Jerry and Bob continue flipping out and it heads over the crest.
On the other side, Phil chooses a few notes and makes them speak with some distortion and feedback, Keith rolls all over the place, Jerry is back in the atonal low-wah-fast-chromatics. Seems like Keith wants to move back into a groove but nobody is coming with him.
It cedes into low warbles from Jerry with Bill coming up and down, Phil on isolated notes until it starts Morning Dew for real.
Fantastic version.
adamos:
Things start off slow and patient with a certain gravitas. Jerry heads out on a pretty, delicate line. Phil is prominent in the mix and sounds full and buoyant. They wander forth gently with some stretchy guitar from Jerry that is subtly complimented by Bob and Keith. Bob works the triplet figure that bzfgt pointed out. Bill is adding some snap and sparkle and the occasional roll to fill things out.
After 3:00 Jerry starts winding upwards with some ascending repeating notes. Keith and Bob respond and the collective volume increases as they rise to a small peak. From there there's some ebb and flow and but the intensity remains. Jerry heads lower and they continue working it. Around 4:25 Jerry adds a touch of the theme for a moment before letting it dissipate.
After five minutes or so things seem to be pivoting. They wind and swirl and then quiet down and hover for a bit. Phil blends in some Ping Pong-ish notes at certain points but it doesn't fully come together. Jerry gently works up and down with quick notes and this passage takes on its own feel. The vibe is relatively mellow but exploratory and then it slowly starts to pick up some momentum again.
Around 7:00 Phil works a series of notes and Bill is active too and then Jerry brings in some Sputnik-esque playing. This kicks off a collective, repeating with Phil hitting it low while Jerry works it high. Keith gets in on it too and Bob adds some squiggly notes and things are cooking. Jerry introduces some Dark Star flavor around 8:15. Things start to mellow a little but Billy is still working it and Keith perks up and they ratchet it right back up again. Phil comes back to the Ping Pong notes at 8:40 while Jerry winds up and down emotively. There are layers of goodness occurring.
They ease up a little and then around 9:17 Phil starts up a semi-melodic riff that the others play off of. This leads into a more fusion-y passage with Jerry working some stretchy notes and Keith adding nice Rhodes flavor while Phil continues to do his thing underneath. Billy is going for it too. There's some ebb and flow but they keep rolling on. It sort of feels like being in a swirling kaleidoscope; there's a lot of take in.
Slowly a more fleshed out groove starts to take shape and they take it for a good ride. Jerry starts ascending towards the sky then pivots downward again. At 12:15 Phil introduces some Marbles action as noted by bzfgt. Jerry accents this with a low repeating thing that kind of trails off and then Keith steps forward and Bob becomes more apparent too. Things get more abstract again and they collectively work it for a bit longer before easing up and drifting into a quieter, airy passage starting around 14:40.
They float along gently for a spell with various players contributing intermittently. Slowly it becomes mostly Jerry and Keith as they move through the ether. Bob starts gently blending in some textures and then Phil as well. It's a gentle, delicate, somewhat spacey passage. Bill eventually rejoins, subtly at first. After 18:20 Phil starts getting something going that Keith compliments giving it a bluesy feel. Jerry meanwhile is bringing some Dark Star flavor as he gently works in high territory.
They continue on nice and easy and then at 19:20 Jerry shifts towards the theme. Everyone comes together, slowly at first but then with increasing pace. Things quickly build and by 20:15 Jerry is reaching up into Bright Star while the others keep the groove going. There's a jaunty feel as they work their way towards the verse. Jerry plays some emphatic notes around 20:59 kicking things up a notch. Some ebb and flow follows as they continue to work the groove gently and then more intensely before they move on to the verse.
After the verse they reset and Bob plays his figure and then things kind of dissolve but Bob keeps going. Jerry plays some gentle, rolling, shimmering notes and slowly something begins to spin up. It's delicate at first but also feels like quick moving waves. It rises up, pretty at first but then slowly becoming more intense like the ship is suddenly entering rough waters. Jerry's wah starts sounding more melty and the waves keep rolling and things start getting freakier. It's fast moving but still low boil and then the water froths up and the lurking beast peers forth.
Jerry spins up something progressively more ominous while at the same time Keith is laying down something funky which creates a good juxtaposition. Bill is very active and Phil is both funky and abstract and Bob adds more squiggly notes. The freakout rises up and the Tiger growls and screams with Bob adding fast textures and Keith is still getting funky. After 27:45 the peak of the meltdown crests but it doesn't fully let up and Keith continues to assert his funky notes. Most of the band is heading towards the funky while Jerry still keeps it weird. Bob starts getting weirder again too and the intensity rises and it feels like another peak might explode until suddenly at 28:33 they let it go.
From there they glide into freaky, spacey zone with Phil laying down some heavy notes and Keith running up and down the keys. Jerry still sounds kind of melty and Phil revs it up. Keith pivots back towards funkiness but the overall vibe remains freaky and they bounce around in this zone for a spell before easing up and slowly creating some space to start up Morning Dew.
A wonderful performance. There's a lot going on; it's almost a sensory overload at times trying to describe what is happening. It's a wild work of art and a classic Dark Star > Morning Dew.
Listening to Miller's copy. Quite frequently in recent years, Dark Star has followed some peppy little Weir tune (Big River being a common one). It's surprising to realize that this is just about the last time that would happen, that Dark Star isn't going to be part of the regular Bob/Jerry rotation anymore.
After a couple minutes of tuning, they're off to a slow & ponderous start. Keith is on Rhodes, but doesn't do much for the first two minutes but make some background tones. But as they warm up, they get more active; the jam gets a bit lighter & sharper around 3-4 minutes. After they reach a little frenzy, Jerry drops in the theme at 4:30, but it's just a hint to calm them down. Things start to get spacier after 5:20, like they're slowly circling. They reach a quiet point at 6:30; Phil kind of stutters as he casts around for a bass line. (Throughout the opening he seems to want to start one of his funky riffs -- Marbles gets teased at 6:55 & 8:45, and later hints -- but no one bites.) Though Phil's playing is still pretty odd, it's striking that he's a lot more involved & integrated in the jam than in some of the other recent jams we've heard; it actually sounds like he's playing WITH the other guys. Meanwhile, Bob's rather low in the mix, and I don't like his squished tone much.
Around 7:20 Jerry starts a Sputnik-like roll with Phil popping one note, and that gets the band going like they've suddenly come to a boil. They soar on this breeze for a while; over the next few minutes the jam gets jazzier, the drums tumble, and Keith gets livelier on the Rhodes. (Bzfgt says Phil slips in a King Solomon's riff at 12:15; it's not quite the same line, but the jam's in much the same style, you could easily call this a King Solomon's jam in spirit.) Also around 12:15, Jerry steps back and switches to playing quiet jazz chords for a couple minutes, laying back while Keith & the rhythm section rumble. It's not really a Keith solo though, nobody takes the lead. Jerry comes back in the lead at 14:20, but the jam soon winds down to spacey indeterminacy by 15m.
They drift in a soft transitive cloud, with players dropping out til it's mostly just Jerry & Keith in a chill duet; Phil & Bob add some quiet commentary at times. The mood is hushed, intimate. Around 18:15 Bill starts tapping a beat that the cloud coalesces around, starting to get a bluesy feel, Keith using an organ tone; you almost expect them to break into It's A Sin or something. Promising possibilities beckon, but at 19:20 Jerry announces the Dark Star theme and they swerve into a nice but somewhat oblique theme jam. Jerry brings up the Bright Star lick at 20:15 and hangs on it for a while, which is a surprise since it hasn't really been used much in a long time. This jam plays variations on the Dark Star theme as Jerry finds different unique ways to state it; but finally they steer for the verse, arriving at 22:30. The verse is loose, Jerry playing around with it and almost forgetting the words. (Check out his little guitar twists on "reason" & "casting.")
Then they set sail to the stars, following the currents. Jerry's doing a little wah swirl which Bob & Keith imitate (a bit like a friendlier Tiger) -- this is something new, a lush effect! At 26m Jerry switches to the familiar growling Tiger figure, and the band builds up the tension. They climb up to a hair-raising roar after 27m (Phil backing out too early), then the storm recedes by 28m. Keith starts a swinging riff at 27:30 amidst the din (one of his classic techniques), and Phil & Bill back him for a little bit, but the rest of the band's inclined more to keep the noisy meltdown going, so they embrace the chaos and reach a climax at 28:30. Then they swirl around in the formless aftermath, Jerry & Phil doing their space-chaos wah & feedback stuff while Keith vigorously noodles away. If Keith's been inviting them to get into another structured jam, the others aren't too interested as nothing solid coheres. By 30:30 they fall into a spacey transitional drift again, with hints of foreboding until they fall sweetly into Morning Dew.
I'm not too crazy about the opening jam, it's like a laid-back free fusion jam that eschews all themes for 20 minutes, but it gets better as it goes along. (It's also getting very close to their 1975 style.) After the verse, they're still not in the mood for any solid themes; just a quick trip to the brink of madness and they're out. I've noticed that while the last few versions have had some drifting spacey parts, there hasn't been a big '73-style Space since the spring. You could say that it's getting dispersed to jams outside of Dark Star (like, say, Truckin' on 8/6), while Dark Star itself is becoming more nebulous & without form. When the regular Dark Star jams are getting spacier, there's less impulse for a separate space section; the spaciest part here comes at the very end.
There's no audience tape, which is a shame since the 9/11 audience tape is very atmospheric.
After a couple minutes of tuning, they're off to a slow & ponderous start. Keith is on Rhodes, but doesn't do much for the first two minutes but make some background tones. But as they warm up, they get more active; the jam gets a bit lighter & sharper around 3-4 minutes. After they reach a little frenzy, Jerry drops in the theme at 4:30, but it's just a hint to calm them down. Things start to get spacier after 5:20, like they're slowly circling. They reach a quiet point at 6:30; Phil kind of stutters as he casts around for a bass line. (Throughout the opening he seems to want to start one of his funky riffs -- Marbles gets teased at 6:55 & 8:45, and later hints -- but no one bites.) Though Phil's playing is still pretty odd, it's striking that he's a lot more involved & integrated in the jam than in some of the other recent jams we've heard; it actually sounds like he's playing WITH the other guys. Meanwhile, Bob's rather low in the mix, and I don't like his squished tone much.
Around 7:20 Jerry starts a Sputnik-like roll with Phil popping one note, and that gets the band going like they've suddenly come to a boil. They soar on this breeze for a while; over the next few minutes the jam gets jazzier, the drums tumble, and Keith gets livelier on the Rhodes. (Bzfgt says Phil slips in a King Solomon's riff at 12:15; it's not quite the same line, but the jam's in much the same style, you could easily call this a King Solomon's jam in spirit.) Also around 12:15, Jerry steps back and switches to playing quiet jazz chords for a couple minutes, laying back while Keith & the rhythm section rumble. It's not really a Keith solo though, nobody takes the lead. Jerry comes back in the lead at 14:20, but the jam soon winds down to spacey indeterminacy by 15m.
They drift in a soft transitive cloud, with players dropping out til it's mostly just Jerry & Keith in a chill duet; Phil & Bob add some quiet commentary at times. The mood is hushed, intimate. Around 18:15 Bill starts tapping a beat that the cloud coalesces around, starting to get a bluesy feel, Keith using an organ tone; you almost expect them to break into It's A Sin or something. Promising possibilities beckon, but at 19:20 Jerry announces the Dark Star theme and they swerve into a nice but somewhat oblique theme jam. Jerry brings up the Bright Star lick at 20:15 and hangs on it for a while, which is a surprise since it hasn't really been used much in a long time. This jam plays variations on the Dark Star theme as Jerry finds different unique ways to state it; but finally they steer for the verse, arriving at 22:30. The verse is loose, Jerry playing around with it and almost forgetting the words. (Check out his little guitar twists on "reason" & "casting.")
Then they set sail to the stars, following the currents. Jerry's doing a little wah swirl which Bob & Keith imitate (a bit like a friendlier Tiger) -- this is something new, a lush effect! At 26m Jerry switches to the familiar growling Tiger figure, and the band builds up the tension. They climb up to a hair-raising roar after 27m (Phil backing out too early), then the storm recedes by 28m. Keith starts a swinging riff at 27:30 amidst the din (one of his classic techniques), and Phil & Bill back him for a little bit, but the rest of the band's inclined more to keep the noisy meltdown going, so they embrace the chaos and reach a climax at 28:30. Then they swirl around in the formless aftermath, Jerry & Phil doing their space-chaos wah & feedback stuff while Keith vigorously noodles away. If Keith's been inviting them to get into another structured jam, the others aren't too interested as nothing solid coheres. By 30:30 they fall into a spacey transitional drift again, with hints of foreboding until they fall sweetly into Morning Dew.
I'm not too crazy about the opening jam, it's like a laid-back free fusion jam that eschews all themes for 20 minutes, but it gets better as it goes along. (It's also getting very close to their 1975 style.) After the verse, they're still not in the mood for any solid themes; just a quick trip to the brink of madness and they're out. I've noticed that while the last few versions have had some drifting spacey parts, there hasn't been a big '73-style Space since the spring. You could say that it's getting dispersed to jams outside of Dark Star (like, say, Truckin' on 8/6), while Dark Star itself is becoming more nebulous & without form. When the regular Dark Star jams are getting spacier, there's less impulse for a separate space section; the spaciest part here comes at the very end.
There's no audience tape, which is a shame since the 9/11 audience tape is very atmospheric.
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