213. 1993-09-13

12096 Philadelphia 5:32


Main theme at :06 and 2:58.
First verse at 3:12.
Goes into Terrapin Station.


Playing in the Band is not very long, but it really starts to get out there, and they decide to take it into Dark Star. Garcia is employing the acoustic patch (now playing Lighning Bolt), which is a strange choice here, and he continues this into Dark Star, which begins with the intro lick but without a pause. Garcia plays the theme a few times to start it off, and then a fairly typical introductory jam ensues in which Jerry lays out for a while.


Phil plays with the verse melody a little here, and there are gestures in the direction of E monor. Jerry comes back at 1:15, still playing the acoustic patch. The jam picks up energy here; it’s a very full sound, with everyone going at it hammer and tongs. Although the faux-acoustic isn’t my favorite sound, Garcia plays some beautiful stuff here.


It’s a shame the band isn’t letting Dark Star off the leash these days, because they sound really good on a lot of these last versions. One gets the sense that if anything did happen, it would be something good! We get the first verse after three minutes, though, and then there’s another minute before they pull up into Terrapin Station. I’d like to say they make the last minute count, but it’s not really enough time to sink their teeth into anything, although it’s certainly not bad.


It seems like Dark Star is on its last legs, and in fact it’s not entirely clear why they keep playing it. It’s nice to hear Jerry play these familiar licks, but there’s nothing much happening.


What was said:

JSegel:


This is with the Lightning Bolt guitar now, I believe. This autumn version is stuck in between PitB and Terrapin, for a big 5 minutes. So far my impression of this guitar change is that this one is a bit more twangy, like a Telecaster.

Playin’ in the Band is a little chaotic to start, but gets into a cool jam that starts in the usual key and then gets pretty outside before winding up after 8 1/2 minutes, and Jerry does the Dark Star intro riff. The band falls in, and he pretty much drops out and lets them settle the groove, it’s an interesting groove with Bobby’s odd rhythm (and distorto tone), keys doing slow cascades more then just paying the riff. Jerry comes in again after a minute and soars up and down, very nice playing. Vince settles back to the riff with little filigrees, they move over a big wave and into a mellow area by 3 minutes in and back to the theme riff, verse at 3:15.

Decent verse, sort of raspy but nice. A little flip on line three in the melody. To the refrain, Vince does the high pitch bend down between line. To the outro, they sort of pulse through it and continue to the groove. It only lasts a minute, though, before dissipating and heading to Terrapin Station.

Nice playing from Jerry, way too short! What a tease. I liked this one, actually, for what it was.


adamos:


Jerry is on the Lightning Bolt guitar using the acoustic patch, as noted. The tone is a little brittle but it adds a different feel. PITB gets out there fairly well relative to the era. In the last 10 seconds or so it sounds like Terrapin is coming but then after a brief hover point Jerry plays the opening Dark Star notes to crowd applause and they're off.

They work the theme with Jerry still using the acoustic patch before stepping back. Vince works the riff then spreads out. Phil gets a full sounding line going underneath and Bob's textures become more prominent with Jerry out. They glide along in relatively mellow fashion for a spell.

Jerry renters at 1:10 and blends in nicely. He spirals upwards and the momentum picks up the collective interweaving sounds good. Jerry's playing lots of pretty notes. It ebbs and flows and then they hover briefly starting around 2:37 before refocusing on the theme and then moving into the verse. Jerry's voice is a little weary and raspy but he seems engaged with the vocal.

After the verse the reset and gently carry forth. It doesn't really get going however; instead they sort of dance around it lightly before getting a little spacier and then creating a quiet on-ramp for Terrapin Station.

It's short and relatively uneventful but there is some nice playing and interweaving as well. The brief passage from when Jerry comes back into until the verse is good.


Mr. Rain:


The first Dark Star in a while that hasn't been connected to Drums or Space. Does this mean they'll jam it out more? Ha ha.....no such luck. This one's as short as it gets.

The Playing in the Band jam is pretty good & trippy -- it even brings '72 to mind, though Jerry has a rather thin, recessed guitar sound (courtesy of his new Lightning Bolt guitar). In the last minute it unravels and gets more fractured. As the jam unwinds, Jerry brings up the Dark Star opening riff in a surprise move. Perhaps he surprised himself, for he then sits out the opening jam for a minute, the band laying down a gentle Dark Star without him. But once he comes back at 1:15, the jam gets very dense & intricate, even with his plinky tone. Vince keeps the organ sound this time, and Bob's playing actual chords & not just occasional odd notes. True to recent form, the jam only lasts a couple minutes before Jerry sings the verse at 3:12.
You might hope for some more jamming after the verse, but alas there's only a minute left to go, which Jerry spends quietly noodling away as the band fades out. Pretty obvious none of them are feeling very committed, and they've all but come to a halt as Jerry strums Terrapin.

Like bzfgt, I wonder why they even played this. It basically serves as a brief prelude to Terrapin Station. A couple nice minutes in the opening jam, but still hardly worth hearing. A shame, since the Playing jam shows they could still enter the dark depths when they chose. Terrapin closes with a jaunty exit jam (sounding a little like Corrina), and after Drums, Space takes a very different course when Vince pushes them into a solid Tubular Bells jam. In short, the band's happy to jam on anything except Dark Star.