139174 IL 11:15
Main theme at :06 and 4:20.
First verse at 4:31.
Goes into Drums.
This time there is no spacey jamming preceding Dark Star—Long Way to Go Home ends with a vocal coda (which the audience seems to love!) and Garcia, again playing the Lightning Bolt with the acoustic patch, immediately plays the introductory riff. We’ve now arrived at that portion of the Dead’s career many would prefer to pass over in silence, but Jerry sounds really good here, breaking off crisp licks as the band plays a tight and bouncy take on the two-chord pattern.
In fact, this might be the funkiest take on the introductory jam we’ve yet heard, and Garcia’s staccato licks are almost reminiscent, at times, of Shakedown Street. They’ve found a whole new feel here, and it’s a delight to hear, as the protean qualities of Dark Star are still in evidence after 26 years. They know they’ve caught something, and they lean into it—it’s not spacey or mysterious, but it is the sound of the Grateful Dead finding a groove. They’re also going pretty fast, and this is particularly evident when Jerry sings the verse, for which they do not slow the tempo, as they sometimes did in the past when it got brisk in the intro jam.
They continue as they started after the singing subsides, and now Garcia’s line gets more melodic and majestic, even as the band cranks away. They get the idea, though, and soon the music starts to stretch and breathe. The tempo is still quick, but the gestalt changes to something more expansive, if still rather tightly structured. When Lesh climbs at 8:00 things start really popping, as guitar and bass embark on their familiar winding dance.
Welnick is rather timid tonight, almost sounding like TC at times as he swirls around without substantially affecting the direction of things. Weir stays within the funk concept for the most part, which works just fine. Lesh and Garcia have given us a moment, though, and now it’s going to wind down in the direction of Drums, which take an increasingly tribal approach to the funk template that’s been set.
This is surprisingly good, if a bit limited. They explore a single tempo and beat, but they do it really well, and it is engaging throughout. It is perhaps a conservative decision to maintain the tempo throughout the verse--there will be no reset, no need to find a new approach--but it works well enough. This is way better than I expected (or feared).
What was said:
adamos:
After Way To Go Home ends there's a brief pause and then Jerry plays the introductory notes. The acoustic patch is again bringing a thin and somewhat brittle quality to his tone. They set a quick pace with Jerry working high and Phil laying it down underneath. Vince plays his swirling organ riff and Bob's textures poke through. They move through the theme in jaunty fashion and it's nice to hear some pep in their step.
There's a brief eddy starting around 1:15 and then Jerry spirals upwards a bit, continuing on. There's kind of a kaleidoscopic feel to the groove and there's a funky beat coming together as well. Phil keeps his foot on the gas and they continue to bubble along with Jerry interweaving well. He goes lower which gives the groove a little more oomph and dare I say they kind of rock it out. Around 4:15 they ease up and then refocus on the theme before moving into the verse at 4:31. Jerry's voice sounds pretty weak but they keep the quicker pace going.
After the verse they reset a little messily and then continue on. For a moment they seem to be trying to re-find the groove and then Jerry heads out on a new line giving them something to work off. It starts to get going; there's a brief ebb starting around 6:12 but they spin it back up again and things start to get a little more stretchy. They groove along with some bounce and low rumble and Vince's organ adds some ooziness to the feel.
There is another gathering point around 7:25 or so but they keep it rolling and by 7:40 Jerry is ascending with some pretty sounding notes. He keeps reaching higher and Phil plays off of him and they interweave nicely accented by Bob and Vince. Things are moving along again and they remain engaged while also staying within the basic framework of the groove.
Jerry goes high again more delicately and then shifts lower and stirs something up at 9:13 that adds more twang to the proceedings. He plays some repeating notes and things quiet down and they seem to be contemplating letting it go. Vince adds more swirl in the background and they tread along for another minute or so before giving way to Drums.
Later in Space there's a dreamy segment that drifts a bit into Dark Star territory, although differently than tonight’s performance that was quicker and more structured. Before long though it gets more TOO-ish before unleashing into a pre-Miracle jam.
I was at this show. It was pretty good for ‘94 although that also meant it was a mixed bag which was kind of weird with Uncle Albert in tow. But I was happy to get a Dark Star even a relatively short and straightforward one. I had forgotten about the funky aspect so it was fun to listen to it again.
JSegel:
They start with the riff after Long Way to Go Home, it’s pretty spry and they bop around, Phil is bubbling away, Vince is covering the theme riff. Jerry is skipping over the top of the rhythm, they sort of go into a new type of rhythmic groove. It almost sounds like a different song, it’s so upbeat!
Up and over the leads and back to the theme, they stick with it and jam out on the rhythm for a while, Jerry using some blue notes, cowboy licks and chords, it’s a boogie.
Verse 1 at 4:30, raspy sounding Jerry, starting at an off beat, they move through the first two line and settle to the e minor on line three, and rush to the refrain where it pauses, Vince doing his pitch bend thing between lines. Out to the outro and into a new hoppy little groove, a little mellower, and Jerry starts off again, climbing around with his twangy Lightning Bolt. They move into a more spacious area with higher little licks from Jerry and more swells from the keys. They go on, bopping it, it’s got a lot of forward momentum, and Jerry keeps playing the endless melodics with Bobby on his distorted little interjections. Some nice playing in there.
At 9:20, Jerry moves back to the theme and they bring it down to start a new section, it spins out a bit and the drums build up a bit but the other instruments start dropping out leaving them to it.
Drums track is normal for the era, starting with Bill on traps and Mickey on hand drums led into by a feedback swell from Bob. They stay with a very upbeat and hectic drum wailing for several minutes before the electronica comes in with the solo talking drum at about 4 minutes in. Then it gets weirder with the electronic stuff, but it quiets down to a bouncing low synth sound at about 7 minutes, and the flanged echo things swirl around. They go for these synth sounds and echoes then until “Space” starts at 12:30 into Drums.
Space begins when some guitars join in quietly, and keys, it’s droney up top with plucky odd synthy sounds and a low drone. Quiet flute sounds are floating around (from Jerry I think) becoming quiet background bassoons. Drums have dropped out. Bass comes in after a couple minutes, it’s sort of tonal though Bob is playing dissonant chords. The bassoon becomes a guitar at 3 minutes in and the drones are still there with odd squirrely synth sounds popping up around the drones. Some more odd pitch-followers add to the mix as it intensifies, harmonizing, so Jerry does pedal steel licks! It turns into more fast chromatic atonal riffing at 5 minutes into this track. Odd ring modulated sounds at 6:40, then silent movie tension from piano while the guitars start slow chordal bits, almost leading it to Dark Star again, it gets mellow and quiet, and then at 8:45 moves into almost a groove, bass and Bob coming in to hold it into a song almost. I could see this moving back to the Dark Star, but after a couple minutes, the bluesy notes start and they go to I Need a Miracle.
When I listened to an audience tape I thought this last bit of Space was very Dark Star like, but the soundboard makes it seem not quite as much that way… Who knows. Anyway, Dark Start itself was very upbeat and bouncy, almost boogie. Cool and decent playing from the band.
Mr. Rain:
The Dead have reached 1994 already! Sure to be a new golden era for Dark Star, right?
No segue into Dark Star this time, it gets a cold start after Way to Go Home. (All the SBD copies have a tape stutter here so the start gets clipped.) Despite the abruptness, the really fast pace jumps out at me -- this is like 1968-paced! What a toe-tappin' opening jam, not like any that we've heard in quite a while. The band sounds fresh & rejuvenated. It gets pretty funky after 1:20, gets into a brief Sputnik echo and some neat theme deconstruction; then after 3m doesn't even sound like Dark Star anymore, but reminds me more of Jerry's country stylings like Cumberland or GDTRFB. Vince stays on organ but doesn't obtrude too much. Good mix -- the drumming is mostly mixed in the center which I prefer to having drums on the sides; it sounds more integrated & helps make the performance more punchy. A big cheer from the crowd before Jerry quickly sings the verse at 4:30 (the playing's sloppy here but that's okay).
The jam finds its footing again and keeps up the fast upbeat pace, not particularly Dark Star-like. You could plunk this in a middle of a Bird Song and not tell the difference. But Jerry's alert, pickin' away like mad and finding some sweet lines (like around 8m). There's no trace of MIDI here, it's all natural-sounding, and Jerry keeps a clean tone. Phil's boppin' alongside Jerry, Bob's doing his weird chord stuff, Vince is doing background swirls but is mostly extraneous. At 9:20 Jerry brings up the Dark Star motif again, and they seem to consider slowing things down, but instead make the decision to fade out to Drums. Jerry bows out after 10:20; the rest is just Phil & Bob noodling around. It's a disappointing conclusion to a fine unusual version.
After a somewhat eerie, contemplative Drums, Space is much more melancholic, sounding at first almost like a slow classical piece. But after a few minutes it gets wilder with some freaky tone combinations and more hectic playing. Then the wind goes out of their sails & they seem to drift in the doldrums for a while. Around 9m a strong Dark Star feel starts creeping back in, and by 9:30 we could easily be back in the Dark Star again. This breaks up a little after 11m as more playful MIDI stuff comes in, and by 12m Jerry's added some distortion and is clearly aiming for Miracle, though the bluesy groove they keep for a minute is pretty nice on its own.
This Dark Star is more lively & spirited than almost any they've done in recent years. It's like they've found new life in the tune, and are actually excited to play it again. Granted, the liveliness comes at the expense of much depth or any space exploration; but this is a Dark Star that's just fun to listen to, an actual dance number. I don't know whether they spontaneously found a new country-funk feel to explore here, but it's very refreshing. Shame that it comes in the pre-Drums slot, which always spells an early death to the jam. I think the second half of Space has a clear Dark Star continuation, but that's harder to pin down since the theme isn't repeated.
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