188. 1989-12-31

154970 Oakland 14:46

First verse at 6:31.
Goes into Drums.


Victim or the Crime had become a space-faring event in its own right by this point; tonight they follow it with Dark Star. Everything has a little bit of a digital sheen at this point, even with Garcia (now playing Rosebud) otherwise sounding remarkably organic at first; Weir has some kind of flute-like thing going right away. Musically, though, this starts out in a pretty straightforward polyphonic pocket. At 2:30 they settle into what passes for the main theme these days, but then Jerry turns into a flute and they continue jamming.


There’s a nice peak starting right after the four minute mark. Coming off the other side, Garcia becomes more guitar-like again. It seems like there’s always some sort of MIDI tinge around the edges, though. They keep dropping back into the pocket, as at 5:10, but they head out again—though not too far out, this is still a jam on the basic chord pattern of Dark Star. Finally, at 6:20, we reach the theme again and get to the verse.


Based on the placement in the set, the timing, and the last version, we would expect a freakout here, but they go right back to the groove, although the MIDI is ramped up a bit. After a couple of minutes the center starts to distort, and weirdness begins to hold sway; this is sort of a wind-down into the drum section, rather than a full-fledged excursion, but one’s grip on the mundane is pleasingly shaken a bit in the process.


Anyone who had heard the Miami version could be forgiven for thinking they were on the way somewhere rather special at around 11:30 when things are starting to fly a bit, but we are already almost at the end. At around 13:10 it gets really good, with Garcia’s bassoon bleating along and the drums striking a fast and exciting beat. Short as this post-verse segment turns out to be, they don’t phone it in. But this is a last blast, and pretty soon it has all subsided into tonight’s drum segment.


Here we have one of those “good but not earth-shattering” Dark Stars, mostly because the brevity of it and the relative conservatism of the pre-verse material preclude any extended exploration.


What was said:

187. 1989-10-26

147766 Miami 26:41

First verse at 2:10.
Second verse at 13:58.
Goes into Drums.


If the Brendan Byrne show proved that Dark Star wasn’t to be a one-off this time, the third rendition in a month made the future look quite bright. When the Dead returned after Garcia’s coma in late 1986, there was a new optimism and energy in the sound, and a feeling that a new beginning was underway. In retrospect, the common narrative at the time—that the band had become hidebound and erratic, but the coma put the fear of God into them and set their feet back on a musically righteous path—is at the very least overly simplistic, if not flat wrong. The mid-80s offer some great and highly energetic music, and late 1986 through 1988 are not beyond criticism by any means. One such criticism would be that the band wasn’t really stretching out much. But by mid-to-late 1989 that had begun to change, and the return of Dark Star was a big factor in that.


The version under consideration here is a well-regarded—even legendary—rendition; at this point, at least as much as, and possibly more so than, the Hampton version. Dick Latvala once famously insisted it is the best version ever. Did he go overboard? I don’t think it would be productive to litigate his claim; I’m not sure there is one best Dark Star, in any case, and if there were it would probably not be this one. But that’s not to say that it’s not worthy in its own right, and I of course won’t shy away from making evaluative claims about it here, even if they are less definitive than those of the late archivist.


The audience sounds quite pleased when they start the song, as one might expect. Nobody was taking Dark Star for granted at this point. The vibe at the outset is confident but suitably mysterious, and I kind of like the Brent factor at this point (although this does not seem to be the consensus). He seems comfortable with his role, and in this era he has even shown himself capable of improvising convincingly, albeit in a somewhat modest way. Approaching the two-minute mark Lesh stakes out the theme, although Garcia doesn’t play the melody, and we go right to the verse, which leaves plenty of territory for the middle jam.


A few seconds after the post-verse intro lick (which is now the standard procedure) Garcia kicks on the MIDI. Once again, it sort of surrounds his cleaner guitar tone, which is sort of a cool effect. It’s hard to define exactly what the MIDI sound is here, it’s just a sort of trippy halo around the guitar line. The band seems to be feeling things out, but in this era that means they keep a steady groove going while doing so. Garcia, Lesh, and Mydland trade lines, with Weir in more of an accompanist role.


At 5:38 Jerry launches a Sputnik type thing, while Weir gets a rock riff going. The latter is quickly joined by Lesh, but it only lasts a few seconds! This seems to bode well, though, as they’re exploring rather than settling in, and Weir’s cadence is mirrored a few times by the other instruments as it’s transmogrified and they move on. Garcia slathers on more MIDI. Weir gets a little flute-ish for his part, and comes back to his little lick from time to time—it seems to function as a theme that they don’t overdo, but use as an anchoring point or callback from time to time.


Jerry is also playing the flute now (I’m at 8:30). He goes back to guitar, dipping in and out of the effects regime. At 9:20 there’s a swell as they come together a bit, and at the same time disperse. I realize this doesn’t make much sense, but they seem in command tonight, and they’re stretching my descriptive powers. At 10:10 Weir is again chiming his lick on the flute, then he plays some high guitar notes, and at 10:34 Jerry has a steel drum/flute hybrid thing on. Brent is choosing to mirror this sound a little bit, and they are tinkling along in space. It gets stranger and stranger. Weir is playing a xylophone now. Lesh is very active, although he still isn’t quite taking the lead the way he once did.


Garcia is altering his effects several times in the course of a minute, but not abruptly or in a jarring way; it’s rather a masterful performance, in fact. At 12:37 Lesh hints at the theme, and they seem to drift earthward from here. At 13:18 Weir hits the theme chords, and then Lesh starts the theme up in earnest, and they all fall in line, although again Garcia doesn’t play the melody. In fact, the accompanying part he plays on the theme parts is becoming common, so maybe I should redefine what gets identified as “main theme.” It can get confusing trying to track the recurring parts…


Jerry’s voice is quite croak-y tonight, but another central feature of this era is that he’s learned to put his vocals across regardless of what’s happening with his voice (although he may be more successful at this during other parts of the show, as his range has clearly moved away from Dark Star). At 15:07 Garcia gives a desultory nod to the fragments of the intro lick being dutifully performed elsewhere on the stage—they give it a perfunctory nod and head back into space. They seem not have considered capping it after the middle jam: now they’re going to really get weird.


The groove that they had been stuck in for the late 70s and 80s is gone. Jerry has a brass effect that is quite electronic-sounding at the same time. Weir is getting seriously strange with the MIDI stuff. And Brent really shines here; he seems less apt at structured melodic improvisation, insofar as he stays to close to home, but he’s happy to go along when they they go whole hog. I suppose I mean that he’s good on both extremes, with structured and very free playing, but doesn’t offer as much in the middle. Again, Lesh is playing a lot, and his lines are creative and important to the jams, but he’s still not as much of a force in determining their direction as he once was, for some reason. Garcia and (to a lesser but still crucial extent) Weir are now the main drivers.


At 21:00 we’re still going out, but there are some bouncy riffs bubbling around the edges. Brent gets into a one-note rhythmic thing, and pretty soon there are electronic drums. By 21:35 or so Garcia sounds entirely like a keyboard—I think! It’s getting hard to identify the instruments. This is some of the wildest space rock ever played, just magnificent. At 23:19 Garcia gets in with some spacey brass, and I can pick him out again. But it may be beside the point here to try to identify the individual players; it may be better to just dig the gestalt.


By about 24:40 things seem to be winding down, and the center has unraveled, which makes me realize how remarkable it is that a kind of center has heretofore held amongst all this chaos. Whatever one may think of the codified space segment, the band has gotten really good at this kind of improvising, and those wont to spend that segment in the bathroom (or fast forwarding) may have been surprised at the intensity and counter-intuitive coherence of the unadulterated free jamming going on here.


This is without a doubt one of the craziest and most powerful pieces of music the band ever played. Anyone who thought the spirit of 1973-12-02 was long gone would surely have to reconsider after this night. This is the greatest Dark Star since 1974 and, whether or not you think Latvala went overboard, it certainly deserves a place in the canon.


What was said:

186. 1989-10-16

140163 Meadowlands 17:07 (Dark Star I. 11:02; Dark Star II. 5:25)

First verse at 5:37.
Main theme at II. 2:08.
Second verse at II. 3:49.
I. goes into Playing in the Band, II. goes into Attics of My Life.


Here we finally get to a Dark Star for which I was in attendance. After the crazy setlists in Hampton, we weren’t really expecting Dark Star to make another appearance so soon. Perhaps if the more savvy among us had heard the tape from Hampton we’d have thought differently, as the band had really committed to Dark Star there in a way they hadn’t done since before the hiatus. In any case, when they opened the second set with it in New Jersey, the audience was ecstatic.


This time, they structured the whole second set around Dark Star. Weaving into the Playing in the Band>Uncle John’s Band>Playing Jam segment way this does makes the second set feel like one big jam. I will confine my remarks to the Dark Star segments, but this set should really be heard as a whole.


Garcia starts out by talking around the theme before wending his way into a beautifully tortuous lead line. It’s not long before the Midi effects creep in; this time they form an aura around Jerry’s clean sound, somehow. Lesh is fairly prominent here, although they keep it pretty close to home, staying in a groove. At around 2:30 a horn tone comes out on Garcia’s guitar. He’s pretty mobile with the effects, and the clean sound keeps poking through.


They have a really lush sound this time. Mydland continues to work his way further into the spirit of Dark Star. Tune in around the four minute mark, and all four front line players are weaving lines around each other to stunning effect. Weir drops back into chordal stuff pretty soon, though. Jerry keeps alluding to the Dark Star melody; they’re not going out, but they’re exploring a bit more before the verse this time, until it finally pops in without warning at 5:37.


One thing that stands out on this one is how beautiful Garcia’s playing is, albeit in a more digital way than a 70s head would be used to. They plough right back into the groove after the verse. They get to around the 8 and a half minute mark before it sounds like it might be breaking up a little—there’s a turning point here. Garcia and Mydland lock in together at 9:15 and Weir, who seems to have a touch of MIDI going now, provides some hijinks with a sort of hybrid horn section/car horn bit. It slowly gets weirder, and by 10:30 finally seems to be heading out.


Jerry launches some flurries and is echoed by Brent. Lesh is finally getting strange, and it all starts to go sideways. By 11:30, though, it all subsides and Garcia calls for Playing in the Band. There’s more good jamming to come, but for now this segment comes to an end right when it might have been heading out somewhere interesting.


The three songs that remain before drums get into some pretty crazy MIDI-fied jams that in a way continue the Dark Star initiative, so it may not be apt to judge this one in isolation. Nevertheless, I’ll skip to the back half after the Space segment. I Need A Miracle trickles back into Dark Star, and now Phil Lesh is louder and more assertive than heretofore. They’re bringing it all back around, though, with the outer reaches having been visited during the Playing jam and Space, and they consequently maintain the groove here, although they allow themselves some indulgences in the form of MIDI effects.


They take it into the main theme after a couple minutes, but instead of going right for the verse they luxuriate in the Dark Starness of it all for a while, finally getting to the verse at 3:49. They’re just wrapping it up at this point; anyway, if you skip all but the Dark Star tracks, you’ll have missed a lot. After the verse, they wind it right down and take it into an emotional reading of Attics of My Life (although it would be kind of hard to imagine an unemotional rendition!).


This was a great set and a great experience. Taken in isolation, however, this Dark Star is nowhere near as exciting as the one from Hampton. On the other hand, they still seem to be into it, and fortunately there are several more excellent renditions to come.


What was said:

185. 1989-10-09

147611 Hampton 19:19

Main theme at :57.
First verse at 1:05.
Main theme at 9:54.
Second verse at 10:41.
Goes into Drums.


If the 1984 Dark Star encore at the Greek was a wonderful surprise, this one was greeted with shock and almost disbelief. At this point, few expected Dark Star to appear on a set list again, much less (as it would turn out) see a revival as a semi-regular feature of Grateful Dead shows. The previous night the band, booked as “Formerly The Warlocks,” had brought back Help On the Way>Slipknot, and many of the fans in attendance on the 9th doubtless thought they’d already seen—or missed—the main action of this short run. Little did they know what lay in store—not only Dark Star, but also Death Don’t Have No Mercy (presented with a surprisingly effective updated arrangement) and Attics of My Life for an encore. Deadheads staggered away from Hampton in a blissful stupor, and the word spread.


The crowd goes crazy at the sound of the familiar intro notes. There’s a rather short introduction, and Garcia (playing the Wolf again) does something new here, playing a kind of complementary lick on the bass strings rather than asserting the theme. The verse arrives after a mere minute, and by 2:20 they’re into the meat of the song. Garcia’s line is just as beautiful as ever here, and his sound is a bit more digital at this point, although he has a light touch with whatever effects he’s using until about 3:50, when he starts to swim in a reverb-y delay thing. Here the drummers are still banging away, but Weir seems game to make it strange, and Mydland seems to have gained some aptitude for weird Grateful Dead music in the interim since 1984. Lesh is active, but once again he has more of a supporting role than he was wont to adopt in the old days.


At about 4:45 Jerry starts sliding into a more effect-heavy sound, though not all at once. Then at 5:10 the MIDI is fully unleashed, as Garcia’s guitar has become a marimba crossed with a flute. It’s batty, but pretty great. At 5:44 he becomes a bassoon—it’s hard to keep up with all of this! The band by now has shifted into a darker space, and the drummers have broken out of the relentless groove that, from our perspective, had lasted for 10 years now. Jerry fires out crazy woodwind lines, Weir’s playing follows a strange logic that seems to complement him, and Brent has cautiously moved out into terra incognita with them. Lesh seems to have sunk down into a low rumbly accompaniment that underpins the proceedings without suggesting anything entirely new.


At 7:50 Garcia’s guitar is starting to sound like a guitar again. He starts a little frenetic jam, with Weir’s line echoing him with a slight lag, which is enough to get the headphone listener’s synapses sizzling. At 8:20 they come to a peak and back off immediately. Now there’s a meandering interlude, a moment of decision—will they return to the theme, or try something else? It seems to be the latter—they spin out into a section that is reminiscent of their more coherent space jams of the era. Weir has also fired up the MIDI at this point, and Brent seems entirely comfortable staying in the outer reaches. But at 9:44 Garcia signals the theme, and that’s where they go, and then we get the second verse.


They follow the verse with a deeper venture into space. Garcia is playing some rumbly and ominous lines, while Weir weirds out on distorted guitar. Then they switch roles, at least texturally, as Jerry plays some keening distorted lead while Weir kicks on some oddball MIDI effect. Mydland is likewise rather mercurial with his sounds here, with piano-like flurries switching to a Hawkwindesque gale and back again. At 14:40 the band kicks up a windstorm, and there is an entirely new and different kind of musical peak than any we’ve heard in Dark Star to date.


The music is rather hard to describe at this point, as it often is when they go into a space jam. It’s almost cacophonous at times, and entirely exciting. The much-maligned MIDI effects contribute to a totally psychedelic tour de force tonight; maybe this is how they’d have sounded in 1973 if they had the same effects then, as the space jams from that year are the closest prior analogue to what’s happening here. It starts to disperse at around 18:00; they no longer sound like they’re building something, so much as getting some parting shots in. Pretty soon they cede the field to the drummers.


This is a bit short compared to many of the classic versions of yore. It’s a very powerful stretch of music, however. They seem much more committed to Dark Star here than they have since 1974, and the new technology adds an element that I found to be bracing but welcome. The one disappointment is that Lesh’s role still seems to be a bit diminished, but overall this is both a historical landmark and a successful rendition.


What was said: