204. 1991-10-31

139276 Oakland 16:46 (I. 10:50; II. 5:54)


Main theme at 1:13 and 1:54.
First verse at 3:43.
Main theme at II. 2:40.
Second verse at 3:58.
Goes into Drums, then into The Last Time.


Gary Duncan of Quicksilver fame sits in, and he jumps right in at the very beginning. He is game, although it’s a little jarring to hear another guitarist try to put his stamp on the song. Garcia takes off at :39, and Duncan backs off for a while, although he’ll get another whack at the spotlight before the verse. The latter comes pretty early, and then they’re off again.


Garcia isn’t holding back, guest or no, but there are a lot of elements in the mix here. It verges on cacophony at times, in fact. At about 6:30 they start to bring it way down, although Lesh keeps plugging away. Then at 7:03, Ken Kesey comes in with a rap, and the band builds behind him. Kesey is a dynamic presence, and he gets louder, finally hollering out the ee cummings poem about Buffalo Bill and ceding the field to the band. They seem to conclude that Kesey provided the necessary climax, though, and let it go to the drum segment.


Space seems like an integral part of the Dark Star segment tonight. Duncan is involved here too, and he seems happy to add to the weirdness, but again he stands out as a foreign element. His involvement tonight underscores how the Dead function as a unit even during the seemingly chaotic parts of Space, in any case. Toward the end of this section he gets a funky little riff going that is amusingly incongruous at first, but it winds up being the thread that leads them into the next jam.


This segment almost sounds like it could go into Other One at first, although it has a lazier, lurching beat and a bluesy orientation. Surprisingly, Duncan is the center of the action now, as the band coalesces around his riffing and takes off. After two and half minutes, they spin it out and swing into the Dark Star theme. Then they blend it with the cadence of the preceding blues jam before heading to the verse. Deftly done.


There’s not much left after this; they do swing back into the Dark Star zone for a little while, but less than a minute later they go into The Last Time.


This is all pretty cool. There’s not a lot of extended jamming, but it’s an action packed segment of the show, and Kesey’s rap is pretty dynamic. It’s especially fascinating to see how the band adjusts to Duncan—at first, he’s almost a contaminant, but they reorganize around him and absorb him into the Dead gestalt. Good stuff.


What was said:

203. 1991-09-26

149553 22:10 (I. 15:28; II. 6:42)

First verse at 8:47.
Main theme at II. :25.
Second verse at II. :36.
Goes into Saint of Circumstance, then into Attics of My Life.


A broody tuning at the head of the second set coalesces into a little jam that turns into the second Dark Star of this six-night run. This starts out jaunty, almost bouncy even, with a tempo that feels a touch brisker than the 24th. The keyboardists really go to town here, and as usual Welnick hammers the main theme at the outset. Garcia’s line feels like it’s everywhere, weaving and bobbing through the keyboard soup.


At 5:30 Lesh starts in with the main theme, but no one seems to pay that any mind. There’s a little peak attendant on Garcia’s jabbing notes from around 6:05, and as it winds down Lesh tries the theme again, but again they keep rolling along. It’s a great wash of sound, fluent and full-bodied. Garcia gets jabbing again at 8:15 and takes them to another peak and, sure enough, this gets Phil running the theme, which finally takes them into the verse.


The jam after the verse isn’t much different than what preceded it, at first—no space, but not exactly straight either, just a massive sonic swirl. At 11:00 Garcia starts ascending, buoyed by Hornsby’s mirroring line, and they come to a peak at about 11:30 which quickly disperses. They wind down like water swirling down a drain, until Jerry gets a jaunty line going that they all hang on to. It’s been a subtle process, but things have gotten steadily weirder; Phil’s bass line is all the way away from Dark Star now, in particular. At 13:30 Garcia gets a Crazy Fingers-like pattern going, but that’s not where this is going; they jam a while longer, and after Jerry kicks on the distortion at 14:55, they start to edge their way into Saint of Circumstance.


The Other One comes out of Space tonight, so we get a classic combination here. They drop back into Dark Star and worry the theme for a short spell before going right to the second verse. They play it pretty straight off the back side, giving the outro a pretty placid and straight kick-off. At II. 3:15 there’s a wind-down that stretches and stretches. Instead of ending, a soft and peaceful segment emerges, with Lesh playing drawn out notes as Jerry and the keyboards produce languorous melody. They come to a stop at 6:14, after which they come back with a few seconds of sort-of Attics of My Life before kicking it off properly, so arguably this isn’t a segue but a full stop.


This is some really psychedelic music, and it seems to me to be an especially unique version, quite different even from the one two days prior. The keyboards are an essential ingredient now, rather than an uncertain accompaniment. The music surrounds you and takes over, a buoyant wash of sound.


What was said:

202. 1991-09-24

150638 Boston 14:22

First verse at 4:09.
Main theme at 11:36.
Goes into Drums.


A slow tempo at the outset here. Vince hangs on the theme for a while, and Garcia says his piece. Jerry and Phil manage to get something going right away, and they head away from the song pattern, although they don’t stray very far. We get a pretty vigorous jam that culminates at 3:05 with Lesh trying to bring back the theme. They don’t fall into line right away, but finally Hornsby acquiesces and we head into the verse.


Garcia gets a flute or piccolo thing going as the second jam begins. Welnick has a kind of ghostly organ sound going tonight, which is rather pleasing. At 6:43 Jerry suddenly snaps back into a regular guitar tone, which he keeps for one minute and then goes back to flute sounds. The jam thus far is pretty straightforward, but it seems to be gradually getting a little weirder and less bound to the usual structure. By about 8:30 it’s getting pretty spacey. Hornsby is ranging up and down the keyboard, and Lesh is likewise showing a lot of vertical movement.


It keeps going in this direction—further out. Both keyboards are very active, and Jerry and Phil are very busy. Weir seems barely a factor, though, just adding a few side comments. Just after 11:00, Phil and then Jerry unexpectedly start hinting at the theme, and when it comes it gathers the jam for a few moments, but they let it start to spin out again. At 12:45 Garcia starts a repeated high variation on the theme, kind of like Bright Star. This all makes it seem like they’re planning to perform the second verse. Instead they let the jam disperse again, with Hornsby swelling and then Lesh playing a rocking riff for a while. This dies down, and there are drums.


This is another short one that has plenty to recommend it. The jamming is just free enough to be interesting, and just conservative enough to be cohesive. Not bad at all.


What was said:

201. 1991-09-10

157119 MSG 24:28 (I. 12:19; II. 12:09)

Main theme at :06
First verse at 3:38.
Verse melody at 10:48.
Second verse at II. :51.
Goes into I Need a Miracle.


They come in kind of raggedy here; they begin with the theme, with the drums staying out and Weir cutting against the beat. Branford is assertive from the jump, again playing the soprano sax. They get some momentum going after about a minute, and there’s a kind of lush soundscape with the sax swirling around. Garcia kicks on the flute effect after another minute, and Hornsby tinkles away, but Welnick is more textural at first. At 3:26 Lesh kicks in with the theme, and they go right to the verse.


Now it’s time to get down to business. Vince runs the theme while Garcia and Marsalis trip around. Vince has some cool sounds going, mostly organ-like but with some ominous swells. From around 6:30 Garcia plays some melodic stuff that hints at a minor tonality and shifts the mood. It is pared down to mostly Jerry, Phil and Vince now. Weir comes back at 7:40 with some volume swells, and Branford follows him back in. There’s no sign of Hornsby yet, but the music is starting to build again.


I think I can hear Bruce at 8:53, he is just playing quietly, I think. There’s a lot of sound going on, though, as they wax and wane a few times without coming to a peak. Hornsby is back in evidence at 9:45, and this leads to another gradual crescendo. There is a minor peak at 10:35 or so, and they start to tail off. They run through the verse melody a full three times, and then almost play the chorus, but instead they get a galloping beat going that is soon taken over by the drummers.


Space tonight is a really cohesive and engaging ambient jam, although it doesn’t have much evident connection to the first half of Dark Star. It gradually comes around to a Dark Star jam, and the main theme leads into the second verse very soon after. They choose to keep going, and it gets hairy pretty fast after the verse, heading right into a space jam. Garcia puts on the bassoon sound, and Marsalis is now on tenor.


This is some really free jamming, now. The drummers duck out not long after the verse ends, but the jam is still pretty intense. Just about everyone is walking all over, with Weir providing a more textural commentary on the side. It continues to build in intensity, reaching meltdown status from about II. 6:40. This (along with Space tonight and in Nassau) is probably the most “out” stuff Marsalis ever played on!


There’s a bit of a lull at II. 8:45; Garcia is back sounding like a guitar, and the music loses some of its cohesion. It was “out” before, but it had an intense core that is now unravelling. At II. 10:15 Garcia is playing some sweet melodic stuff, and Marsalis latches on to it, but in a more frenetic mode. Finally, Jerry switches to the sound he’ll use on Miracle, and there’s some preliminary marshaling of forces well into the next track before they kick it off.


The first half of this is just OK, but the second half is a monster. Space is also excellent, although it seems a bit disconnected from the rest. The jamming after the second verse is definitely the highlight.


What was said:

200. 1991-08-16

141316 Shoreline 10:12 (8:40)

First verse at 3:52.
Verse melody at 5:15.
Goes into Promised Land.

A pretty short first set Dark Star; this basically fills the Bird Song role in the set. It starts out with some ensemble noodling, before Garcia finally kicks it off with the intro riff after a minute and a half. The tempo is rather brisk tonight. This is a good recording, as you can make out all of the instruments very well. Hornsby is pretty active, and it’s nice to hear what he’s doing as he comments on Garcia’s lines. They get up to an early peak at about 3:30, and then Vince starts in with the theme and Jerry sings.


They barely slow down for the verse, and thus they don’t seem to need to reload after the verse, they just keep chugging away. Garcia becomes a horn and gives us the verse melody, playing it three times through; Hornsby doubles him the last time. He gives us some more horn flourishes in lieu of the chorus, and then gets a little more guitar-like and keeps wailing away.


Hornsby is plugged into what Jerry’s doing throughout, at times mirroring his line. Lesh seems a bit quiescent tonight; he just keeps everything running pretty straight. At the nine minute mark it seems finally ready to open up, but that’s not what’s going to happen tonight; rather, they let it wind down and crank up Promised Land.


This is a slight but enjoyable rendition. It’s not ambitious or particularly memorable, but it gets a little bit of jamming into the first set in a pleasant way.




What was said:

SUPPLEMENTAL: 1991-06-28; 1991-08-17; 1991-09-06; 1991-09-08

1991-06-28 150679 Denver 1:33

1991-08-17 107826 Shoreline 1:07

1991-09-06 5560 Richfield 3:29

Denver has a nice little bit in the middle of Wharf Rat where Jerry plays the melody line. At Shoreline, Space starts to hint at Dark Star, and they swing into the main theme for about a minute before going into Morning Dew rather than finishing the previous day's version. Something similar happens at Richfield, but they stick with it for a few minutes before playing Watchtower.


1991-09-08 1069 MSG 9:05


There’s a nice jam between Saint of Circumstance and Drums; it is sometimes tracked as “Dark Star Jam.” It certainly has overtones of Dark Star, but I wouldn’t call it a full-fledged instrumental version, or even really a Dark Star Jam. I was at this show, as it happens, but I don’t have any memory of this anymore! Garcia ducks out a few minutes before the end, and there’s a nice section with Weir, Lesh and the keyboard players. In any case, it’s good music, but it’s doubtful whether it belongs here.



What was said:

199. 1991-06-22

112775 Chicago 7:31

Verse melody at 1:10.
Main theme at 2:25.
First verse at
Goes into Playin’ in the Band reprise.


In the closing minutes of Space there are hints of Dark Star, and then Garcia starts his backing theme lick. They start is up without playing the opening riff. Garcia plays the verse melody and, interestingly, he keeps it going and they go to the E minor the third time through. I’m not sure if they’ve done that before.


Welnick has a pretty nice organ sound tonight—a sound that’s perilously close to the forbidden B3, in fact. Hornsby is on the other side of the mix this time, so it’s easy to tell them apart, and in fact I think the two keyboards sound better mixed like this instead of lumped together in the sound stage.


I wondered if they were going to play the second verse to finish off RFK, but it just peters out and they reprise a Playin’ in the Band that, for once, they had started earlier in the evening.


This stays pretty close to home, but it sounds like they’re having fun.


What was said:

SUPPLEMENTAL: 1991-06-17

2496

This is another show I attended. There are several little Dark Star teases throughout. I’ve heard some people complain about this but, maybe because my crew and I had just been at RFK, we enjoyed this aspect of the show, although we wouldn’t have complained if they’d broken down and played it.


The first relevant segment is in the first set after Brown Eyed Women. Weir starts strumming Dark Star, and Lesh joins him after a few seconds. It never really comes together; Garcia plays the chorus a little, and then they swell to the point where you could almost think they were just about playing Dark Star, at which point they go into When I Paint my Masterpiece. Hornsby even gets some Dark Star licks in during the song.


In the second set, after Ship of Fools they again start fiddling around with Dark Star. It’s not completely clear at first, but then Garcia starts playing the verse melody, and again they render the chorus instrumentally. Lesh almost plays the intro lick coming off the back of the chorus, but as if he knows that this would indeed cross the Rubicon, Garcia quickly kicks off Truckin’.


Post-Space, there is a random Playin’ in the Band reprise, and there is a few seconds of futzing around after that which might hint at Dark Star again; Charlie Miller seems to think so, anyway.


This was the show they opened with Eyes of the World, so there was a sense of possibility that night which was quickened by the Dark Star jams that followed. Perhaps some of us even harbored a hope that the shackles of the ordinary show format would be entirely rent asunder; although nothing quite that dramatic happened, it was a very good show.


What was said:

198. 1991-06-14

149609 RFK 10:58

First verse at 1:59.
Goes into Drums.


I am happy to say I was in attendance for this. I “called it,” which impressed the guy next to me so much he talked to me a little too much during the first few minutes (I only “called it” because I wanted to hear it, and not by dint of any mystical attunement to the band or the cosmos). Welnick plays the main theme quite a bit in the early going, underscoring how straightforward this is at the outset, and it gets to the verse before it goes anywhere. They seem to be all on the same page in going to the E minor on the third line now, which seems to be well-entrenched at this point—it’s how the song goes, now.


Both keyboards are very much audible and, for a change, distinguishable. On the other hand, they haven’t done much yet—Vince goes right back to the theme after the verse, and Bruce is in a low-key supporting role thus far. Garcia and Lesh are leading the charge, with Weir’s distorted and tangential stabs rounding out the scene.


By 4:30 the tempo seems to be increasing a little. Welnick, having finally abandoned the theme, is now a swelling sea; Garcia starts bobbing around on it with an Other One-adjacent cadence, and getting everything starts moving as they swing into a frenetic jam which ebbs and flows a few times, finally peaking at about 7:15.


Shortly thereafter Weir gets some strange MIDI going, although everyone else seems to be avoiding the stuff. They bring it back to a screaming peak at 8:04, and Weir really starts getting strange with the MIDI runs. This is a really ferocious section, midway between a space freakout and an Other One jam. There’s a final blast with Jerry playing a triumphant riff; this rallies them, until at 10:45 the bottom drops out and they flee the stage.


It's not clear why this is so short; maybe they felt like they’d said what they had to say. It’s certainly a great jam, even if there isn’t all that much of it.


What was said:

197. 1991-04-01

49666 Greensboro 26:09 (I: 23:34, II: 2:35)

Main theme at :48 and 1:45.
First verse at 8:42.
Second verse at II. 1:41.
Goes into Drums, then PitB reprise


1991, a new year for Dark Star. Bruce Hornsby is still hanging around, and this time he is very active in the early innings. The intro jam is brisk, and is organized around the main theme, which the various players return to periodically throughout. Garcia also plays around with the verse melody at 2:05, after which he plays some magnificent runs that culminate in a Bright Star flourish at 3:05. After some more exploration, he revisits the verse tune at 4:54, then turns into a flute at 5:45.


This is what, as the cliché has it, could be called a “bravura performance” by Jerry, who seems to be bursting with energy and ideas tonight. The band leaves the two-chord pocket behind fairly early, although by 8:22, when Garcia signals the return to the theme, they haven’t gone too far out, either. This brings us almost immediately to the verse, wrapping up a promising first segment.


They seem to slow down just a little coming off the verse. Here begins a jam that, at first, is similar to the first one, if a bit more deliberate. It starts to get kind of soupy and weird at 10:40, with Weir and the keyboardists coloring outside the lines now, and more of an emphasis on the E minor. Pretty soon we’re in Strangeville, and the MIDI effects become more prominent, with Garcia settling on the bassoon. The keys get more twisted and carnivalesque—there’s some wild stuff going on from about 13:40 in particular. It just gets stranger and wilder from here.


I am not entirely sure which keyboardist is responsible for which sounds here; it’s usually only possible to hear one at a time with any clarity. I think it’s Vince at about 15:45 who’s letting it all hang out; if so, he seems to be finally contributing something interesting to Dark Star. At 17:48 you can briefly hear them both, and it seems like Hornsby is trilling while Vince ranges around a bit.


The section beginning at 18:30 is truly far out space rock. Now Garcia also sounds like a keyboard, which is really cool but doesn’t make things any clearer via a vis this write-up. The music soon starts to disperse a bit, becoming a space jam. The drummers start to take control, with Weir, Welnick, and maybe Lesh providing accompaniment—everyone else seems to be gone after about 21:00. Either Phil or one of the keyboardists’ left hands is laying down a swampy riff, which finally subsides as we reach the drum segment.


Space—which is considerably less freaky than the back half of the first Dark Star segment—has a kind of pastoral vibe tonight, invoking a sort of funhouse Jethro Tull. There’s not a very clear transition back into Dark Star where this recording has the track break, but the jam gets more cohesive and, at II:45, the drummers ease back into the mix. The main theme starts to emerge and pretty soon Jerry’s singing and its over.


This isn’t entirely new, but by this point the band has an odd, digital overall sound that can be a little off-putting. Aside from that, though, this is a thoroughly excellent Dark Star, and the keyboards made a positive contribution to that excellence, for a change.


What was said: