205. 1992-03-09

141629 Landover 11:03
Main theme at :05 and 1:29.
First verse at 2:40.
Goes into Drums.


Garcia and Phil get kind of sideways on the intro lick, after a Corrina end jam that likewise gets a bit sideways while hinting at Dark Star. They head right into the main theme. Bruce Hornsby is still hanging in with the band, and he joins Vince in hammering out the theme licks. When they come apart Bruce is rather busy, while Vince spreads some textural chords around. Jerry’s gotten back to playing the theme, and he sprinkles it in a few times, keeping the opening jam close to home.


The verse arrives early, leaving some room for maneuvering afterward, particularly if they forgo the second. Vince goes right back to the theme; he has a pretty pleasing organ sound going tonight, although Hornsby has a tinkly vibe, probably playing an electric piano, albeit with a straight piano sound. Jerry and Phil wind around in the usual way, and Weir is very active with his inscrutable interjections. A very promising bubbly and jazzy jam emerges, lurching along drunkenly but not aimlessly.


This is starting to disperse by 6:40. It still lurches, but it loosens and quietens into an almost pointillist scene. At 7:35 Garcia kicks on a MIDI trumpet, and the jam is still hanging together—loose, but in a confident way. It seems to be heading to space, but taking its time getting there. Jerry has a few bluesy thoughts that are like clouds scudding across the sky, neither changing the jam nor particularly clashing with it. By the ten minute mark they seem to be letting it all slip away. At 10:30, Jerry starts a strumming riff that the others latch on to, but after a few seconds they abandon the whole thing and pass it on to the drummers.


This is really enjoyable music—in fact, it’s been a surprise how much I have enjoyed these latest versions. On the other hand, this really doesn’t add up to much—they don’t seem to have enough commitment left to Dark Star to make a whole lot out of it, anymore.


What was said:

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:

196. 1990-12-31

141868 Oakland 20:36


Main theme at :06 and 1:20.
First verse at 1:26.
Main theme at 8:40.
Second verse at 9:06.
Goes into Drums.


A New Year’s Eve Dark Star with Branford Marsalis, this kicks right off with the main theme. This is the second Dark Star with Marsalis (1990-03-29). They go to the verse almost immediately, which can be good in this era, as the jamming preliminary to the verse is often rather staid. Branford, on soprano, stays in the background at first, stepping up a little after the verse. There is some serious polyphony with the two keyboardists, Garcia, Lesh, and Marsalis; Weir mostly adds color.


At about 4:15 they start to work toward a peak, which arrives at about 4:40. Garcia then starts a driving rhythm (a bit like Other One) that gets everyone moving, and the peaks keep coming. They come over the top around the 6 minute mark, and drop into a section with a little bit of swing to it, and Marsalis comes to the fore. At 7:30 Marsalis is playing lines in spurts, and the others join him for a minute in a herky-jerky passage that then wends its way into spacier territory.


At 8:28 Jerry brings back the swing, then kicks off the theme. Somewhat surprisingly, then, he sings the second verse at only 9:06 into the piece, which seems to portend a spacey back half. Indeed, after the reiteration of the intro lick they drop right into a drumless space, without bringing back the Dark Star chord pattern. Jerry’s ready for some MIDI now, going for his bassoon sound at first (but these things rarely stay the same for long—pretty soon he’s a flute). The MIDI effects proliferate, with Hornsby and Lesh playing more traditional sounds. As so often is the case, it gets difficult to always track who is doing what.


It gets downright spooky at around 14 minutes in; there are still no drums, and the music is eerie and meandering, in a good way. This starts to almost sound like something by Sun Ra at times. Garcia and Marsalis lock in on some passages, and at other times everything seems to swirl around madly. In the 19th minute everything accelerates as Marsalis starts blowing up a storm, and the drums return; they rush to a crescendo. At 19:20 Garcia initiates a Sputnik pattern, but it fizzles out without anyone getting on board, and they let it dissipate into Drums, but not before all but starting up The Other One, which gives a strong indication of what’s coming after Space.


This is a strange and powerful Dark Star. They seem eager to get the song portion over with, which makes me think they may be tiring of Dark Star again. On the other hand, although it’s relatively brief, the music between the verses is excellent. The back half is unique, insofar as it must be the longest drumless stretch of music in a Dark Star. This is great stuff.


What was said:

194-5. 1990-12-12 and 1990-12-14

194. 1990-12-12 149736 Denver 13:45

Main theme at 1:08 and 5:26.
First verse at 5:49.
Verse melody at 8:55.
Goes into Terrapin Station.


The jump-off is rather jaunty. Vince is tinkling out the main theme quite a bit at first, but he switches to a more legato thing after a little while. Lesh puts on some kind of xylophone MIDI effect as we approach the end of the first minute, and then Garcia starts playing the theme. He then quotes the verse melody as Phil switches back to bass tones. I cannot hear Hornsby at all here, although the archive has him listed as a musician. Weir is present but sort of quiet and tame.


At 4:28 Garcia starts fiddling with a Sputnik line, and this gets Vince swirling around as the band kicks up a bit. The latter brings them back to earth at 5:21 by returning to the theme, and the band falls into line. Garcia plays the theme again, something he hasn’t been doing much of lately. They go to the verse, closing the first chapter of Dark Star.


Garcia starts back in with intro-style melodic playing, and Welnick tinkles the theme some more. After a minute or so Jerry puts on some distortion, but they’re still keeping it close to home. Lesh plays with the effects some more, starting at about 8:25, and Weir starts playing something that sounds like a bedspring. Garcia runs through the verse melody while all this is happening. It now seems like Hornsby might be here after all, playing an electric piano or something…if so, he’s been keeping to a supporting role, but here he adds some futuristic blorpy textures (unless that’s Vince’s left hand).


There’s a lull at 11:25, and Garcia starts playing flute. He changes the effects a few times, winding up a piccolo, and they fiddle around a bit. The jam seems like it’s about to get interesting now, as they leave the Dark Star pattern behind. As the music shifts and swells, Jerry starts strumming Terrapin Station, and it’s over.


This is rather minimal, but altogether pleasant. They never explore outside the confines of a basic Dark Star jam, except in the last couple minutes when it’s just about over. If one were to regard it as something akin to Bird Song, then perhaps one would be less likely to be disappointed at how short and conservative it is for Dark Star.



195. 1990-12-14 149757 Denver 8:40


Main theme at 1:10, 2:58, and 4:00.
Verse melody at 1:23.
Second verse at 4:21.
Goes into I Need a Miracle.


This is, I suppose, the second half of the rendition from the 12th. The end jam of He’s Gone hints at the I Need a Miracle toward which they’re ultimately headed, but Space is floaty and meditative, and as it wraps up Garcia starts to allude to Dark Star. Garcia toys around with the theme, then almost fakes the band into the intro lick, but they keep going. Once again, I can’t really tell what Hornsby is doing, if he’s doing anything, and Weir is less of a factor than usual.


Lesh kicks off the theme after about a minute, and again Jerry plays the theme and then the verse melody, just as he did in the back half of the front half. He then transforms into a French horn, but as is par for the course, this doesn’t last particularly long. They wander around a little, but it keeps coming back to the theme, and this leads us to the verse at 4:21.


They finally get a little momentum going not long after the verse, although they’re still playing it pretty straight. It starts to get really good when Garcia kicks on the distortion and the band fires up toward the end, but they’re just gearing up for I Need a Miracle.


This doesn’t add very much to the version that was begun on the 12th, or really to the set in which it appears. Of course it is pleasant music, but without much of a core or a backbone. They almost seem to be just going through the motions here. I thought maybe attaching this to the first half would flesh it out into a full-fledged rendition, but I’d be inclined to just skip this part if I listened again.



What was said:

193. 1990-11-01

145663 London 21:10 (Dark Star I: 10:10; Dark Star II: 11:00)

First verse at 3:33.
Main theme at II. :00.
Second verse at II. :20.
Goes into Drums, then into Playing in the Band

This kicks off at a rather deliberate pace. Once again Phil Lesh is loud and active, which is a good sign. Welnick and Hornsby seem to be lumped together in the soundstage, and Vince keeps playing the theme. Garcia starts in on it at 1:26, but then seems to think better of it, which prompts Phil to swing into it, but they veer off and keep jamming. At about 2:35 they start to break free of the pattern a little, but they keep things melodic and straightforward, and soon they’re heading right back into the theme. The verse comes along at 3:33.


Vince unveils some sort of vibraphone sound during the verse, which seems perhaps promising. Hornsby is a bit more active at the head of the middle jam, though. There’s a veritable tsunami of keyboard sounds in the seventh minute, and due to placement it’s not easy to disentangle them. Garcia, meanwhile, has been doing his thing throughout. At 7:02 Weir gets a little thing going that Jerry picks up on, and there’s some nice interplay that seems like it might be a springboard, but rather than heading for a peak they take it down a few notches. The jam picks up again but in a somewhat disorganized way. By 9:05 it seems like it might be driving toward a peak, but this dissipates, and the music disperses into Drums.


Space heavily features Bruce Hornsby, and it peters out into a little bit of noodling before they swing into the Dark Star theme, moving almost immediately to the second verse. After only a little straightforward jamming they head into a space jam, with the MIDI effects finally unleashed. There isn’t much of a transition; they just plunge right in, seeming to be quite comfortable in this mode and ready to enter it at a moment’s notice. This is more Space than Space was tonight (the drummers even take a blow for a while), in fact, so I suppose they’ve had a lot of practice. In any case, it’s difficult to describe this stuff, so I’ll let it speak for itself for anyone who cares to listen. Eventually they make their way to a reprise of the Playing in the Band that preceded Dark Star.


This isn’t the most memorable version overall, but it’s pretty solid—some nice but straightforward jamming on the song pattern, and a pretty hefty freakout to see it off. It’s really pretty good, but I can’t help feeling that the energy around Dark Star is starting to dissipate again.


What was said:

192. 1990-10-20

150273 Berlin 17:42 (Dark Star I: 13:06; Dark Star II: 4:36)


First verse at 3:28.
Verse melody at II. :54.
Second verse at II. 1:50.
Goes into Drums, then into Throwing Stones.


The European crowd sounds happy to be hearing a Dark Star for the first time since 1974 (or 1972 for the continent). This comes out of the gate with a joyful and bouncy mien. Phil Lesh is quite audible and active here, giving this a classic feel. Welnick is also quite audible, which gives it a more modern feel at the same time, as his synths wash all over everything. I can’t pick Hornsby out at first, on the other hand; he is holding back, at least for now.


They take it to the verse very quickly, and Garcia seems to come into it wrong-footed. Jerry lays out for a bit off the back end, until at 5:13 he swoops in as a flute. As is so often the case, this effect doesn’t stick around long, and he goes back to a guitar sound rather quickly. At about 6:00 Hornsby starts to add some input, but he’s a bit low in the mix.


For all the other sounds that are happening, this comes off as a Garcia-Lesh dialogue much of the time—Weir stabs and bleats on one side, and on the other Vince is a freshet of keyboard sounds, with Hornsby not being much of a factor. At 8:10 they start to shift gears, and they leave the two chord song pattern behind in pursuit of freakiness. Phil has some kind of effect on that makes him sound a bit like an organ, and he lays down an ominous base as Jerry repeats a descending melodic pattern.


At around 10 minutes in Jerry switches to his bassoon sound, and they get even spacier. This is all rather intriguing, but it’s dispersing rather than going somewhere, with Drums on the horizon. It sounds good, but it would be nice if they built it into something. They climb to a nervous peak at about 12:45, and then they let it spill and leave for the drum segment.


In instances like this one, Space could potentially be considered part of Dark Star. It’s kind of surprising they didn’t do Dark Star>Drums>Space>Dark Star more often, in fact, since Dark Star was one of the main places where their space jamming developed. As Space comes out of Drums, however, it doesn’t have any obvious continuity with the jamming that preceded the drum segment; it’s a really excellent ambient electronic piece in its own right, however, with a nice build-up in the back half.


Garcia seems to hint at Other One a little bit in the closing seconds of the track, and Lesh picks up on that a little way into the next track. There is not a clear transition where the track breaks, but at II. :54 Jerry breaks out the Dark Star verse melody, which is the first indication that they’re returning. Lesh kicks off the theme, and Jerry rather tentatively sings the second verse. Not much happens after that, although it takes them a minute or so to opt for Throwing Stones.


This is a really hard one to evaluate—not enough happens in Dark Star proper to add up to much, but if we’re including Space (which was, after all, played in the midst of all this) then this segment starts to seem pretty darn good after all. In any case, if you’re going to listen to this, don’t skip Space.


What was said:

191. 1990-09-20

156442 MSG 27:49 (I: 12:03; II: 15:46).

Main theme at 5:51.
First verse at 6:20.
Main theme at II. :40.
Verse melody at II. 1:10
Second verse at II. 3:08.
Goes into PitB reprise, then Throwing Stones.


Brent is dead, and now Vince Welnick and Bruce Hornsby are playing keyboards (with the latter primarily on piano). This segment begins with Space, and this must be listened to because the jamming that is developed during Dark Star really begins here. I was in the crowd this night, and by the end of space we were all looking at each other wondering “What the hell are they doing?” because after 10 minutes there were no hints of a song coming out of Space. It was one of those moments where expectations are upended and possibilities abound. When they kicked off Dark Star, no one was disappointed.


During Space, the instruments circle around each other, and a jam begins to crystallize. It’s a rather melodically oriented segment, without much in the way of frightening sounds or atonal noise terrorism; the center of gravity is Garcia’s extended guitar rumination. By the ninth minute of Space it’s starting to congeal into a regular instrumental jam, and there are no indicators of where it could end up. There’s a peak at about 9:20, and they regroup; Lesh flashes the Dark Star intro lick and the crowd reacts, and then they kick it off.


Phil is a bit louder here than he’s been on most of the recent versions. He holds down the chord pattern at first. Welnick is very active in the right channel, and then Hornsby starts to work his way in. The two keyboards leave a lot of room in the middle of the field for Lesh and Garcia though, so the extra hands don’t make a huge difference so far. Phil keeps returning to the main theme pattern, keeping the jam grounded, but they start to take flight at 2:40, generating a little early excitement before slipping back into the familiar chord pattern again.


Welnick picks up the theme melody at 3:20, and he stays with it, for the most part, for a good while. and Lesh locks right on. Hornsby, on the other hand, is thus far only providing ornamental flourishes. Garcia hits one of his Sputnik-type runs at 5:20, but it’s brief; he’s ranging around quite a bit, but the others keep returning to the theme, and he finally joins them at 5:51. This brings us to the verse.


Coming off the verse, they go back to the basic chord pattern at first. Welnick seems to have gotten off the theme melody, but he’ll keep bringing it back. There’s a peak starting at 9:18 that seems to set them off in another direction at last. Garcia starts playing MIDI tones, maybe a bassoon or something. Hornsby gets a little more active, although he has been very much a background player throughout this rendition. They finally let it spin off into a space jam, with Weir playing a very loud MIDI foghorn line. It is starting to get interesting, but they suddenly shift into a Playing reprise, even though they haven’t played the song—maybe this completes the one from the previous night? I suppose it doesn’t much matter…


This is an exciting moment, although it defers improvisation for a while. Indeed, they could have ended the evening’s Dark Star excursion here, as it came after Space and they’ve already played for a good amount tonight. Fortunately, they do no such thing, heading right back into Dark Star after this brief detour. Garcia brings them in with the main the main theme, and they snap back into it, as he shifts to playing the verse melody (Weir doesn’t suggest the plunge to E minor this time).


Almost immediately after this, the jam loses its center—not in a bad way, but Garcia wants to sing the verse, so he brings them back to the theme again. Coming off the back of the verse, there’s no move now to return to the two-chord structure, and things get weird right away. Strange sounds predominate as they cut loose with a really hairy jam. Jerry’s giant bassoon transitions back to a guitar, and then into God knows what. The keyboard players seem to feel liberated, generating a righteous racket.


I can’t tell what Phil is doing during a lot of this—he may be hidden behind one of these effects, I suppose. At around 9:30 there’s a more obvious bottom end, and I think he’s down there somewhere…A pounding cadence starts up at 10:30, and now there’s an audible bass line. They drive it hard, and take it to a peak at around 11:30. The music is all the more exciting as we know that, whatever happens, this isn’t going to disperse into Drums.


Listen to the band at 12:30—I don’t know what to say about it, but it’s incredible! They are making music that is very difficult to describe, and if my commentary is getting disjointed, the music still makes a kind of sense. It careens on until it finally starts breaking up and they coast for the last minute and a half before going into Throwing Stones.


Perhaps partly because of the new keyboard players, this stays rather close to home for a good while. Nevertheless, it gets out there at the end, and when it does they really let fly. There’s nothing else that sounds like this; only the Grateful Dead can do it, and it’s strange and wonderful.


What was said:

190. 1990-07-12

149523 Washington, DC 24:46

First verse at 7:17.
Main theme at 17:00.
Second verse at 18:00.
Goes into Drums.


Here’s another one I attended; it wasn’t loud enough beyond the first several rows on the field, unfortunately, but it was a good performance. After a cursory Victim or the Crime, Foolish Heart gets jammy at the end and, although they play the introductory riff, there’s a seamless transition into Dark Star. Garcia’s playing had sounded a little bit stiff earlier in the set, but by now he’s limber, and his lines are flowing and beautiful.


At :45 he has become some kind of horn, but he quickly slips back in to a guitar sound, now with a MIDI halo; a little after the two minute mark, Jerry becomes a flute for a little while. This has been typical in Dark Star—MIDI effects often come and go rather quickly. The band is sticking with the basic Dark Star pattern, more or less, but they sound really good here; the playing is confident and fluid. It’s hard to analyze the parts and see how they add up to a coherent whole, at times; this has been the case at this point for decades, of course. Lesh is walking around slantwise; Weir unleashes little staccato bursts and partial chords that slide about obliquely; Mydland is busy, mellifluous; the drummers clop away, maintaining a typical groove. At seven minutes and seventeen seconds, this straightforward but quite beautiful segment is the longest introductory jam since January 10, 1979.


Garcia hits a low A at 6:50 that announces the arrival of the main theme (which I haven’t been marking up top, as it no longer includes the guitar melody I’ve used throughout to identify its position). This brings us quickly to the verse. No one attempts the chord reversal on the “Searchlight casting…” line anymore; this is for the best, as it sounds chaotic when only some of them do it.


We emerge from the verse in a similar place to where we came in from, save that the tempo may have slowed down a little bit. The jamming begins straightforwardly, but Brent seems to have loosened his tie just a little, and Weir is pushing a bit with some distorted squalls. Garcia gets some kind of wind instrument going; for some reason, I’m having a hard time naming the analogue this time. he shifts back to guitar at around 11:40, and things start getting a bit stranger.


Lesh has been helping the drummers maintain normalcy, more or less, but once he defects the jam starts getting weird. Mydland, surprisingly, is at the forefront of this shift, with some rather oddball piano runs pushing it all out of gear. Jerry throws on some distortion and his scales seem to shift into obscure modes. By 14:30 we’ve left terra firma behind, and the band just basically goes nuts until, at 16:50 Garcia emits an unmistakable A and the band falls into line; in case anyone missed it, he even plays the now-rare main theme a few times, and here comes the second verse.


The band isn’t done; rather than fall apart in the general direction of drums, they again pull the two-chord pattern together for a little while before everyone gets in some parting shots. Garcia plays some nice chordal melodies for a while, and then Lesh teases a return to the theme before, at around 22:00, they let it start to disperse; then Weir whips them to one last little peak, and then Garcia and Lesh do some Other One-adjacent wandering for the last minute until they finally let it drop and the drummers take over.


This is a really solid version; it’s not as weird as Miami or even Hampton, but it gets where its going. 22 years into its run, and Dark Star has yet to run out of gas. Not bad at all!


What was said:

189. 1990-03-29

149396 Nassau 29:17 (Dark Star I: 18:19; Dark Star II: 2:58

First verse at 5:53.
Verse melody at II:52.
Second verse at II: 1:45.
Goes into The Wheel.


This is another one I attended. At this point, one could expect a significant amount of people in attendance had not yet seen Dark Star, and the reaction to the opening lick is duly rapturous. We have Branford Marsalis (on soprano sax) sitting in for the first time at this show; the Eyes of the World that led off the set was released on Without a Net. Marsalis dives right in, but he could be a louder here; it may be advisable, for this reason, to check other sources. The opening jam is a little chaotic, perhaps because of the extra musician, as everyone seems excited to have their say.


The intro jam is sonically chaotic, but it hews pretty closely to the two-chord template. At 5:33 Lesh kicks into what passes for the main theme these days, and the verse follows closely behind, with Garcia sounding particularly hoarse. The second line reversal of the chords has at this point mutated into a somewhat disordered uncertainty, and this seems to be the case pretty consistently now. Lesh performs the reversal, but I don’t think anyone else does.


They pop right back into the two-chord format after the repetition of the intro lick. Garcia is relatively circumspect with a guest taking up some of the space. As they approach the 8-minute mark he finally makes good on this circumspection, as the band starts to deviate from the song pattern. It quickly gets into a vigorous variant on Space, and Jerry starts in with some flute sounds. Marsalis seems at ease with all this, gamely chirruping along.


The intensity increases at around 9:50, and this sounds like nothing so much as the lead-up to a Tiger! Jerry puts on some distortion, but he’s also a lot quieter here, so the chaos is a group effort. Crossing the 11 minute mark, Jerry has a lower, brassier sound and he marches around on the bass strings, with a loping beat emanating from the drum section. At 12:20 he switches back to flute, then back to a more guitar-like timbre. Branford starts overblowing at around 13:10, which is fitting enough in the circumstances.


This section, which starts to fray around 13:50, is the most cohesive non-song jamming here, although it remains chaotic and overstuffed. By 14:30 we’re clearly in the “pre-Drums” phase, where last thoughts and desultory parting shots linger for a few minutes as the instrumentalists prepare to leave the stage. Here we can hear Marsalis better, and there’s a bit of call-and-response with bassoon Jerry before they cede the field to the drummers. There’s an amusing part where they lock together and come apart repeatedly, right before it all ends.


After Space Dark Star coalesces again for a coda, and a run through the second verse. As the timing indicates, this doesn’t add up to much; all the action is behind us at this point. At one point Garcia plays the verse melody, and as he reaches the end at 1:05 Weir suddenly remembers that this used to go to E minor! No one else pays it any mind, though. They go right into The Wheel when the verse ends.


I’m not sure this one entirely works. The band sounds overstuffed in a way I generally associate with the post-Brent era. Perhaps because of the guest musician, Garcia’s playing is rather indirect and ornamental. It’s not bad, but it’s not a latter-day classic, either.


What was said:

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: