#156 1973-02-22 They kick things off and quickly settle into a smooth, gliding groove. Phil sounds full and buoyant on the recording. Jerry heads out on a high, dreamy line accented by textures from Bob. Bill works a patient beat in the background. Keith's fills slowly enter the picture as well. They wind along a path, building some momentum and interweaving well. By 1:50 they're moving along and the groove has some swing to it. Notes are flying off of Jerry's guitar as they wind and weave. Around 2:45 they bring it down a little and then after some lower rumination take it back up again. Really nice winding groove. Bob's rhythm gets more forceful as the energy builds. At 4:30 the groove shifts into something more staggered. The rhythm bounces back and forth between the players before settling down. This creates a space for Jerry to start up an unexpected Bright Star at 5:06 that is brief but welcome. From there he starts heading to the theme but they opt to move in other directions first. After some winding and charging and briefly soaring lines they settle back into the theme at 6:30 and then work their way to the verse. After the verse there's some strong plucks from Phil and then a few guitar notes from Bob that seem to already hint at Eyes Of The World. From there they slip into a spacey ooze, casting about in semi-melodic freakiness with everyone contributing various sounds. The momentum slowly builds and then eases up, staying freaky. There's a howl from an audience member and everyone seems pretty psyched. Jerry continues to wind out into space with Phil playing off him and assorted percussion from Bill. Things start to get deeper and heavier. Jerry shifts into some fast moving low notes around 12:25 which leads into a brief Tiger. They work this minor meltdown to pretty good effect then pause briefly before shifting into Eyes Of The World. Really good short version. It's tight and concise, punchy and energetic and the collective interweaving is compelling. They even manage to get weird for a spell.
1973-02-22. It's funny to hear, here and in other shows, how Jerry & Phil will tease the Dark Star intro to the band before it starts, and the audience apparently doesn't pick up on it. Anyway, the opening jam sounds bright and happy. The recording sounds great, but Kidd's still tinkering with the mix: Jerry's guitar flies around in the mix for a bit after 1:30, which is trippy but unusual. (Bob's guitar does the same at 3:40.) Keith's pretty quiet in Jerry's background. The jam's lively and relaxing; they've got their soothing polyphonic mindmeld going where all the lines somehow fit together, but Jerry's in the lead and he's feeling restless & energetic. A busy, assertive Phil & gently chording Bob are right with him, and they cover a lot of changes in a short time. Jerry strays briefly into a bright-star theme after 5m, but it's just a feint, they soar on the jam a little longer to some lofty heights. (Kind of reminiscent of earlier phases of Dark Star when he would repeat the theme every so often in the opening jam.) Then after 6:30 Jerry returns to the theme for real, the rest of the band resisting at first and carrying on with their own things, but at 7:05 they settle into it, and Jerry sings the verse right away. (Applause!) A good verse -- then Jerry steps on the wah to take the band into space. The crowd's pretty excited by this. For a while it's just spacey noodlings, going nowhere in particular -- I imagine the soundtrack to an octopus wandering around the ocean floor. (Bill makes a weird wobbly glass-tinkling sound at 10:30 -- aha, a flexatone, not heard in Dark Star since 1970?) By 11m they've settled more into a profound space, and a meditative aura descends. This part's the highlight for me. But Keith doesn't seem to be playing anymore; it's just the guitars. Suddenly at 12:25 Jerry kicks up the Tiger warbles, and they take a quick spin around that, diving in fast. And boy, it's quick! This is the speed tour of the Tiger; they wrap it up within a minute and it's all over by 13:30. Then right away they strike up Eyes while Phil's still blooping in stereo. This was a return to a 1968-length Dark Star, without a whole lot of deep jamming -- it's like an alarm clock went off in that last minute. I don't know why this was so short. They were in good spirits and jamming well. My guess is, either they were facing a curfew, or they couldn't wait to get to Eyes. Decent nonetheless, but it's a very minor Star.
157. 1973-02-26 1208 Lincoln, NE 25:18 (24:48 actual) Main theme at :37 and 17:16. Elastic Ping Pong Jam at 10:19. First verse at 17:31. After some preliminaries, another out of tune Dark Star intro issues forth into the Nebraska night. Even in the early going where the strategy is familiar, each one is a bit different, and this one seems to have a unique character from the outset, thoughtful and well-articulated. After a run through the main theme, the instruments wind around each other in familiar fashion, in a thoughtful manner and at a deliberate pace. At 2:24 Garcia adopts a brassy tone, playing the bass strings close to the bridge and emoting almost hammily. He winds his way upward, drawing out his lines and exaggeratedly emphasizing his figures. Something’s going on at 4:30, with Jerry spitting out high descending runs and the band momentum coming in fits and starts. They end up in a whirlpool at 5:43, and the centrifugal force sends them upward into a rousing peak at 6:24; all the energy is discharged by 6:39, but before they settle all the way down Phil proposes an ostinato lick that is taken up by Garcia…but then they shift into something more laid back at 6:39, quickly moving on as the music resists settling into a groove. Garcia starts a three-note pattern at 8:05 that provides the focus for the next groove, but this also plays out quickly. Ideas are flowing to quickly for the music to fully coalesce. By 9:15 they are swirling down the drain in to spacier territory, with Lesh’s tentative riffing doing nothing to halt the general trend to oblivion. However, he again starts up a riff at 10:11 and this time Garcia jumps aboard, followed in short order by Weir and Godchaux, and pretty soon we are in the midst of a lovely Elastic Ping Pong Jam (and this for the first time, although there was a precursor on 1972-08-24). This winds up being a rather lengthy excursion, and much of the interest comes from Lesh’s variations of his line. At 16:24, Garcia rather suddenly signals a pivot to the main theme; they bring the tempo down as they swing into a Dark Star section, getting around to the theme about a minute later, then quickly going to the verse. There’s some stormy throat-clearing directly after the post-verse lick, and then they let it get spacier, with Garcia making haunting theremin-like sounds as Phil prophesies doom with big bends and chords. Here we find pleasing disarray as they explore the busier side of space. A bit after the 22 minute mark it seems like they’re ready to go into another song for a moment, but Garcia’s popping and clicking guitar almost does sound like a tortured clavinet as he steers them toward a meltdown. This takes an unexpected turn at 23:59 as an increasingly assertive Lesh starts some chordal riffing sort of in the vein of Philo Stomp. It’s not clear anyone has much idea what’s happening at this point; there’s a brief attempt to build a jam around Phil, and then Garcia starts up Eyes of the World. Front-loaded Dark Stars are seemingly becoming more of a thing, and this one qualifies; although there is some rather nice chaos on the back end, the overall scene never quite comes together there. The first Elastic Ping Pong Jam is a thing of beauty, even if it begins a bit tentatively, and in general there’s nothing to complain about here. A very nice Dark Star, if a bit limited.
One possibility. It may also be that fewer people in the audiences by '73 knew or cared that much about Dark Star. Listening to how it starts on 2/15, 2/22, 2/26, a few enthusiastic people can be heard, but not the halls going wild by any means. Or maybe that's just Midwest restraint.
This gets to a larger point about the hiatus and the change in approach largely realized in '77. Of course, the biggest reason for the hiatus was the expense of the WoS but there were other factors involved, including the size of the crew/entourage as well as the change in direction of music as a a whole from a rock perspective. Robert Fripp also recognized this around the same time (I suspect that the GD realized it around the very same time as Fripp, but Fripp had a tour end and a studio album to make while the GD were touring to wrap things up, although Mars Hotel was made in Summer of '74, so whadda I know?). In any case, from what I've heard, there seems to be much more audience delight with Dark Star in 1970 and 1971 than there was in 1972-1974, but it's difficult to determine whether that's an artifact of tracks, AUDs, etc. We also don't have much video of the great Playin' from 8/27/72, so we can only speculate as to the reaction to it. I certainly have a distinct preference for pretty much everything '72-'74 (despite seeing shows from '82-'85) because it's simply some of the very best improvisational music ever conceived on this planet, but I don't know quite how it was viewed/received in real time. That the band dropped Dark Star, Bird Song and HCS (some sooner rather than later, but there were very few Dark Stars in '74) and cut back on TOO and Playin' would seem to support their model of changing with the times as they saw them. I'm not sure that I've shed any new light on anything, but there y'go.
Though... then there was that whole thing about "xxx days since last Dark Star" banners at the latter 70s concerts. I've heard that that was actually started by Bill Graham, but that could be apocryphal. Either way, I think there was a stalwart section of the listening audience that were into that. When I saw them on Dec 31 1981, they played Dark Star and the banner holders and many others were very pleased. (Previous two would be in NY in Jan 79, previous ones in SF were 12/31/78 and 10/18/74 Winterlanders!)
#157 2/26/73 Lincoln: 25:05 – Dick’s Picks 28 Upbeat intro again, they strut into the Dark Star groove, the whole vibe of this jam is driven by Bill K… especially that ride cymbal. Jerry goes on some little excursions and gets into some little melodic eddies, getting into a low-string riff for a bit, then going up again into plaintive territory before settling down and letting himself and everybody move forward in the more noodley space with the fast jazzy licks. By 4 minutes they’re all straining at the edges of the mode, with Keith and Bob doing responsive chordal riffs to Jerry and Phil’s melodic riffs. Onwards with more full band forward-momentum improv ups and downs, an eddy forming late in the 5th minute that goes slightly chromatic and falls out back into more riff-driven lead playing back to the thematic area. After that, though, it dives down to little notes, a delicate section that holds latent Dark Star material waiting to grow out of it. Some plaintive stretches bring it out and hocket-playing between Jerry and Phil get it back up and over a crest into a new lowland area, everybody getting small again in the 9th minute. More delicacy, Phil is making some statements (somebody is yelling in the audience but they don’t sound super happy? Not sure what’s going on there.) It comes to a very quiet place and Phil starts a riff, very gradually others come in. Jerry tremoloing notes and then going for the volume swells on a melodic riff and by 11:30 the Phil riff has developed to something that sort of sounds like that bit that they all do together late in Eyes of the World, (the em riff that moves into dm sections, is this the Elastic Ping Pong?) same rhythmic stuff, but here it’s more stretched out harmonically and establishing a new jam rhythm, which ensues. Lots of little takes on this rhythmic idea with various melodic riffs, similar but different. Finally before minute 15 they break off and start heading somewhere else, though Phil is pretty into this riff. It holds on until the Dark Star theme slowly emerges at 16: 20, Jerry starts the second half of the melody, then breaks it up as he starts the melody and everybody preemptively slows down knowing that that is the thing to do. A minute later they’re all on the groove and melody and the verse starts. First line is consistent, it really drops for the second line, Phil stays with the groove for half of it and then even he drops. Line three is mellow, but back in rhythm with some trilling toward the end. The refrain has some punctuation and is beautifully played (an audient thinks so too apparently.) It goes into some chaos that cedes to rolling toms and bass notes, volume swells into feedback. This goes on for some time, feedback continues, rolling continues. Bill starts up on the snare, continuing a forward moving beat for a bit, but the guitars are on isolated notes and sounds. Feedback and atonal notes still happening, At 22 minutes Phil makes some big bass chords, but he’s not going into a solo. Some small melodic bits happening from Bob while Jerry seems to be playing with clicking the strings while wah-wah pedaling up and down. These turn into scratches, Bill is still rolling forward on the drums throughout. Phil gets going on more chords and riffs a little later moving with the drums, and they have a brief minute of bass and drums before Jerry comes in with some licks and Bob starts the chord and it heads off into Eyes of the World. _______ Another really nice version. Upbeat playing, lots of great jamming and a space section that is propelled by constant forward motion from the drums. Also I love how the verse is being treated, it’s gone through so many changes over 5 years, lately the band sort of plows right into the first line from the melodic groove before it and then makes a huge break in the rhythm for line two. Where previously Phil had been accenting the off-the-beat rhythm pattern in line two and then they built it into a wandering upwards on line three, over the past year or so they’ve been heading to a fermata on the beginning of line two, occasionally punctuated by the 3+3+2 of the original rhythm—here, nobody is even there except Phil on one of those offbeats—and then moving into a Pink Floyd-like groove for line three. Sometimes players will do some wandering around on line three as the searchlights casting about, this time only Bob entered toward the end with some trilling. The refrain area is always an interesting set of counterpoint, some in triplets some in straight time. Really nicely played in this version.
Dead audiences and their expectations changed over time. In 1970 you had more of the "core" audience who'd been there since the beginning and were hoping to hear Live/Dead stuff. By '73, more general stadium crowds were coming who liked the rock & roll albums and didn't care so much for long spacey jams. But that's not to say that the audiences at any point would be homogeneous or unanimous about what they wanted from the Dead. Half the audience might be tripping through space during Dark Star, the other half might be snoozing from boredom. Anyway there does seem to be plenty of audience enthusiasm during the freakier "deep-space" portions in '73, so that part of the fanbase appreciated it. I'd speculate that by the late '70s & '80s the situation had changed a bit; not only was Dark Star not getting played anymore so it had become kind of a mythical beast, but fans who'd been into the band a while knew more or less what to expect from a Dead show. Tapes must have fed into this knowledge. I don't know how big the "xx days since last Dark Star" crowd was, but they knew setlist details and they knew what the Dead weren't playing these days. So, once you get a big part of the audience aware of what songs were rare and special, you'd get more excitement about even rumors that those songs might get played again. If there was a Dark Star Excitement Meter, perhaps the 0 level would be in 1968 when nobody knew or cared what this tune was; and the peak would be 10/9/89 when apparently the whole audience knew, cared very much, and couldn't stop screaming their heads off about it.
#157 1973-02-26 They take their time getting ready and then launch in. They dance briefly with the theme and then Jerry drifts out into the clouds while Phil works it underneath. Billy's cymbal action adds sparkle along with good color from Keith and subtle textures from Bob. The vibe is energetically dreamy with ample collective interweaving. Jerry goes deep and stronger, winding about before pivoting higher again. After four minutes or so they shift into more staggered ruminations. Jerry gets into some high, repeating runs that Keith mimics. There's some ebb and flow and then they spring into a more energetic push again, building momentum and then getting into a swirl around 6 minutes in before charging to a brief peak. From there they collect themselves and Phil steps forward more. They play off him for a spell in relatively mellow fashion and then start building up and out again. Jerry gets into a repeating thing starting around 8:05 that Bob plays off of; Phil brings in some strong notes and they swirl about, easing up after 9 minutes or so. Things get quieter and Phil steps forward again, subtlety at first but slowly building. By 10:10 or so the Elastic Ping Pong jam starts to emerge. Phil leads the way with Jerry adding some quick strumming and then stretchy notes and Billy working the cymbals. It picks up in momentum and they take it for a ride. The resulting jam lasts for a good while. Then at 16:24 Jerry slips back into the theme and everyone quickly latches on, triumphantly working the melody and then moving on to the verse. After the verse they briefly reset and with some big hits from Billy and other revving they shift into space. Jerry plays some spooky figures while Phil adds thick notes and Billy works his kit. A stretchy, rolling, thumping trip into weirdness and feedback ensues. After 22:00 Phil starts laying down some heavy chords and they hover briefly perhaps deciding where to go next. Jerry introduces some clicking sounds that add to the freakiness. The intensity rises and it feels like a meltdown is imminent. Phil is still laying it down strongly and by 24:00 it seems like a bass solo is emerging. Bob joins him and Bill keeps the beat going and they work this groove for a short spell. And then before long Jerry pivots into Eyes Of The World. A good version overall. The opening segment is active and engaging and the Elastic Ping Ping jam is a noteworthy highlight. The spacey section doesn’t fully unravel but there’s a good amount of collective weirdness there. Lots of Bill throughout.
1973-02-26. The Dick's Pick is also on youtube. (Dark Star's 25:06 on there, maybe a tiny tape speed difference.) Interesting mix on this tape, with loud drums in wide stereo, Jerry Phil & Keith all in the center, and Bob way off on the side sounding kind of left-out. Bill does some cymbal-tinkling before it starts (maybe to quiet down some impatient slow-clappers?). Enthusiastic crowd. Dark Star opens with upbeat, spirited jamming, the band weaving their magic carpet in flight. Gradually they drift farther away from the theme-based improv in various jazzy digressions, Keith closely bolstering Jerry. Phil teases his Marbles line after 6:08, but soon drops it. The music gets quiet and tinkly and swells up again. Keith takes the lead at times, at home in the jazzy setting, in general tagging along with Jerry, while Phil offers his oblique commentary. They play off Jerry in different ways: Keith tends to mirror him, while Phil will either play a counterpoint or pull in a different direction. After 9 minutes they get more open and spacey. You can hear calls from the audience as space opens up. Phil drops more little Marbles teases -- then at 10:10 he starts the Marbles riff for real. Keith & Bob uncertainly join him, and Jerry does some tremolo warbling on top. It doesn't sound like a jam they've worked out at all, but Phil presses on with it while Jerry does volume swells. After 11:15 Bob & Keith basically repeat Phil's riff; Jerry works off it with staccato notes; then at 11:55 Bill dramatically swerves in with a drum part. Maybe due to Phil's persistence, they keep on this theme for quite a while, everyone finding their own variations. But it doesn't really get hotter as it goes, it sounds more like they're beating it into the ground. Finally Jerry gets tired of it and starts the main theme at 16:20, and the others work their way around to the theme with a big tempo shift (applause!). Some nice stately Dark Star theme jamming before the verse at 17:30. The verse is well-done (bringing more applause after "you and I while we can"). Then the usual Phil bombs and band flurries leading to space. After 19:30, nice soaring Jerry feedback; Bill rumbles on the toms and Phil strikes ominous notes that give way to his own feedback. This would be an elegant Jerry/Phil duet except that Bill keeps up an active drum patter. (More audience applause around 22:20 after a wave of distorted bass.) Now they seem to be steering somewhere new, Jerry doing his pre-Tiger cackling. They're heading to meltdown territory with wild chaotic notes, Phil doing kind of a short bass solo while Jerry does wacky wah string slides. (Keith, meanwhile, has been totally absent since the verse. Where'd he go?) Then Jerry bows out and by 24m it's just a loud & aggressive Phil & Bill (Bob pitching in with a few notes), sounding like a feedbacky Philo Stomp is in the works. But then the mood gets lighter, more like a standard loose '72 bass/drum duet. Jerry comes back with some happy notes at the end, only to steer them right into Eyes. This Dark Star packs in most of the jamming before the verse. Dark Stars lately have been lacking in big jams after the verse, and this continues the trend; they don't even bother with a proper Tiger meltdown which is usually guaranteed. I get the feeling that Eyes of the World has grabbed a lot of the Dead's attention and they're eager to start that, so these '73 Dark Stars so far have ended abruptly. But still, a 25-minute Dark Star is nothing to quibble with -- nice feedback space and opening jam, and an extended practice session on Phil's new favorite riff. It's also nice to hear that the audience is really into it throughout.
158. 1973-03-16 79186 Nassau coliseum 27:14 Main theme at 13:00. First verse at 13:47. Tiger 23:25. Goes into Truckin’. This one comes in askew right from the beginning, with Weir playing some odd counterpoint on the intro, and Garcia laying in some harmonics soon after. First there are true harmonics, then pinch harmonics. Godchaux is in a similar register and my ear keeps confusing them for a little while, until Jerry drops down and plays around on the bass strings for a little while. This laid-back and playful early part of the introduction evokes a feeling of the desert, for some reason, although they are playing a hockey rink in Long Island. Lesh is auguring a shift toward minor key his lugubrious phrases, and by 3 minutes in or thereabouts the sunshine has dissipated a bit. At around 3:30 there are allusions to the theme, and Garcia in particular keeps putting in reminders that this is Dark Star. It’s a great instance of playing around a theme without really playing it, and the ensemble is limber enough to manage seeming to be in and out of Dark Star in successive moments, with the whole maintaining a sense of ambiguity. Why go somewhere, when you can go everywhere? Kreutzmann is brilliant here, as he holds it all together but avoids settling into a groove. The groove finally comes at about 7:10 and, typically, it’s not clear how it starts, nor exactly when it begins. Weir and Godchaux join the drummer and push, and Garcia whips out the slide at 7:39, bringing back some of the desert haze. Listen to Keith from around 9:19—I’m not sure what to say about it, just listen. His line starts to unravel a little, and then Lesh starts getting funky. All this is enough to create quite a sense of drama, and somehow it keeps building. They seem to have crested by the 11-minute mark, and they let the center unwind a little until they reach another, looser peak at 11:50 or so, and then another at 12:30. By 12:43 they decide on a more abrupt transition, slowing down and melting into the theme. This plays out rather straightforwardly and leads into the verse a little under a minute later. JSegel will tell you about it. The return lick, mostly executed by Weir, takes us down into a sinkhole of Garcia feedback and tom-tom clubbing. Kreutzmann, who is (and has been) occupying opposite sides of the mix, keeps a tribal beat going, and the rest almost leave him to it before Garcia starts popping along on muffled strings with the wah engaged; at 18:40 he starts to gesture toward the Tiger. There’s a bit of a shift at 20:00 into more tonal, arpeggiated stuff, however, and we veer away from the Tiger and into spacier territory. They are threatening to get melodic before Garcia again veers at 22:35, initiating a sawing maneuver in which he is soon joined by Weir. At 23:25 he lets the strings ring out a little more, and we arrive at the Tiger. Lesh is hanging back for much of this. At 24:30 Garcia plays a crushing E chord, and Lesh joins back in as a bendy jam takes us back to desert climes. At 26:00 Lesh’s pumping chords bring us up to a new plateau, and we seem to be heading into a full-blown post-verse jam, and a rather unique one at that. Weir hits on a quite memorable descending lick (I believe he reprises this on the 28th), and it seems to be heading somewhere quite memorable—but suddenly it’s over, and they’re going into Truckin’. The pre-verse jamming is spectacular here, as it has been on most recent Dark Stars. After the verse, things never quite coalesce, which is also characteristic of recent versions. There is a nice meltdown, although it doesn’t reach the heights of cacophony that typify the most intense Tiger jams, and then they put together all the elements of a top notch jam before abandoning it almost immediately. This is a little frustrating, but I suppose you can’t have everything, and this is an excellent rendition overall.
Yeah, I think there has been enough of this lately to vindicate my earlier comments. However, there are some major counters to this trend coming up late in the year, and in 1974...as I remember it now, anyway, we'll see.
#158 3/16/73 Nassau, NY: 27:13 (also AUD) Some weird attempts at harmonizing the intro riff, nonetheless it heads into a relaxed groove and Jerry heads off into a world of natural harmonics and then artificial harmonics. It doesn’t settle so much, some moving into outside modal notes before heading more toward Dark Star thematically. After a couple minutes, they lull on a chord while Phil strums, it’s a very spacey jam, odd notes flying around, occasional alluding to the Dark Star theme stuff as a reminder, but it’s continuously spiraling off into little eddies of individual instruments, a fairly slow pace (Nonetheless, here, for me, it sounds good, unlike the more highly individual 12/15 that sounded more untogether at this point in the track). Everybody is exploring odd little personal musics, Phil has some very deep bass chords at 5:40, Keith has high chords, Jerry trying out some odd stretches between fast riffs. A lot of call and response between the players in the 7th minute leads to Bill stepping up the tempo so that they get into more of a cohesive jam boogie. This goes on, Bobby on some little riffs off to the side, Jerry is sort of backed off… then he comes in playing with a slide at 8:45! Wow, that’s neat. They start to take it a bit sideways and it lulls before picking it up again without the slide, Bill provides an interesting pattern offsetting the snares in threes against the larger fours. They all do some quick wandering riffing (except Bob who has a stretchy chordal thing happening as a response.) At 11:30, bass and drums bring it over the crest and then they move into a new area of quick little riffs, Jerry happy to be part of this. Bob trills over and over to match the rhythm. This wave comes down at 13 minutes, Bill rolling the toms, and they start in with the Dark Star groove at a leisurely tempo heading to a verse. Verse 1 at 13:55, slightly wavering vocals, expending energy over the line. Big fermatas for line two, only downbeats, line three has wandering from Bobby and limited bass from Phil. The refrain vocals sound strained and emotional. The outro riff is left hanging, eventually Bobby comes in with his higher harmony part, and then Phil reacts and comes in and then hits giant loud chords to compensate as it enters the next section, with distortion on bass and big minor chords, eventually leaving only a ride cymbal, and some feedback comes in over the rolling toms. A very sparse area happens, floating feedback and drums. Bass back in with some low tones, Bill starts a pounding rhythm. Audience cheers. Some wah-clicky rhythms come in. Drums continue grooving without much accompaniment. In a low area, you can hear the tiger low chromatics in the wah wah, very low to start, then it starts to build the chaos, noises from guitars and the drums go into gear again. A meltdown is in progress, but it cedes into a Sputnik-y arpeggio area at 20 minutes, but maintains more of an atonal progression for almost two minutes, settling on chords occasionally, heading downwards. Entering an atonal set of single notes with wah-wah warble, not much accompaniment, little chordal arpeggios from Bob. Bass in again after 22 minutes. Jerry starts scratching the guitar strings, they all do, the drums come back in, they build it up heading for the Tiger meltdown from the bottom up this time. They bring it up and hold it high for a while, it comes over the hill and lands again at 25 minutes to start a new slow rhythm and tonal area, Phil insinuating the Truckin’ intro lick a bit, but then relaxes into the new minor groove in this area. Phil starts from the low end and starts to insinuate the rhythm again, Jerry plays it through a sort of chord progression, then Bill hits the swing at 27 minutes and Phil goes for the Truckin’ intro again and they head into it. Interesting. Weird first jam area, multi-headed hydra all looking in various directions, but kinda nice. Generally good jam from there to the verse, the spacey part after was nice, with scary parts! Not super great but overall a good one.
1973-03-16. The first Dark Star at Nassau... Will the New York energy stir up the Dead to a strong performance? On the audience tapes especially, you can hear the crowd screaming their heads off when Dark Star starts (a way bigger reaction than the earlier midwest shows). Funny thing, the Dead totally screw up the opening riff -- Jerry & Bob hit wrong notes and sound off-key. But after that initial falter, they deliver a sweet introduction, Jerry really hitting the harmonics. (He might be using them to do some covert tuning, lots of space in his playing.) There's an interesting moment around 2:25 when Jerry's repeating a low note in harmony with the piano while the others swirl around them, a cool effect but I wonder if Jerry was just tuning! They sound a little...untogether? The playing seems kind of tentative or restrained; there's not much band energy here. Keith's doing some nice stuff playing off Jerry, but I sense that Jerry's not leading the way as usual...more like he's feeling his way around. As a result, the playing seems to be getting more uncertain & withdrawn. Jerry refers to the theme now and then, but he's very laid-back here, maybe short of ideas and not taking charge at all. Phil tries to rouse him sometimes with some punchy bass, like at 6 minutes after a lull, but the playing is mostly textural. At 7 minutes Jerry starts strumming some chords and they find their way into a different groove, a little funky, Bill setting the beat. They sound more into it now! After 8 minutes Jerry starts using a slide for slow gliding notes over the funky backdrop. It's rare to hear Jerry on slide in Dark Star, this is an unusual treat. On the other hand it means his playing is getting even more minimal, just a few notes. Back to regular picking at 9:45. They're in a kind of off-kilter fast groove, skittering around speedily in circles. This heats up a little but it's getting kind of repetitive by 12 minutes. The repeating circular lick Jerry gets into at 12:20 gets a big rise from the crowd (not really apparent on the sbd tape). Finally Jerry calls a halt with some chords at 12:40, some drumrolls set the stage, they gather up their forces and embark on the main theme at 13:00, to much applause. They let the theme settle in with a little counter-melody from Jerry before he sings the verse at 13.50. A lot of crowd enthusiasm during the verse, and a huge cheer afterwards. Phil stops playing for a moment, leaving Bob on his lonesome. But then he delivers the usual bass bombs (distorting the tape). A question mark at 16 minutes, just some cymbal-tapping -- where will this go? It turns into Jerry's feedback wails over Bill's drums, some quiet strumming from Bob. Very intense and desolate-sounding! After 17 minutes, this gives way to a short drum solo, with some low notes from Phil and the crowd clapping along. 17:45, Jerry reappears with his muted wah cackles, and it's a little bit like the jungle vibe from 12/11/72. Phil makes subterranean pulses. By 19 minutes Jerry's aiming at the Tiger, and Phil's deconstructing his bass into random chunks. But then Phil drops out, and at 20 minutes suddenly Jerry takes a different turn into a spacey wah waterworld, with only Bob following him into the void. Very atmospheric. Then Phil belatedly returns around 21:40 with some Bach-like counterpoint. It gets almost pretty, but then at 22:40 Jerry & Bob are scratching their strings again and Phil lets off some feedback. Time for some noise! By 23:30 they've re-entered the Tiger, all scratchy and screechy. (Phil's mainly just scraping his strings here, not playing notes, so it's a very trebly Tiger.) Then at 24:30, a big dramatic concluding chord from Jerry, and a musical resolution emerges from the feedback chaos. A very nice moment! Space opens up on the other side. Jerry sounds like he might have Stella Blue in mind. Bob plays the 'bendy' notes he was briefly doing after the verse (I don't know what the proper name for this is). Jerry starts playing a slow melody, Phil joins him, and it sounds like a beautiful jam is about to emerge. And Keith comes back! (Once again, he's barely been heard since the verse. For whatever reason, he's generally kept out of the spaces & Tigers in Dark Stars lately.) Then Phil kind of takes over at 26 minutes with Philo Stomp-type riffing, backed up by Bob's bends, which pushes them in a more rhythmic direction. It's sad that they couldn't keep the pretty improv going, but Phil seems to be impatient to move on with some rock & roll. Bob strikes up a new rhythm, and Phil calls for Truckin', so that's where they go. The crowd likes this choice! This has some nice moments, but I found it a disappointing version. They seem distracted, and Jerry's mind seems to be somewhere else in the first part, like he's not really in the mood. There are a lot of tentative moments throughout while they figure out a direction. I liked the post-verse portion better, even though they're still kind of restless: the spacey stuff and the Tiger are good. Then a terrific jam emerges -- and they immediately drop it! The audience tape gives a different impression though. It's okay quality with lots of Nassau echo and an often obnoxious crowd, but Dark Star comes across as more dreamy and more forceful. Jerry sounds tremendous, the band has more oomph, and what sounds laid-back & meandering on the sbd turns into a surreal dreamscape. For some examples of the energy difference, check the part after 12 minutes where a calm little lick on the sbd turns into an intense peak on the aud; or the meltdown after 24 minutes where you can't tell the Tiger from the audience screams.
This tune seems to have a hold on me! Listened a couple more times to the audience tape of 3-16, my preferred way to hear this version... It's not one of my favorite Dark Stars of the year, it's surprisingly low-energy and is really tepid at the start; but the second half keeps getting better and takes you places. The aftermath of the Tiger is a blissful moment, almost 1970-style as beauty comes out of the madness. But of course Phil has to stomp all over it....
#158 1973-03-16 Some odd, off-kilter notes to kick things off but they find their way forward. The crowd is certainly enthusiastic. Jerry gets into pinched harmonics as noted and Keith is quite active too. Jerry then goes lower and starts to wander forth. Bill is working the cymbals and marching things forward. They glide along for a spell. I wouldn't call it dream-like but there's a certain mellowness to the proceedings. Phil makes his presence known, bringing some rumbling bottom end into the mix. There's a sort of Dark Star rumination taking place as they continue to saunter along. Bob is adding nice textures that bring a little sparkle. They weave and float, working their way down the path. Starting around 5:30 or so they repeat some gentle, descending notes that lead into a minor lull. Phil revs it up and the intensity starts to rise, relatively speaking. They hover and swirl for a bit before finding a new groove after 7 minutes or so. From there the pace picks up considerably as they drive a bouncy, upbeat groove that's a little funky too. Jerry brings in some slide which is a neat wrinkle. Meanwhile Bob keeps it funky with this rhythm and Billy works the beat with enthusiasm. Around 9:20 Keith gets into some unusual staggered playing as noted by bzfgt. This combined with the slide gives things an odd and unique feel. It doesn't last long however and they keep rolling on. From there the momentum starts to build with all the players interweaving nicely. Jerry works a quick, high line while Phil maintains some funkiness. They roll on for a bit, hitting a mini peak after 11 minutes and then driving deeper again. Around 12:15 or so Jerry gets into a repeating pattern and they rise up again before letting it go and easing their way into the theme and then on to the verse. After the verse Bob resets and Phil thunders in and they let things unravel into feedback-y, revving freakiness. Billy goes after it and there's some spooky guitar noises. They find a quieter space but Billy quickly picks it up again and is mostly left to his own devices. Jerry re-enters with some clicking sounds and there's a touch of piano as well. They get some momentum going until Bill briefly eases up after 18:40. At this point Jerry shifts into wah and we get the first hints of an impending meltdown. Bill becomes active again in a more staggered fashion while the others blend in various freaky sounds. Jerry is spinning things up but not fully unleashing and they get into more of an atonal jam. Then around 20:00 Jerry shifts into more sparkly, Sputnik-y sounds that are also kind of spooky. Things briefly build with Bob adding complimentary sounds and then they ease up and drift back into wah-ish ooze. It's freaky but also kind of pretty and things begin to get more melodic. They dance around in this zone gently and then at 22:35 Jerry starts scrubbing his strings, reminding us that a Tiger still lurks nearby. The freak factor quickly rises and by 23:20 the Tiger is being unleashed. They let it rip pretty well, screaming out into the night. It comes to a thunderous head around 24:30 and in the aftermath they drift back into a more groovy, spacey zone. It feels like a new, more rootsy jam is coming together and they play around with it creating a nice, mellow vibe. Then suddenly at 26:00 Phil decides to rev it up and rock it out and again they flirt with the possibility of a new jam. It sounds good but proves to be short-lived as before long they let it go and then launch into Truckin'. It’s a pretty good version overall. Not the most cohesive but it certainly has its moments. There’s some uniqueness to the pre-version section including the odd opening and Jerry’s slide and they find a good groove too. After the verse there could have been a couple good jams if they’d wanted to pursue them but the brief glimpses we got were enjoyable. The spacey passages bring some weirdness and some beauty and the meltdown is pretty good too.
This is probably false...maybe 3-16 just reminds me of 3-16. But the lick is so memorable, I probably just forgot that he barely plays it here.
159. 1973-03-21 29263 Utica 21:44 Main theme at :06, 8:20 and 9:13. First verse at 9:35. Goes into Eyes of the World An early rendition of the Weather Report Suite intro leads into Dark Star, and the audience sounds really excited to hear it tonight. A few passes at the main theme follow the opening lick, and then we get a fairly standard two-chord jam. Godchaux is present in the mix here, which is always welcome. We can hear him being rather active, which is often the case when he’s sufficiently audible. He locks in with Lesh at 3:15, and they generate some drama with a sort of hanging chordal interlude that stretches out for about a minute, lending the music an unresolved feel. The jam seems to hover for a while; Garcia hints at E minor, but there are no decisive moves. Weir adds some harmonics at 5:44, which contribute to the sense of hovering that pervades the early parts of the jam. There’s a bit of a crescendo beginning at around 6:25, and as everyone’s lines get louder they begin to feel a bit more decisive. Lesh starts playing around with the Elastic Ping Pong riff at 7:15, and things are now pulling apart again. They pull back and regroup, trying to latch on, but this segment doesn’t get off the ground; Garcia finally pulls the ripcord on the main theme at 8:20. They use the theme to pull together, and then they leave it behind; it seems like they’re going to have another whack at a jam, but they soon return to the theme and Jerry sings the verse. After the verse there’s an interesting interlude where Garcia plays some rapid arpeggios to Keith’s quarter note accompaniment, before it all subsides into space. Keith generates a droney buzz in the left channel, and Kreutzmann taps out a beat on the cymbals while Garcia floats. When we reach the 16 minute mark this seems to be heading toward a meltdown as all four of the string players begin to generate a cacophony over Kreutzmann’s beat. The chaos here has a kind of cohesion, and for a couple minutes there is a very effective meltdown, which they keep at a low boil. At 18:40 Jerry initiates the lead-in to a Tiger segment, but they avoid the expected peak and let it continue to simmer. By 20:30 they’ve come out the other side, and once again a Dark Star ends just as the elements of a really interesting jam seem to be coming together. This is enjoyable in its own right, but it’s a shame they don’t give it room, as it dies out just as it’s beginning and Jerry starts strumming Eyes of the World. The first half begins nicely, but nothing remarkable winds up happening, and they wind up getting a little out of joint. The back half is quite good here, though; it’s a shame they didn’t develop it further.
Aside from the Miller SBD, there is an AUD (in two transfers) on the Archive, although it could be mistaken for a dodgy SBD. (In fact, there is less crowd noise at the beginning of Dark Star than on the SBD.) It's worth a listen for Phil fans, as it has the bass way up front.
Yeah Phil is audible but a bit lower than optimal, and in the first couple minutes in particular he's pretty low on this Miller SBD
#159 3/21/73 Utica, NY: 21:41 Weather Report instrumental intro for a minute and then directly into Dark Star on a cymbal swell, intro and and into a flowing theme area, some playful notes at the intros for each person’s single-note lines. Jerry starts in on some fast riffing in a minute, but they sound fairly playful bouncing around the Dark Star thematic world. Phil has some interesting statements at 3:30 or so, Bobby responding with harmonics, Jerry then goes into an eddy with an augmented leading tone bringing it over the crest, landing on some trills which then bring the rhythm into a different area. (Some “yeahs” from the audience. They bring it down even farther to get set for the next wave. Keith on a descending melody, then Jerry idles out on the “it’s all the same” rhythm moving it into a bluesy riff before 6 minutes, then they start it up again. They chug away and get into some new odd rhythmic stuff in the 7th minute, Phil accenting things into a new world. It ebbs at 8 minutes and they regroup, in the Dark Star theme world, with an interesting thematic version that climbs in dyads to a kind of Bright Star at 9 min. Theme directly afterwards, and into the verse at 9:38. Nice vocals, strong at the start and then sensitive, Bill keeps a ride at half time for line 2, Bob doing some very interesting wandering on line 3. Refrain goes smoothly, they play through the outro into the next section allowing it to flit away in the breeze, Jerry starting on a wide arpeggio (that is like the outro to ) He lets it go and brings it back while people come in and out of the rhythm. It all floats away into isolated swelled long notes (plaintive!) that develop into feedback. Some odd noises from Bobby (? or is it Keith with wah piano? sounds a bit Sitar-like, I think he’s scraping the piano strings?), some sticks and cymbals from Bill. It moves into more drums, but not really a drum solo, there are odd little sounds from everybody as accompaniment, string scratches and wah bits. The noises build, everybody making warbles and scrapes, Jerry on some clicks and pops with wah-pedal. Wow, very odd. Billy comes back with a stronger drumscape, but not fast, just short rolls and hits. At 17:30 it sounds like Jerry is heading for the Tiger meltdown. Some stronger bass notes come in, in between the scrapes. It lulls at 18:30 into longer scrapes and some atonal notes and riffs from the guitars. Jerry starts up the Tiger chromatics again, but doesn’t bring them up high, and some bass feedback signals the crest of this wave and they back off into soft sparse notes. Some more atonal quiet venturing goes on, into a bizarro-world polka for a second, Jerry goes off on a whole tone scale. It’s a short little wave that peters out at 21:30 and slowly allows for Eyes of the World to begin (into Wharf Rat.) __________ Nice one! Sort of short and sweet (at 22 min), great multi-player improv on the thematic area up front, a nice verse and then some very weird noisescapes in the second half.
#159 1973-03-21 There's touch of Weather Report Suite to get things started and then they're off, much to the delight of the audience. The initial feel is upbeat and bouncy with plenty of cymbal sparkle. They ease up just slightly and head out into the clouds. Jerry works a wandering line through thematic territory. Nice fills from Keith and Billy remains pretty active. Phil asserts himself around 3:15 and they focus around it leading to an upward, spiraling charge that is compelling. From there they settle back with some nice playing from Keith. Phil sends out some bouncy notes and they start to swirl things up again with a pretty feel. There's some ebb and flow leading to nice, gentler lines from Jerry. They work in this space for a bit. Keith asserts himself again and the collective volume rises as they make a stronger statement. There's a touch of lower, bluesy notes from Jerry. Phil hints at some Elastic Ping Pong starting around 7:15, as noted by bzfgt. They hover and swirl with repeating movement and then let it go and move back into thematic territory around 8:20. The energy conveys a triumphant return although they hadn't wandered out too far. They rise to a mini-peak and then come back down to the theme and on to the verse. After the verse they reset and then seem to be considering how they want to let things dissolve. This turns into some repeating patterns that slowly give way to space. Jerry plays some stretchy notes that create a gentle, wailing feel. Billy works the cymbals and a lower, buzzing sound emanates forth that is somewhat reminiscent of a mouth harp. After a brief pause Bill starts working up a beat. He rides this for a spell; some string scraping enters to weird things up followed by assorted freaky sounds. It sounds like they've left space and entered a deep, spooky jungle. The intensity rises and they spin up an insect-y freakout. After 17 minutes or so the wah becomes more present and it feels like they're on a slow, winding path towards the Tiger. They rise up and freak further but the Tiger doesn't fully emerge. Instead they ease off and gather and then things start to rise again. By 18:40 or so Jerry seems ready to take another run at it. They freak further but keep it relatively mellow. Some buzzing bass enters and then they slowly let it go. They find a quieter place in this still freaky land and get into some staggered, atonal playing. It seems promising but they opt not to explore it further. Instead they let it subside and create an opening for Eyes Of The World to emerge. A pretty good version overall. I like the energy and feel of the opening and there’s some good Keith on the recording. The post-verse spacey, jungly freakout is the most interesting part even though they don’t fully unleash the Tiger. I’d have liked them to explore that final passage more but apparently they were ready to move on.
160. 1973-03-24 139595 Spectrum ~25:57 (I. Truckin’ jam ~22:00>II. Dark Star 3:57). Spanish Jam at I. 22:05. Main theme at II. :00. First verse at II. 2:09. Goes into Sing Me Back Home. The Truckin’ jam shifts into a different mode around 10 minutes in, and Garcia plays the Dark Star intro lick at 10:37, so we’ll pick it up there. (Track times are for the Truckin’ which is tracked as 32:37 on this recording, so something 30 seconds from where we are starting would be at 11:07). The band downshifts from the bluesy Truckin’ outro into moody and uncertain terrain at about 10:00, and when Jerry throws out part of the Dark Star intro lick shortly thereafter, it almost a quote, and it remains ambiguous whether the band is now playing Dark Star (or if they even gave this any thought, which is questionable). Lesh starts riffing, and Weir lays in some choppy soul rhythm licks. At 12:12 Garcia asserts himself more and a jam of the type I sometimes label “frenetic” is underway, although this remains at the same time very laid back. Phil, somewhat uncharacteristically, keeps a fairly consistent funky groove going here, and it all comes together nicely. The jam seems a bit more centered on B than we’d want if we were intent on calling it Dark Star, but in any case I doubt they were worried about how people were going to classify it 50 years later. Garcia starts to quiet down at around 13:45, and Godchaux comes to the fore. I can still hear Jerry a little bit up until about 14:20, after which he seems to have departed the scene. Then the jam starts to wind down at 15:30, and Lesh and Kreutzmann take over. Phil keeps doing a lot of the same kind of stuff he has been doing since this jam began, now accompanied only by the drums. The others start trickling back in a little after the 18-minute mark, and again they launch into a jam that is simultaneously laid back and frenetic. Garcia’s playing here is somewhat jazzy, and he is starting to play the kind of licks that will eventually cohere into Slipknot—for instance, see 21:47. Right around then is when Weir starts leading them into the first Spanish Jam since 1970, with Bob starting up riff at 22:05. This works up a good head of steam, although compared to the early versions it has a kind of loosely relaxed feel (but one important thing about the Dead in general is that they can generate a ton of energy regardless of how mellow or aggressive the gestalt of the era). The riff frays and disperses, and by 27:45 there are hints of a meltdown, but soon it seems like we’re headed into a mellow space section. Weir, Lesh and Garcia wind around each other; Godchaux is absent at this point. At 29:05 Weir starts playing a lick that is like a sped-up take on the Twilight Zone theme at first, and Garcia latches on with some triplets. Kreutzmann is back by now, mostly sticking to the cymbals, but Godchaux is still absent. Soon Kreutzmann drops out again for a while, and it’s back to the three guitarists, who weave together to mesmerizing effect. At 31:57 Garcia’s line elongates, and there are hints of a resolution, which gets a favorable crowd reaction. Finally Jerry drops into the Dark Star theme; either this comes deep into the song, or at the very beginning, depending on how you interpret what came before; I doubt the Dead troubled themselves over this question at all. Next comes the verse, and then it’s just about over. There is about 20-seconds of throat-clearing, more or less, and then Garcia takes them into Sing Me Back Home. Although this segment isn’t uniformly focused, it’s a very nice stretch of Grateful Dead music. Perhaps it was helpful not to focus on creating a Dark Star, but rather to let the music go wherever it wanted to until it seemed like a good time to bring in the song form and the verse. In this case, there is no post-verse jamming, so we have something a bit different here.
#160 3/24/73 Philadelphia PA This is an odd one to assess as a version of Dark Star, it's sort of in reverse, or inside out. There’s a small bit of DS groove leading into the actual verse in there, but it immediately heads off into “Sing Me Back Home.” Before this, however, there are 20+ minutes of instrumental jamming. After an extended Truckin’ end-jam they drop into space after minute 10, there are some feints to the Dark Star intro riff played at 10:40 or so but it never really coalesces, they just keep on spacing out and then some rhythm guitar starts in a fast groove. Fast lead playing happens. He gives way to Keith playing some riffs for a while, with several “Dark Star” indicators (Keith plays some modal licks, then even play arounds with the intro lick a bit again, in the late min 14 are with some melodic bits toward and 15:15 for the intro lick as examples) It gives way to an bass-n-drum solo that later picks up again in a sort of Dark Star mode, with fast groove playing, little tight lead licks (Slipknotty, a lot of Blue-for-Allah licks are emerging these days!), before heading into the more recognizable Spanish Jam chords after some diminished arpeggios from Jerry. Spanish Jam moves forward and gets quite intense, even approaching Tiger for a bit late in minute 27, before it all gives way. They pulled this one out of the hat, that must have been a surprise. From here it does go into a spacey section for several minutes that eventually emerges into the actual Dark Star groove. This section is mostly just the guitars, it has wah-flavored atonal notes moving in and out of tonal melodic fragments, quiet area and heading back to falling diminished chords and chromaticism in arpeggios from Jerry while Bob tries out several short melodic bits. After some little licks and feedback, Jerry starts the Dark Star theme. What? Oh we were here the whole time, didn’t you know? As far as being the Dark Star song, they come into it with that opening thematic lick and move into a pleasant groove, with some melodic lead playing that spins up into small whirlpools, and comes back down to emphasize the downbeat before the verse. Grooving straight into line one, they pause on line two, Bill plays a little to keep it going, and rolls into line three with a moderate groove and a little wandering toward the end of it. Refrain is punctuated by big drum hits, and into the outro it quiets up a bit, and spaces out for only a few seconds before Sing Me back Home starts. It almost sounded like it could go into Wharf Rat instead, but no. So that was it! Nice jam, good parts, sort of like the Dark Star sections were falling out of order (and of course the Spanish Jam ended up in there.)
