#102 1970-05-08 Farrell Hall, SUCNY Delhi, NY: #18:05 (missing start) AUD Very distorted audience recording, which starts with Dark Star in the middle of an incredibly strong riff, it almost sounds like a different song altogether. It drops into the theme and verse 1 appears only a minute into this tape. Hard to discern things in this recording, it sounds like everything is mushed into an underwater piano. Out of the verse, people clap, and it starts to go somewhere but falls away to the cymbal crashes and noise, into free improv space. Cymbals lead to feedback and odd sounds in an arhythmic space, volume swelled notes emerge, and bass feedback, it all sounds ring modulated by the tape distortion. More feedback, lots of weird and loud sounds. Sputnik emerging at 7:30, some notes a minute later, and chords, not sure where it’s going. Sounds like Bobby is playing that G7 so there’s some melodic things playing with the G-F#-Fnatural for a bit within the Dark Star chord progression. Claves are loud in the hall as well, as it builds into a jam, eventually with major chords. I think. Tighten up. Or something. Hard to tell. This jam goes on a long time. Break down at 17:30, people clap, the band disperses and the recording goes into Dancin’ in the Streets. Whew, that one was rough.
1970-05-08. Wow, blastoff from the start: throbbing noise & juggling rhythms & grinding distortion! Now this is a Dark Star recording like no other, sounding like a lo-fi heavy metal band, like it was taped on lava. It's a shame the opening is cut so short -- they get right to the theme. The audience is clapping along by the time they start the verse; I feel like we just missed some great climax. And (this is really rare) joyous applause when Jerry finishes the verse! You can tell just from that, this was one of those shows where band & audience were in communion. Big gong & chords after the verse, and space gets ushered in with feedback and hurricane tides. Totally distorted bass clipping the tape....guitars bellowing like whales....overdriven sitar tones after 5:50, banging percussion, feedback madness! Had to listen to this space a few times to take it in....this is not at all like the quiet & minimalist spaces we've been getting used to. (But who knows, maybe a soundboard tape would sound like that.) Awesome stuff! At 7:30 Jerry's got his Sputnik going, the transitional border between space & the regular jam. Very weird & trippy for a minute; the rest of the band's still out in the noise realms. But by 8:30 Jerry's pointing the way to prettier, structured musical ground. One great thing about this is that the audience keeps responding through the space -- whenever there's a highlight they cheer the band on, "yay!" Sounds like the band's getting into the kind of two-chord pattern they've usually been doing at this point, kind of close to the Dark Star theme. But instead of rockin' it out this time, they're keeping the tempo moderate -- this is more of a mellow slow-dance jam. Jerry's clearly playing some nice stuff though it doesn't come across so well on this recording. The claves show up (surprisingly clear) and it's obvious they're working their way to Soulful Strut, which appears around 11 minutes. By 12 minutes the drummers are getting active and the band's getting noisier in general, which means an already challenging tape is becoming a din of white noise & static. But wow, underneath that, there's some heavy peaking going on around 13:30, it sounds like they've shifted to double-time! And Soulful Strut rolls on & on....this would rival Harpur if there were a soundboard. Another fine passage after 15:40 when they come out of Soulful Strut, slow down like they're entering the Dark Star theme again, but bam Feelin' Groovy turns up instead, very chill and stately! This one's very nice: Mickey's banging away & Jerry's doing a Caribbean-sounding lead. (It does sound a bit more like the UJB chords on this recording, which is possible, but I think Feelin' Groovy is much more likely.) This theme comes to an end at 17:20 and the band puts out some feelers -- and the crowd goes "yay!" again, obviously very aware of what they're hearing. There's a cute moment when Jerry plays the opening lick of Dancin' in the Streets and the band's uncertain -- are we going to finish Dark Star or what? -- and Phil goes back into Dark Star but gets vetoed as the others start Dancin' on top of him. Incredible version. Otherworldly noise and buried beauty. A must-hear if you can take it.
I'd like other opinions on this because it seems far more likely. However, I was straining to hear, and I got a bead on Phil to be sure, and I couldn't hear the FG progression here.
#102 1970-05-08 Woah, this recording is indeed bad. Nonetheless we are transported into what seems like a hot opening segment with a repeating peak in progress. And a sense of oomph still manages to make it through this fuzzy, distorted monster. After the verse it feels like space gets quickly intense and that it also may have taken place within a jet engine. Gong washes and various feedback and weirdness muddy together, some bell tolling breaks through and it gets louder with I think an extended flourish of gong. The crowd seems into it and there's a palpable sense of drama. As things proceed the recording paints a picture of intense, other-worldly mechanical sounds. It does seem like this was a really good space segment. Around 7:30 Jerry starts Sputnik and the trebly sparkle cuts through the murk while various fuzzy weirdness continues to accompany it. At times it sounds like a loud finger piano. By 8:30 or so things are getting more melodious and they drift back into Dark Star territory. Weir's rhythm is apparent and Jerry takes a high, winding line and a jam coalesces. It seems like it had a nice feel with emotive playing. By 11:10 they've shifted into Soulful Strut which feels a like a good fit with what preceded it. The uplifting vibe struggles to break through the recording but we get hints of what was likely lovely. It seems like Jerry is soaring. After 16:00 the jam does sound more UJB-like but I agree it could still be a difficult to discern Feelin' Groovy, especially since UJB itself was coming a few songs later. Difficult to say. In any event it runs its course and we get a hint of Dark Star again but they opt to forgo a closing passage and the second verse and move on to Dancing In The Street. It appears that this one had a good opening segment, a compelling space and a potentially wonderful middle portion. A strong final section could have topped it off nicely but perhaps they felt they'd said enough.
It's like listening to a rock band on a 1900 Edison cylinder! Hard to tell quite what the chords are in the murk....Phil's pretty much buried in fog, and Bob's ambiguous. So you have to go by your intuition rather than your hearing.... I think it is a Feelin' Groovy that's being played a little differently than usual (especially by Jerry)...from what I can tell it's a lovely version. But the UJB a few songs later doesn't sound THAT different. For practical purposes I won't object to people calling it a unique UJB jam in this case, though I doubt it is.
103. 1970-05-15 youtube Fillmore East 19:40 Main theme at :05 and 2:46. First verse at 3:05. Feelin’ Groovy/UJB jam at 15:14. Bright Star at 17:13. Main theme at 17:45. Second verse at 17:58. Goes into St. Stephen. The obvious step finally taken, this Dark Star begins with the main theme straight off. It has been interesting to watch the development of the intro jam—after the very early versions, it seemed to be straying farther out for a while; lately, however, it’s been increasingly pegged to the theme. This isn’t to say that it has gone back to basics; rather, I am tempted to say that the theme has returned in sublated form, as in the third stage of a Hegelian dialectic. I shall resist this temptation, however—while it would be an illuminating remark, all it would really bring to light is the fact that I have at least skimmed the Wikipedia entry on Hegel. What I really mean to say is that the intro has not been stripped back, but it seems to have been decided that the theme will serve as both the backbone and as a constant touchstone that keeps the band closer to home in the early going. They have not abandoned all exploration, but they don’t stray too far from home ground in most of the recent renditions. The band sounds confident, and they are mostly content with the two-chord pattern here. This lovely intro is entirely a rumination on the song structure, and Garcia touches on the verse melody at :40, 1:57, and 2:30. Although they do not crash into the E minor, they strongly suggest it after the second of these. They go to the verse rather early here, without ever really wandering out, and yet if this jam is in a way basic, it is nevertheless masterful—sometimes it is sufficient to play beautifully and well (is it always sufficient? Maybe not, but it would be difficult to think of a counter-example!). They have gotten extremely good at subtracting most of the music as they initiate the space section. Although they do not even keep a pulse going, they still manage to maintain an almost uncanny momentum during these quiet sections. Tonight, as more sounds start to enter space it feels like an organic progression. This segment is brief tonight, however; at 8:34, Garcia starts a rolling lead that serves as a de facto Sputnik, although this time what he plays is not the Sputnik pattern. At 9:24 Garcia strongly asserts the A as though they’re going to the main theme, but he soon adverts to a more Sputnik-like series, although this also doesn’t last long, with the guitar moving back to a more classic Dark Star lead. Weir starts up a chunky but gentle palm muted rhythm that pushes into the middle jam. The drummers back this with insistent percussion at first, but they avoid the kits as the band chimes and bounces without quite breaking out. At 12:34 Garcia lays in some Sputnik-y rolls; the theme of this jam seems to be a blend of Sputnik and a straightforward Dark Star jam. At 13:00 Jerry breaks out a double time Sputnik, but he then moves almost immediately to the stabbing that sometimes comes at the end of this section. Weir joins in, but they calm down again quickly; at 13:49 Garcia quotes the main theme, reminding us of the other pole of this jam. The drums start to assert themselves and the jam picks up steam, but as the music intensifies the light and airy mood is somehow maintained. At 15:14 Weir—taking a hint, I think, from Garcia—seamlessly moves them into Feelin’ Groovy. Like last time (04-24), this starts to sound more like an UJB jam than Feelin’ Groovy—enough so that I am not sure how to tag it, since the band sidesteps out of it almost immediately thereafter. There is a moment of hovering, and then—beautifully, inevitably—Garcia climbs, and a Bright Star is born. The band sounds great throughout, and the ensuing tempo reduction seems to be a matter of consensus. Garcia sings wonderfully, and Dark Star comes to a close again. Although in some ways this could be considered a conservative rendition, it is nevertheless a tour de force; to some extent, the impression of conservatism can be attributed to how skillfully they navigate the transitions, and to how seamlessly the parts fit together. Ideas don’t seem to be lacking, even if not many new ones are proposed; the band sounds inspired, reveling in the structures that at other times they take pleasure in subverting. The clarity of the recording certainly doesn’t hurt, as the splendor of the playing and singing is rendered in full color here. All in all, this is a beautiful Dark Star.
So I've renamed the previous one FG/UJB, also. I think this one confirms the mutation, or conflation, or whatever it is, without fully legitimating "UJB jam"....I'd like to hear from @Archtop about these, as in harmonic matters he keeps a cool head.
First time I've ever been accused of that. That's decidedly Feelin' Groovy from ~15:14-16:47. Although the rhythmic pulse of FG and the UJB intro are nearly identical (coincidence? I think not), UJB features an upwardly-moving bassline (I don't just mean Phil): G Bmin* C D, while FG features either a downward (D A/C# Bmin A) or staggered (D A Bmin A) bassline. In these earlier versions, Weir often didn't use the A/C# voicing, but on 5/15/70, you can hear him doing both iterations. * The Bmin in UJB always sounds a bit nebulous to me; I think they're doing something with it. [EDIT:] I think I figured it out. It sounds like Jerry starts UJB with G Bmin C D but when he launches into a lead, Bob continues with G D C D and Phil suggests a B over the first D more often than not, which tricks the ear into hearing what you first heard instead of what you're now hearing. All that said, the issue at hand is Feeling Groovy, not UJB.
OK. But GDCD would suggest UJB, wouldn't it? The D seems to contradict A since A is part of D, but D isn't part of A. What I'm missing here is the descending line we've had in the previous versions up until this one. It doesn't sound exactly like UJB either maybe, I'm not sure, but it seems different from previous FGs and has a kind of UJB feel more than they have. So should I just change it to FG simpliciter?
You misunderstand me. My * footnote is an explanation of UJB as it is actually played, but that has nothing to do with the 5/15/70 Dark Star segment you were asking about. That segment is without a shadow of a doubt Feelin' Groovy. Not to jump ahead, but listen to the 9/19/70 Dark Star from 16:09-. Weir is primarily playing FG as D A Bmin A, although it sounds as if he occasionally throws in the the A/C# as the second chord of that sequence. For the purposes of your question, ignore my * footnote. That was a revelation to me as to what UJB is.
I see, I thought you were saying Weir played GDCD on the DS, as you correctly surmised. Yeah, I don't know what was going on, but I didn't hear it the same as previous FGs as there didn't seem to be the clear descending progression. In any case, I'll take your word for what's going on there and move on. I supppose I'll edit them to just say "FG." * I think on the studio version there's definitely GDCD, but on live ones Jerry plays D Bmin C D for sure. Listen to ones where Jerry initiates it with chords rather than playing lead right away.
See, now we're moving away from Dark Star because there's so much overlap in their music, but the studio version of UJB is very nebulous to me. The acoustic guitars are in opposite channels and Jerry's lead, when it comes in, is centered, so we have Jer and Bob still playing the chords in the two channels when the lead part enters. I don't think that they are playing the same thing as a rhythm part. Maybe one is playing a D and the other a Bmin, or maybe it's a bit more complicated. There's no question that when Jerry starts it live, it's G Bmin C D. My only excuse for going off-topic is that Dark Star is always happening, but back to our regularly-scheduled programming.
Right, I think they may playing different things on the studio version, but I haven't listened to it in a long time....from memory I wouldn't be sure Garcia plays any chords there. But it sounds plausible he plays Bmin against D. They're pretty close, if you were playing an A-shaped barre chord of a D you could barre the top string and put in a Bmin triad (i.e. DF#B) without much fuss.
I listened to the studio version of UJB several times this very nochy in response to your request and trust me, Jer and Bob play different things.
#103 1970-05-15 Fillmore East: 19:40 – Road Trips Vol.3 No.3 (also AUD) Super long evenings at the Fillmore East, acoustic sets, New Riders’ set, Dead electric set. This Dark Star is after “Next Time You See Me”, a classic 12 bar blues, toward the end of the electric set. Joking about the alligator in the audience…a couple of intro teases, then they stick the intro riff and head into the track, at a decent tempo, not too slow, nice and relaxed. It only takes a few seconds and Jerry heads off into melody land. It’s a good mix, shakers control the pulse and the guitars seem to be working together moving forward, into a few small whirlpools that build up and down into big Dark Star thematic areas, the gliss to the A starts the riff to the verse at 3 minutes. Sort of a rough vocal intro (long night!) with mild accompaniment for the verse, but nicely orchestrated. JG’s guitar sounds like a banjo on the chords in there on the “Shall we go”! Jam starts, the band goes in and backs away leaving the space to change as the cymbals blow it away and the guitars become bells. Space has small sounds in it, mostly little feedbacks and swells. Some odd percussion come in. It’s an extended area of stasis, with notes only coming in with volume swells, even bass swells. Using the odd metal scrubbing sounds to build clouds of frequencies. At 8:40 or so Jerry is coming in with a melodic idea, backed for a while by feedback swirls, it develops into a Sputnik-like arpeggio, but he breaks out of the arpeggio into slow lead playing and the band starts to come in by about 10:30 with a groove on A to G. Claves and eventually a drum set join, Bobby starts playing with the 7ths on the chords, going for that G7 again. It’s a relatively mellow latin-type jam on this progression for quite a while. JG sputniks again at 13 minutes and goes into double time banjo picking, then into three-against-two chordal stabs. By 14:30 there’s hints of the Dark Star theme. They bring it down a bit, but it’s fluidly moving forward still and it heads to the Feeling Groovy feel and chords a half minute later. It breaks away at 17 min or so, and hits the Bright Star theme at 17:15, a relatively slow and solid statement, still in the old groove. The bring it down in tempo with the theme and head toward verse 2 at 18 min. Classic verse treatment, some nice wandering on the third line after a strong rhythmic second line. Good outro and outro vocals, into scrubbing the static chords instead of just hitting them one by one, with cymbals, and into a short St Stephen, Not Fade Away and Lovelight. Nice but ultimately fairly mellow version. Great space section.
#103 1970-05-15 And off they go into the main theme. It feels luxurious and symphonic to be back in a good quality recording again. There is a buoyancy to the bass line and a light and dreamy feel to the early proceedings. Bob and some percussion provide the textures while Jerry gently wanders out on a high line and Phil interweaves the low end. Around 2:05 things start to rev up a little via a repeating pattern and Jerry spirals upwards into the verse melody before returning to the main theme. A brief but lovely opening. After the verse Bob and Phil do their thing and the gong comes in followed by some subtle bell tolling and percussion. Things quickly fall to near silence accented by just a hint of gong and occasional pings from the guitar. Slowly more sounds start to enter but everyone is taking their time and what's not played is as impactful as what is. There are some spacey, swirly sounds and chimes and things start to build a little through feedback, volume knobs and other instrumentation. Then at 8:34 Jerry breaks out with a gentle, delicate line that slowly builds as the others play off it and the percussion gives it a bit of a Spanish feel. After 9:20 it sounds like it's heading back into Dark Star but this recedes into a gentle Sputnik-like repeating line that is quite pretty. By 10:00 they're shifting back towards Dark Star again; Jerry works a wandering line and Bob asserts a rhythmic pattern and things start to coalesce into a jam. The pace starts to quicken and there's some raspiness to Bob's guitar and Jerry and Phil are interweaving lines high and low. There's a certain gentleness and simplicity to the jam but it has a pretty feel. Around 12:35 Jerry goes higher and it sounds Sputnik-esque but stays rooted within the jam. Bob's rhythm continues to be prominent which helps with that rooting. After 13:00 Jerry starts playing the Sputnik-ish line much more quickly which spills out into some stop and start notes that Bob joins in on as well. Phil sounds really good underneath it all too. Before long things shift back closer to feel of the ongoing jam and there's a brief hint of the main theme at 13:50 but they keep rolling. Things are building again and it sounds lovely and then they downshift a little opening up a space for a seamless transition into Feelin' Groovy. I agree that it's very UJB-ish again at various points but I would still call this FG. They are soaring now and it sounds wonderful. After 16:30 they start bringing it down and by 16:45 they enter this swirling zone creating a base camp for Jerry to suddenly ascend into Bright Star. It's brief and stays within the overall vibe of the performance but still brings that triumphant feeling. And then before long they take it down into the main theme and on to the second verse. It's a really nice, pretty version. It doesn't get crazy out there or intense but the overall feel is lovely.
104. 1970-05-24 6481 Newcastle, UK 21:26 Main theme at 4:22. First verse at 5:27. Sputnik at 11:13. Soulful Strut at 14:39. Bright Star at 19:20. Main theme at 19:36. Second verse at 19:54. Goes into St. Stephen. This comes on fast and furious as they waste no time in getting into a groove, and by 1:25 Garcia has already ascended to the heights and unleashed a variant of Bright Star. From here the intro seems to be all peak. At 3:34, Garcia starts hammering on a dominant 7th (G) and Lesh, and then Weir, double him. The recording goes off a bit shortly thereafter, but everything is still audible in any case. The band swings into the theme, and then takes it way down for a while before Garcia finally sings the verse. The band gets kind of crazy in the little section between the return of the intro theme and space, with some feedback squalls beginning before we get to the space proper, which proves to be a rather feedbacky affair overall. Weir, I think, yells “Hey, watch where you’re going, ****er!” as space gets underway; I wonder whom he is addressing. Someone has an amp humming, whether intentionally or not, which kind of ties the space together this time. The band seems to rediscover the possibilities of feedback here; in lieu of a keyboard player, they get a good variety of sounds going tonight. At about 11:13 Garcia initiates something along the lines of Sputnik, and this gets more Sputnik-like as it goes. As this turns into a more quotidian Dark Star jam, Lesh sounds really fuzzy, and one wonders if an amp has been blown. At about 13:20 Weir is laying in some dreamy Sputnikish stuff under Garcia’s line, which soon turns to a funkier chop. Just before 14 minutes it seems like they’re angling toward a modular jam, and a two-chord pattern emerges which suggests Soulful Strut, although without the Soulful Strut cadence at first. It sounds a bit like the pattern used in the famous Beautiful Jam of 1971-02-18, which is itself probably some kind of variant of Soulful Strut. At 14:39 they fully commit to Soulful Strut. This turns into a magnificent version. At about 17:40 they start moving into something else, but it’s not clear what that is; it becomes a bubbly jam, then pedals along between a I and a vii chord until at 18:50 Weir starts playing his Dancin’ in the Street lick. Finally, at 19:20 Garcia plays Bright Star, but he almost immediately switches to the main theme and brings us to the second verse. This isn’t the best Dark Star I’ve ever heard, but it isn’t chopped liver. There is a rather magnificent Soulful Strut, and some interesting interstices where possibilities seem to gather, although they don’t get explored very patiently. In any case, there’s nothing here to complain about!
The Hollywood Festival had some, um, interesting inflatables by the stage. Can you imagine watching and listening to Dark Star with that giant phallic balloon in your line of sight?
#104 1970-05-24 Newcastle-Under-Lyme, UK: 21:21 First overseas gig! At a big festival (where they played after Black Sabbath and Free!) Freaking out the Brits. After Cold Rain and Snow, entering the late part of the set, Dark Star starts clean and together at a relatively brisk pace. Outdoor versions, always interesting. Jerry steps back after the intro and gathers his thoughts before coming in, the band is jamming away. They almost immediately build a wave up in the thematic world. High intensity, they are really pounding it out. (Relatively.) Drums come in in the two minute area, necessarily, I imagine. Lovely runs from JG, the whole band is playing full on with drive. Jerry’s whirlpools are intense examinations of specific notes or areas. Theme statement on breakdown at 4:15 or so, onwards to the verse, after reining in the tempo and volume a bit. Verse comes in after some cymbal splashes and more quieter jamming, at 5:20. Really upbeat line one, making the break to the e minor on line two really dramatic. and the wandering on line three breaks it up even more, where it seems like the “Shall we go” is a baroque way of rebuilding, though Phil is heavy on these area. Heavy counterpoint intro, directly to cymbals and feedback and noise, and into space with droning bass tones and feedback and metal sounds. (I heard someone say something like “Watch where you’re going!” but assuming that was about a physical presence on the stage, not to fellow musicians.) Cymbal or gong making phase-waves like a jet plane, lots of noisy metal stuff. Must have been amazing in the outdoor speaker system (this is an audience cassette! It sounds really good.) Bass and guitars enter with sound, feedback, on top of each other, it’s a pretty active space, really active cymbal play, with washes and hits. A flexatone! OMG, he’s getting out there with his percussion toys. Sputnik enters at 11 minutes, still with odd bass noises and cymbals. And Bob soloing. He slows it down to a sort of old style Sputnik, but is playing with some flatted notes and goes into chord stabs. Lead emerges and the band drops back in, still at quite a high energy level. Bobby is on some dissonant chord for a while before it settles more right before the 14 minute are for a more classic jam heading to A and b minor before making that b minor into a G maj7 and the A into Amaj7 the Tighten Up jam comes forth, with a lot of explicit ‘bom, ba-bom’ (“It’s not unusual to be loved by anyone”) rhythmic motif statements. At 18 minutes, Jerry seems to want to take it back to Dark Star, and it sort of strays around for a while before getting there, including a lengthy feedback tone. At 19:30, out of dying out chaos, Jerry emerges with a quiet Bright Star that just goes into the intro theme area and to verse 2 at 20:00. Sort of sudden! Nice verse rendition, interesting bit-by-bit wandering lines on line 3. All vocals, making the multi-part madrigal outro and launching it to the guitar counterpoint and the chords that lead to St Stephen. (Which song ends up heading off to Not Fade Away after 6 minutes, and eventually into a half-hour Lovelight.) Man this must have been an amazing festival. This was a great and high energy version of Dark Star, unusual lately—or in general.
It was, I was there! I’d gone just to see the Dead although the whole festival was a joy. I’d bought Anthem in 1968 then Live Dead when it came out so I was very familiar with all that material. What surprised me was that they started with a whole bunch of unfamiliar short songs. The friends I was with weren’t that impressed. Then came The Other One which I loved but the Dark Star through to Lovelight blew me away. It’s still my ‘go to’ show for the memories it evokes. Shame the film crew got too dosed to film the best parts but grateful for what we do have from this show. Only regret is that I didn’t go down the front to watch them close-up.
dang. (jealous). Also the show is pretty long, I'd say longer than allowed at most festival line-ups. I somehow doubt Black Sabbath did 2 hours. But maybe! The dosed cameraman thing spoils a lot of potential rock show footage, Altamont included!
Might as well get this up, though it's early: 105. 1970-06-24 23062 Port Chester, NY 1. 10:01 (9:46) 2. 6:39 3. 30 (Feelin’ Groovy…first 30 seconds of track “Sugar Magnolia”) 4. 3:03 Main theme at 4:00 and 6:11. First verse at 6:29. Bright Star at 2. 2:30. Soulful Strut at 2. 2:54. Feelin’ Groovy at 3. :30. Bright Star at 4. :30. Main theme at 4. 1:14. Second verse at 4. 1:29. Goes into Attics of My Life, Sugar Magnolia and St. Stephen. This is a renowned show despite the quality of the recording. This begins rather brashly, it seems, although audience recordings have a tendency to skew that way. Garcia and Weir lock into a funky little thing at around 1:30, and then Jerry goes spinning up into the stratosphere. Lesh and Weir keep up a perky counterpoint throughout the early innings, and when Garcia gets more ruminative Weir keeps him honest with some chunky riffing. There’s a stirring peak at 3:45 which leads into the main theme. It’s notable that the theme is not really even hinted at prior to then, in contrast to several recent Dark Stars. They wander away from the theme, and as we cross the 5 minute Rubicon there is a little dip in intensity that sets them up for a wind-up that takes us back to the theme by 6:11. This time it leads into the verse. The post-verse space demonstrates that Mickey has found his gongs; at 8:42 someone in the audience is heard to remark “Oh, my God!” Relief is on the horizon, however, as the band goes into Attics of My Life after a couple minutes of space. As Attics ends the band gets right back into Dark Star. They start out playing the main chord pattern, and it evolves into a vigorous jam, with Weir again playing chunky chords. It is possible to see Attics as a proxy for space here, and now we’re heading into the middle jam. It’s a rather full tilt affair, with Garcia howling and driving as he starts to whip up Bright Star already at 2. 2:30. Before he’s done, Weir is already cooking up Soulful Strut. By around 2. 5:00 this has gotten really intense, as they reach a polyphonic peak, and after a little dip they bring it back up again by 2: 5:50. Garcia unleashes some crazy runs at about 6:35 before they go into Feelin’ Groovy. This is tracked as Sugar Magnolia, and after 30 seconds they go into the latter. Sugar Magnolia transforms into a jam which isn’t clearly Dark Star at first; once again, the change comes about 30 seconds into the track, when Garcia returns to Bright Star. This settles down into the main theme, and then the second verse takes us out. This Port Chester show sees the band playing ferociously, and the Dark Star here, while it may not be very exploratory, spread as it is among various segues, is a hot one. The playing is downright vicious at times. Not to be missed.
#105 1970-06-24 Port Chester: 19:57 (9:45 > Attics > 7:09 > Sugar Magnolia > 3:03) AUD Some stage banter beforehand and then a count and launching into the intro riff (where oddly, Jerry plays an E in place of D on the high note in the first go-round) into the groove with people clapping along, grooving. Some nice majestic riffs in the lead part, then taking it down into a long multi-headed hydra of the three guitars improvising with occasional references to the thematic material. Super long slow build to the theme before four minutes, back down to start a new jam with slightly more broken up rhythmic parts, taking it down in volume further, with JG on high small notes. Bobby starts going for some more dissonant chords. Back to the theme in a minute and the verse starts after six minutes. Nice relaxed reading of the verse, with some great post-vocal bass and rhythm wandering within line 3. A popped balloon during “Shall we go” elicits yells, the band goes on, out of the verse into the ‘nightfall’ intro and to directly dissipating music, into small noises from bass and percussion. Percussion heavy with Chinese cymbals in there with the weird sounds, a bystander near the mics says “oh, my god!” at 8:30. Classic! It’s building to an active noise jam and then off to volume swell melodic guitar, and then slow intro to Attics of my Life, nice transition where the melody comes in slowly and it could possibly be just another jam section, but people recognize it and start clapping before the singing comes in. The song plods along for 5 minutes, and then switches right back into a Dark Star jam, which picks up the tempo over then next few minutes or so, ripping it up. Sort of a Bright Star at 2:30 into this part, then into a Tighten Up jam, which builds over time to some nice peaks. After the 6 minute wave cresting, it gets back to a Dark Star theme bit and then the Feeling Groovy bass line and chords, but then this is supplanted by the sliding into the A intro to Sugar Magnolia and into that groove, working out the melody and then going into the verse. And eventually another, and into a chorus, and back to the A at which point they head back into more jamming. The root stays at A, but they soon realize they were in the middle of Dark Star and head back there as a groove idea, with some Sugar-y curlicues before the theme proper comes back in, and we get verse 2! (yay!) A very rhythmic pulsed version, with people clapping along, and side stick drums in throughout. Nice outro and into St Stephen, and people realize it and freak out. St Stephen heads off to China Cat, IKYR, and they end with UJB. It’s a series of hits, the audience claps along the whole time. Must have been an amazing show to be present at.
#104 1970-05-24 Quick pace out of the gate and they are soon off to the races. It's less cerebral and more just going for it but the multi-textured layers are still there. Bob's rhythm is moving fast (I guess it's also possible the recording is a little fast) and by 1:20 Jerry's wandering line is strongly reaching upwards to good effect. The collective groove is happening. After 2:00 they ease up a little (relative to the performance) and settle into a nice groove. Jerry goes lower for a spell and the momentum builds again. More ebb and flow and groove goes on. After 3:30 Jerry's doing this high, repetitive thing and everyone rises up energetically. They keep cooking into the main theme and then slow up and take their time moving on to the verse. After the verse things quickly slide into edgy, swirling feedback kind of like breaking through a portal into another spacey land. Once through they quiet down; there's some slight bell tolling and gong washes. Cymbals clang and other assorted sounds start to enter the fray. Lots of feedback, some more tolling and other weirdness. Space also feels less contemplative and more active in its freakiness. After 11:00 Sputnik starts to emerge, becoming more pronounced as it goes on and there's a humming rev underneath it. It adds to the freaky vibe and is even a little spooky. Around 12:20 Phil steps forward and a Dark Star flavored jam comes together. It picks up momentum and Bobby starts accenting and then after 13:40 they downshift and you can feel them ready to head elsewhere. They are edging towards Soulful Strut but they explore this transitional space on the way there. It sounds really nice. By 14:40 Soulful Strut is upon us and it works its lovely, uplifting wonderfulness. After 16:00 it seems to be slowing but they take it back up for another peak. The groove isn't always completely smooth but the vibe is really good. They ease up and then take it up one more time. This thing has legs! Around 17:50 it appears to have run its course and they move into a revvy repeating thing that functions as a segue but they don't immediately move on to something else. Instead they kind of hover in a semi-groove perhaps thinking about how they want to wrap it up. Bob's Dancing lick crops up as bzfgt pointed out and then after 19:10 they almost come to a stop. Out of this space Jerry suddenly slips into a baby Bright Star that quickly shifts into the main theme and on to the second verse. It seems like they knew they were done but tacked that on real quick to give it a proper ending. I liked this one; it's not top-tier but it's an energetic version with some good stuff. It also has a much different feel than the Fillmore East performance nine days prior, showing that time, place and headspace are key ingredients to Dark Star as well.
