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The only time Dark Star was performed as an encore, at the Greek Theatre on the Cal Berkeley campus, 7/13/84. They hadn't played it since NYE '81 and wouldn't play it again until the "Formerly the Warlocks" shows at Hampton  Coliseum on the Fall '89 tour. 

It was Friday the 13th and there was a full moon. There was a shooting star before the encore and some have speculated that that might have been the inspiration for them to play it. My old tape copy included Phil asking for the audience's patience because they're going to do something special, "one night only," but my CD-R doesn't have it and neither does this recording. I think I recorded it to tape from the Grateful Dead Hour back in about '89 and I was thinking that David Gans gave an explanation for why they played it that night, like a celestial event they knew about ahead of time, but that was a long time ago and my memory is fuzzy. I can't find any explanation online.

Just like when they busted it out in Hampton, listen to the crowd go nuts when they start the song. 

 

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On 3/17/2019 at 9:33 PM, Hate said:

Twenty five years ago tonight I was in Chicago watching the Grateful Dead at Rosemont Horizon!  It was the second night in a row that we had gone to and it was just fantastic.  It had a really great set list.  I know it was 94 Dead and everybody hates it, but I don't care.  It was a great show and will always be one of my favorite memories.  Here is the show if anyone is interested.

https://archive.org/details/gd94-03-17.sbd.ladner.8023.sbeok.shnf

Just saw this.  That was my first show. It was my senior year of high school and my brother and I drove up.  I got a nice SBD back when my brother traded DATs.  The second set holds up really well and the Morning Dew closer was incredible.  

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Anybody go to the Bob Weir show at Bass Concert Hall last night?  I had tickets but couldn't make it.  Setlist looked good, not great.  But was curious about the actual performance and the venue itself.  Bass works really well for some stuff, and is just awful for other things.  

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18 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

The only time Dark Star was performed as an encore, at the Greek Theatre on the Cal Berkeley campus, 7/13/84. They hadn't played it since NYE '81 and wouldn't play it again until the "Formerly the Warlocks" shows at Hampton  Coliseum on the Fall '89 tour. 

It was Friday the 13th and there was a full moon. There was a shooting star before the encore and some have speculated that that might have been the inspiration for them to play it. My old tape copy included Phil asking for the audience's patience because they're going to do something special, "one night only," but my CD-R doesn't have it and neither does this recording. I think I recorded it to tape from the Grateful Dead Hour back in about '89 and I was thinking that David Gans gave an explanation for why they played it that night, like a celestial event they knew about ahead of time, but that was a long time ago and my memory is fuzzy. I can't find any explanation online.

Just like when they busted it out in Hampton, listen to the crowd go nuts when they start the song. 

 

Any word on why they stopped playing Dark Star, which may be the definitive GD song, for such long periods of time? I was lucky enough to hear it in Chicago on 3\16\94.

https://archive.org/details/gd94-03-16.sbd.ladner.7778.sbeok.shnf/gd94-03-16d2t03.shn

In a similar vein, I recall a discussion a TOS about Cosmic Charlie and how they just stopped playing it in the early 70's, but I don't recall the reason.

Edited by Hate
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13 hours ago, Hate said:

Any word on why they stopped playing Dark Star, which may be the definitive GD song, for such long periods of time? I was lucky enough to hear it in Chicago on 3\16\94.

https://archive.org/details/gd94-03-16.sbd.ladner.7778.sbeok.shnf/gd94-03-16d2t03.shn

In a similar vein, I recall a discussion a TOS about Cosmic Charlie and how they just stopped playing it in the early 70's, but I don't recall the reason.

I think the simplest answer is probably that Jerry just didn't feel like playing it. I think it's a shame they never played it in '77 when they were sounding so tight yet so relaxed. I would've loved to have heard how that would sound. 

They were already playing it less frequently before the '75 hiatus. They played it 19 times in '73 but only 5 times in '74. Then they recorded Blues for Allah in '75 and Help > Slip gave Jerry a new jam vehicle to play with. They brought St. Stephen back in '76. That had been shelved since '71. They also started playing The Wheel from Jerry's first solo album in '76. 

And there were other new songs to play. Garcia's solo album Reflections came out in '76. That introduced Might as Well, Mission in the Rain, They Love Each Other, It Must Have Been the Roses, and Comes a Time into the repertoire. Bobby's Kingfish album came out around the same time and that brought Lazy Lightening > Supplication.

Then came Terrapin Station in '77 and that gave Jerry a big set piece to play in a spot where Dark Star might otherwise have appeared. The Terrapin album also brought Estimated Prophet and they started pairing that with Eyes. They also started playing Fire on the Mountain in '77 and that got paired up with Scarlet Begonias. (Iko Iko was also introduced in '77.)

So they were sort of evolving into the more formulaic set structure starting in '78 where Drums & Space divided the second set. They had newer songs they wanted to play and Dark Star would've taken up a lot of time and space, pun intended. I also think Jerry probably felt like they'd explored the song pretty thoroughly. When they got their MIDI instruments in '89 it gave Jerry more sonic colors in his musical palette to play with and he got excited about jamming again and brought it back so they could explore new territory. 

I caught a Dark Star Jam in Cleveland in '91 and a half Dark Star in Cleveland in '92. Maybe sometime I'll take the time to tell the story of how I missed the full Dark Star, with Bruce Hornsby, in Raleigh in '93. 

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6 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

I think the simplest answer is probably that Jerry just didn't feel like playing it. I think it's a shame they never played it in '77 when they were sounding so tight yet so relaxed. I would've loved to have heard how that would sound. 

They were already playing it less frequently before the '75 hiatus. They played it 19 times in '73 but only 5 times in '74. Then they recorded Blues for Allah in '75 and Help > Slip gave Jerry a new jam vehicle to play with. They brought St. Stephen back in '76. That had been shelved since '71. They also started playing The Wheel from Jerry's first solo album in '76. 

And there were other new songs to play. Garcia's solo album Reflections came out in '76. That introduced Might as Well, Mission in the Rain, They Love Each Other, It Must Have Been the Roses, and Comes a Time into the repertoire. Bobby's Kingfish album came out around the same time and that brought Lazy Lightening > Supplication.

Then came Terrapin Station in '77 and that gave Jerry a big set piece to play in a spot where Dark Star might otherwise have appeared. The Terrapin album also brought Estimated Prophet and they started pairing that with Eyes. They also started playing Fire on the Mountain in '77 and that got paired up with Scarlet Begonias. (Iko Iko was also introduced in '77.)

So they were sort of evolving into the more formulaic set structure starting in '78 where Drums & Space divided the second set. They had newer songs they wanted to play and Dark Star would've taken up a lot of time and space, pun intended. I also think Jerry probably felt like they'd explored the song pretty thoroughly. When they got their MIDI instruments in '89 it gave Jerry more sonic colors in his musical palette to play with and he got excited about jamming again and brought it back so they could explore new territory. 

I caught a Dark Star Jam in Cleveland in '91 and a half Dark Star in Cleveland in '92. Maybe sometime I'll take the time to tell the story of how I missed the full Dark Star, with Bruce Hornsby, in Raleigh in '93

5db.jpg

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I’ve been going through Spotify and listening to Europe 72 Dark Stars and Other Ones as I work on stuff most nights. 

Tonight I detoured to 2/26/73 DiP28 Dark Star.  The pre-verse section is phenomenal-very jazzy and ~19min.  After the verse is mostly space, but picks up and then flawlessly segues into Eyes.  Not sure why, but I bought very few Dick’s picks after #14 so I am unfamiliar with this one.  Glad they are available to stream.

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I was listening to a St. Stephen that I have on CD but had never listened to before for some reason.  It's off of Live Dead (2/27/69 just a few months before I was born) and at the end of the song it has this weird Revolutionary War sounding verse or two that I had never heard before.  Anyway, I'm drinking whiskey and jamming some Dead tonight.  Anyone have any recommendations??  I've never really listened to any of the Hornsby shows for some reason I can't explain.  Maybe it's some sort of weird loyalty to Brent even though all 3 of my GS shows were Welnick era shows.  Anyone have a good suggestion for a really good Hornsy show? 

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19 hours ago, Hate said:

I was listening to a St. Stephen that I have on CD but had never listened to before for some reason.  It's off of Live Dead (2/27/69 just a few months before I was born) and at the end of the song it has this weird Revolutionary War sounding verse or two that I had never heard before.  Anyway, I'm drinking whiskey and jamming some Dead tonight.  Anyone have any recommendations??  I've never really listened to any of the Hornsby shows for some reason I can't explain.  Maybe it's some sort of weird loyalty to Brent even though all 3 of my GS shows were Welnick era shows.  Anyone have a good suggestion for a really good Hornsy show? 

I love the William Tell bridge. For me, 9/10/91 with Branford and Hornsby is as good as any show from any era. Over the yearsI have listened to that first set more than just about any other tape/disk.

Edited by Druggist
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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm jamming the 9/20/90 show from MSG right now.  I have to say that this may be the best Bruce/Vince show I've heard.  The one druggist posted earlier was pretty good, but this one is really damn good.  Still, you could tell that Jerry was starting to slip a little.  He didn't sound great while singing.  Still, a damn good show.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

It’s one of my favorite shows as well. The Wharf Rat is the best of all time, imo. Bob is phenomenal on it and Brent goes off!! I listen to it often and it never gets old. It’s a goddamn spiritually moving version.

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So 42 years ago tonight The Grateful Dead played what is considered by many to be thier best show ever.  That is and will always be open for debate, but what will not be up for debate is that this show kicks all kinds of ass!  I'm going to drink some whisky tonight and listen to the show start to finish. 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Where are all of my Deadheads?? Y'all have made me go to Facebook to find a Dead community to banter with.  Thanks for that.  I don't give a damn.  I'm not letting this thread fall off the first page.  I will post some great fucking music to hopefully spur some participation here.

 

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Did both Dead and Co shows at Mountain View again and getting in to the second night I was such a beating with the lines, I thought “fuck this, I’ll skip the Dallas show.
Half way through the set: “I’ll be ar Dallas”

First night got me interested in Row Jimmy Row. Favorite versions?

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The more I hear, the more strongly I think that John Kadlecik is the best Jerry successor.  I'm really bummed that I didn't get into the Dead until after Furthur ended.  


Same guy from dark star, right? Those guys were the best cover band I’ve ever seen back in the day.
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