Grateful Dead

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...it's been a while...thought I would repost this one from a few years back, while on the subject of this majestic monster... 4/8/1972 - Wembly Empire Pool, London - 32 mins; intense/fast paced first leg up til about 10 mins then returns to DS theme for 1st verse; spacey post-verse til ~17 min, then pace picks up for a few minutes, followed by a brief meltdown; additional spaciness around 24 mins followed by another full meltdown; interesting groove established around 28 min that has hints of Sugar Mag (into which it segues, flawlessly). No second verse. 4/14/1972 - Tivoli Concert Hall, Copenhagen, DK - 29 mins; loose first 10 mins not overly spacey; gets spacey around 11 mins; interesting groove establishes around 16 min to head into first verse w/interesting beat; heads off into intense nearly 7-minute jam inclusive of a very tight and fast Feelin Groovy jam; final 3 minutes are a meltdown. No second verse. 4/17/1972 - Tivoli Concert Hall, Copenhagen, DK - 31 mins; spacey opening to about 7:30 when first DS theme emerges leading to 1st verse at 9:45. Spacey post-2nd verse tries to take off but melts further around 19 min; returns to a partial groove around 24:30 and closes out with spaceyness in the last 2 mins. No second verse. 4/24/1972 - Rheinhalle, Dusseldorf, Germany - Split by Me & My Uncle; 26 mins 1st half, 14:30 second half. Spacey opening until about 8:45 where it coalesces and falls into first DS theme around 10:15 followed shortly by 1st verse with slow, sparse notes. Spacey feedback following verse until 15:45 and then picks up into an intense, fast paced jam for just under 2 minutes before it becomes dissonant again leading to major meltdown which eventually heads into Me & My Uncle with ease. Second half: spacey reintroduction persists until about 7 mins, where Keith leads-in with some piano phrasing and then the band follows into a tight fast paced jam where Jerry plays some lines back and forth as if in conversation with himself and then maintains an intense level effortlessly segueing into Wharf Rat. No second verse. 4/29/1972 - Musikhalle, Hamburg, Denmark - 30 mins; spacey opening for ~5 mins, then enters a groove and Phil hints at the Feeling Groovy jam until it finally is joined by Jerry a minute later until about 8:00, then the floor drops out into space. DS theme appears at 14 min which leads to first verse. Spacey post-verse noodling leads to major meltdown, settling in at 22 mins with a fat, fast-paced Keith-led groove. Final 4 mins are spacey & lead to major melt #2, dropping into Sugar Mag as DS finally melts away. No second verse. 5/4/1972 - Olympia Theatre, Paris - Split by drums; 19 mins 1st half; 17:34 2nd half. Spacey opening til about 6 mins when fast paced jam kicks in until 11:20, slowing down then resurrecting the DS theme into the first verse. 4 mins of space leads into drums. Second half post-drums is very spacey until 7 mins, then kicks into overdrive with a very high energy jam leading to a phenominal Feelin Groovy Jam for several minutes before settling into the second verse. DS dissipates into the Sugar Mag from E'72. 5/7/1972 - Bickershaw Festival, Wigan, UK - 19:49 mins; decent, coherent jamming for the first several minutes that congeals nicely around 8 minutes. Bottom falls out around 10 mins and leads to some light noodling, cymbal fills and space. DS theme emerges at 14:23 and heads into 1st verse. Space fills the air through the remainder of the song until it totally breaks down into drums. No second verse. 5/11/1972 - Rotterdam Civic Hall, Netherlands - Split by drums; 13:45 mins 1st half; 30:34 mins 2nd half; Opens with a light, airy jam that persists to congeal into a decent groove as it treads in and out of spacey phrasing. This settles into a mysterious sounding jam that grows with intensity without a return to the DS theme before dissolving into drums. Emerging from drums, Phil and Billy duel for 2 minutes before Jerry joins back in with some complimentary thoughts; the DS theme appears around 5 min followed by 1st verse. A few moments of spacey feedback give way to spacey noodling that devolves into a full blow chaotic meltdown, only to emerge around 19:30 into a very nice, fast paced groove that hints at Caution and PITB jams. This eventually dissolves and a light, sparse outro ends the song as it heads off into Sugar Mag. No second verse. 5/18/1972 - Kongressaal, Muenchen, Denmark - 28:20 mins; almost 2 mins of noodling before opening notes from Phil; a loose jam ensues around the DS theme for the next several minutes and then decays. At ~9 min an interesting jam emerges, which eventually settles back into the DS theme and 1st verse around 14:30. The remainder of this DS is borderline chaos as it treads in and out of varying degrees of a meltdown until it settles into Morning Dew. No second verse. 5/23/1972 - The Strand Lyceum, London - 30 mins; Spacey opening minutes lead to tight fast paced jam commencing around 3:30 for two minutes and then it settles into another spacey jam digressing to almost…nothing. Billy and Phil then have a small duel until ~13:30 when the rest of the band fills back into a delicate groove which grows to into a jam reminiscent of the post-Truckin' foray from E'72 until about 17 mins, when they drop into the DS theme and 1st verse. Ensuing is additional delicate spaciness that transgresses into a frenzied meltdown madness, and eventually settles into Morning Dew. No second verse. 5/25/1972 - The Strand Lyceum, London - 34 mins, out of Wharf Rat. Strong opening with a groove almost from the beginning, no noodling around here in the first 7 minutes. Then turns very spacey until 15 mins when DS theme appears, and heads off into 1st verse. Post-verse finds a Billy, Phil, and Keith duel for several minutes. At 21 mins, Phil institutes a mellow Feeling Groovy jam, soon joined by the rest of the band until ~25 mins. Final minutes are dominated by space and then a monumental meltdown before heading off into Sugar Mag. No second verse. 4/14 and 5/4 do it for me... Hope all are Well in Deadland. Sixtus

I can't imagine picking the best 68-74 DStar! 2/13/70, 5/11/72, 8/27/72? Yes! But all the others are great too! I do think DStar is THE song that epitomizes "The Grateful Dead". So, what about the 80s/90s DStars? There's: Oakland Auditorium 12/31/81 Greek Theater, Berkeley 7/13/84 (probably the weakest pre-92 DStar) Hampton 10/9/89 The big return. I dig it! Brendan Byrne 10/16/89 Miami 10/26/89 My personal fave of this period. Oakland 12/31/89 Nassau 3/29/90 Washington, D.C. 7/12/90 My second favorite. (8 with Brent, 5 released officially) NYC 9/20/90 Berlin 10/20/90 London 11/1/90 Denver 12/12/90 Denver 12/14/90 (part 2 of 12/12) Oakland 12/31/90 Greensboro 4/1/91 RFK, Washington, D.C. 6/14/91 Giants 6/17/91 Chicago 6/22/91 Denver 6/28/91 (really just a tease) Shoreline 8/16/91 Shoreline 8/17/91 (part 2 of 8/16) Richfield 9/6/91 (really just a tease) MSG, NYC 9/8/91 MSG, NYC 9/10/91 Boston Garden 9/24/91 Boston Garden 9/26/91 Oakland 10/31/91 Landover 3/9/92 Hamilton, Ontario 3/20/92 Richfield 6/8/92 Charlotte 6/18/92 Pittsburgh 6/22/92 Oakland 12/12/92 Oakland 12/16/92 Landover 3/17/93 Deer Creek 6/23/93 Philadelphia 9/13/93 MSG, NYC 9/22/93 Rosemont 3/16/94 Atlanta 3/30/94 (approx 27 with Vince, 4 released) The 92-94 DStars are all under 15 minutes (12/12/92 is 18 minutes, but in 2 parts). Even with the 80s/90s DStars, my favorites are really just ones that I am more familiar with or heard before my memory bank space for "fave DStar dates" filled up.

2/27/69 (Live/Dead version) is etched in my soul due to the sheer number of times I've heard it in my life but it's still a little undeveloped for me to call it the best. 2/13/70 is the best Dark Star of all time. Rounding out my top 5 would be: 4/8/72 9/21/72 5/11/72 8/27/72 There are obviously several great 73-74 versions of this song (the one on Dave's Picks 9 in particular), but 72 was the peak for me when it comes to Dark Star.

"They will not follow you" ~ 4.2.89 ~ Pittsburgh, PA https://archive.org/details/gd89-04-02.beyerM88.connor.29734.sbeok.shnf… http://www.psilo.com/dead/showshow.php?band=1&date=1989-4-2 " Highway is for Gamblers , you better use your sense " And it's all over now baby blue

Of course, Live Dead D-Star is amazing, so so familiar, too, from back in the day. My favorite, though, has gotta be 8/24/72- just a couple shows before Veneta. First heard that D-Star->Dew on a dead hour so many years ago....amazing stuff. Interesting that Phil recalls that Boise show, huh? And you're right, not so much for the show as for the time period, etc. He's definitely amped for that one, as you can no doubt tell from his opening "announcement."

besides the usual answer of "the best one is the one i haven't heard yet".i have to go with Live Dead as it was my first Dark Star and all others are inevitably compared with that one. the years of intimate knowledge, the "special situations" that evoked the need for THAT Dark Star. it still raises the hair on the back of my neck when i hear the last notes of Mountains of the Moon i always thought of as the first notes of Dark Star as it begins. 2/13/70 is a perfect 30 minute Dark Star that sums up the prior years experiments that would be a close 2nd with that 30 minute Other One chaser that finally became revealed on Dick's Picks 4.

I was listening to the dark star from Veneta yesterday, is this the best one you have ever heard? I also listened to Dick's 36 that has another fantastic dark star offering, I can't decide which is the better, they are both fantastic. To me, this is the song, especially the 1972 versions, (see Europe 72 the complete recordings, for more) that exemplifies the Grateful Dead. I have heard a lot of them, they are all unique and it's hard to get to the best of, but I think these 2 are a tossup as to which is #1. I just can't say which is "better". Anybody got anymore that they think is "the best"? I was also rereading Phil's book and he speaks about this Boise show, not so much the show itself, but the journey to get to Boise. This was the first time he and his new bride, Jill, drove to a show, which then became a common place thing for them. He spoke more about the beautiful vistas and the people then he did about the show. He did remember that there weren't a lot of heads there. Just the usual suspects and a handful or so of local curiosity seekers. During these travels, Phil first realized that there were people following the band around, as they would see the same faces along the road. They would pull up next to them and he would make goofy faces and wave to them. Mostly the looks he got back were that of astonishment, then song requests. That would have been a trip, driving to a dead show and seeing Phil driving along side of you, waving and grinning.

....we traveled to Mars, and ran into Pole Guys families potato farm. If you poop, it will grow. And Pole Guy was definitely on Mars on this day, 46 years ago. It's also my Mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Madre!!

We travelled to Veneta Oregon to confirm reports of an old man dancing naked on the sidewalk and ran into Pole Guy outside his families tanning salon. He was holding one of those big arrow signs while dancing to the Grateful Dead through his bluetooth headphones.

http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19690228.html https://archive.org/details/gd1969-02-28.132672.sbd.multi.track.healy-l…