Dead-A-Day: On This Day in GD-Land

[patchthenation]

[Tone Weaver]

On May 4th, 1972, the Grateful Dead played their first complete Dark Star of their Europe ’72 tour. Until then, Jerry would sing only the first verse and continue into the deep void.

The uninterrupted 39:30 length of the Paris Dark Star was apparently just enough to deliver the whole package. And it was a great one.

They began with their usual easy space groove jam that would build into an expanded jazz fusion style phase.

After twelve minutes Jerry sang the first verse. (Don’t you just love a 12-minute intro?)

Immediately after the verse Phil's Alembic modded bass blasted open the space/time sound barrier, into an open expanse of galactic spirals of music.

Phil would summon intense storm clouds of pulsing Pheedback that must have vibrated in the bones of every French music fan who was curious and brave enough to enter the Olympia Theatre that evening.

The sonic vibrations would dissipate when Billy played a solo that temporarily grounded the audience from the exploding supernova.

Jerry, Bobby, and Phil then settled down to a quite open space of gentle atmospheric explorations, inevitably growing into another intense space fusion that featured some of Jerry’s most fantastic jazz improv. A dazzling array of a twinkling nightfall of diamonds.

Phil would move in and insert his patented descending bass line to kick the band back into a rocking mode that swelled and flowed back to earth, dissolving easily into the theme that set up the second verse.

Wow. What a trip! May the Fourth be with you!

This IS a Dark Star for the ages, especially if you like to have BOTH verses in it.

[patchthenation]

Wow is this the most clear and complete live Golden Road to Unlimited Devotion??? I believe so! And going right into New Potato Caboose = *chef’s kiss* Happy Cinco de Mayo! 5/5/67 at the Fillmore:

[strangerinboulder]

About to fire up the 5/6/81 show from nausea, um, Nassau. A heartfelt "He's Gone" for a Bobby Sands dedication. Pretty stellar show in general.

[Tone Weaver]

The Dead's Europe '72 tour returned briefly to England on May 7th, a typical rainy English day. Their Bickershaw Festival gig on Billy’s 26th birthday was attended by an 18-year-old Brit, who would later say the Grateful Dead was the “only band worth standing in the rain”.

Most of us can relate.

The weather would wreak havoc on guitar strings, and the boys would have to make tuning adjustments during the songs.

Dark Star opened with their trademark easy space jam. Then the heavy sound of the Phil Zone roared and nudged the band into a minor key with an Other One feel. After rolling along the music quieted into the electric string trio of six-string and bass guitars. It would gradually build through the additional instruments, forming a Quantum Quartet that would explode into the full Cosmic Quintet of guitars, bass, keys, and drums.

The first (and only verse again.) arrived after a 15-minute jam. (Who doesn’t LOVE a 15-minute intro?)

With the vocals out of the way the band returned to interdimensional space.

It would be their shortest Dark Star of the tour. But there would be a bonus. At 19 minutes and 44 seconds, Billy would take a solo that would bridge Dark Star to the Other One. This would be the only show of the tour featuring both of their magnum jam numbers. Usually, Dark Star and the Other One would be alternated for each show.




How could this epic show NOT amaze the 18-year-old Declan McManus? Years later, as Elvis Costello, he would record Dead songs, meet Jerry, and even perform with him.


Elvis Costello & Friends (w/. Jerry) April 24, 1989 The Sweetwater Mill Valley, CA





Elvis Costello sings the songs of Hunter and Garcia. The Great American Music Hall 9/30/22

[Tone Weaver]

After the rains of Bickershaw Festival, the next Dark Star would be played on May 11, 1972, under the roof of the Rotterdam Civic Hall.

It would be another Dark Star for the ages; and a return to having only the first verse for vocals.

The opening space jam was as eloquent as usual, before building slowly to a pulsing Other One feel. This took the band into a warp speed tour of extra-planetary destinations. As Billy’s excursion to the Planet of Drums wound down, Phil joined him for a drums/bass duet. Then Jerry trickles into the jam making it a magical celestial trio jam. Billy, Phil and Jerry are then joined by Keith, taking the band to the first verse after a 23-minute intro.

(I LOVE a 23-minute intro!)

After the verse Phil bombs and howling “Pheedback” ushers in a fantastic Dead Fusion Jazz maelstrom of polytonal and polyrhythmic explorations. Jerry’s guitar glides into a spectrum spanning from Wes Montgomery to Jimi Hendrix.

Then at 32 minutes Phil roars back with a crescendo of Phull Phil Pheedback into a swarm of notes that were not for the meek of heart. The jam would enter a maximum intensity drive featuring hints of Playing in the Band, I Know You Rider and Bird Song. Keith takes a spin on Pig’s Hammond B3 adding more colors to the galactic spiral of sound.

The charging jam would finally dissolve into a segue into Sugar Magnolia. This masterful journey through space/time would extend all the way to 48 minutes.

The Paris and Rotterdam Dark Stars would become two magnificent cresting sonic waves of the Spring of '72. Together they would stand as my favorites of their tour.

Rotterdam would also be notable as their last performances of Caution and Who Do You Love.

But they were not finished. Germany would soon have their third splendid Dark Star in Munich and London would be blessed with two more fine Dark Stars during their final run on their spectacular trip to Europe.

[patchthenation]

40 years since a Grate weekend at the Greek, 5/13-15/83. This run featured the first Bucket (5/13) and sit-ins by John Cippolina (5/15 NFA), Airto Moreira and Flora Purim (5/15 Drumspace):

5/13:



5/14:



5/15:



https://heads.social/@bourgwick/110369045160795415

[strangerinboulder]

40 years since a Grate weekend at the Greek, 5/13-15/83. This run featured the first Bucket (5/13) and sit-ins by John Cippolina (5/15 NFA), Airto Moreira and Flora Purim (5/15 Drumspace):

5/13:



5/14:



5/15:

Funky "China Cat" intro. I beat the crap out of these trilogy of shows back in the halcyon daze

[patchthenation]

Boogie down to 5/17/78 at Uptown in Chicago, with the first pairing of Half Step > Franklin's Tower and Werewolves encore to boot

[Tone Weaver]

The month of May in the year 1972 produced some epic Dark Stars over Europe. Paris saw the first and only appearance of the second verse in the tour. It would crown that majestic performance.
Rotterdam was treated to the longest version of the tour. No second verse only meant more music of the spheres.
Munich was to witness the next Dark Star over Europe on May 18th. It would be a “shorter version” at 28 minutes and 23 seconds, but it would not be timid. It would convey the compressed energy from the Big Bang.
The band opens with a spacy tuning until Phil hints at the into. The boys follow the cue to an extended intro jam that features a Jerry/Keith dialogue. A crashing echo sound splashed into the mix. Somebody bumped into, or thumped, an amp. By accident or purpose, the sound of the rattling spring reverb in a Fender amp set the stage for a cosmic journey.
Phil goes back to his intro theme and the band rolls into another brisk Other One jam feel, as they were wont to do in Dark Star.
Finally, the first verse made its appearance. (Who wouldn’t like a 14 minute 38 second intro?)
Immediately after the verse Phil’s double stop bombs emanate into a deep gravitational vortex. His nebula of Pheedback soon draws Jerry’s delicate wah-wah carving sonic shapes of pinched harmonics and smooth warm octaves.
The Phil, Jerry, and Bobby string trio cruises along until Keith’s echoing keys filter in, with expanding runs leading to a crescendo of maximum intensity.
The triple forte fortississimo roars into the realm of a Stockhausen-esque orchestral expression of alter-dimensional wavelengths of overlapping realities splitting and converging among their vibrational sequences.
I don’t know how else to describe it. And of course, all these descriptions of Dark Stars inevitably fall short of the listening experience. But the music will stimulate the imagination one way or another.
This one is as powerful as it gets, until the band settles down easy to a soft landing in the sweet Morning Dew.