Grateful Dead - Dark Star (Live/Dead) 1969

Recorded Live at the Fillmore West, 1969
"The Finest Rock Improvisation Ever Recorded" - Robert Christgau

[@bryanmeekins835]

I remember reading an interview with Jerry when he said something like, "Dark Star is always happening." And an interview with TC in which he said something like, "You don't begin Dark Star, you enter it. You don't end Dark Star, you exit it." Like it is not actually a song, it is more like an energy current that you tap into.

[@therasound]

WHAT GREAT COMMENT....SO, SO VERY TRUE.....THANKS.....

[@donaldgehre5964]

Right on the money!

[@michaelpacinelli4476]

I think "Greyfolded" does a good job of proving that musical theory true...a really unique piece of music....worth exploring.

[@garysirota457]

EXACTLY JERRY YOU ARE THE PORTAL THAT TRANSCENDS US! ALWAYS OPEN 24/7/365!!

[@sabrinaleedance]

Love this. I feel like that's kind of the vibe of how the Dead played as a whole. But for songs like this ,more so especially. And that's what made then well, The Dead. They started a musical revolution.

[@frankiedeans7637]

I am a 67 year old Scotsman the DEAD were the soundtrack to my Hippie life I play dark star at least once a week ...The 60s and 70s were the BEST of times for music ..I can die knowing I will meet my heroes in the next life..ggtthb..

[@JeremyIlenin-mb3mk]

Definitely Indefinitely Yup !

[@rodneyhatch56]

I stole this record from a record store when I was thirteen years old. I am now 63. I still have this record 50 years later. It is part of my operating system.

[@georgecorbett9832]

Maybe u should take it back now and say “thank you”

[@manga4715]

By Blockbuster standards....you owe 145,000,000.12

[@landlinesandpercolators8822]

First I want to say I am sorry for the shoplifting I did. For the record though, LPs were not easy to steal. You can't put them under your shirt. Preferred method was have a bag from the store, slip the albums in, and if you wanted to really be thorough, fold and have an old receipt and a small stapler to staple it on with. Then walk out like you bought it.

[@EzeICE]

Right On brother!

[@maryslusarchuk3810]

I think sometimes we steal what we need. Even when we don't know it at the time, our subconscious does.

[@charlesbarber6137]

Forget the scene, the history, the Deadheads, the media. Just listen to this like it is the first time you heard it. Quite magical.

[@lizlalove6171]

@charlesbarber6137 Thank you for that. I'm listening to all of this and regretting all the Dead shows I missed because I didn't 'get it' back then. This music is timeless and it's always there for us when we're ready to tap into it. Music, like everything else, comes to us at the right time.

[@baer5893]

exactly that´s how it is

[@11BlackLamb]

Heads are such groupies, toured starting in 81' and never called myself a "Deadhead" but i had a blue mowhawk so.......Dead Punx Live!

[@RandomStuf69]

so im just hearing the for the first time and i will edit this comment as soon as im finished Edit: what a journey

[@JeremyIlenin-mb3mk]

Right here.. Live/dead It hit me like a lightning bolt ! Hace Mucho Tiempo ✌️ e Mucho While we can !

[@loisharford7000]

I'm almost 71 years old. We were a group of Deadheads, all those long years ago... and still... I close my eyes and I'm at the Fillmore East, tripping and blissful. I don't remember how many times we saw the Dead, many, and every time was an ecstatic experience. It was 1969 or 70, they came, with the Hog Farm and Ken Kesey, to commune and play at my college. Damn, it was magic. Such magic...

[@akashav5356]

Please 🙏 I want to know more about all of this experience.

[@loisharford7000]

@@akashav5356 Hi Akash. This is the kind of thing you sit and talk and talk about. The "concert" was about 5 or 6 hours, maybe a bit longer (they were always generous with their time), but the experience was the whole weekend. We got to talk with them, smoke & trip with them. The Hog Farm folks were sweet as could be, and it was a thrill to meet and talk with Ken Kesey. It was magical. My boyfriend and I lived off campus, and I remember, after the concert was over and it was finally time to go get some rest, we walked home (about 1 1/2 miles), playing 'kick the can' almost all the way. All the Dead concerts were special, and it was almost as if everyone became part of a single large organism when they played. The energy was palpable and shared.

[@moppydavycoonsmith3034]

What a colitisscope (very odd words that the voice to text app manufacturers and sometimes so fitting and explanatory) kaleidoscope cornucopia of a wisdom mirrored observational universe ether emanating from the edges of the constantly gravitational ly expanding multiverse that one would desire to know what "trip" that the boyfriend and Lois took. Kicking the can for a mile and a half certainly describes the first acid trip with The Dead, under the stage with The New Riders Of The Purple Sage. Tie "The Last Lonely Eagle", NROTPS, with "Almost ETerNiTy Independence Day", Van Morrison Ccoupled to "Bombay Calling" and other choice selections minus "White Bird" from It's A Beautiful Day's first album multiplying "China 😺 Sunflower" / "Going Down The Road Reeling R.A.D.". MopPetDavy Ccan bearly, barely believe that such comments by Lois are being made a scant several days ago about occurrences of Live Dead 50+ years ago.

[@loisharford7000]

@@moppydavycoonsmith3034 I have a lifetime of amazing memories. Many, if not most of them, are tied to music in one way or another, and music is soul food... all I have to do is play a song, and I am transported back to one of the times I heard it, or "the" time that it most impacted me... my relationship with music began when I was a baby, and until fairly recently, I remembered the words to many hundreds of songs. But I think I'm starting to get a little dusty and cob-webby between the ears... or maybe my brain is finally over-crowded! But yes, John & I had many trips together, and I had many trips with friends before and after. This particular concert wasn't our first Dead concert, but it was the only one that took place at our school. That place had the most amazing concerts!! And it was a small school at the time, (HUGE now), so we just walked up to all the artists and started talking with them. The only one who wasn't friendly at all was Chuck Berry.

[@ethane3618]

What a life it sounds! I would love to hear more of your story :)

[@Mrbeahz1]

So I was 18 when I got this album. I waited till my 52 year old mom went to her room, then I put it on. 5 minutes in she comes out, and I immediately start with "I'll turn it down". She's all: "No! What is this? Who is this?" Long story short, I started the side over, and Mom and I listened to Dark Star, and we both loved it.

[@Finnrock1]

the " Mothers " know best!

[@therasound]

you are a lucky, lucky man my friend.....

[@martintowse6812]

Had a similar experience having turned someone else's mother, thirty years my senior onto 'Morning Dew' on Europe 72. Daughter walked in and assumed her mother was listening to BBC radio 4. Dark Star on this album confirmed my path to adulthood when I was fourteen, thanks elder brother. Jerry leading us out of chaos, as phenomenal today as then.

[@cryptodoses4516]

Right on. : )

[@cryptodoses4516]

walstib

[@arjunataylor]

In the 70’s we were always walking around with a cassette player because we had the ultimate collection of Dead bootlegs. We had good homegrown in those days and cutting school was always an option. We’d lay on top of the chicken coops in the shade reading Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda and there in the background…Dark Star. Talk about transcendental.

[@juneack5848]

A thousand years from now, people will hear this and it will be as timeless as ever. I listen to this, I am born, I live a long life, I love, I die, all within this segment of artistic mastery. An experience that must be had.

[@kooneya]

Like a shroom trip. Morningyawn , peak weirdness and steady calm. The music is too real.

[@deadreckoning6288]

Well said.

[@brendanukveteran2360]

YES!!!! - you got this right - no explanation needed, Bro

[@mournblade1066]

I live! I die! I live again! All shiny and chrome!

[@JeremyIlenin-mb3mk]

Those who know .... Well they know ! You know ?

[@TangoTreeWoods]

the Year of my Birth. 1969. i entered Dark Star in 1987 & have never left. i am the Observer in this many layered realm of existence & consciousness. once the Eyes are opened & you truly See yourself as the Universe, you are One w the Force.☮

[@Maddox.strauss]

Yes! This! ❤

[@SHAILESH506]

many nights I've been high alone to this. ❤️

[@brendanukveteran2360]

It is so nice to read these positive comments - there ARE humans still alive on the planet after all...

[@richardvolet3970]

Hmmm...finest rock improvisation....I say the greatest group improvisation in any genre ever. This is the Dead's finest moment. There is not one wrong move in the entire twenty three minutes, not one moment when the whole group is not absolutely moving together as one. It is musical telepathy in a magical never ending improvised group musical creation. Listen to any other Dark Star, you will never find one so single minded, inspired and musically focused. I play in a symphony orchestra. This version of Dark Star is like a great symphony. It has an unwavering internal logical coherence from start to finish, yet it is largely improvised. Its recapitulation at 21.26, is as deftly approached as in the greatest symphonies. The constantly shifting timbres (Garcia's guitar tones alone! There has never been a rock guitar performance of such variety and beauty of tone) and dynamics are like the orchestration of a great symphony. The first time one hears this, every note is an exhilarating surprise, after the hundredth time one hears a master plan, like Brahms might have devised. Like a Brahms symphony, it sounds fresh after fifty one years of listening. Perfection is not very common, but here it is. An improbable, nearly impossible improvisation, which could only occur once, this is one of the great musical masterpieces of the 20th or any century.

[@mr.creosote9605]

I agree on the symphony parallel. Sometimes it's most patent when they play a simple major chord - not as individual players each playing the chord with the same voicings in the same position with the same notes. But each playing, extemporaneously! - different inversions and chromatic elements (sometimes, an add 6, add 7, or dom. 7). A perfect example is one live performance of Jack Straw (I can't recall which, but it's not Europe '72), where the opening E major chord is absolutely sounded by the band, not each player. As for greatest improvisation ever, I think the qualification to rock is appropriate. There are far more sophisticated jams by legions of jazz bands over the decades. But I will say that, unlike rock, the very idiom of jazz IS improvisation. So the musicians are often highly trained in the convention of that art - and perhaps accounting for the "it kinda all sounds the same" reaction from those not steeped well enough into that music to hear distinctions in style, intonation, melodic sense, etc. But rock is a different genre altogether, drawing on far simpler chords, scales and rhythms. The improvisational architecture is not indigenous to the music itself, and so riffing off it is in a sense more challenging.

[@jackmarks23]

Yep, it's the Dead's Sibelius #7 for sure, in terms of length, range of themes, transcendent feel, not-a-single-wrong-move-ness.

[@richardvolet3970]

@@mr.creosote9605 Nice post, but i disagree at least in part. This Dark Star is every bit as "sophisticated" as any great jazz improvisation in it's element of group improvisation. Sure, not so in terms of harmony, but in term of the spontaneous creative improvised interplay of musicians, I'd put it as at least equal to any great jazz group. Mile's quintet with Shorter, Williams, Carter, Hancock, Coltrane's great quartet , Coleman's Quartet, Armstrong Hot Five, Mingus with Dolphy, you name it, this is just as sophisticated as any of those.

[@joshualennox3599]

You just brought me to tears Richard

[@keithclelland1636]

Yes Richard

[@ruthdixon7807]

all these years on, this twenty minute jam still represents the high tide of west coast acid rock.

[@shiftertron6143]

I'm 31, have been a rabid music fan since I was 10. So by my math that makes 21 years, and I'm hearing this now. Life is huge.

[@m.a.g.3920]

Try Quicksilver Messenger Service Happy Trails if you don't know it. It's not worse than this...

[@lizlalove6171]

@@m.a.g.3920 Yes! There was nothing like the jam bands that came out of San Francisco in the late 60's. They all played in this same tradition. The Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver, all of Janis Joplin's bands. The Allman Brothers used to jam for hours at the Fillmore East. You didn't just bang out songs on a setlist. You had to have improvisational chops back then.

[@Passifloratripartira]

Dark star crashes, pouring its light into ashes Reason tatters, the forces tear loose from the axis Searchlight casting for faults in the clouds of delusion Shall we go, you and I while we can Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds? Mirror shatters in formless reflections of matter Glass hand dissolving in ice, petal flowers revolving Lady in velvet recedes in the nights of good-bye Shall we go, you and I while we can Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds?

[@molimaeyhising]

This was the first vinyl I "borrowed" from my Pops. Had to listen to this almost every night before bed in high school. Dark Star is medicine....

[@awelshhooligan9178]

The song is a reflection that you must except death to truly live .....an unbound journey you must take.....you just need to take the chance

[@stevemarks1511]

I’m an 1960’scDeadcHead This song is a trip in its self!! We all ms Jerry and listening to this song makes one dig deep in their soul and it’s a beautiful thing!!! Only a true Dead Heads feels that trip!! Know what I’m saying????? English Town NJ my best Dead concert- got rained out but then like a Woodstock The Dead Jammed!!! A life time of great one of a kind memories over and over!!! Those were the days!!!!

[@chetpogostin34]

This version of Dark Star is the one that all others are measured by. I'm 67 years old and I have seen the Dead more times than I can count. In all those concerts I have never heard a better version. This is like a symphony with distinct movements. Don't be fooled. The boys rehearsed endlessly. Jerry was a perfectionist and it rubbed off. Weir was his student and Booby took what Jerry taught him and turned into the most original and innovative rhythm guitarist of the entire era.

[@keithclelland1636]

I'm 66 and I agree. This version is the greatest song ever made, period.

[@angelar.sellman6882]

the NY times agrees with you: www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/opinion/grateful-dead-dark-star-anniversary.html

[@keithclelland1636]

I'm 67 too. This is the best.

[@wangson]

The feedback played with Jerry's guitar at times, must've been inspired by the divine.

[@reidwhitton6248]

The 2 pt Dusseldorf '72 is also fantastic.

[@DizDiq]

"This cosmic dance of bursting decadence and withheld permissions twists all our arms collectively, but if sweetness can win, and it can, then I'll still be here tomorrow to high-five you yesterday, my friend. Peace."

[@bluesyfunkysoul6491]

Jerry's guitar tone is pure bliss. One of the best I've ever heard on a single recording.

[@W7DXW]

Best marriage of bass and guitar I've heard in about 50 years. And a symphony of unexpected vistas.

[@glennkrzywicki4954]

And TC’s organ in the background.

[@mojostephen]

Jerry was one of those rare guitarists who, when he played, had his own distinctive style and sound. You just knew it couldn't be anyone else. Carlos Santana also comes to mind...

[@h3ck774]

Hendrix obviously to i can tell its him on the old isley brother records

[@dougdegraff2157]

First Leif fallen bear earth where green............wa......WA...... s born

[@steveborst5386]

I like Carlos. I saw him at Woodstock. But I honestly think Jerry is greater and on a par with great classical composers.

[@bobwilson360]

Still my favorite Dark Star all time. I've known it backwards and forwards for nearly 50 years.

[@eggman615]

I agree there are other amazing ones tho check out the beautiful jam it's a dark star warf rat dark star from 2/18/71 it doesn't disappoint and actually only ever happened once it's a face melter for sure

[@meghanryan6707]

giving me chills and tears of joy and sadness at the same time.

[@wangson]

Well said...there are definitely moments when I feel that God is interfering with this performance

[@_nx..kromer.6085]

I was trippin about not. But now I'm just not. ❣

[@SuperWush]

Entered Dark Star and left it.

[@Steve-vy6kg]

In dissolution there is restoration and renewal!

[@markshinagel9256]

A wonderful entrance into alternate realities

[@TheNesta3333]

In this version, more than any other, Jerry is not playing the guitar, he is having a million conversations to all that listen and each time I listen, its a different conversation. Beyond words...

[@ianpygott]

just a junkie pulling strings

[@EugeneHKrabs-rr6em]

I FINALLY FOUND IT. THIS IS THE SONG MY BIO TEACHER PLAYS IN CLASS EVERY DAY. IT SOUNDS SO MUCH BETTER THAN ON HIS CRAPPY OLD SPEAKERS.

[@natenbosmokes2062]

tell your teacher have a grateful day when you say bye next time

[@zacharywade4854]

It's always the biology teacher

[@unknownkingdom]

why does he play songs during class?

[@EugeneHKrabs-rr6em]

@unknownkingdom idk it's just a background music to his lesson

[@borjonx]

These guys were like a human version of the organic modular synth walls. Space ships at every turn, harmonics come & go, I think I felt the matrix three quarters through this one. Incredible.

[@hiteshsinghpawar8393]

Damm..This is a absolute interstellar, out of the galaxy music..Such kind of music and lyrics does not come from a band or country or planet instead from a parallel universe..

[@daskitten1]

"Dark Star" has a truckload of what the world needs now...MAGIC!!!!

[@bumpdunlop]

The percussion is so understated on this jam. That is one of the major reasons that it works so well.

[@musolino12]

absolutely

[@DelsinM]

Yes, including long sections where there is no percussion. Sometimes silence is eloquence.

[@binaryg]

I remember listening to this recording in my living room in Healdsburg CA 1970 all my friends were sitting tripping on this in the dark and this music became the room, the environment we were sitting in and I could not believe how REAL the music became, it filled me up like nothing I'd ever experienced and hearing it now takes me back to that Magic. Jerry and the Band at their finest. Unbelievable!!!! So many others say the same thing here. Fuckin' A.

[@curtiswallen549]

back when everyone at shows shut the fuck up because they were so intent on listening to every wave of sound culminated by these beautifully played instruments.

[@flognaw6633]

Back when the drugs were good.

[@michaelmorrison8261]

saw them also after returning from the hell of Viet Nam, dropped acid before the concert (in Austin Texas), played in the pouring rain in a park, walked into a burger joint, got really wierded out by the dead flesh on the grill, went soaking wet into the concert, floated up, star bound by Jerry's carma, by the end of the year was born my daughter Suzanne (after Leonards song) was born. Ah, so far away, so long ago, but by God we had ourselves a time! Long time commin' long time gone!

[@tdhayes1]

THANK YOU!

[@josemorales7391]

Long time cumming long time gonzo

[@philipwilliams5429]

great story. glad you're around to send it to us. keep on truckin'.

[@bigfootpegrande]

I just watched Apocalypse Now! and I am sorry you and them had to go through this...

[@avininio8756]

sweet

[@bubbamunsterman7502]

Got to experience my first ever dead and co show, I was greeted with this melody of unusual tones. The blended so well with eachother I've never and will never experience such harmony in instruments to a crowd.

[@richardwhitehurst2810]

Celebratory - ecstatic ode to JOY! I've heard this hundreds of times since 1969. It forms some of deep structural foundations of my personal myth. I remain deeply grateful for this uplifting musical expression!

[@jamesm8132]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5PQaYFurdGJoJo This version of Dark Star they played later the same year is just full of the joy of life

[@DavidKleinCalifornia]

Tonic for an aching mind. A national treasure.

[@themusicalwizard613]

Yes, my thoughts exactly! This needs to be added to the National film registry.

[@ngumbao6252]

69 I was 17 and had no Money to buy albums and on the Radio it was very rare to hear Dead and when you said you like their music, they put you in the corner of Drugs, it was a hard time, with 5 People we sit arround a player, no stereo and listen. My mother comes every 5 Min. to complain its to noisy, but we were happy. Im so happy with You Tube all this music from the past is there is like in Heaven and I have a lot hear before I go

[@bryanmeekins835]

Over the past year or so I've been spending several hours every day practicing guitar. At least one hour of that is spent playing along with recordings of Coltrane, Monk, or one of the few dozen versions of Dark Star in my collection. Exploring some very deep spaces and stretching my imagination. Very rewarding.

[@edwhite7475]

Hats off man....thats heavy shit....you must be pretty good.

[@bryanmeekins835]

@@edwhite7475 nah, I am just someone who can barely play guitar but is having fun trying. 😂

[@edwhite7475]

@@bryanmeekins835 ive been playing for 44 years and i cant play along with Coltrane or Thelonius- lol.....i used to know some Dead tunes but this one always had me in awe....so i could not touch it....I've been learning drums for the last year or so and i spend some time each day on them....probably 20 to 30 minutes, and just by doing THAT, ive improved greatly, after owning kits for 30 years.....so when i saw your post, i could relate....maybe i should up that to an hour and REALLY improve, but im 60 and it IS physically exhausting....and even with hearing protection my ears ring cos i play loud ...but your comment inspired me, so thanks for that- ;-)

[@bryanmeekins835]

@@edwhite7475 well, when I play along with these things, the 1st thing I do is ask myself which member of the band I am. Am I the drummer? Am I the piano player? Okay, if I was that person in the band, what would I play that fits harmonically and rhytmnically. How am I going to do this on guitar? Tthat is what I try to do, and I keep it relaxed. Oops, that didn't work, oops that didn't work, hey, that works! Let's explore that a bit. Over time, you find that the stuff that works becomes more frequent. That is when you see improvement. The key is not putting pressure on yourself and just having fun.

[@ZeppelinStoner]

Open to any music recommendations ☮💙🤘

[@nathanchurchill3457]

This live recording of Dark Star is arguably the best moment of Garcia and the Greatful Dead's long career and also of the San Francisco '60s psychedelic musical revolution. Fittingly recorded at the Fillmore West when the price of admission was $3.75. A majestic moment in American music. A pure and ecstatic musical event.

[@garysirota457]

ABSOLUTELY!!!!!

[@ramencurry6672]

An incredible time to be alive. A great time to be living in either San Francisco or New York.

[@johndoe1765]

Yeah Man for real .

[@donaldgehre5964]

I'm surprised this version doesn't have a million hits. It approaches the transcendent. A classic among classics.

[@johnveitch7410]

Donald, I agree. This cannot be bettered and it is exactly how it will always be, exceptional, regards to you and yours

[@Scott64a]

Pfff... people are afraid to transcend... it's the conditioning they've received in the government work camp program from grades K-12.

[@jesseeng9598]

It does now

[@wangson]

yUP. It does reach for the divine. and it's nearly there.

[@storiewilson7213]

I'm so happy that my mom was a dead head and raised me to enjoy such beautiful music!

[@rainerkeip8987]

Totally Amazing. For me this is the best performance of Dark Star

[@gregor6922]

Dark star crashes Pouring its light into ashes Reason tatters The forces tear loose from the axis Searchlight casting For faults in the clouds of delusion Shall we go, you and I, while we can? Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds Mirror shatters In formless reflections of matter Glass hand dissolving To ice petal flowers revolving Lady in velvet Recedes in the nights of goodbye Shall we go, you and I, while we can Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds? Robert Hunter wrote the following ending to the lyrics. You can hear it being spoken at the end of the single version of "Dark Star" : Spinning a set the stars through which the tattered tales of axis roll About the waxen wind of never set to motion in the unbecoming Round about the reason hardly matters nor the wise through which The stars were set in spin What can be said about "Dark Star"? The prototypical Grateful Dead song, providing the band with a vehicle for countless hours of improvisation. Hunter states in a note in Box of Rain that "Dark Star" was the first song lyric he wrote with the band. In Garcia, Charles Reich questions Garcia about "Dark Star.": REICH: Well then if we wanted to talk about "Dark Star," uh, could you say anything about where it comes from? [GARCIA]: You gotta remember that you and I are talking about two different "Dark Stars." You're talking about the "Dark Star" which you have heard formalized on a record, and I'm talking about the "Dark Star" which I have heard in each performance as a completely improvised piece over a long period of time. So I have a long continuum of "Dark Star" which range in character from each other to real different extremes. "Dark Star" has meant, while I'm playing it, almost as many things as I can sit here and imagine, so all I can do is talk about "Dark Star" as a playing experience. REICH: Well, yeah, talk about it a little. [GARCIA]: I can't. It talks about itself. Nothing like a straight forward answer, lol, Garcia and Hunter were quite a pair Dark Star was the first lyric that Robert Hunter wrote with the Dead. He had previously sent a few lyrics to them from New Mexico and was then invited to join them. Hunter describes the journey in the introduction to his collected lyrics Box Of Rain; The trip took six weeks with a surreal layover in Denver. By the time I hit Nevada I had a dime in my pocket which I put in a slot machine and parlayed into enough to make a phone cal the guys I was on my way. I arrived in San Francisco with a case of walking pneumonia and the clothes on my back. The next day I was writing Dark Star, feeling pretty much as the lyric suggests. The initial lyrics were written at Rio Nido where the Dead were playing when Hunter joined them. The single version of Dark Star was recorded in the studio during the recordings sessions for Anthem Of The Sun. Robert Hunter speaks the words at the close of the song. Dark Star was first performed, without lyrics, by the Grateful Dead in September 1967. The first version with lyrics was in the December of that year. The song was a major focus for improvisation and was played regularly through the 1960's and up to 1973. After 1974 it only appeared on odd occasions in 1978, 1979, 1981 and 1984 before making a comeback in October 1989. It was then played about 25 times through the 1990s the last performance being in March 1994.

[@mikemestas9835]

so poetic and so...accurate, subjective enlightenment...

[@alchemybyangela]

I was at the show in 89 where the first Dark Star after all those years was performed. What a treat! Saw several following that year, too.

[@amerolla]

Dark Star was played so many times throughout the Grateful Dead's long strange trip, but this has to be the definitive version - it is just perfect! It sounds as fresh today for me as it did the first time I heard this 50 years ago. Garcia's playing is impeccable, as is the rest of the band's. I never heard him play anything like what he does around 13 minutes in. I've never been able to figure our who else is playing what over the next couple of minutes - sounds like some unearthly vocals at around the 14:30 point. I love so many versions of this masterpiece but this one stands above all others. Whatever stroke of luck it was that caused them to immortalize this version on Live Dead, I am eternally GRATEFUL for it.

[@MnemonicHeadTrip]

I’m nowhere near old enough to have any experience with the Grateful Dead, but man this is really incredible. You don’t need psychedelics to enjoy this music, but anyone with experience knows what I’m talking about. Really impressive that this is live too

[@WocklessGamingforAnimeMoms]

Do you have any interest in Classical?

[@MnemonicHeadTrip]

@@WocklessGamingforAnimeMoms not actively but I do appreciate it sometimes

[@wangson]

Yup. That's the truth friend!

[@Noise_Meister_Records]

I'm 19 and I've had plenty of psychadelic experiences , I'm a year sober and I still feel high every time I listen to the dead. It's truly divine magic🕉

[@mikelocascio8695]

Is this the guy from Weezer?

[@luigi85olmedo]

Today is 50 years since this masterpiece was played and recorded

[@michaelpacinelli4476]

At the start of the song the musicians start exchanging phrases in a way that reminds me of Ornette Coleman's free call and response playing. They respond to each other harmonically and rhythmically, but the responses are not limited to 8 or 16 bar phrases or even a sense of being locked into starting every phrase over on the "1". The band visits the "head" at about 5:00 after a long invocation of sorts. They jam in creative bliss with peaks and valleys for about 10 minutes. At 16:00 the organ takes off a bit, discontinuing Jerry's solo. He switches to the neck pickup and comes back in with a different tone (that is almost imitating the organ) contrasting the high harmonically tweaky tone he had during the first 15 minutes. Eventually he goes back to the bridge pickup and starts soaring again as the song comes near its resolving energy.... It all good...

[@dwest8245]

My 10 year old kid brother “ it feels like floating” . We were hooked

[@Tompettycash]

How I love my “grayfolded” cd from the 90’s. A wonderful medley of darkstar.

[@markknego5743]

I listened to this for years before realizing it is a live recording, not a studio recording. Absolutely fantastic. What life, what energy!

[@austinadams1837]

This show still blows minds imagine being on some orange sunshine in 1969 watching this live

[@j.t.7068]

First time hearing this I was thirteen years old. Laguna Beach at Mystic Arts on Orange Sunshine. I am now 67, and it still rearranges my particules.

[@ripple947]

While there are other versions of Dark Star that go furthur out and are excellent in their own right, this one is just exactly perfect, not a note wasted. This is the performance that sets the standard for "jam" music.

[@MadAveMadMan]

The waves of cosmic crescendos hit a peak early in the 20th minute. There's almost an unbearable brilliance at work here. This is a gift.

[@miguel91259]

The gift is their soul

[@nathanporter5800]

This is one of the greatest songs I've ever heard in my life.......... I was born in 1979.

[@twotetah]

Right on. I don't think it matters what year a person is born, as long as you have "ears to hear and eyes to see..."

[@dermotmeuchner2416]

I’m old. I first saw Dark Star performed at the Fillmore East in 1970 and even though I’ve evolved as far as musical preferences, the music of this era will always be a integral part of my life. They, The Dead, actually followed the path of Coltrane and Ornette in this period, with the unabashed improvisation, feeling along and seeing where it took them.

[@sallyreno6296]

Yes. !970 Filmore East. I was there too.

[@HG-pi3qp]

I read to this album all the time and continue to lose myself in this jam. You can feel the magic.

[@jakevitale6361]

I listened to this song during the solar eclipse today.

[@simulatedpilot3441]

jake vitale where u in the shadow

[@diogeneslamplit6573]

I wish I'd thought of that! I could have had this playing on a continuous loop while I baked in the sun exhibiting sunspots using my ETX-70 with a white-light solar filter to those gathered near a huge pile of nuclear waste left over from the Manhattan Project. We'd hoped the pile would be high enough to see the shadow of the moon come racing in and out but from the reports of those up on the sequestration mound coming down it wasn't. I'm looking at a little plastic jar of sloughed-off skin right now with a label on it reading 2017 Eclipse-burn. 64 and I still love peeling sunburns. The only thing that elicited more cheers than the moon vomiting back up the sun was when the joker with the car alarm beeping finally figured out how to shut it off.

[@charlieparkmusic]

perfect!

[@chrisrutherford9216]

Totally....way, dude.

[@tristansamphere7008]

I watched the eclipse while on the side of some road in Nebraska it was something else. I wish i would've thought to play this beauty while the sun became obscured by the moon. It was already an awakening experience I just wish i would've thought to let The Greateful Dead to help me experience the journey. OH what could've been!

[@roberthusted3206]

The first time i saw this band they opened with morning dew and also did dark star.1973.wow 16 yrs old.wow!

[@BAlvn-yr6ej]

my favorite GD song of all time, recorded during their finest period, in their home city...doesn't get much better than this.

[@francisdeans402]

You made me cry. Respect from Edinburgh Scotland...i am 68.That is that is best DEAD story ever....I am now flying my freak flag for the last time...

[@MrCooperAnthony]

And in the beginning and end of eternity, when all is said, done, redone, come, gone, went, remembered and forgotten, mutated and improvised, or anticipated, there is The Grateful Dead.

[@ftlpope]

I never tire of this version - there was nothing else like this at the time. It was the only exemplar for jamming.

[@Steve-vy6kg]

I’m beginning to think this was HST’s “high water mark.” And it all fell back. I have hope. I think we’re entering a new stellar phase. This Dark Star will keep us on the creative path.

[@joshuahornsby767]

What is HST?

[@calebbernstein5163]

Literally unbelievable and uncommunicable how important this is to us all here in the "length width and height." SHALL WE GO YOU AND I WHILE WE CAN

[@hassanullah1997]

this is an anthem of freedom from another time

[@TheRaretunes]

and, let me, for another time

[@stevenjones71]

yes,, but it's 2019, the "liberals" are wacko and do not want freedom, keep the fight"

[@ZekeMan62]

@@stevenjones71 See what madness your generation's "revolution" paved the way for? I was raised by hippies... and it sucked. If I had a time machine I'd go back to the 50's before things got freaky and stay there.

[@lorddoompaul]

Also for Right now

[@gagnorblu]

@@ZekeMan62 You can keep Orval Faubus then, old man.

[@theone456]

this is the holy grail of Grateful Dead Songs

[@otisslayer5000]

totally agree....did mesc to this almost 50 yrs ago

[@user-ec4fm6uq8d]

Terrapin Station?

[@MrSerf45]

dark star, terrapin, and not fade away are the holy trinity

[@thepredsrule]

......masterpiece to judge all other versions by.

[@onlyNtimE]

Really I saved it I never sold it ewhaha

[@kellyb.walker326]

I still have my LP and i was about 14 and im 65 yrs hip.

[@alealoni9915]

This Is my "before concert tune" I listen to whenever I'm almost climbing a stepway to a stage to play on. And It still works. After 50 years. So thanx mr Garcia and pals, wherever you are.

[@randallpillion4612]

I remember going to so many Dead shows...always took...smashid..and walked around everyone smiling, dancing, digging the vibes and love...LOVE was so prevalent there

[@cosmicpainter5528]

This is a song of freedom from another time. It is a song for than, now and the future. A time when peace, love, and hope surrounded us each day. Listen to this and look at the stars- the Universe awaits us.

[@eytonshalom]

for 8 years thru undergraduate and graduate school, each semester, at the end of exams, i came home, and put on one of two things--Dark Star, and All Along the Watchtower, Hendrix version. And then i was normal again.

[@enricorigon1925]

"Live/Dead"...Maybe the greatest live album ever, this album change my life.

[@wangson]

Yup. Maybe my favourite live album too. Although, another GREAT live album (and again with the word, "Live" in the title as well!!) is Live Evil by Miles Davis. The first song, Sivad (Davis spelled backwards) is so goddamn FUNKY!!! Here it is if you're interested in having a listen.... kzbin.info/www/bejne/i6m6Y5qDqqujirM

[@elylew]

Among other things, this recording shines with impeccable sound engineering, a level of craftsmanship that surpasses nearly all contemporary live recording. This isn't a digital-vs-analog thing, although decline in sound engineering skill could be blamed on the illusion that digital allows cleanup of sloppy recording (as well as the problem of ever-increasing "loudness" in mastering). The work here is so superior in balance and dynamic range that Dark Star '69 even sounds good on cheap computer speakers. Recapture the lost art!

[@flagemdown66]

Fender Twin Reverbs lots of them maybe Dual Showman Reverbs... Clean electric tones... Feedback and some two handed tapping... Organ that does something as opposed to organ that ruins the song... Delicate interplay... Dynamics...

[@therealmusician]

+1 I am listening to it for the first time, on laptop speakers, and it is f-ing amazing.

[@diogeneslamplit6573]

What he said!

[@yungchop6332]

My cat puked on my hi-fi so i have been sadly beat down to TV speakers but it still sounds awesome.

[@headlinevideo5544]

agreed!

[@joshuazaja8452]

7 great musicians + owsley acid = greatest live album ever! miss you captain trips✌

[@chrismatassa8999]

Joshua Zaja right there with ya bud

[@cartyekrut]

I've to many Grateful Dead concerts in the 70s as a teenager.....I remember going in but never remember coming out !!!!

[@bencobbett2819]

mmm... but the musicians weren't on it ... if you're a musician and you know acid you know it doesn't work .. unless you're Syd Barrett and the sound of detuning your guitar is fasc... in.... at.... ing....

[@TheRaretunes]

@@bencobbett2819 You're seeing the acid experience as something foreign where you go when you're "out". Start doing it often and it will become a second reality and then you won't worry about "it doesn't work", you'll live out there. Syd Barrett was a victim of the psychedelic big sur

[@larryholcomb2165]

??? The guys tried HARD

[@davidlowney9997]

One of my MOST favorite songs in the world...by the Grateful Dead

[@Kmuggle]

Saw The Dead play this several times in the 60's & 70's. I always thought this was the best era for The Dead.

[@keithclelland1636]

Agreed

[@wobrien007]

Never saw them do it. 15 shows mostly during the periods when they weren't playing this.

[@lindaschaye6889]

Amazing recording. Phil was really on it. You can hear him from a mile away. Love that bass tone! There’ll never be another time like the late 60s for the dead.

[@brendanukveteran2360]

There are tears in my soul that only this music can release...

[@WaySensei]

Just listened to this twice this morning for the first time. Cried the first time. Second time I listened, I did nothing but sit, ignored all thoughts in my mind and simply just listened.

[@williammeier4534]

Terrific improvisation here! Even jazz heads could appreciate this effort!

[@davidfradin2835]

many of us do :)

[@alangordon8906]

Thank God I am old enough to see them perform this Absolute perfection A masterpiece of psychedelia, right alongside The Fool by Quicksilver

[@KittyGrizGriz]

So Jelly! Just getting into QMS catalog. Born 10 yrs too late✌️

[@JB-yk4bf]

Quicksilver...they had some fantastic moments! Agreed - The Fool is a (apparently) long forgotten masterpiece if you are in the mood for it....Cipollina had an incredible tone...you can't teach that. Thank you for the reminder regarding Quicksilver...i used to have all of their albums on vinyl...but had not thought about them, or listened to them, in a long time. Hopkins' work on Shady Grove is masterful too..

[@chazx7424]

This jam stands the test of Time ....I am still rocking with it here in 2019...Good Music transcends all .

[@montewilliamcunningham7947]

20 years old when I first heard the live album. 72 and Still enjoying it!!!!

[@juanmam.2113]

20 years old and Im gonna listen to this band for my first time. Seems like Im in for an experience to remember.

[@malcolmecks5363]

@Fögata Azul how has it been so far?

[@gaelcornuau1668]

This version is obviously a true Masterpiece. It annouce "Bitches Brews", The First Version of Mahavisnu, The "Lifetime", Weather Report, YES,(1969-1974) or...The work between Garcia and Lesh is simply awesome, always today. Politically, this version IS important, 'cause "Vietnam War" and certain Dream' Life who passed off. This is a message of Hope, and a Requiem. Message of Hope have my preference. Thank's so much for your attention. L.O.V.E.

[@ramencurry6672]

The Vietnam war is gone and fortunately we now have many Vietnamese restaurants

[@jerrynelson1929]

Thanks for articulating that this is the gateway to Bitches Brew, Mahavishnu 1971-1973, Weather Report in particular. Agreed that this is the tightest, most effectively recorded Dark Star version I have the pleasure of hearing. While the aforementioned Fusion works include incredibly technical skill sets, the orchestral view of this Dark Star provides a tight, yet free listening adventure that is on a different plane than Orange Lady, Bitches Brew , Spanish Key, Pharaoh,s Dance, Meeting of the Spirits, Birds of Fire,Trilogy, The Unknown Soldier, Second Sunday in August, Crystal. Not a better plane, just a Different one, I have become a Deadhead over the last 25-30 years because I really like the extended jams and free/ psychedelic work, such as Playing in the Band, Wharf Rat, The Other One, and the Eleven , St Stephen, Bird Song, China Cat/ I know you Rider, Uncle John’s Band ( can go on and on )….. This specific recording of Dark Star just takes you AWAY , just like “ In a Silent Way. Both of these recordings were made within weeks of each other in 1969. My vinyl copies of each are in really good shape, which I can still listen on my Bose 901 speakers….had to replace my original Phillips turntable a couple of years ago ,and replaced my Kenwood amp a couple of times. These albums and artists have provided a lifetime of pleasure, joy and both my parents and wife of 41 year’s demanding to “turn that down” - but keep listening and even have convinced my wife to keep the station on the Grateful Dead channel on XM or a downloaded Grateful Dead disc in the car! Some guys just don’t grow up 😃😊

[@jimbroadbent5664]

Yes ! Joe Zawinul, Weather Report . Like the Dead they would reach great altitudes. Playful and totally original as well. Love the tune “Badia” on album , Tale Spining. To name only one

[@steveborst5386]

I agree that Dark is a masterpiece, but the inspiration for that other masterpiece "Bitches Brew" is Hendrix. He formed a friendship with Miles Davis and convinced him that the next step for jazz to get out of the doldrums it was experiencing at the time was to use the bas and drums the way they are used in rock. that was a milestone in music and the birth of jazz fusion.

[@tinicum54]

I remember seeing "The Grateful Dead Movie" in a Philadelphia Theater in the 70"s. Quadrophonic sound, beer and herb everywhere. I had seen them live a few times before. Lesh demonstrated his 1 string per speaker in that movie. Absolutely stunning. Massive monitors set up in the 4 corners of the theater.

[@jasonsawyer123]

This is the track that got me into the Dead back when I was 18. That would have been somewhere in 1997. Of course, I had only been a year into being a new pothead. lol. This song blew my mind. It began me on a 5 year phase of listening to "jam bands." It did great things for my guitar playing for the time. Most of all those "jam bands" I don't care for anymore but I still love The Dead. I don't really consider The Dead a "jam band" because they were just doing their thing before "jam band' was even coined to describe bands that jam. Today all "jam bands" sound the same. If they're playing a minor key song, it's a funky song. Too many major chord happy songs. The Dead had heart and soul and could play songs that made you cry.

[@peterfortunatoauthorartist1054]

This is the song that "converted" me in early 1970 when I heard it on Cornell radio's jazz show, Maiden Voyage, of all places. I didn't know what I was listening to. . .This version is the ultimate, and I love it so much that I actually don't listen to it very often-it's too overwhelming. "Dark Star" and the entire Live Dead album are engraved in my heart and soul.😎

[@profesorraulgonzalez9923]

El clima, la armonía, la creatividad que chorrea de este disco, lo convierte en cada escucha, en un acercamiento a algo nuevo, fresco, que evidentemente demuestra que el talento y la magia de la música es una constante latente, que a pesar del paso inexorable del tiempo, envejece muy saludablemente, gracias, gracias Grateful Dead !!!!!

[@cecilingram6018]

What a great way of saying goodbye both to an era and to Robert Hunter this was my gateway into the world of the dead beautiful and strange kind and wonderful people I was and still so proud to be a deadhead peace Cecil 💗😁😁😁

[@keithclelland1636]

Well put.

[@teresathomley3703]

Your handle is Gram Parsons's first two names. I'm surprised I'm the first person to type that.

[@gerardogreiner7361]

I listen to Dark Star every night as an evening prayer.

[@keithclelland1636]

I listened to dark star everyday for two years. I never get tired of this version

[@johnmcdonald9304]

Gerardo Greiner: Give us this day our daily Dark Star and lead us into Saint Stephen so we may bask in Thy warm glow as ye Turn On Your Lovelight, amen.

[@keithclelland1636]

McDonald lol. God bless and amen to the truth

[@templestar1]

Spirit and Mary jane

[@diogeneslamplit6573]

@@johnmcdonald9304 Poor St. Stephen. Wherever he went "The People" all complained. Then Saul of Tarsus sat there holding the fine outer raments as the "globalists" stoned Stepen to death... I cook myself a Feast of Stephen every year the next day after that other holiday's ( thankfully ) over. kzbin.info/www/bejne/omnJgamFeaaGpas For *then* is the time to eat drink and be merry!

[@harleylif1929]

My late wife Kathy went to 86 Grateful Dead concerts before we met. I really understand why after songs like this and Ripple and many others.

[@allenfinn2327]

The first time I heard Live/Dead I was in 8th grade. KRLA, an AM radio station, believe it or not, in Pasadena Califonia had a show on Saturday nights at midnight called "Collcter's Corner". The DJ would play whole albums uninterrupted by commercial breaks. This was before the music industry made a big deal out of collecting royalties. After hearing the album in it's entirety I was a Dead Head....

[@paulwarren8936]

Listening to this when I was 15 years old I experienced my first "chills" from music. This record changed everything for me musically.

[@su....]

ha, just got chills reading you say that

[@hassanullah1997]

happy memories from those that can remember. from the golden age of hope, peace and love.its our anthem, for us all, wherever we are. AIM FOR THE STARS

[@calumbroadhurst7927]

I agree with you, i can remember the good old days. ROCK ON

[@trishaferrand1395]

Was the coming of the age of Aquarius. Now we have Trump.

[@karlmtinsley8297]

@@trishaferrand1395 Bullshit! Generation Swine! You went for the money big time. Stop selling your drivel.

[@Steve-vy6kg]

And now, approaching the 50th anniversary of landing on the moon, this very special recording of this very special song comes into stark relief. Houston. Tranquility Base here. The Dark Star has landed....

[@joytuc2608]

Makes my heart hurt with yearning for how we were, what we could have been, and joy that this music is still here for all to appreciate

[@teresathomley3703]

I was born in '81. What you all accomplished was a miracle- to try to move the forces of old and evil away for the sake of nonduality, oneness....

[@Ryanbrio]

This was never the forefront of culture. Everything that sucked then is forgotten. The real good stuff is remembered

[@RuththeTruther]

Not over yet!

[@SnowTheJamMan]

50 years ago today the Dead created this amazing transcendental jam

[@peterfitton4529]

Belated happy Dark Star day :)

[@chrisrutherford9216]

@Politely Correct and some cosmic peanut butter.

[@kemi9403]

A Lost fan I see...

[@stoneyfoot]

Beautiful sound...hard to believe it was so long ago. I first saw the Dead at Fillmore East in 1970 and the cover art of Live/Dead was on display...listened to that LP over & over, drinking in the sound of the quintessential "Dark Star".

[@_nx..kromer.6085]

A different perspective on the GD. Yes❗

[@johnmayer6354]

For me this is the ultimate version of dark star

[@user-zv1ku5ik6c]

Bought this album many many years ago and instantly fell in love with Dark Star. I was never able to relate this track with other people because there wasn't the media outlets about but now I realise many other people adore this track. ( best served in a room with the lights out and a few glasses of wine.

[@loisharford7000]

From the perspective of most of us who heard these songs when they were new, and live, they were 'best served' in a smallish auditorium of like-minded hippies, tripping, dancing, smiling at each other. But as long as you enjoy and appreciate it, you do you!

[@bmet12341]

This is my favorite Dark Star i remember when i bought Live Dead back in 69 that Dark Star just blew me away I've listened to a lot of others to me this is the BEST.