Dark Star
Jan. 2, 1970
Fillmore East (Late Show)
Starts out kind of listless and sleepy. Really a bit dull until around the 19:30 mark when Phil and Jerry seem to tentatively hint at a thematic shift — after a few measures Bobby jumps on board and WOW, off we go, falling headlong into a buoyant jam that starts out reminiscent of the 2/13/70 Feelin’ Groovy jam. This evolves into a unique and brightly melodic segment that sustains itself for a few minutes and features great interplay between Jerry and Bobby, if not the whole band. As others have noted, there’s even a brief hint of a Sugar Magnolia jam, about six months before that song would make its debut. At about the 24 minute mark things shift into a nice and lively Tighten Up jam that eventually gives way to the main theme around the 29 minute mark before delivering us into St. Stephen. The last twelve minutes or so of this 32 minute Dark Star are absolutely stellar. (The danger is that many impatient listeners may have checked out by then). This is one of those fantastic Dark Stars where the best things about it are the multiple thematic jams that exist outside of the standard “Dark Star” framework.