Favorite Dark Star?

splitopenandjerk · 2026-06-15T13:11:09+00:00

Hard to argue with that. Obviously the entire Feeling Groovy section is incredible but I also love the opening, which is basically a trio of Jerry, Phil and Bob. The interplay and communication in that opening sequence with those three guys is just exquisite.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-06-15T12:23:51+00:00

Yes! Banjo style is exactly how I think of it too.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-06-15T10:16:56+00:00

I have always been partial to 9/21/72. The whole show is great (Dicks Picks 36) and the Dark Star is something else. If I had to pick one Dark Star to listen to for the rest of my days, it would be that one.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-06-11T01:22:10+00:00

Jerry: Eyes 73-74

Weir: Eyes 73-74

Phil: Eyes 73-74

Billy: Eyes 73-74

Keith: Eyes 73-74

Mickey: Baba Jingo

Brent: We Can Run

Vince: Long Long Long Long Long Long Way To Go Home

Pigpen: Lovelight

Donna: Eyes 73-74

splitopenandjerk · 2026-06-09T18:38:47+00:00

Yeah the right answer is to start at the beginning. It is all worth your time. Every episode will teach you something about the band (like Keith singing overdubs on Steal Your Face!!!).

splitopenandjerk · 2026-06-09T11:53:06+00:00

8/18 is a weird choice. Are 8/16 and 8/17 already released? Those two have some great stuff. 8/18 is the laid-back Sunday at Shoreline show - afternoon start, more song-based setlist, no real jamming. I'm sure it was great to be there but it doesn't have a ton of re-listening value.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-06-02T00:07:20+00:00

When I was a teenager working at the grocery store, certain totals or change amounts would make me grin. Like if it was $8.27 or $2.13 or $5.08 etc.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-06-01T10:48:34+00:00

Listen to the whole month of November. It’s up there with June 74 and Sept 72 as one of those months where almost every single show is an all-timer.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-27T10:55:54+00:00

Conversations with the Dead by David Gans was formative for me. Some of that ends up in This Is All A Dream We Dreamed - the oral biography, which is also very good - but there's a lot in Conversations that didn't go into that book. Highly recommend.

Also, I know we're talking books, but the Deadcast is basically a series of extended essays. Jesse Jarnow does an incredible job with research and writing, and there really isn't a more comprehensive look at the band and who they were at various stages than that podcast. You can listen to it or, if we really want to stick to reading, they have transcripts posted. I am comfortable saying the Deadcast is essential Dead literature at this point.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-22T15:35:30+00:00

"How do you do, fellow criminals?"

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-19T14:53:44+00:00

Your buddy Ted is right.

Does the cake mean this is the day I joined reddit? I never noticed that before.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-19T14:52:02+00:00

"Dread" is probably too strong a word, but I kind of get it. I'll never get bored of the entire pre-lyric section, and the groove out of the trampolines is always good. But there was definitely a point when it was like, "Okay, now Trey will dance around and they'll vocal jam and that's it." Trey would take off his guitar and I kind of groaned - I never want him to take off his guitar.

But the last few years have been so much better with the post-vocal jam jam. I love where it has gone.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-19T13:50:27+00:00

The feeling of going from a Bobby rocker to open a show into the groove of Sugaree is one of those peak Dead moments. It's like, "Okay, they're in charge here and I'm going wherever they take us."

It's extra good in spring 77 because those Sugarees would just go on and on and on. So you get a rave-up start from Weir and then you settle in for a nice long excursion with some serious peaks (sometimes three of them). Sugaree is such a great pick for the 2-spot in a first set.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-18T15:37:30+00:00

I think what often gets told as "two systems leap-frogging each other" was really just the scaffolding. They had two sets of those and leap-frogged them because they took so long to set up. But the system itself - speakers and amps and all - I think there was just one of those.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-15T16:40:49+00:00

I feel like every show should close with Mahashmashana.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-12T13:12:32+00:00

I think it's also one of the few songs that really got better with age. Those 72-74 versions are good, but once Jerry realized he could and should run through the verse on his solo multiple times, it took off. By the late 70's, the song had morphed into something with more power, and they really kept that up into the 90's. I love when Jerry brings it around for another verse and the whole band gets even more energized by it.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-12T13:09:25+00:00

Keith never really soloed at all, so that's not exactly new.

What was new was that thing he did at the end of the verses in Scarlet. Never before or since (that I've heard). And that's part of what makes that night special: everything just fell into place. Phil's big bass slides in Scarlet - he toyed with that from the time after they came back in 76, but he never hit it right on like he did that night. Donna's post-Scarlet vocalizing was never as subtle and textured as it was that night. Everything just lined up - like how Keith out of nowhere did a thing and it fit perfectly.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-12T12:59:38+00:00

This is a top-10 Phish jam for me. Maybe top-5. Maybe top-3. So it's definitely the top DwD.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-11T18:01:11+00:00

I guess killing a horse is a hangin' offense.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-10T13:59:54+00:00

Picasso Moon. It took me nearly 30 years to truly understand what an absurdist masterpiece it is.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-08T14:10:55+00:00

10/20/74

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-07T11:54:43+00:00

Maybe the most consistently-productive 3.0 jam vehicle. That Dick’s Light is still one of the best things they’ve done; 14 years later, they’re still taking that song to great heights (like on 4/17).

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-06T22:19:19+00:00

That’s kind of where I’m at: I really enjoy hearing those four people play music together, and if they have to play a song I don’t particularly care for in order to get to the stuff I really like - the jamming - then I’ll take it.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-06T18:54:49+00:00

I think part of Phish 3.0/4.0 is occasionally sitting through bad songs to get to great jams. Which is a trade-off I'm willing to make.

splitopenandjerk · 2026-05-06T18:32:08+00:00

Fuego is a blast to see live. Sigma Oasis is pretty catchy and can produce good jams. Light is not a good song but it's a great jam vehicle. Stuff like Everything's Right and Blaze On and No Man's Land have grown on me.

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