saw them in '69 (in Austin TX) after returning from Viet Nam. After so much death and blood got lost in their music, LSD, and the terrible memories that still hover just above the little steel roof here in rural Maine. Music has the power to heal. Jerry lives in our hearts and minds.
@@robertlepper5460 thanks for your reply, believe me not a day goes by that I don't recall the bullshit that rained down on the innocent silent people of Viet Nam. In the words given to the actor in Coppolas magnum opus "the bullshit in Viet Nam piled up so high and deep you needed wings to stay above it". For myself. I was young (21) had never been away from home. We were caught up in a situation beyond our understanding or, well nothing I can say here will change anything, I was "called" by my country to go and kill people I'd never met, far to many black men served with me. I do agree however that there is a black wall in DC that lists 56000 plus or minus names who died for NOTHING, nothing was advanced, nothing was.........oh well, nothing is what we all get in the end. Sorry I may have, well you know. Peace, it's all we have left.
I first started properly listening to the dead about 3 years ago but in the last six months I have (mostly) stopped listening to anything but the dead. I feel blessed to have finally realised the true depth of their musical genius, and the brother/sisterhood of my fellow devotees 🙏❤️
I was 13 (maybe 14) when some friends asked me to go to a free concert. It was the Grateful Dead. I'd heard of them but didn't know much about them. The concert made an addict out of me. Over 50 years later l still love them. Saw them many times and so many memories.
Robert Hunter passed away Monday 9/23/2019 in the night. RIP you amazing wordsmith and cosmic traveler. Sure he got on the bus but he was also smart enough to know where the best bus stop was and when to get off. He was 78 years old and survived by Maureen his long time wife.
Along w/Dylan...Iconic writer/chronicler/Observer of Americana covering the last 100yrs..So many memorable lines..Hunter was good.. I got no dime....but i got some time .. To hear your story...... Oh the humanity..RIP Robt.
The Dead would have never made it without Hunter. A genuine genius in my mind and with Jerry Garcia the best composers of popular music in the last half of the 20th century.
The often invisible but clearly not silent member of the band. RIP Robert Hunter. Your words and their imagery have brought untold richness to uncountable ears and minds, changing many, many lives for the better. I hope you're in a special place for those gifts you provided to all.
If anyone is unaware. You can listen w/out being interrupted by ads(a crime in this case!) by just letting the first ad play, then slide the time indicator to the end until you see the circular "refresh" icon. Hit that & listen to this masterpiece the way it was intended. Of all the jams this is the one nobody should've cut to bits the way they have. I'm sure most know that little trick but hopefully someone will be spared that craziness. ✌🏽✌🏽 Masterpiece!
Growing up in the '70's I have to admit I was just a mild fan of the Dead as I was in the harder rock and prog bands of that era. But rediscovering their music now that I'm 62 gives me a true sense of solace in these scary, uncertain times. Thanks, Jerry, Pigpen, Phil, Bill, Mickey and Bob.
Same here. Friend gave me my 1st tape in 94. Cow Palace show from 72 or 73. I was hooked. I kick myself that I never got to see them. 50 year old fart here.
Easily my favourite Darkstar. The transition after Wharf Rat is the most phenomenally beautiful piece of music I’ve ever heard. The Mikaela Davis version is absolutely on par with it though. This music is magical in every way🌼🌺🌻🌸🙏☮️❤️🍄🌈
@@lizlalove6171 Yes. I come to this every time I walk. The transition at exactly when you mention literally makes tears come to my eyes every time. It is so profoundly emotionally intense it is unreal.
This is the very first performance of Wharf Rat. This is the show that busted out Wharf, Greatest Story Ever Told, Bertha, Loser and Playing in the Band!! I envy anyone who was there to hear all these soon to be classic Dead songs played live for the very first time. Good 'ol Grateful Dead forever! ✌🇨🇦
As a 14 year old runaway driven there by a friend's sister's boyfriend (who had a ticket) the parking lot was as far as we got but you could often hear the sounds from those "Theaters" the east coast had then.
@@j.pederzane9692That's a bit extreme bud. if anything the Dead were the American Beatles of the stage/road. But studio output/songwriting doesn't even compare a little. What the Beatles achieved in the studio in such a short time is unparalleled...certainly by the dead. However what the dead achieved on the road the Beatles couldn't/wouldn't come close to know matter what history might have been. my two cents. hope I'm not being rude. Healthy disagreement if anything
@@josephfinkelstein5979 It's all good. We all know de gustibus non disputandum but it's so much fun to pretend our personal tastes are stone cold truths.
What's beautiful to me about this is how so many people can find relations to their personal lives in the lyrics and sounds, and come together to love one another purely through the grateful dead. That is beautiful. If we had more of this in the world maybe it would clean up a bit
Agree Bobby Z wake up to the boys every morning, took years to figure that on out on the old alarm clock. There is still something about Jerry's guitar filling a whole valley with pure magic. Haven't found that wake up clock yet.
The beat goes on and on.... there are lots of awesome bands still touring that have spun off the Dead and who have collaborated with various members and many who’ve been heavily influenced by them. Don’t worry it ain’t going away. Keep on truckin’
@@joshkarosis132 so true. once you've seen behind the veil so many times, the thing you were searching for and lost the answer for becomes clear again.
You know, given the fact that the Dead play songs in a way that they're more or less never the same twice and the fact that they allow tapers, that must mean that The Grateful Dead has produced more original music than anyone else. Is that right? I know there are jazz bands that play music like that but they don't record every show for years. And even if they did, who tours as much as the Dead? The other thing I wanted to say is that Warf Rat has some amazing lyrics.
Jerry sounds high af starting the lyrics to DS... Then, he gets focused. The whole thing is just amazing as hell. All cylinders firing -an early taste of my favorite span of years for this band: '69-'78. The excesses began catching up with them. Rough patches, then the mid-late 80s were solid but never as good as the early stuff. When the Dead is mentioned, a lot of people think of the crummy stuff and never bother to look a little deeper. Such quality music, being composed as a group with the audience's energy creating it as well in a weird symbiosis of sharing an experience. It's where music becomes vessel for everyone's moment; potentiating the whole thing to unbelievable spaces. I remember when I got this recording on a Maxell XL290. Wore it out. This much emotion and power just by improvising with a little structure to leap from and hop back to.
I think this is really their best. 71 was when they were really at the peak of their creativity and I never get tired of listening to the way Garcia would just soar and play with so much emotion. I feel really sad that he lost this in later years but I think thats what heroin does to people. I think he knew it too and was embarrassed by all the adulation that came later. He didn't want to rest on his laurels.
Listened to this for the first time after hours at a radio station with my one of my good friends. Undoubtedly one of the most moving experiences of my life so far. We were swearing, yelling, lying on the floor, dancing, and by the end we were silent. According to my friend, Phil Lesh had no memory of this performance, but cried upon listening back to it, and I can see why. So grateful to have this band in my life!
@@NowhereMan7 Uh, yeah...about that. They said the same thing about the Buddha, Nikola Tesla, Jesus, Einstien and Jonas Salk, Marconi, and Beethoven, Da Vinci, Socrates. And Stephen Hawking. Too mention only a few individuals who have changed the course of history. Some in their selected field. And others whose influence is felt every single day by the same 7 or 8 billion hunans that you mentioned. All of us roaming our small blue-green oasis in this vast mysterious universe. Like the others mentioned Jerry Garcia brought not only the gift of his virtuosity playing the guitar. But he brought out of us our own humanity. Which many of us would have never experienced without him. You may not see the light. But we do. Peace.
@@NowhereMan7 Yeah, that's an oddly negative thing to say about a comment that was full of warm sentiment and sadness. Just for a second, imagine if someone said something like that to you after your mother died or something. "Dude, there's plenty of old ladies around. What's the big deal?" Lol. And the comment wasn't about his personal loneliness. It was about what Jerry brought to the world. When Jerry died, a part of all of his fans died too. Some of us spent years following him around from city to city living on Ramen noodles and grilled cheeses. Jerry was literally a HUGE part of some people's life. And it was all cut short so abruptly. He was only 53 years old. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you were just having a bad day or something when you wrote that. I'm sure we've all made similar mistakes. I know I have. So, peace to you and yours.
And when, in the bye and bye, time begins and ends, and the squirrels scurry up an oak tree, and the rabbits glance here and there, and the soft breezes blow and smiles summon all that is s good and pure, there you will be and they will be, too!
Been stuck on Morning Dew for my latest Dead obsession, playing and watching all the versions I can find, no new music can make me feel emotions like this, true beauty
@@lloydclaussen9132 exactly,,For about 4 years straight now I have listened to the dead everyday ...Got into collecting vinyl and I have 28 pieces of dead vinyl now....The music never stops here..
Mr. Garcia was that crazy cool guy that took tickets on the roller coaster and let you ride again & again for free... How I loved that guy! We miss you so much dude! Always a hoot captain!
Not really even a song. More like an experiment. Auditory alchemy. Ritualistic magic with a 5-8 person covenant including also audiences of millions eventually. Mass hypnosis, hysteria, and massively heavy.
First saw the Dead in 1985. My life was never the same since that day. The world would be a much better place if Jerry was still alive, certainly more bearable.
pardon my redundant redundancy, but the words is poetry beyond compare ... 🤙 --- 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 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 💙
Listening to this on the day of Mr Robert Hunter's passing. Two songs with absolutely timeless lyrics that feel as though they're from another era, and yet still contemporary as hell. Dark Star, of course, was the first song he wrote for the band. "Shall we go, while we can, through the transitive nighfall of diamonds?" And indeed go they did. Bless the Dead!
This is the song that plays eternally in the universe, and every time we hear it is just the moment when we happen to be tuning in to the song that never ends.
@@janeseamore1370 Yes, Jane, I've been a pastor of Lutheran congregations in Montana and Alaska for the last 25 years. I know it freaks some people out a little when a pastor loves the Grateful Dead, but both are a part of who I truly am.
Interesting thought. Reminds me of a 'vision' I had one afternoon I've not told many people while listening to plenty of Dead as I was generally inclined to do on such occasions. It's theme was 'how stars are made'. It was the end of earth history (however far into the future it took to get there wasn't clear) and everyone was of one heart/mind and 'ready'. The bands all over the world took the stage and began to play .. each taking breaks as necessary but 'the music never stopped' right? At one point I was able to fly across from one scene to the next and all the bands were actually playing the same song but I'd catch them at different points of the various improvisations of the theme. And finally .. it could have been days ... they/we all reached that moment when it all just came together .. and then like a massive bolt of lightening coming out from within .. we, and the earth, gently burst into a star!
I was SO sure Jer was going to lift me right off my feet at StLouisFox during an early '70s DarkStar I began picturing the mildly surprised faces of those around me. Truly sublime ...phew
Rumor has it that he levitated during all dark stars, but maybe it was just me to the time he was twisting all of our minds into one whirled peas in unison
It's my birthday in a couple days. I am 28 years young. And, I've got all my teeth, family by my side, a lovely caring independent women to call my own . . . it's my life :) Maybe if people stopped comparing themselves to one another, that would be enough for all of us to be who we are . . . I really just want to be happy and that's about it. I'm glad you're here to read this, that means we're both aLLive -- Nick
Read that Phil Lesh,when played this set years later was reduced to tears by it.. i know why, the post Wharfrat jam is aptly named.. Beautiful improv. guys.
I just assented to another Level. Mind you, I've been listening to this version for about 2 years. And try and play through it regularly. Jerry does a fine Keith Jarrett and Phil weeps. Yup, a keeper..
This concert was one week before I was born! Happy to live at a time when we can have such unrestricted access to this inventive, freeing, beautiful music. Thanks for posting, @mrmusicneverstopped
There has never been a band able to put an LSD PERMAGRIN on my face and reduce me me to tears in a few short minutes.They say music evokes emotion well Jerry and the boys were absolute masters of this ..China cat Rider from Alpine always makes me smile Happy Jerry does it every time
LSD TEARS...BUT GRATEFUL DEAD BROTHERS ARE CALLED "BROTHERS"....."BROTHA"......IS a rap/hip hop form of 'brother".....which is yo yo what's up brotha....lol
The Beautiful jam as its called coming out of WR and going backinto DS is one the most amazing jerry solos u will ever know.i keep listening to it over and over. It truly is beautiful
doesnt matter what its called. It is from Energy and perhaps God. I dunno , brother. But I am alive and breathing. and hoping for you. And everybody else. My gawd I am.
A masterpiece. It almost hurts to listen because of how deep the memories of my youth go. I loved a girl named Sandy who will always be my link to those days.
In mid60s. I listened to so much different music then and now, from hard Country to psychedelic. But I never got into the Dead. This is one far out tune though. I'll give them a 🎶 listen now. Clarity to confusion is just what I'm diggin now.
I always like to say that folks do not discover liking Grateful Dead but instead the Dead finds them. In the right place, when the timing is perfectly in the moment, then a song just takes you to a special state of mind. The music is a journey, an opening and a revelation. Because somewhere between the compositions, the lyrics, and the improvisation lies a sacred place where something so universal and complete overwhelms one with that divine sense of "ahhh" followed by a "wow, this is pretty _______________..."
After spending some wonderfully enjoyable time with Ken Burns's Country Music over the past two weeks, I come back to this chestnut and now see parallels to country music I hadn't seen before. 400 years from now they'll be playing this sequence and the world, whatever it is at that point, will stand in awe and connect back to Mother Maybelle, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank, Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Marty Stuart and more. Of course, Ives will appear. 'Trane and Miles. Wolfie. It's all here. IT'S ALL HERE! Sorry, crystal ear vision stream appeared.....Whew....
Ahhh.. . Bobby and some may disagree... But, 69-72. Their best. Yeah, great music to follow, but for me, nothing better than these couple of years. No Micky. No Donna. No Brent.
Get rid of those commercials in the middle of the music, please god have mercy here. Go to your RU-vid channel video settings and adjust so the commercials only play at the beginning or the end. Not in the middle of the music. Nothing worst than commercials in the middle of wharf rat. It’s an easy fix and you still get the same ad revenue
If you meet a potential lover, better see if they like this. Could mean it's a one-time thing as opposed to a lifetime. This is experience talking. Get high and listen to Tom Jones?!? Buhbye.
@@rtothes936 Hang in there! Get a good support system - Outside things make life a struggle for ALL OF US, it's just how we react to it! It aint easy but YOU CAN DO IT!
While this music is beautiful Lesh was in the throws of depression caused by Jerry’s death at the time. I’ve heard Billy & Bobby talk about past concerts specifically fan favorites & they have almost zero memory of any eras. Everything pre 1985 (when they’d finally had enough of Jerry’s self destructive behavior followed by his coma in ‘86) blends together which makes sense I guess. Neither Billy nor Bobby say 1977 stands out to them in any way despite it being their best year + 1974 only stands out to them bc they were so worn out which is also crazy bc that’s their “other” top year.
I am blessed to enjoy this fantastic band with their unique sound. I am gratefully alive with their music. It is in fact a beautiful star in my life. Old Hippy from Cape Town.
Was too uptight to love this band for a long time. Now I see. Now I love. Be well and love without fear. My good friend Leif Gibson told me in 1997 that someday I would turn full Deadhead. That fucker was right. Miss that fucker.
Great version of DS/WR/DS. Shame on (and a big thumbs down) for MrMusicNeverStopped for monetizing this video. You did not create this music, it is not yours to make money off of. The Dead have always been very clear that they don't mind sharing their music, but not for money. This goes back to the beginning - when someone had to buy taping equipment, but a ticket to the show, spend the time setting up and taking down their equipment, and then make copies to trade with their friends. THis shouldn't change for RU-vid. For you to download the recording from another online source (for free) and then make money off this is F***ed up!
Bobby had a way of creating such beautiful harmonic undertones back in the day. Somewhere along the way he changed to a more tinny sound that isn’t quite as nice IMHO.
He had his best sound, imo, when he used his Gibson sem-hollows-the ES-335 and 345. Then he switched to solid-body guitars around 74 or 75 somewhere. An Ibanez Artist (Japanese)first and then the Modulus Graphite and some other high-tech Strat style.
i snuck out my bedroom window with 20 bucks, a pack of marlboro reds and a warm chamise blanket... Met up with Nikki and we were off on the streets of.Long Beach, walking and riding the bus till we came upon the Long Beach Arena. ...Hey, man! We're at the Greatful Dead Show.... hell yeah!!!
Wharf Rat seemed a bit proto- feeling.....and yep, turns out this is the first time: www.dead.net/features/greatest-stories-ever-told/greatest-stories-ever-told-wharf-rat
they played Bertha, Playing in the Band, and Loser for the first time that night as well. Sometime in that run, they also did a smoking Here Comes Sunshine, with a jazzy galloping beat I haven't heard since. Songs for the ages!
the jamming around the 16 minute mark made me stop work, check where the time was and comment....and I've had a good quality tape of this show for awhile
. I was 18 and my 2nd show. Exactly 5 months after my 1st show. This certainly cemented my relationship with the band. Forever and always. RIP John Perry Barlow, who I passed outside the Cap that night.
wharf rat was the one that got me...i was well aware that the grateful dead existed...truckin was ok, touch of grey was better than 99% of everything else in heavy rotation on mtv in the 80s....but whatever...then one day sitting on a buddys porch in bellingham wa, around sunset drinking some beers and smoking a little weed...someone puts wharf rat on. i had never felt as strongly that a song was for me, never heard one speaking so clearly and directly to me, as that whatf rat that evening some 20 years ago or so. i couldn’t believe that this cheesy hippy band that had been right there in front of me my whole life wasn’t a cheesy hippie band at all...in fact...they were, are and forever will be the greatest band ever. been a head ever since and this music still speaks to me in a way no other music does. whatever im feeling, but especially when im feeling like a fuck up who tried their best but failed...the grateful dead can always turn my frown upside down...or at the very least make my self pity seem a lot more epic and transcendent than it otherwise would.
I'm so glad I am lucky to have been old enough in 1971 to have seen The Grateful Dead along with so many other amazing bands then. I feel sorry for anyone who never saw the real Grateful Dead around this time; luckily, there are many recordings for them to listen to and a few films from that amazing era as well. The audiences were much different then, too. Thanks for posting this.
This came on just on in the car....one of the best sandwiches with a great Wharf Rat, but the "Beautiful Jam" is just that, let alone mention the Dark Start ends. A Me & My Uncle follows (the most ever played song by the Dead), yet this one is slowed down and the most psychedelic cowboy Uncle you will ever hear. Check it out on archive. It follows the Beautiful Jam>Dark Star on this one.
