Dark Star 2/15/73

[rv_bass]

One of my favorite versions of Dark Star is from 2/15/73, Dade County Coliseum, Madison, Wisconsin. I searched iTunes to purchase and upload, but couldn’t find it.  Has this not been released?  At least I still have the tape!

[StephenR]

Don't think this has been officially released. Love pretty much any GD from 1973

[elwoodblue]

Here ya is..

[rv_bass]

Thank you! 

[jacko]

I've just been listening to Dark Star from the Woodstock 50th Back to the garden collection and it's very good. I don't understand why the band thought it was so bad they wouldn't give permission for it to appear on the film (technical issues aside).

Graeme

[rv_bass]

I think I read somewhere once that there was a royalties issue, so they opted out, but I could be wrong about that.

[StephenR]

The Dark Star played at Woodstock is almost 20 minutes long. Even if the Dead was willing to sign the theatrical release there is no way they would have given the band that long a spot in the movie. In 1969 the Dead were still a hippy band from SF that a lot of people knew nothing about so that factors in, too. I went to the festival and last year listened to a large chunk of the 50th Anniversary broadcast of the entire thing that was aired "in real time" including all the stage announcements and banter between acts. Must admit that in that context the Dead came off especially poorly. The music itself isn't terrible, certainly not their best performance and maybe not the worst either, but the amount of dead air, mindless stoned babbling and everything put together adds up to not paint a terribly impressive picture of their actual musical skill-set which in 1969 could be formidable on the right night. Other acts had to deal with the weather, staging, delays and general chaos but most of the performances were tight and as professional as they could be under the circumstances. A number of the bands who played Woodstock got a huge career boost out of it but not the Dead...

Been listening to 2/15/73... quite a good show but haven't gotten to the Dark Star yet.

[lbpesq]

Didn’t the heavy Dead equipment cause the Woodstock rotating stage to collapse which created even more delay?


Haven’t listened to 2/15/73 yet,  but I saw them a month later at Nassau Coliseum.  Great show!

Bill, tgo

[StephenR]

Hey Bill, I was at the 3/15 Nassau show, too. Always been bummed there isn't a complete SBD recording to revisit. Two nights later I saw Pink Floyd perform DSOTM at Radio City Music Hall, one show only at RCM and it started around 1 AM.

[rv_bass]

Hey Bill, I was at the 3/15 Nassau show, too. Always been bummed there isn't a complete SBD recording to revisit. Two nights later I saw Pink Floyd perform DSOTM at Radio City Music Hall, one show only at RCM and it started around 1 AM.

You guys were lucky!! 

[lbpesq]

Hey, I had to schlepp out to Long Island, aka “Lawn Guy Lin”, from Yonkers.   It was all about the effort, luck had little to do with it!

Being at the Keystone Berkeley at a NRPS show in February 1974, when Jerry jumped up on stage playing Alligator for the second set, now that was lucky!

Bill, tgo

[rv_bass]

Right on, Bill