For this edition of “Dark Star Stories” we’re going to take a look at one of the best-known renditions of Dark Star – the August 27th, 1972 “Field Trip” performance at the Renaissance Fair Grounds in Veneta, Oregon.

As you probably all well know, the show was a benefit for Chuck and Sue Kesey’s Springfield Creamery. The Pranksters were present, Ken Babbs did the infamous opening introduction for the band Weir – “I don’t know who this guy is, but he aint’ Bill Graham”

“That’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me all day.” – Ken Babbs

The whole show was filmed for the still unreleased concert film – “Sunshine Daydream”, and it was a ridiculously hot day.

“That old sun is making our instruments sound mighty strange…”

The Veneta show is frequently lauded as one of the band’s finest, and it’s reputation is well-deserved. Even the staunchest critic of the band will be hard pressed to find anything wrong with it. The playing has to be heard to be believed, but really there’s something so distinctive about the sound of the show. The guitars sound razor-sharp, Phil’s bass is punchy, the drums snap and crack and Keith’s keys are bright.

READ ON for more of this month’s Dark Star Story…

Over three strong sets, the band complains about the heat and delivers note-perfect renditions of the good stuff – those classic tunes that never left the playlists for long – Jack Straw, He’s Gone, Bertha, Greatest Story and a China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider for the ages. But the band fires off three psychedelic salvos – a rare and sweet Bird Song, a possibly best-ever Playing in the Band, and of course, Dark Star.

“You know they made a movie of that show. You know it should have been called Orange Sunshine Daydream! It was hot, hotter than hell, hotter than summer in Bakersfield, but as soon as they started playing, we forgot all about the heat and just, you know, got in the groove.” – Louie Louie

Few renditions of Dark Star feature this kind of intensity and downright ferocity of jamming. Tight and fluid with the band firing on all cylinders. It’s a lean and mean version in a time of truly mammoth renditions, but its by no means any less psychedelic. It crackles with lysergic energy. Jerry’s guitar spits fire as he works that wah wah pedal into submission.

There are some very strange tonal structures played by Weir and he and Jerry gleefully play some discordant bended notes just before slipping into the thematic jam before the vocals. Once the verse is over, it’s back to the action. Like the vocals were some commercial interruption in the midst of the feature, like an obligatory statement of purpose.

About twenty minutes in, Lesh and Kreutzmann do a drum and bass duet that was a highlight of a lot of Stars from ’72 and ’73. Not to say anything negative about Mickey Hart, but wow, Bill Kreutzmann flying solo, earned his MVP award night after night, driving these exploratory jazz-jams without the slightest sign of letting up. Keith joins the jam, and then Bob and Jerry. Jerry completely goes off. Playing some truly beautifully chaotic licks. Coaxing almost Hendrix-like intensity out of his Stratocaster.

At the climax, as the engines finally power down, Jerry plucks the opening notes to Morning Dew, but the rest of the band glides easily and inexplicably back to Earth for a bouncy El Paso. Like the Roswell crash – the interstellar spacecraft crash landing into the American desert. But this breakdown into cowboy country isn’t a buzz kill, it’s been my belief that Morning Dew may have been just a little too heavy for the festival crowd.

As the last rays of sun shone down on the Fairgrounds, the band delivered a sweet and spiritual Sing Me Back Home before a rousing Sugar Magnolia (of course!)

A few years ago, the recordings of the “Field Trip” were yanked from the Live Music Archive, fueling new speculation that the long-promised “Sunshine Daydream” box set was finally on its way, however, the recordings are now available once again.

A week prior to the Veneta show, the band played a solid run at the Berkeley Community Theater. On August 21st, the band played a spaced out and intriguing suite of Dark Star >El Paso > Space > Deal

Sort of a dress rehearsal for what went down on the 27th. The Dark Star is voluminous and energetic.

On the 24th, the audience were treated to a ferocious Dark Star that blossomed into an uplifting and impassioned Morning Dew.

Both these shows are absolute gems (along with the rest of the run) and are overshadowed by the 27th, so go check them out.

A cat named Tahoe Jimbo shared this memory of the August 24th show with me:

“It was so many shows and so long ago. It was a much more innocent peaceful time for us, in such turbulent times. I can recall the little park across from the Community Theater in Beserkly was full of colors and patchouli mixed with the clouds of pot smoke on a hot August day (in more ways than one). Orange Sunshine if I remember correctly.”

“I recall Dark Star was incredibly spacey and certainly more jazzy than I was used to hearing. If I remember it seemed to run for an eternity, but in reality it was about a half hour (seems all the songs they played that second set were extended into some very tasty jams!) Dark Star > Morning Dew stands out in my mind though. Phil was extremely powerful on that Thunderstick, and Jerry was awesome (as usual). And in the small venue of the show it seemed like we were on stage with them that night…”

Ben Wiser

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