The latest installment in the Grateful Dead‘s All The Years Live archival video series is available now on the band’s YouTube page. This entry highlights the Dead’s performance of “Dark Star” from Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on October 18th, 1974.
Taken from the Dead’s five-night run at the Winterland that preceded a two-year touring hiatus, this “Dark Star” marked the last of a dying breed. As the band matured past their avant-garde psychedelic beginnings, classics like “Dark Star” and “St. Stephen” appeared less and less throughout the ensuing decades. Yet, in a proper sendoff to their legions of dead-icated fans, the Grateful Dead offered up this memorable rendition which would prove to be the last for over four years.
Grateful Dead archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux notes in the video’s description,
Although played more than 50 times in 1972-1973 combined, Dark Star became a rarity in 1974, played only six times before being shelved until 12/31/78. At the Farewell Shows in October 1974, the Dead played this magnificent, introspective, powerful rendition of their ultimate improvisational vehicle. We were thrilled to locate the 16mm film negative when we were producing the Grateful Dead Movie DVD.
Watch the Grateful Dead perform “Dark Star” at Winterland on October 18th, 1974.
Grateful Dead – “Dark Star” – San Francisco, CA – 10/18/74
[Video: Grateful Dead]
Previous installments of the Dead’s ongoing All The Years Live series have included: