The sound of the Dark Star > Dancin' is totally dire, good for one listen, if you're strong. The taper must have moved his mic, though -- the sound is better for Good Lovin and Uncle John -- still far from good but better than god awful -- and the Good Lovin is a keeper, with a brief powerful snatch of solo from Phil along the way.

Great Dark Star and the jam after drums in Good Lovin' is amazing including a short bass solo around the 12:00 mark!

This lost piece, occurring between the outstanding and other worldly 5/2 and 6/24 concerts, comes gliding in, full swing, with Jerry steering and diving the band head first into Dark Star with that unique, goose-bump-raising riff beginning at :22. Soon unhinging, the journey plunges through galaxies to arrive for that stroll in the garden of eternity in the pastures of upstate New York, tumbling past Phil's gates of re-entry to dance in the streets, only to again crawl out of the woodwork and permeate the immortal moment that is embedded in the very existence of this recording in all its raw glory.

For years I've been hearing gushing raves about the Kresge Plaza set and practically nothing about the Dupont gym show. And I know exactly why. Both this fragment and the rough but decent Dupont audience really require the listener to actively seek what can be discerned,while the spectacular quality of the Kresge tape requires no effort at all.

Chris, the Dupont show is hardly "straight", were it a sbd and it would easily rival Harper College. There's nothing straight at all about the Easy Wind at Dupont or the Lovelight or most of the rest. And this show, were we able to hear the whole thing might beat both.

The distortion isn't from the mic being on the stage or near Phil's bass cabinet, it's just a cheap built in mic auto level control portable probably like this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/221538656893?lpid=82

That style were by far the most common portables in those days. It's a miracle to have the fragment and a tragedy that sdb's don't seem to exist for either this or Dupont. !970 is the landmark year and early May was an exceptional stretch of shows.

This is incredible stuff that is extremely rewarding if you have the time to listen closely. The term "dripping with LSD" leaps immediately to mind.

This show occurs just two days after the legendary 5-6-70 Kresge Plaza show (and one day after the great Dupont Gym show). Based on what we can hear on this tape, the Farrell Hall show might have been the best of the three. Regardless of how you rank them, the overall vibe of the Farrell Show show is definitely far, far more relaxed and blissed out than either the short and intense outdoor performance on 5-6 or the beautiful but relatively "straight" show on 5-7.

The beginning of the Dark Star is missing and once you become oriented to the overblown sound of the recording, the band quiets down into one of of the most beautiful but restrained Feedbacks you'll hear -- captured pretty darn nicely and arguably enhanced by the (original) analog distortion. Throughout the Dark Star, Jerry sounds like he's beaming his notes to earth from another universe. The music is rubber-like as the band stretches itself around something coherent for a minute (or five seconds) and then collapses upon itself or blooms into a new galaxy, and never with cruel intent.

The Dancin' is ... abnormal ... to say the least. Jerry mostly disappears from the intro but when he returns for the jam they're off to the Molasses Races again. Lugubrious and awe-inspiring.

The Good Lovin' includes no Pig rap. Jerry again with a smoldering solo over the drums ... then he vanishes. When you hear him next it's with the rest of the band, in unison. And then: liftoff. There's some mysterious rhythmic shouting (Pig?) in the background around 9:20 ("C'mon! C'mon!").

After Good Lovin', the crowd goes bananas. For those keeping track, I think this might be one of the better-recorded, lengthy, and intensely ecstatic recordings of 1970 Deadheads responding to what they've just heard.

UJB is mixed for the bongo. It's a short version.

I hope people keep unearthing "lost" tapes of shows from 1970 because, well, I'd like to hear more of them -- especially if it's a show as good as this one.

This sounds like it was recorded at the lip of the stage, close to Phil's monitors. The bass is therefore overloaded, which makes this quite hard to listen to. It is just about tolerable during 'Dark Star' though and well worth the effort as this is a unique - and great - rendition. I personally found the rest of the show far less interesting and not really worth wading through in this quality.

Can't listen for long enough to tell if it's any good show-wise.

The quality of this recording aside, this is rare material from one of the band's best periods. The Dark Star> Dancin is must-hear material for fans of the era.

As another poster suggested, the EQ can be tweaked to make this more listenable. I've gotten it to where it has a kind of far off, ghostly sound, not unlike 11/22/68 - http://archive.org/details/gd1968-11-22.aud-goodbear.cotsman.21933.sbefail.shnf .

There is no time wastin' cruzin' into Dark Star as the recording begins,2:30 into it after the first verse; Gongs, feedback and some straight up goo dripping space,no prisoners here. About 7:30 after serious feedback Jer starts with his Guitar bringing us back to the familiar Dark Star theme, the audience applause's then claps along, beautifully captured on this decent AUD.10:00 potential first verse only to tease us with various thematic journey's.Yep i said decent AUD. JUST LISTEN as mentioned before..and before you know it your in the crowd soaking them up.Not until the 18:00 mark Phil pounds out the familiar Dark Star theme only to seamlessly slip into Dancin.
Bobby's vocal are murky but we are talking a 42 year old recording, unknown origin here, (can't be too choosey)Dancin is groovy.

Good Lovin' sizzles leaving us and the band drenched, a beautifully played Uncle John's is what we have ....the recent surfacing of 6/70AUD lead me here. Not only did I get a Dark Star, got more pig!!!

Enough pissing and moaning about the recording quality and LISTEN. One of the best Uncle John's ever (real Workingman's Dead style). ANY May 1970 is ultra valuable. Check out Kirkwood to hear how they sounded--good copies circulate. I wonder if they did an "Attics" at this show. I'm sure Bear did a SB; hope it surfaces...Peace.

This was my first dead concert (can't count expo 67) you lose site of the fact that the Kent state shootings were on everyone's mind. talk of starting to shut down campuses etc. the concert started with NRPS but they blew out the electric circuits one at a time so that the first 2 hours was just a big sound check ( which was ok because you had to step outside to smoke, there were a lot less than 200 people there ) We came down from Oneonta for the show and once they guit blowing fuses & started to play the music was a lot better than these tapes sound, they played until 2-3 and apologized that they had to travel the next day. worth the trip. If you look at their 5/7/70 Cambridge, MA show that's close to the set list they played and the sound is much better.

As always scouring the depths of the early '70's for hidden gems or at least something I haven't heard before I came across this recording. OK, yea it's not even a sub par recording, it's downright bad but this is all we have. Maybe one day a pristine copy will fall from the heavens or arise from the back of a closet somewhere in Hawaii until then put aside your audio prejudice and just listen.
The Dark Star is glass shaking freaky & whoever heard of a seque directly into Dancin' ? Check it out if only once my friends...

i currently go to SUNY Delhi and consider myself a dead head... yea the sound quality sux but its so cool to see that these guys came to this small town in 1970. They reportedly only played for a couple hundred bux... Aerosmith also played here at SUNY Delhi in the 70's and played for only 500 bux... they wanted more but the president at the time said no.. They played anyway. Pretty amazing stuff wish i went here during those times...My electrician at my current house caught me listenin to Phil and Friends and was tellin me about these shows... he attended both...

This was my 1st Dead show.I went up there to check out the school and there was a concert that weekend..a group called The Grateful Dead. I walked out at the break.I guess I just wasn't ready.Now,130 shows later,I can't help but wonder what my life would be like if I never went to that 2nd show!! August 9,1995 is a date that will be with me forever.Thank you all for these great[and sometimes not so great]tastes of the incredible music we love. Jack

Thanx Charlie. Pigpen perked my ears to the GD. I get anything I can with him. It is with that in mind that I welcome this snippet. The sound is puss but the Dark Star is out there and should at least be listened to once. I am playing Uncle John's on my radio show this week. Peace

This show has an amazing Dark Star the quality is kinda fuzzy but with some treble reduction(which is something i NEVER do) its a little more tolerable. I'll give it 5 stars so someone else can listen and enjoy this extremely raw version of the dead.

is freaking out my coworkers

This show is an amazing find! It is a rarity, a gem...a true GEM. The sound is absolutely terrible, but it gets better during a SMOKIN Good Lovin' (or have I just become accustomed to the nastiness?)
Earlier, the transition from Dark Star is unique. It may be the only instance that a Dark Star bypasses the second verse and proceeds full bore into the next tune. Here, a kick butt Dancin In The Streets. The ending Uncle John's is great, but a bit rough on the ears.

Please don't dismiss this show. I had a "grand" time listening to it. At least stream it some night. You'll be grateful too.

The five rating is there to pull up the average. Maybe someone out there will, by chance, check this show out...and love it.

As a Delhi alumni, 08/27/80-12/15/80.....I always wondered what made me head to this outpost. To this day, Delhi refers to this show on its website, to recruit...Weird

haha...i'm not one to poke fun at a taper, 'cause their the guys who make what we have possible. BUT, oh boy...its like that dreaded BUT from your teacher after she just finished praising your paper. but...u can BARELY make out the songs the sound is so bad. it's like turning in that paper, awesomely wirtten....but soaked in milk to the edge of tearing. good set list though...:], lol

sounds horrifyingly bad. sounds like it was recorded from a mic encased within a tin can. garbled and muffled to the point that its closer to noise than music.

Is this really worth all of the work? Sorry, but the sound is unbearable!!!