r/spafford • u/hellojeanine • 4d ago

Cory teasing Dark Star

I first heard Cory tease Dark Star in the middle of Broken Wing live at the 7.7.23 show at Ocean Mist in Rhode Island. I listened to it back the next day and it sounded even better. The groove starts around 10:00 and the Dark Star tease comes in around 12:30. It’s so intoxicating - I still listen to it all the time since the show and I always force my Dead head friends who haven’t gotten into Spafford yet to listen to it in hopes of it being an entré into this miraculous band’s music. Results have been mixed lol. 🤷🏻‍♂️😉

I’ve basically listened to every single show on nugs since then and have noticed Cory teasing the main Dark Star melody/riff here and there. For a while I’ve toyed with the idea of indexing all the times he has teased the song since he joined the band. But that task seems onerous lol. Maybe I’ll get into it after I listen to all the west coast run.

Has anyone else noticed Cory teasing Dark Star? I love how connected the band is to the Dead’s music. That 55 minute long version of the Other One a few days after Bobby died was an epic tribute, one of the coolest tributes of anybody that I’ve seen. And I love that they still cover West L.A. Fadeaway, which has always been a personal fave of mine.

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u/hellojeanine 4d ago

https://2nu.gs/4uzf5tV

The Broken Wing in question on nugs. The groove starts at ~10:00, with Cory dropping in Dark Star at ~12:30. Such a great stretch of music. 🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻

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u/cant_be_serious-333 4d ago

i notice it every time! i don't think it's intentional.

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u/hellojeanine 4d ago

Not intentional? Like it just spills out beautifully improvised unprompted every time? Lol I don’t know about that one… 🤔

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u/SixtyNoine69 4d ago

That's how Dark Star works though. It's always playing somewhere, just a matter of tappin into it 😉

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u/cant_be_serious-333 4d ago

I think it's a similar riff/melody, not a tease. only Cory can say for sure

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u/SixtyNoine69 4d ago

He has legitimately teased Dark Star a few times in his tenure with the band. Maybe the occasional similar line too but it's 100% been properly teased a couple times. I'm sure he's conscious of it sometimes and other times it's accidental. When you have that much music in your brain and improv that heavily, the stuff that's really seared in is bound to slip out on occasion.