Dark Star Orchestra 3/6/10

I saw the Grateful Dead twenty times between 1990 and 1993.  Of course how much of an indoctrinated Deadhead could I be, being born in 1971?  But I think I lived enough of the culture and music to know Dark Star Orchestra (DSO) is a worthy Grateful Dead cover band...

Formed in 1997 in Chicago, DSO tours and plays with the mission of historically recreating Grateful Dead shows, true in set lists, improvisational style, and musical equipment.  At the end of each show, they announce the date and venue of the performance they recreated.....

Co-founder of DSO, guitarist  John Kadlecik left the band in 2009 to join former Dead members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh in their band Further.   Kadlecik's ability to sound and play like Jerry Garcia is stunning, which I heard in 1999 with my own disbelieving ears.  Kadlecik was therefore not playing the show I caught this winter in 2010, but the band still did a damn fine job.  Jeff Mattson, founder of the Zen Tricksters, filled the big shoes this winter tour.....

The Grateful Dead used to play certain songs together in a row, leading one piece seamlessly into the next without stopping.  The common groupings of songs had abbreviated nicknames between fans: China>Rider, Scarlet>Fire, Help>Slipknot>Franklin's.  All Dead fans probably have their secret favorites (or not so secret when shouting on the top of their lungs).  I didn't buy a ticket to hear my favorite, I even forgot to hope for it-- but I sure turned into a dancing fool with the long gray haired guys in the back when DSO open the second set with Help On the Way.....

DSO recreated a show from July 14, 1984, from the Greek Theater in California.  Highlights of DSO's night in Austin included "Tennessee Jed", the aforementioned Help>Slipknot>Franklin's ("Help on the Way", "Slipknot", "Franklin's Tower"), "Estimated Prophet",  drums/space (wow!), "Wharf Rat", and "One More Saturday Night" (dancing fools, everywhere).  Sometimes DSO throws in a song or song grouping, slightly amending the historical recreation--but not to the detriment of the evening..   Before the second set ended, they threw in a "Saint Stephen"-- a song the Dead primarily played in the early 70's.  THAT won the happy curveball award!....

The crowd shared a good-natured chuckle during the lyrics "sometimes the songs that we hear are the songs of our own" during "Eyes of the World", but no one laughed a second time when those lines repeated.  DSO does a brilliant job of bringing the Grateful Dead back to us, and I am feeling pretty grateful to hear it 15 years after Jerry's passing.