Dark Star Orchestra took the stage at the Palace Theater in Albany on November 16th playing the original Grateful Dead setlist from the May 19th, 1977 at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, one of the infamous Spring of ’77 shows that make up a huge dynamic of what the Grateful Dead did in their prime.
Dark Star Orchestra is a band completely established around the extensive archives of the Grateful Dead and their immense set lists that spanned the 30 years of touring. To some, it may be an anomaly how a cover band could acquire the amount of attention that Dark Star has achieved in their 15 years of touring, but after seeing them live it is no wonder they have gained as much positive attention and feedback over the years.
The scene outside of the Palace Theater before the show began could have been passed off as a Grateful Dead Show of the past. Deadheads swarmed the street, some selling goods, others talking about their excitement and predictions for the show.
The show began with “Promised Land” into “Sugaree”, which indicated to any knowledgeable Grateful Dead fan that this was going to be an excellent night of music. The Spring 1977 tour for the Grateful Dead was perhaps the pinnacle of their performances, including such famous shows as May 8, 1977 at Barton Hall at Cornell University. Much like most Grateful Dead Shows of the past the Palace theater was thick with smoke and the aisles filled with dancing fans, engulfed in the music. Dark Star Orchestra has an uncanny way of encapsulating The Grateful Dead’s sound and vibe throughout each show.
The highlights included the first set’s “Sugaree” and “Dancing in the Streets.” The “Sugaree” from May 19, 1977 is referred to as perhaps one of the best of all time. The second set was on fire with a phenomenal “Ramble on Rose,” “Terrapin > Playin’ in the Band > Uncle John’s Band> Drums > The Wheel > China Doll > Playin’ In The Band.” May 19th did not have an encore, so Dark Star Orchestra closed with “Let Me Sing Your Blues Away”, which they proclaimed defined exactly what they were about as a band. Their second encore was the famous sing along, feel good song, Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves In London”, ending what was clearly a crowd pleasing show that definitely made its mark on Albany.
Set 1: Promised Land, Sugaree> El Paso, Peggy-O, Looks Like Rain, Row Jimmy, Passenger, Loser, Dancin’ in the Streets
Set 2: Samson and Delilah, Ramble on Rose, Estimated Prophet, Terrapin Station> Playin’ in the Band> Uncle John’s Band> Drums> The Wheel>China Doll> Playin’ in the Band
Encore: Let Me Sing Your Blues Away, Werewolves in London
This is Part 1 of ‘s coverage of Gathering of the Vibes 2013. Check back tomorrow for a recap of Saturday and Sunday.
Gathering of the Vibes celebrated its 18th year with its annual four day festival at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut filled with a variety of music, food and art on July 25th-28th. Acting as one of the biggest playgrounds in the country, Vibes offers something for people of all ages with family camping, the School of Rock Teen Scene, a colorful Ferris Wheel and of course, music from every era and genre. Seaside Park was the ideal setting for the festival with its 375 acre lush greenery and endless blue shores.
Original Strangefolk
With so much planning or lack thereof that goes into preparing for festivals, the music can almost get forgotten. There is so much to do before you can actually breathe, sit back and enjoy yourself that the music takes you by surprise. One moment you’re buying tickets, the next you’re packing up the car and then suddenly find yourself in front of the Main Stage, feeding off the crowd’s anticipation for the start of the show. The weekend began with the original lineup of Strangefolk, one of the first bands to play at the first GOTV’s in 1996, making this set not worth missing with Jon Trafton, Reid Genauer, Erik Glockler and Luke Smith. Their upbeat melodies built up a great hope and reassurance that this weekend was going to be amazing as the set contained gems like “Reuben’s Place” with “Helpless” (Neil Young) vocals and guitarist Jon Trafton teasing Phish’s “Bathtub Gin” during “Paperback Book.” Strangefolk was then joined onstage by Grateful Dead Hour host David Gans for the ultimate DeadHead party starter, “Shakedown Street”.
Dark Star Orchestra headlined the Main Stage with the Grateful Dead performance from Andover, Maryland in September 1976. The evening took off with a rockin’ “Bertha” opener, a solid “Let it Grow” and darling “Sugaree” for the first set and an intense closing sequence of “Scarlet Begonias>St. Stephen>Not Fade Away>Drums>St. Stephen.” The show featured Jim Allard on bass and Jeff Mattson capturing Jerry Garcia flawlessly. With a light drizzle throughout the night, it wasn’t enough to damper the crowd’s positive spirits and added for an extra entertaining factor for the light show.
Kung Fu
Thursday night ended with Kung Fu and The Dojo Allstars lighting up the night on the Green Vibes Stage. The Connecticut based band of Tim Palmieri (guitar), Robert Somerville (tenor sax) and Todd Stoops, (keyboards) were joined by talented musicians Chris DeAngelis (bass guitar) and Adrian Tramontano (drums/percussion), Nigel Hall (vocals/keys), Nick Biello (sax), Rob Volo (trombone), Cy Madan (keys), Ryan Cavanaugh (Banjo) and 13-year-old prodigy Bobby Paltauf (guitar). Needless to say, it was a funk face-melting over load.
Friday morning brought even more people to the festival grounds. The perfect wake- up call was hearing the electronic rock music from Upstate New York’s Jimkata echoing off the Green Vibes Stage. Their light-hearted synthesizers loops mixed with indie guitar strumming was more than enough to get the crowd moving and ready for the rest of the day. Assembly of Dust eased into the Friday afternoon with an early 70s rock combined with a mellow country sound. Jason Crosby on the keys, held his notes strong especially during “Telling Sue”. Singer-songwriter Reid Genauer sang out with a true Americana charm and was joined by his four-year son for “Second Song.”
The Revivalists
One of the best things about Vibes is being introduced to new musicians that you don’t hear on the radio yet still have an incredible stage presence. Hailing from New Orleans, The Revivalists nearly tore down the Green Vibes Stage with their intense sound and energy. The musicians were literally climbing all over the stage and each other, charging the audience with a heavy dose of rock and roll mixed with southern soul. Dave Shaw screamed the lyrics with raw attitude, only to have the crowd screaming right back. Ed Williams shreds the pedal steel guitar apart and comes close to pushing it over onto the front row fans a few times. The Revivalists have made stops at more festivals this year than any other band (per Relix Magazine‘s festival guide) but what sets Vibes apart from the rest for the boys is the smell of the salt water on stage and having the longest set of almost 2 hours.
Wavy Gravy
Blue skies and sunshine greeted festival goers as the day continued, making for a terrific view, especially from a top the Wheel of Lights Ferris Wheel. The top cart was the best place to take in not only the beautiful venue of Seaside Park but for the Railroad Earth set on the Main Stage. The bluegrass jam band from New Jersey filled the air with a laid back summer time vibe with their blissful strumming and continuous flow. The crowd clapped along with the Carey Harmon steady rhythms and danced all over the field from Tim Carbone’s fiddle playing.
Tedeschi Trucks Band
Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi returned to Vibes this year with their 11-piece blues rock group, Tedeschi Trucks Band. Featuring Kofi Burbridge (keys, flute), Eric Krasno (from Lettuce, on bass), Tyler Greenwell (drums), J.J. Johnson (drums), Mike Mattison (harmony vocals), Mark Rivers (harmony vocals), Maurice Brown (trumpet), Kebbi Williams (sax) and Saunders Sermons (trombone), all of these artists make up a musical force to be reckoned with. Tedeschi’s strong female vocals can be heard across the festival alongside with blaring guitar riffs from Trucks. The surprise of the first set came from Bill Evans joining TTB with his saxophone, jazzing up the funky blues song “Love is Something Else.” The set continued with a gentle “Angel from Montgomery” only to flow beautifully into a bluegrassy version of the Grateful Dead’s “Sugaree.” Trucks and Tedeschi have both made strides with their separate solo careers but when performing all together, their family creates nonstop harmonies that help us appreciate the musical bonds we share, especially at Gathering of the Vibes.
Phil Lesh & Friends
To celebrate the 18th year of Gathering of the Vibes, Grateful Dead former bassist, Phil Lesh was booked for both Friday and Saturday night, joined this year with his Friends: guitarist John Scofield, keyboardist John Medeski, Joe Russo on drums and John Kadlecik on guitar/vocals. The evening got underway with a graceful and groovy “Scarlet Begonias” straight into a rockin’ “Just Like Tom Thumb Blues”. The night was filled with spacey, chaotic improvisational jams that swirled through the evening air. Each musician had their own sound going, making it difficult to focus on any singular part of it. Fans were left in awe as most of the songs were well over 10 minutes, each receiving a well-deserved jam with seemingly directionless patterns. Phil took a few minutes to thank the fans and festival for continuing to keep the Grateful Dead spirit alive and with tears in his eyes, he said, “It’s like coming home.” The highlight of the evening was pretty much the entire second set with “The Golden Road to Unlimited Devotion” opener into an almost 20-minute “Viola Lee Blues” and “Unbroken Chain.” The moon rose over the tie-dye covered field, which seemed to glow brighter when the band went into “Standing on the Moon” sending chills down my spine from the saltwater breeze and Medeski’s righteous lingering chords. The set ended with the gentle lullaby of “Ripple” causing the audience to sing and sway off into the night.
The late night party got started with Connecticut‘s own Deep Banana Blackout on the Green Vibes stage, delivering hot New Orleans inspired funk. DBB is no stranger to GOTVs as they have been invited back for the past few years now, serving up soulful contagious dance music complete with a full horn section. DBB shocked listeners, particularly Phish Phans, as they teased Phish’s “Wilson” chant, which was played that same night by Phish at The Gorge in WA, proving that good news and music travel fast.
Silent Disco
The Silent Disco was on the complete opposite side of the festival from the Main and Green Stage. It’s a long walk but definitely worth the trip. You walk up to the tent, where you are given a huge pair of headphones and given simple instructions for proper usage. As you look around, there are a few hundred people on the beach, all wearing the headphones, dancing their asses off and being surprisingly very quiet. There are two DJs that have two completely different sounds going that fans can choose to tune into. Friday night featured Conneticon and Sloedwn from 1am to 4:30am as well as Matt Haze, who sampled various European genres and beats while Saturday played host to Suspence and Cosmal. The clear crowd-pleaser was the artist MoPo, short for Motion Potion, also known as Robbie Kowal from California. He mixed 90’s jock jam with Phish with Talking Heads with Jay Z plus so much more. As the sun began to rise, creating dream like colors across the sky, MoPo remixed various Beatles covers such as, “Here Comes The Sun” and “Dear Prudence.” Silent Disco fans know how to party and with music from MoPo, it was easy to dance until dawn.
The time is here for the 17th Annual All Good Music Festival on July 18- 21st at Legend Valley in Thornville Ohio. With that being said the lineup is unbelievable, with Furthur, Primus, Yonder Mountain String Band and Pretty Lights headlining throughout the weekend. This year’s All Good covers a broad spectrum of musical genres, with some killer late night acts as well as some chill daytime shows, sure to impress the most seasoned of festival goers. All Good’s lineup will even highlight some newer bands to the festival scene.
The festival will open on Thursday July 18th – opening bands John Scofield UberJam Band on the Dragon Stage and Toubab Krewe are set to get the party started. That’s two bands that will prime the whole fest, it only gets better from there. Thrown into this mix are bands Papadosio, Lettuce and Yonder Mountain String Band. Thursday night’s closing act is Beats Antique- who will be laying down heavy dance beats with a steamy belly dancing routine to entice and amaze all in attendance.
The first full day of All Good has an amazing line up with Cabinet starting the day of at 9:30 am on the grassroots stage. The lineup for Friday is not going to disappoint with bands like Mojoflo, Fear Nuttin Band, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band (definitely worth checking out) and many other great bands throughout the day, the nighttime lineup is off the hook. Les Claypool and his crew Primus will be up first followed by The Bridge and STS9. Closers Moon Hooch will finish up the lineup for the late-night show.
At the apex of All Good on Saturday is reggae infused band Three Legged Fox. Saturday is when all the heavy hitters will be playing with bands such as The Sheepdogs, African ShowBoyz, Trombone Shorty, The Rex Jam, followed by Grace Potter and The Nocturnals , The Infamous Stringdusters, and Furthur featuring Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, will close out the mainstage. Late night consists of The Werks, Pretty Lights, Founding Fathers – Andy Falco and Chris Pandolfi of the Stringdusters in their new electronic outfit and finally Upstate New York’s very own Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad.
Sunday will be packed with some bands to recharge your batteries as the festival finishes out its final day. The day will start with the Revivalists from New Orleans with the lineup closing with Keller Williams and The Travelin’ McCourys, what an end to a lineup filled with amazing musicians, and festivities.
This years All Good Festival has a few improvements from last years All Good, for starters the Horse Patrol is focused on leaving “ nothing behind and will clean up after their horses.” Safety and security in the campgrounds are all set with an entirely new security team – more seasoned to festivals then the crew that did security last year. The ancient fiberglass porto-johns have got an upgrade and there will be larger camping spaces. Vehicles that show up with 4 or more people will get the camping space of 2 vehicles. Also staff is prepared to get festival goers in and out of the show a lot faster every single time.
This Year’s Complete Lineup:
FURTHUR featuring Phil Lesh & Bob Weir, Pretty Lights, Primus, Yonder Mountain String Band, STS9, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, John Butler Trio, Keller Williams with The Travelin’ McCourys, Dark Star Orchestra, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Beats Antique, Leftover Salmon, Papadosio, The Werks, Lettuce, North Mississippi Allstars, John Scofield Uberjam Band, The Infamous Stringdusters, MarchFourth Marching Band, The Soul Rebels, The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, The Bright Light Social Hour, The Bridge, Digital Tape Machine featuring Kris Myers and Joel Cummins of Umphrey’s McGee, The Revivalists, Kung Fu, The Sheepdogs, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, Ultraviolet Hippopotamus, Moon Hooch, Fear Nuttin Band, Everyone Orchestra, Nahko And Medicine For The People, The Ragbirds, Cabinet, The Stepkids, Fruition, Superhuman Happiness, Founding Fathers, MojoFlo, Roosevelt Collier,The Rex Jam
A show on a Sunday? Ordinarily it’s a no for me but the universe had been aligned in just the right way. Dark Star Orchestra (DSO) had no plans of stopping in Upstate NY on their way to the Jubilee in Ohio until a previous gig at Mighty High Mountain Festival was cancelled and they chose to come shake their bones with us at Waterstreet Music Hall on May 19th.
DSO shows are always built upon the extensive Grateful Dead catalog – the band has a knack for hand picking all the right shows and I’ve yet to be disappointed with any of their shows, in 10 years of seeing them play out the masterful sounds of what so many of us hold dear to our hearts, a lifestyle formed around the music of the Dead. It only took a few songs into the show for me to realize they had chosen a show from 1979 – once the notes of “Jack A Roe” hit my ears I knew with certainty that it was 2/7/1979 – the setlist immediately played out in my head and I envisioned the night ahead was going to be a good one.
Shows like this are far and few between for me these days but this night was one for the scrapbooks for sure. Friends and co-workers were in every corner of the music hall side of the venue and the band was putting down some heavy tunes. The energy was flowing and the band looked like they were enjoying playing for us as much as we loved having them play. By the time
Peggy-O” came on, it was time to put down the pen and paper and get out on the dance floor with the others.
Original Grateful Dead Show Setlist:
2/7/79 (Wed) University of Southern Illinois – SIU Arena – Carbondale, IL
Set 1: Don’t Ease Me In, Mama Tried > Mexicali Blues, Jack A Roe, Looks Like Rain, They Love Each Other, Minglewood Blues, Stagger Lee, Cassidy, Peggy-O, Music Never Stopped
Set 2: Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain, Dancing In The Streets > Drums > Black Peter > I Need A Miracle > Bertha > Good Lovin’
If you were one of many Upstate New Yorkers’ who were bummed to learn that Dark Star Orchestra was not coming closer to Rochester or Buffalo on their way to Thornville, Ohio for the Jubilee on their Spring Tour East 2013 then cry no more my friends! With the cancellation of Mighty High Mountain Festival, the band has added shows and they’re commin’ to town.
Dark Star Orchestra has added May 18th at the Town Ballroom in Buffalo, NY. Admission is $25, All Ages (Under 16 admitted with parent or guardian). Show starts at 9pm and you can purchase your tickets online Here via DSOtix.
May 19th at Rochester’s Water Street Music Hall the show starts at 8pm, All Ages! Admission is $24 and you can pick up your advance purchase tickets via DSOtix Here or through the venue website Here.
For more information on DSO’s Spring Tour East 2013 check out DSO Online.
