Dark Star Orchestra celebrated a milestone playing their first stadium show while also setting an attendance record for themselves July 28, when they played Rochester’s Frontier Field. Set up on the third base line and facing the seats with no access to the field, DSO recreated the 1987 Dead show played at Rochester’s Silver Stadium on July 2, 1987.
Fans of the band took to social media shortly before the show began to spread the word that Frontier Field had announced they were not allowing concert goers on the field. Word spread quickly and people wondered how the stage would be set up.
All anybody had to do to squelch that concern was enter the venue and see the stage facing the third base seats. Concerns fell to the way side, the crowd was a cohesive body of dancing and celebration.
The unique set up allowed for an intimate feel of an indoor show, in a stadium, accompanied by a beautiful summer night with clear skies. They were dancing in their seats, on the grass and at the concession stands – ‘The music never stopped.’
As at all DSO shows, concertgoers scrambled to figure out which set list the band would choose to play at their first stadium show. Once “Bertha” began just after a rockin’ “Hell In A Bucket,” we all knew they had chosen the July 7, 1987 Silver Stadium show. A show that was near and dear to the Rochester Deadhead community, as it was part of a pair of shows played here by the Grateful Dead in 87′ and 88′.
Rochester couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful night of music and Dead tunes. The show was a family event for many in attendance with babies and big kids dancing and hula hooping by the sides of their mamas and papas, all glowing with happiness. DSO not only recreates the shows of the Grateful Dead but they embody the energy of the band and the community that surrounds them. Dark Star Orchestra is no cover band, they are an extension of the ones who played before them.
Dark Star Orchestra, recereating 7/2/87 Silver Stadium, at Frontier Field – Rochester, NY
Set 1: Hell In A Bucket > Bertha, Walkin’ Blues, Dire Wolf, My Brother Esau, When Push Comes To Shove, Tons Of Steel, Me & My Uncle > Mexicali Blues, Brown Eyed Women, Cassidy, Deal
Set 2: China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Samson & Delilah, Looks Like Rain, He’s Gone > Jam > Drums > Space > Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad > All Along The Watchtower > Stella Blue > Sugar Magnolia, E: Black Muddy River
Primus has enlisted the talents of 90s alt-rock brethren Dinosaur Jr. and newcomers, The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger to accompany them on this summer-long shed tour.
The set’s high point was a loping distorted cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven,” which Dinosaur Jr originally recorded for a compilation album in 1989 but decided to release itself. The highlight for me was when my ten-year old daughter grabbed my hands, stood on my feet and proceeded to lead me in a daddy-daughter dance. And while it may be an unorthodox song to have as a father-daughter dance at a wedding, if my daughter’s reaction to it on this night is any indication, this may just be the one we dance to someday.
In what seemed to be at first a pre-taped video entrance, Al is seen starting off one of his latest songs, “Tacky,” just around the corner of The Cap, slowly making his way around the to the marquee in front (rendering some confusion in the drivers stopped at the nearby traffic light) and through some side alleys in a similar style to the 
It wouldn’t be a Weird Al show with at least a little bit of polka. His latest polka medley “Now That’s What I Call Polka” (an obvious play on the title of the Now That’s What I Call Music… series) took on “Wrecking Ball,” “Gangnam Style,” “Get Lucky,” and “Thrift Shop,” among a few others. For the younger folks in the crowd, this medley may have caught their attention more than his parody of an older song such as “Smells Like Nirvana.” It would have been fun to hear one of his earlier polka medleys toward the end of the show but there certainly wasn’t any disappointment in the set list.
He pulled something off this time which worked very well. Forming a semi-circle with his band armed with acoustic instruments and some candles for effect, he performed a medley of “Eat It,” “I Lost On Jeopardy,” “I Love Rocky Road,” and “Like A Surgeon” in a few easy-going cool styles. It was slightly confusing at first when Jim West (guitar) opened this run of songs with what sounded like Clapton’s 
The highlight of the night was also the most interactive …if you’d call testing the realm of personal space interactive. Walking out of the shadows of the stage with a swagger accentuated by his flame-licked shirt and pants, Al soon made his way through the isles of the orchestra seats singing”Wanna B Ur Lovr.” There wasn’t really a chance for people to get in a cell phone photo frenzy as everyone was too busy catching every moment of his serenade of a handful of the women in the audience.
Aside from the comedy appeal of the show, it was musically fulfilling as well. There were some occasional sound effect samples in the songs, but the band comprised of Jon Schwartz on drums, Steve Jay on bass, Jim West on guitar, and Rubén Valtierra on keys recreated the sounds of the original songs across several genres flawlessy without any cheese factor. Valtierra joined the band in 1991, but the other three were part of Al’s music/comedy recordings since at least the 1982 debut album. This goes to show that Weird Al’s shows are way more than just a solo performer backed by filler music.
