Dark Star Orchestra

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Dark Star Orchestra
General information
origin Chicago , United States
Genre (s) Rock , psychedelic rock ,
folk rock , progressive rock
founding 1997
Website www.darkstarorchestra.net
Founding members
John Kadlecik
Keyboard , vocals
 Scott Larned
Current occupation
Lead guitar, vocals
 Jeff Mattson
Rhythm guitar, vocals
 Rob Eaton
Bass , vocals
 Kevin Rosen
singing
 Lisa Mackey
Rob Koritz
Drums, percussion
 Dino English
Keyboard, vocals
 Rob Barraco
former members
Keyboard, vocals
 Scott Larned (1997-2005, †)
Rhythm guitar, vocals
 Mike Maraat (1997-1999)
Rhythm guitar, vocals
 Dave "Chopper" Campbell (2000)
Rhythm guitar, vocals
 John Sabal (2000)
Rhythm guitar, vocals
 Bustar (2000)
Rhythm guitar, vocals
 Jim Harris (2000, 2001)
Rhythm guitar, vocals
 David Berg (2000, 2001)
Drums
 Ahmer Nizam (1997-1999)
Drums
 Mark Corsolini (1998-1999)
Bass, vocals
 Michael Hazdra (1998-2000, 2001)
Bass, vocals
 Gregg Koerner (2001)
Bass, vocals
 Skip Vangelas (2001)
Guitar, vocals
 John Kadlecik (1997-2009)

Dark Star Orchestra (abbreviated DSO) is an American tribute band from the Grateful Dead group , which was founded in 1997 in Chicago .

history

DSO was founded from the idea of ​​re-staging old Grateful Dead live shows and repeating them completely. This idea brought guitarist John Kadlecik together with keyboardist Scott Larned in 1997.

The first concerts were not a great success. They performed four Tuesday evenings at Martyrs, a club in Chicago where other bands and singers such as Yardbirds , The Animals , Cake , Ian Hunter and John Entwistle have performed or started their careers.

When it first appeared on November 11, 1997, only 78 people were watching, but the club sold out on the last of the four appearances. They toured Colorado the following spring and continued to perform at the club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. In this way they celebrated their thousandth appearance on October 29, 2004 while touring Greensboro .

In November 1998, on the eve of their anniversary, Phish's Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman made guest appearances after their own gig was over. This successful show increased the national reputation in America immensely. During their tour of Colorado their performances were largely sold out, the MP3 files on their website achieved millions of clicks and it was precisely the similarity of sound and vocals to the Grateful Deads that fascinated fans and critics. For example, the Washington Post named DSO "the hottest Grateful Dead tribute band" and USA Today said that DSO was not just a tribute band, but rather the continuation of live shows in the longstanding Grateful Dead.

At this point, DSO performed up to 200 times a year and gained an increasingly growing fan base of new and old deadheads . They rented and filled larger clubs and concert halls, and attracted guest musicians like Bob Weir , Bill Kreutzmann , Donna Godchaux , Vince Welnick and Tom Constanten , all of whom were members of the Grateful Dead themselves.

In 2004 DSO performed 155 concerts in front of 110,000 fans. In addition to the original live set lists, the group has now also presented its own compilations.

During the spring 2005 tour, Scott Larned died of a heart attack on April 28th. Instead of his seat being filled again, guest musicians appeared. Among them were well-known musicians such as Dan Klepinger and Rob Barraco (including The Other Ones ), who eventually took over the place.

In 2009, co-founder John Kadlecik left the band to form Furthur with Phil Lesh and Bob Weir . His last show was on December 5th, 2009. Jeff Mattson of the Zen Tricksters took over the role.

overview

The Dark Star Orchestra has now given more than 1,700 live shows, mostly in America. By comparison, the Grateful Dead have given over 3,000 concerts in 30 years, although it should be noted that the Grateful Dead have attracted far more fans to the concert halls and stadiums. At most of the concerts, DSO took over the original set lists from the Grateful Dead and performed near the original show seats. But they also used their own set lists and improvised during their performances.

Aside from taking over the setlist, DSO are trying to replay the entire Grateful Dead show by trying to use the equipment and performing near the actual gig.

With this species they achieved national fame. The Rolling Stone attributed fanatical attention to detail. The Dallas Morning News wrote "the next best thing to be there" (just being there yourself is nicer). The Denver Post described DSO as a homage to perfection, and the Associated Press wrote that DSO had reached a level of detail appropriate to a successful band like the Grateful Dead.

For their 941st appearance on May 5, 2004 at the Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco , they released a double DVD. They used the setlist from the Grateful Dead concert on May 5, 1977.

For their 1000th gig, when they played their own setlist, they released a three-CD box.

criticism

The attention to detail and precision and the repetition of the shows also met with criticism from old Grateful Dead fans. For many fans, this is the exact opposite of what Jerry García always demanded: that every song must be creatively played anew in a unique way at every concert.

In addition, many interpret the concert repetitions by DSO as a pure repetition of any sequence, not just the set lists, but also song for song, solo for solo and note for note. But even if DSO copies the set lists, they don't copy the songs, but improvise and jam. The Grateful Dead never played a song in the same way in a row. In addition, DSO uses self-compiled set lists that not only contain old songs from the Grateful Dead, but also songs from side projects such as Ratdog or The New Riders of the Purple Sage .

Release of bootlegs

Like Grateful Dead and their side projects, DSO makes its bootlegs freely available. The fans can record and swap concerts themselves. Furthermore, DSO offers recordings on its own homepage and at Internet Archive .

Discography / Videos

  • 2005: Live at the Fillmore (DVD)
  • 2007: Dark Star Orchestra at All Good Music Festival 7/12/07
  • 2008: Ithaca 30 Years Later (DVD)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Setlist.fm