Dark Star Orchestra, which will reach reach its 2,000th performance during its current tour, will perform Nov. 22 at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. BOB MINKIN To appreciate what Dark Star Orchestra does, it’s important to realize what the Grateful Dead did. Over their many years together, the Grateful Dead released only 13 studio albums, but countless live recordings of their over 2,300 performances from 1965 to 1995 are still rabidly sought after, traded and collected for reissuing. With the Dead, it was always about the live performance, the euphoric blurring of the line between audience and band.
Today, Dark Star Orchestra, which will perform next week in New Brunswick, does its part to keep that tradition alive. The Chicago-based band, which will reach its 2,000th performance this weekend, embodies the Grateful Dead’s live experience for fans both old and too young to have ever seen a Dead show.
Dark Star Orchestra has become known for re-creating the Grateful Dead concert experience, crafting set lists based on actual Dead shows from the 1960s to the 1990s. DSO takes a unique approach for even a tribute band — most nights they re-create a different set list from an actual show the Dead played. The band’s rhythm guitarist, Rob Eaton, who sings and plays the parts of the Dead’s Bob Weir, decides which show the band will re-create each night, trying to give fans a set that is different both from the last time the band was in town and from the prior night’s show.
“We could easily play a week’s worth of shows without repeating songs,” said the band’s lead guitarist and singer, Jeff Mattson, who handles the Jerry Garcia parts.
Dark Star Orchestra formed in 1997, securing four Tuesday night gigs at a club in their hometown of Chicago. The first night saw just 78 people, but through word of mouth, they sold out the room by the fourth week. One year later, on the eve of their first anniversary, they found themselves performing with members of the popular jam band Phish after the latter played a local arena.
The ensuing buzz caused national interest in the then-regional favorite. That winter, their Colorado tour sold out almost every performance, and their website was getting millions of hits — everyone wanted to know how they got their sound so precise. Critics began to take note as well, with The Washington Post declaring them “the hottest Grateful Dead tribute act.” Dark Star Orchestra had arrived.
For Mattson, a 30-year veteran of the jam band scene, the greatest part about playing in DSO has been getting to play music that he loves with musicians he respects in front of warm, receptive audiences all over the country.
“You can’t beat that,” he said. “Playing the music of the Grateful Dead leaves so much room for personal expression and group improvisation that every show is completely different and a fresh experience each night.”
DSO, which matches the Grateful Dead’s equipment and stage layout, has performed over the years with five actual members of the Dead: Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Donna Jean Godchaux- MacKay, Vince Welnick and Tom Constanten.
Do the members of DSO ever tire of performing Grateful Dead music? Not in the least, according to Mattson.
“I love the songs so much, and there are quite a lot of them from their 30-year career. The songs are designed to leave lots of space for expressing yourself and crafting musical territory of your own. There is so much joy to be had in our band’s collective improvisations — it produces something that is far greater than the sum of its parts,” he said.
Fans attending the upcoming show in New Brunswick can expect a “comfortable, inviting and powerful experience,” Mattson said.
“This is not some note-for-note imitation of a Grateful Dead recording,” he said. “This is real music played in real time, and while it’s based on a set list that the Grateful Dead have performed before, it will be expressed in a one-night-only, singular fashion.” Even those unfamiliar with the Dead’s music, he said, “will get a good taste of what going to a Dead show was like, not only from the band, but from our audience.”
The band will perform at 8 p.m. Nov. 22 at the State Theatre, 15 Livingston Ave. Tickets are available at www.state theatrenj.org. For more information, visit www.darkstarorchestra.net.