There are hundreds of cover bands, tributes, reggae and bluegrass takes on the Grateful Dead, but there’s nothing that captures the Grateful Dead musical experience like Dark Star Orchestra. And there are no other GD tributes with careers spanning 20 continuous years, 2,000-plus shows – without one repeat setlist – and endorsements from every surviving member of the Dead, who have performed with DSO at one time or another since their formation.
“Nothing has been more gratifying,” Jeff Mattson says. “It’s like having [the Dead’s] stamp of approval. Even if they think the concept is weird, they recognize that we do it very competently – I look at those occasions as being high points of my career, all those chances to play with my heroes.”
DSO has also had a laundry list of notable guests join them, including Phish’s Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman, Warren Haynes and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot.
Mattson, who plays Jerry Garcia’s lead guitar and vocal parts, and six additional bandmates, featuring Rob Eaton (GD rhythm guitarist Bob Weir’s counterpart) and Skip Vangelas (GD bassist Phil Lesh’s brother from another), are top-shelf musicians who equally geek out to the Grateful Dead.
DSO doesn’t just deliver standard covers of the many hundreds of tunes spanning the Dead’s versatile repertoire, they play specific entire shows from the Dead’s immense live archive and try to match the specific arrangements of the songs just as the Dead performed them throughout each era during their 30-year run, up until Garcia’s passing.
“If it was a 1978 show, we play the way they played in 1978, as far as harmonies, keys, drums and in many cases, we use the same equipment and get similar tones,” Mattson explains.
Mattson clarifies, DSO isn’t “copying the music note for note.”
Sometimes, Dark Star Orchestra concocts a setlist with combinations of Grateful Dead tunes from different eras that would have never been performed during the same GD show.
“We’re just trying to play like they would have in that day and age,” he says. “Getting the music to sound the way it should comes from a lot of listening and playing to get the flavor. The notes are all ours – the spirit of the Grateful Dead is to improvise.”
Mattson adds that DSO’s musical nuances manifest organically on stage in the same way they did for the Dead: Each show reflects the way the band and audience feel that night, the place they’re playing and the time period.
DARK STAR ORCHESTRA (Presented by Beacon House) 7pm Sunday, June 24. Sunset Center, San Carlos and Ninth, Carmel. $33-54. 620-2048, sunsetcenter.org.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.