Something I Said-Concert Review Of Dark Star Orchestra

Something I Said Dark Star Orchestra Dwight Hobbes Twin Cities Daily Planet Never cared much for The Grateful Dead after their first album. The one with incredible cuts like "Cold Rain and Snow" and "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl". I'd catch them at the Fillmore East (NYC) only because I'd come to see the opener – one time it was Love, another time it was The Allman Brothers. They were just too hit-and-miss. At one gig they'd burn tight. At another, they'd be sloppy as hog jowls. Always a toss-up. So, I was taking a chance going to The Varsity Theater for Dark Star Orchestra, the celebrated Dead tribute band. It panned out quite nicely. A stark characteristic of the Dead was the community that followed the band, them hippie-dippie counterculture folk. Well, just as Dark Star Orchestra is faithful to a tee in their sound, they also have a following that is dyed in the wool counterculture. The huge crowd that packed The Varsity Theater was like one big tribe. People who didn't know each other were friendly toward one another. In fact, even the jostling that generally goes on at a concert was mellow. There was no getting bent out of shape just because somebody was having a nice time and accidentally shoved you or stepped on your foot. And if I ran into person who wanted to know how spoken word ace David Daniels is doing it was at least a half-dozen: The Rasta Bard is very popular among Twin Cities stoners. What Dark Star Orchestra does is pick an actual set The Grateful Dead performed and recreate it. Practically, I'm told, note for note. They even do Dead-like jams, stretching a song out until, if you're powers of perception are sufficiently altered, you could easily forget what song they started out playing. This night, as I meander through wall-to-wall writhing bodies the band is playing a dead-on recreation of "Not Fade Away", that old Buddy Holly cum Rolling Stones hit Jerry Garcia and company managed to remake in their own fashion. The revelers are into it, God bless ‘em with their arrhythmic flouncing about. There is, corny as the saying is, a good vibe that just won't quit. Dark Star Orchestra have a wonderful 3-disc album called Ithaca 30 Years Later. It's gorgeously packaged and has literally hours of vintage-class San Francisco rock, including "Not Fade Away". There is a 15 minute rendering of that haunting classic "Morning Dew'". And it is beautifully done. I don't have much use for cover bands. The few I have seen just seem to mimic their heroes. Dark Star Orchestra pay fitting tribute. It is hard not to have a good time at their show or listening to them on the box.