For the past couple of years I've been tentatively following the resurgence of the jam band tour life that had its beginnings centered around one of the iconic bands of American musical history. This phenomenon has nebulous beginnings, as does most aspects of hippie culture, (like when, exactly, did Owsley Stanley build that Wall of Sound?) but it seems to have really taken off in the late 1970s and 80s. Fans began following the Grateful Dead around the country, and sometimes the world - Egypt, I'm looking at you - and a culture of Life On Tour gathered steam. Then...catastrophe and death. The death of Jerry Garcia on August 9, 1995, the lead guitarist of the Grateful Dead, brought an entire culture to a collective knee as they grappled with the idea of what life *not* on the road might look like. It wasn't pretty. Tens of thousands of fans contemplated their fate; no more would the smell of grilled cheese and veggie burritos mingle with the sweet smell of pre-gmo weed in the parking lots across America, while the children danced and shook their bones in a local venue for close to four hours to the signature sounds of Garcia's guitar. Shake-down, the village and market that supplied this writer with a t-shirt or two, cold beers, steal your face stickers and rain sticks would fade into a memory of smiling faces and dreadlocked, barefoot dancers looking for that miracle. Within a year or so, Further Fests and RatDog concerts notwithstanding, the Dead culture seemed to fade. The stealies were not in sight on the highways, the waving vans full of grimy twenty-somethings heading to the next show were gone and life in the twentieth century rattled depressingly forward. Never really into the not-sure-where-our-next-meal-is-coming-from kind of touring life, I moved on as well. Finally finished that college degree I'd been whining about, got married and had a few kids, bought a house and settled into full-on momhood, thinking my Dead concerts were behind me forever. And, of course, they were. The Grateful Dead is not a thing anymore. Jerry's death closed that door and none of us would say that anyone who presumes to fill those shoes could really do the job properly. And yet...
Unbeknownst to me, and mores the pity, bands sprang up all over the country to fill the void. Fans *would* have their Grateful Dead music even if it meant that they couldn't have the band itself. Or those particular grilled cheeses for $1, offered up by smiling strangers. Entire subcultures of bands, and fans who faithfully follow them, morphed into being and spread the music where and when ever they could. For over twenty years one of them has stood at the forefront of that movement. I had the distinct pleasure of hearing them on Saturday night in Albany, New York at The Palace Theater and I was so impressed that it also made me sad, and incredibly angry(!), that I hadn't known about them before now.
Dark Star Orchestra, comprised of Jeff Matson, Rob Eaton, Skip Vangelas, Lisa Mackey, Rob Barraco, Rob Koritz and Dino English is a band that formed in 1997 to fill in the sad, empty, jam band tour space that the Dead once dominated and has played over 2500 shows in that time period. Yes, Virginia. 2500. Do the math...these are tour-heads who are doing nothing most of the time but...touring. Members come and go, with the exception of Lisa Mackey who has been a constant since 1997. Special guests show up unannounced, including Phil Lesh and Bobby Weir, a continent wide network for fans exists in the digital ether and a party for 3,000 is held where pretty much everyone is thrilled to be able to dance to the music in the company of friends once again. Why had I never heard of this? How could it have been such a secret? The answer lies in fact that *I* had given up on the Dead but the tour-head fans refused to give it up. No way. *They* weren't dead yet and come hell or high-water they were going to boogie to the Dead.
This is my typically long-winded manner of saying what could have been said with so many fewer words: the Grateful Dead cover band, Dark Star Orchestra gave a stellar performance at The Palace Theater in Albany, NY on Saturday, November 11! I'm sure that their incredible acumen was buoyed by the fact that this was their twentieth anniversary performance and it also helped that they played what could only be thought of as a Grateful Dead greatest hits show, (China Cat Sunflower flowing into I Know You Rider?!? Hello Paris '72!!) but neither of those possibilities change the fact that this is a really, really good band. Each of the members is clearly pulling their weight, loves the music and has serious musician chops. If you closed your eyes you might even think...well, maybe not. The weed was too skunky. But that doesn't really matter because the concert fulfilled my best expectations and reminded me that it is indeed the repertoire that makes this scene. This is music that will be played for decades to come and DSO is part of the warp and woof of the fabric that Jerry and the boys started weaving in 1965. I'm happy to say that my time off the bus was only temporary. Here's a link to their tour schedule. I highly encourage you to go.
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