The Dark Star Orchestra
February 3, 2012
Pabst Theatre; Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Article written by Tom Wilmeth
I had been hearing good things about The Dark Star Orchestra for several years. They were a Grateful Dead cover band, I was told, but much more. Fans raved that this group took the tribute band concept to a new level -- how the Dark Star Orchestra would take an actual set list of songs from the group’s touring days and re-create a complete Grateful Dead concert. I heard how the band was way into attention to detail – the physical setting of the stage, the actual instruments, even the number of people in the band, depending on which era of the Dead was being replicated on a given night.
Having seen the real Grateful Dead six times during their actual run, I initially had no interest in an imitation, no matter how authentic or heartfelt. But last Friday night there I was – front row of the balcony at the Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee, waiting for The Dark Star Orchestra to hit the stage. I just hoped that the set list they chose would be from the early or middle part of the Grateful Dead’s career.
The band came out and set the mood for the evening with “Let the Good Times Roll.” Fun, good opener. If band membership were a clue to the date, the version of The Grateful Dead being presented here had two drummers and no female singer. Fine by me. I had seen the Dead twice during the Keith & Donna Godchaux era, and I didn’t feel that Donna was a needed presence. I never went to Grateful Dead shows to hear vocals. Nobody did.
But speaking of vocals, I was immediately impressed by the similarities of the lead guitarist Jeff Mattson’s singing voice to that of Jerry Garcia. Rob Eaton, clearly the on-stage group coordinator and the man playing the role of the Dead’s rhythm guitarist Bob Weir, also had a vocal timbre very close to that of Weir. Neither has an especially good voice, but they sound just like Weir and Garcia! Attention to detail, indeed.
Both of these performers had their respective instrumental parts extremely well covered. Eaton stayed on rhythm guitar throughout both sets, except for solo breaks on two tunes late in the evening. This is similar to Weir’s role with the original band, letting Garcia stretch the lead lines. And speaking of the Garcia guitar chair, Mattson played wonderful Garcia styled solos all night. Fluid and clear.
Concerning the equipment used by the Dark Star Orchestra, I liked the fact that everybody stayed on their single instrument throughout the evening – not continually switching from a rack of guitars for different sounds and alternate tunings. I was initially surprised that bassist Kevin Rosen played a 6-string electric, but I would guess that this too is authentic to the night in question. The Dead’s bassist Phil Lesh was into electronics pretty early.
The first set lasted 75 minutes and was all pretty enjoyable. They really hit their stride in the latter part of this set, however, with “It Must Have Been the Roses,” followed by Bob Dylan’s “Queen Jane Approximately,” which was one of the peaks of the entire evening. Then the first set wrapped with powerful takes on “Ramble on Rose” and “Let It Grow.”
I knew that my son Dylan had a tentative attitude about this show, so I was pleased when he was not even considering leaving at intermission. We talked about high points, watched the audience, which had now sold out the hall, and got ready for round two. There had been a free beer tasting event prior to the concert. As such, many of the attendees were pretty well oiled. Good move on somebody’s part. Maybe.
Also during intermission Dylan ran into a college friend who told us that the lead guitarist was a fairly recent addition to the Dark Star Orchestra – within the last year – and that their previous guitarist had joined Furthur, one of the bands that had a surviving member of the Dead in it. I really can’t keep all of the post Garcia bands straight – Furthur, the Dead (not the true Grateful Dead), Bob Weir’s Ratdog, Phil Lesh & Friends. Gotta get a score card.
There were the usual concert distractions during both sets. Because this was a general admission event, the crowd was more fluid than at a reserved seat affair. Some young people sat beside us for a few minutes and talked, but soon left. Good. The people immediately around us were pretty focused on the music. Also good. I was increasingly glad that we had the front row balcony seats. The main floor had turned into a large dance floor. And those who were not dancing were standing. To be seated would mean you would see nothing. Even in the balcony many people were standing. And as I looked to the high upper balcony of this beautiful 1895 concert hall, I noticed a lot of hard partying going on up there – dancing and jumping. It was a long show – I was happy to sit. The second set alone was a full two hours before the encore.
Early in the second set, both of the group’s famous rain songs showed-up – “Box of Rain” and “Looks like Rain,” numbers I like a lot. Maybe it had been a rainy night when The Grateful Dead originally played this show. There were other songs I was less familiar with – things like “Victim of the Crime” and “Foolish Heart” – but all were enjoyable enough and very well performed.
As with any real Grateful Dead concert, there were slow spots in both of these sets. The Dark Star Orchestra’s take on “He’s Gone” seemed to go on forever. However, when it finally mutated into a very odd and interesting instrumental section, all was forgiven. The nadir of the evening, perhaps predictably, was the obligatory “Drums” feature. I have no problem with drum solos, but this could not even be called such. Rob Koritz and Dino English both became involved with sound boards and electronics instead of percussion, tweaking computer controls more often than playing any instrument. As my son said, “They completely lost their way.” Or as my Junior High band director often told us: “Practice at home!”
But as the rest of the band returned to the stage, the last three numbers of the night really saw the Dark Star Orchestra regain momentum and again catch fire. “I Need a Miracle” went into the unexpected Spencer Davis hit “Gimme Some Lovin’,” featuring organist Rob Barraco. This eventually morphed into a beautiful and stately “Morning Dew,” which closed the main part of the concert.
One of the things I found most impressive was the band’s ability to burn hard at slow speeds. This was never more evident than when the fragile vocal of “Morning Dew” gave way to a slowly building and majestic instrumental section of this song. Being able to smoke at fast speeds is somewhat expected for professional rock bands, but to be able to bring urgency and intensity to a slow tempo takes even greater skill.
I remember a night long ago when Mike Michalicek, one of my most important music teachers, spoke about a local band that performed “Stairway to Heaven” as a set closer. “They’re good,” said Michael, “but note that they play the last part of that tune in double-time. If they were really good, they could make that tune smoke without speeding-up, like it is on the record.” Oh yes!
By the end of the night the crowd was getting pretty rowdy. The ballad “Morning Dew” had elicited a bevy of howls and whistles, most occurring at the song’s quietest parts. Why? I don’t know, but people were digging it and wanted the band to know it, I guess. I would have preferred audience silence on this number, but that wasn’t happening.
Were there disappointments during the night? Very few. I do wish that lead guitarist Mattson had faced the audience a bit more. Most of the time he was playing profile, looking straight into second guitarist Eaton. That’s fine for musical interplay; I just like to see the guitarist’s fingers dance over the fret board. Dylan was so impressed, he later proclaimed that the lead guitarist “carried the band.” I won’t go that far, but I loved every note Mattson played – all night long. He was reading music off a stand for a couple of numbers. This bugged some people, I was told. But I thought it showed more attention to detail and a desire for accuracy. And remember, the number of songs this band has to be able to play is huge. Cut the new guy some slack. I was glad to see that he could read music!
I looked at the band’s web site the next day. This is where I found the date of the set they replicated. I compared this with some of their other sets from the past weeks. I think we attended one of the better recent shows; I certainly was not disappointed, anyway. Dylan asked me how the Dark Star Orchestra compared with real Grateful Dead. I dodged the direct comparison, instead repeating that in addition to the authoritative set list, the vocals and instrumentation were all remarkably attentive to detail. And I stressed that I would go back to see them again.
And just which night from the band’s history was The Dark Star Orchestra replicating last Friday night in Milwaukee? It was a surprisingly late show – a September 1988 date at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Whenever I put on Grateful Dead recordings, I never pull from that late in their repertoire. And I’m glad, actually, that I did not know the original date of the set – I’m sure it would have prejudiced me.
As we drove home after this great night of music, slipping out before the drunks started lunging towards the exits, Dylan and I talked about what songs we would have liked to hear which they failed to play. I said “Love Light” and he mentioned “Friend of the Devil.” I thought of “Truckin’” and he wanted “Uncle John’s Band.” I said “El Paso” and he called for “Wharf Rat” (just because he likes the name). This trade off continued until we stopped ourselves and said, “Hell, that would have been an entire third set!” We agreed that we were both surprisingly satisfied with the generous evening of music just as it was. And we bid them good night.
#30# 1,774 words
Tom Wilmeth
Grafton, Wisconsin
Former Home of the Paramount Records label
(262) 243-4218
thomas.wilmeth@cuw.edu
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