University of Florida Performing Arts

presents

Dark Star OrchestraWinter Tour 2013

Continuing the Grateful Dead Concert Experience

Friday, February 22, 2013, 7:30 p.m.

Phillips Center

PremiseDark Star Orchestra’s (DSO) shows are built off the extensive catalog of the Grateful Dead. On any given night the band will perform a show based on a set list from the Grateful Dead’s 30 years of extensive touring or use the catalog of original songs and often-played covers to create a unique set list for the show. This allows music fans both young and old to share in the experience. Dark Star Orchestra presents its critically acclaimed live show at esteemed venues from coast to coast and internationally. Grateful Dead classics are performed in the same way an orchestra interprets music of classical composers. The composer spirit is derived and channeled as the players capture the excitement and innovation of the original performances and compositions. Touring nationwide for 11 years to the tune of more than 1,700 shows since forming, the band’s determined commitment to “raising the Dead” has drawn national media attention.

“Fanatical attention to detail.” — Rolling Stone

“Dark Star Orchestra takes its act to a level of detail that befits a rock band famous for its fanatical following.”

— Associated Press

“The hottest Grateful Dead tribute act. A cover band for people who don’t like cover bands.”

— The Washington Post

Critics aren’t the only ones singing Dark Star Orchestra’s praises. Five original members of the Grateful Dead have played alongside DSO and have this to say:

“Playing with Dark Star Orchestra is something that feels just exactly like it felt when I was playing with the Grateful Dead.”

— Donna Jean Godchaux-McKayGrateful Dead vocalist and frequent DSO guest

Precision is king with DSO; the band adapts their stage positioning, vocal arrangements, specific musical equipment and instruments to fit the era of the show they are performing. Following each performance the band announces the date and venue of the original performance. Dark Star Orchestra could dip into any incarnation of the dead at any of their shows, allowing fans to experience shows that happened long before they were born.

HistoryIt’s really about the sound that’s created. It’s about a sense of familiarity. It’s about a feeling that grabs listeners and takes over. It’s about a contagious energy: it’s about the experience.

Dark Star Orchestra has been delivering this experience to old and new Grateful Dead fans since 1997, after guitarist John Kadlecik contacted keyboardist Scott Larned with a concept — performing complete Grateful Dead shows from out of the band’s long touring history. When Larrned mentioned having the same idea, Kadlecik knew they were on to something.

The newly formed Dark Star Orchestra secured four Tuesday night gigs at Martyrs’ in Chicago. The first night, November 11, 1997, saw only 78 people, but by the fourth week they had sold out the room. One year later, on the eve of their first anniversary, Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman of Phish joined the band at Martyrs’

after their own show in Chicago. Fishman sat in for the majority of the evening, which included a rollicking drum section with four percussionists!

The ensuing buzz caused national interest in the band. That winter, their Colorado tour sold out almost every performance, their MP3 website was getting millions of hits and everyone wanted to know how they got their sound so precise. The Washington Post declared them “the hottest Grateful Dead tribute act going” and USA Today raved that DSO was “channeling the Dead.” Dark Star Orchestra had arrived.

Committed to their original mission of recreating the Grateful Dead’s live experience, Dark Star Orchestra has performed as many as 250 dates in a single year. They continue to grow their fanbase, playing at larger venues for two and even three-night stands. Fans haven’t been the only people joining in, as the band has featured guest performances from original Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Donna Jean Godchaux-Mackay, Vince Welnick, Tom Constanten and even toured with longtime Dead soundman, Dan Healy.

Tragically, during the band’s 2005 spring tour, band co-founder Scott Larned died of a heart attack. The band reeled from the loss but continued on — featuring the talents of a series of guest keyboardists and vocalists until Rob Barraco permanently joined the band in the summer of 2007.

A much happier parting came in 2009, when Kadlecik was asked to join original Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, in their new band, Furthur. As DSO’s newest member, Jeff Mattson (of Phil Lesh & Friends, Donna Jean Godchaux Band and the Zen Tricksters) brings Garcia’s fluid guitar work to life with uncanny verisimilitude.

The core of Dark Star Orchestra remains strong and as the members’ musicianship refines, their recreations ring ever truer to the Grateful Dead’s sound and style. Playing a full Hammond B3 and on vocals, Barraco channels to the sound of three of the Grateful Dead’s keyboardists. When the show is from the ’70s, vocalist Lisa Mackey provides the female harmonies, performing the Godchaux parts in perfect key. Dino English combines his training in percussion and jazz and his experience in Dead-oriented groups to deliver the rhythmic drumming sounds of Kreutzmann. On the other drum set, Rob Koritz, a classical and jazz influenced musician gets into the soul and spirit of the music while filling the Mickey Hart role. Like Phil Lesh,

Kevin Rosen provides a very distinctive and fluid style of bass playing in addition to his devotion to the music of the Dead. On rhythm guitar and vocals, Rob Eaton provides an extension of the incredible feeling, instrumentation and tone created by Dead co-founder Bob Weir.

More than 12 years since the band first performed together, Dark Star Orchestra has gone on to perform more than 1,800 shows worldwide. They do not simply pay tribute to the Grateful Dead, but a testament to the enormous catalogue of shows the band performed in addition to original set lists created to give the listener a wholly unique experience. “For us it’s a chance to recreate some of the magic that was created for us over the years,” Eaton explains. “We offer a sort of a historical perspective at what it might have been like to go to a show in 1985, 1978 or whenever. Even for Deadheads who can say they’ve been to a hundred shows in the ’90s, we offer something they never got to see live.”

BiographyDark Star Orchestra’s shows are built off the Dead’s extensive catalog and the talent of these seven fine musicians. By recreating set lists from the past, and by developing their own sets of Dead songs, Dark Star Orchestra offers a continually evolving artistic outlet within this musical canon. Honoring both the band and the fans, Dark Star Orchestra’s members seek out the unique style and sound of each era while simultaneously offering their own informed improvisations.

Dark Star Orchestra offers much more than the sound of the Grateful Dead, they truly encapsulate the energy and the experience. It’s about a sense of familiarity. It’s about a feeling that grabs listeners and takes over. It’s about contagious energy ... in short, it’s about the complete experience and consistent quality show the fan receives when attending a Dark Star Orchestra show.

Dark Star Orchestra has performed throughout the United States and Europe, and at major music festivals including Bonnaroo, All Good Festival, Gathering of the Vibes, Mountain Jam, Summer Camp, Wakarusa and 10,000 Lakes. In addition, Dark Star Orchestra hosts its own annual gathering, Dark Star Jubilee, where they headline three nights and are joined by a mix of established and up and coming national touring acts.

Aside from original Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, Vince Welnick, Tom Constanten and longtime Dead soundman, Dan Healy, other notable guests have included Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman of Phish, Keller Williams, Warren Haynes, Steve Kimock, Peter Rowan, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and many more.

“…I can close my eyes and go back 30 years and have it be every bit as rewarding and satisfying. Dark Star is an amazingly legitimate representation of the Dead.”

— Dan Healy Grateful Dead sound engineer 1966-1994

“Channeling the Dead”— USA Today

“The Dark Star Orchestra re-creates Grateful Dead shows with a flashback-inducing meticulousness.”

— The New Yorker

“In fact, Dark Star Orchestra often sounds more like the Dead than the Dead sometimes did...”

— Chicago Tribune