A Taste of the Dead - The Dark Star Orchestra

Of all the classic rock bands of the 60's and 70's, very few have had the legacy and following of the Grateful Dead. While the Dead did not perform last night (Jerry Garcia died almost 20 years ago), the Dark Star Orchestra did their best at recreating what it would be like to attend a Grateful Dead concert. The DSO formed in Chicago in 1997 and has since toured the world and performed over 2000 shows. Every one of their shows is a recreation of a concert performed by the Grateful Dead, including the set list and overall length. This means that much of the night was simple jams and instrumental breaks that kept the audience enthralled. I have personally never really got why the Dead were so popular and even after last night, I'm still not completely sold on their sound. While I totally recognize their influence on countless jam bands, I feel like their sound was pretty constrained for the most part and they relied on creating a groove instead of letting each of the musicians prove themselves. To their credit, their jams do sound really good and definitely creates a mood that simply cannot be replicated by any band. The three hour set also contributes to this mood of a long trip and DSO did a great job of recreating what a Dead concert would feel like. I'm really glad that I was finally introduced to the music of the Grateful Dead and while they're still not a band I would listen to very often, it's nice to say that I tried.

This show had a little bit of everything. While the crowd was quite light (only 2500 people), they more than made up for it with their antics. Old and young hippies alike united and enjoyed their time eating, drinking, and smoking. While I was kept busy trying to find the smokers, I was still able to see  just how into the music Dead Heads get and it was quite an eyeopening experience. The downpour at the end of the show did wonders for clearing the lawn but it became next to impossible to enforce much of the rules during that time. Still, it was a good show and as always, looking forward to more performances in the future!

My favorite part of the show was when the DSO did a great cover of "Tangled Up In Blue" by Bob Dylan. In typical Grateful Dead fashion, the song was drawn out to over 10 minutes but in this case, it added something positive to the song and the sound of the band combined with the pouring rain provided another unique moment at Wolf Trap.

DC

Add caption