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Wow being at the Greek for this was an unforgettable experience and phenomenal way to experience that venue for the first time…lotsa parrellels to the 2018 Red Rocks for DSO’s first time. Being on the DSO train over the years is like being on a long extended hiking trip up in the mountains…something as full on as hiking the Pacific Crest trail, for example….…it’s an adventure packed with beauty and challenge and curiosity about what it’s like up around the next bend…only to find yet another outrageously beautiful, expansive view with indescribable and pristine perfection splayed out in front of you,,.possibly even more glorious than the mind blowing view you had just a couple miles back… There have been what seem like endless peaks, sublime mountain lakes, quiet gurgling streams, alpine meadows, marmots calling out from beneath the rocks, views into deep valleys, terrifyingly steep cliffs, thunder and lightning rainstorms to survive, exhaustion yet truly fulfilling exhilaration along with a bit of physical malnourishment at times within a journey that offers thick and drippy glimpses into timelessness…. There have been many memorable high peaks along the way,,,and the Greek was a pinnacle experience…a peak among peaks that will be hard to beat,,,but all the peaks have so much to offer in terms of expansive views and inspiring beauty. The Greek completely fucking kicked ass… How could the best band in the land not pour it on as thick as molasses and heat it up and pour it all over you…their first time getting to play such an iconic and gorgeous venue steeped with Grateful Dead history. I also feel like it always up’s the ante when DSO plays in the Bay Area since it was the birthplace and home base for this music,,and history matters when it comes to the GD experience… With the juju of the venue and jehovah’s favorite Choir ready to pop so many of our Greek cherries good and hard…our favorite band played the shit out of 7/13/84…quite frankly, they fucking slayed it from start to finish. The beast that lives deep within the caverns of this music was fully unleashed and raged hard and strong as they worked their way through the intensity and sweetness of it all…the entire lower bowl below the upper grass area seemed to be dead silent during Stella Blue…the crowd seemed completely on board for the full shamanic cleanse throughout second set. Felt many times that we were in some sort of forgotten ritualistic cathartic festival of great human release in an ancient temple of sorts……ahhhhhhhhhh…..that’s why we chase this shit so hard…SOOOO freaking GOOOOOOOD!!!!! Of course the filler on top of the long and lofty Dark Star polished out the experience into a crystal clear gem with Lisa pouring it on thick…. i had a buddy who was way up at the top of the venue while we took it in down in close and he said when they dropped into Ripple he had to stop moving and drop into silence because the sound of the whole bowl of people down below singing together along with the band was drifting up the hill and landing in his ears as indescribable beauty and strong GD emotion…wow…. I want this hike in the high country to go on and on and on….so much satisfying beauty behind and so much yet to be discovered out ahead…. Thank you DSO…your capacity to transform the human spirit through your musical skill cannot be described with words!!!! Let it be known there is a fountain That was not made by the hands of man… ⚡️🌹⚡️

1969-02-07 Stanley Theater , Pittsburgh Pa filler: Easy Wind Hard to Handle Strange Man Love The One You’re With I am no longer sad about missing out 🕺🏻🙏🏼💃🏼

This weekend (Oct 18 &19) two days of a small GD festival in a Nashville park "Touch of Brews Festival". (Terrapin Beer sponsored) John K will do a solo "acousti'Lectric" show and then set in with other bands both days. My family is even going along to Nashville which is unusual.

Wow! Wow! WOW! This was THE NIGHT! Set 1 was complete 11/21/69 Cal Expo, Building A - Sacramento, CA (Set 1:) Casey Jones Good Morning Little School Girl Cold Rain And Snow Cumberland Blues Easy Wind (Set 2:) Good Lovin' Drums Good Lovin' China Cat Sunflower I Know You Rider High Time Me And My Uncle Turn On Your Love Light Set 2 elective Cryptical/the other one/cryptical St.Stephen William Tell The Eleven Death Don't have no Mercy Alligator Encore: Volunteers (Jefferson Airplane) 1st time played in front of people I don't have to say anything else, this was insanely amazing and unbelievable dance fest. Thank you DSO!!! And crew!!! Love you all!

69/02/07 Stanley Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA Dark Star>St. Stephen>William Tell Bridge> The Eleven>Lovelight. Cryptical>Other One>Cryptical>Death Don't Have No Mercy>Alligator>China Cat Jam> Caution>Feed Back>Bid You Goodnight. Filler: Easy Wind, Strange Man, Hard to Handle, Love the One Your With, Tore Up. This one was not to be believed. First standard early 69 fare, the Star stretched a little more than Napa, Eleven elevating, Rob strong on the Lovelight. Second the real face melter from first notes of Cryptical, Death Don't popped the lid on the insane closing sequence, Caution went deep. I absolutely lost my mind during the Easy Wind, the filler much like Napa killed. Spent the evening with many loved friends. Thanks Band and Crew. Praise DSO.

AZ proud to fire it up once again. New venue (praise Baby Jesus for the Van Buren, the Marquee was super aggressive with hipsters and heads ffs). Hoping for China/Rider, don’t care what era (beggars and choosers and all that). LFG!!

Thank you God for this past year, Thank you God for family here Thank you God for this delicious food, Thank you God for all that's good Awesome night, no better way to kick off the holidays. Sold out show once again at the Peak! DSO never disappoints. They threw me off with a 1st set drums, never heard that before. Thought maybe it was an elective set. The band is just a juggernaut when they get warmed up. The whole second set was fire once again. Props to my upstairs dancers. Another awesome night on the mountain. Hopefully everyone made it home safely and had a great Thanksgiving celebration with family and friends.

When DSO put this on the tour schedule i was excited. I saw Billy and the kids last summer at the Pier and it was great. The view is insane and if you get a day like Sunday there’s nothing like it. but other than that, unfortunately there hasn’t been any reason to go there for any music. DSO hasn’t been to the city in years, maybe since coney island 6 years ago. Definitely haven’t been to Manhattan in 8 or 9 years. It’s falling apart again in this city but it’s nice to have a show in your backyard. So the day was perfect, sun shining, a cool breeze and Alotta smiles. I love how the guys in the band talk about playing at home. I heard some reminiscing of club wetlands !!! Minglewood and Row Jimmy first set love. Sugaree.. thank you dso for everything as always, it means the world to all of us

Once in awhile you say to yourself that was THE best show that you’ve EVER seen or ONE of the best shows you’ve ever seen. but soon you catch yourself saying it a lot lmao that being said, the second set of the final show of the week was up there with one of the best I’ve ever seen. morning dew to start that monster double decker sandwich was something I needed to experience PITB>UJB>umbroken>d/s>imagine instrumental with the crowd singing some of it >last time >DARK STAR>PITB>UJB. This was totally amazing. Dark star was all ready sending me into orbit when we got the pitb reprise and ujb reprise. You don’t want these nights to end but they have to. the whole week in Jamaica is just amazing and I really loved the matinee. Wasn’t sure it was gonna be topped. Something about a daytime show that warms your bones differently. But that last set was something I’ll cherish for quite sometime, especially as I sit here in NY in the snow thinking about my sunsoaked week, of great people, beautiful weather and music that makes me happy beyond words. They are second to none when it comes to re creating the Grateful Dead music and the vibes that come with it . Ending with ripple my cup was beyond full. Dark star thank you once again, much love, and thank you Melvin and JGB!

The band I streamed last night - Hyryder @ The Mousetrap / Indianapolis, IN / Halloween Kickoff Hell in a Bucket > Viola Lee Blues, Candyman, Dire Wolf, Pride of Cucamonga > New Speedway Boogie > Pride of Cucamonga Reprise, Peggy-O, King Solomon’s Marbles > Samson & Delilah, St Stephen > William Tell Bridge > The Eleven > Turn on your Lovelight Born Cross Eyed > Cryptical Envelopment > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment > Dark Star > Truckin, Don’t Let GO > Death Don’t Have No Mercy > Promontory Ryder > Shakedown Street, Purple Rain E: Werewolves of London > Greatest Story Ever Told, Promised Land Whole thing was masterclass! Don’t Let Go>Death Don’t>Promontory Ryder>Shakedown with a Purple Rain chaser was X factor city

Happy Birthday Brian! Thompson Arena (Dartmouth College), Hanover, NH (5/5/78) Promised Land Dire Wolf Cassidy Candyman El Paso They Love Each Other Passenger Brown Eyed Women Lazy Lightnin' Supplication Bertha Good Lovin' Ship of Fools Estimated Prophet Eyes of the World drums Not Fade Away Stella Blue Around and Around Werewolves of London Filler White Rabbit We love a "home" show! I don't think Frog Alley knew how many people would show up, someone that lives in the apartments right there said that was the biggest crowd ever. I'm glad, would love to have DSO back next year. Parking lot summer stage area type venue. Had people with chairs in the back and great size area for dancers/standing. Definitely needed more bathrooms for that amount of people. Band seriously killed it, so much fun dancing and loosing myself in the music. Thank you DSO and crew!

Melvin couldn't make his scheduled 9:30-11 evening show on Friday so Hyryder filled in after playing their earlier 5-6:25 scheduled show. Then we also got a third dose on Sat from 6:35-8 opening with St Stephen. The weather could not have been any better ~ low 50's for sleeping and mid 70's -80 during the day. We secured the absolute best camp site on Wednesday (although they tried to send us into the boonies) Thanks to Ducks eagle eye and Jedi driving we turned around and drove right up to the beach entrance from the woods. My first time back to the Ledges since Dark Star left , like 15 years ago. I forgot how intimately everyone there becomes best friends. 🤞🤞🤞🤞That DSO gets back there🙏🙏🙏

1974-06-20 @ The Omni, Atlanta, GA https://archive.org/details/gd1974-06-20.sbd.remaster.105427.flac16/gd74-06-20d1t01.flac This remaster is simply killer - crazy good channel separation! One of the better recordings I've ever heard for this time period - some say 1st Slipknot! They had been emphasizing it for a couple months and this is the most pronounced. More like a slipknot jam but it’s killer

24/06/11 Dance Lab Set One 94/10/01 Boston Garden, Boston, MA Help on the Way>Slipknot>Franklin's Tower, Walkin' Blues, Althea, MAMU>Big River, Tom Thumb Blues, So Many Roads, Promised Land. Set Two 69/02/28 Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA Morning Dew, Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Doin' That Rag, King Bee, Lovelight. Set Three 87/09/18 MSG, New York, NY Shakedown Street, Women Are Smarter, Terrapin Station>Drums>Space> 76/06/11 Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA Samson and Delilah, Sugaree, Sugar Magnolia> Eyes of the World>Stella Blue>Sunshine Daydream. E: Johnny B. Goode. While less frequent since COVID, these events still occur and this one really rang the bell. Final 10 song opening set, impressive work for 1994. Pristine recording second, full of vigor and Pig goodness. Back end of the third unplanned today in GD history, with a unique Samson and a never ending Eyes intro. Big Fun. Praise DSO.

Jeff was quite the trooper with his injured knee leaving the stage after the second set and coming back on for the encore. And I have to comment on Rob's Blow Away, he did a precise replica of the Brent rave up towards the end with the counting of the fingers and then opening up to let your heart out, pretty damn close to what Brent delivered that night. Thank you for studying the show and the delivery, it made it an all the more joyous that first night at Jubilee for folks from the Cincinnati area. That was a standout show on that spring tour, especially that Fantasy which fell flat in Pittsburgh, the energy level was off the hook in Cincytown during the China Rider inside of Riverfront coliseum that Sat night compared to the mellow Sunday show in Louisville with it's somber Stella Blue. I had forgotten all about the Box of Rain encore adding even more jubilee to the 5/24/24 experiment ⚡. The third night Birdsong clip esp moving as the woman that jumped in my car at Alpine 87, who I took all the way (and scoring her tickets to each show along the way in the parking lots, I had mail ordered my Tix for the entire tour) to the two Roanoke before sending her home as I headed up to Philly solo, Gina unexpectedly passed away on 5/23/24 and the text sent out to me and all her friends had those same lyrics Jeff chose to sing for the partial Birdsong that found it's way into the Other One. I really couldn't believe the band played that since it's usually a first set song. But Gina Defazzio's spirit was noticably with us all at Jubilee this year. I got the text of her death as I was leaving Emmylou in Lexington on Thursday 5/23/24, getting ready to head to Buckeye Fri morning. Unexpected death as she was planning on hitting the June 1st Hyryder show with me. On 5/25/24 she also visited the sacred grounds of legend valley during the drums>space>tomorrow 🕳️🕳️🕳️🪶🪶🛞🕯️🕉️🎶🇱🇷🐉〽️

Rob K here. Very sad news, for sure. Bill was one of a kind and a beacon for the rest of us to search for. Here is an "interview" I did with him during one my pandemic Q&As https://www.facebook.com/robert.koritz/videos/10158207653300170

This was some of the stuff that made me tear up this morning. I remember a few years ago all our deadhead friends in KY were so excited that Bill Walton was an announcer for his 1st and only KY basketball game as he did PAC 10. We were so pumped to watch the game just to hear how off the rails he’d go. Dave Pasch was his 12 year announcing partner and just a brilliant play by play guy who had to reel Bill in a lot and also became a deadhead and would quote dead lyrics himself. He posted a bunch of funny tweets and screenshots bill sent him over the years and I linked them below. One video about bill made me cry again just now. bill kreutzmann There are incredible stories about Bill Walton that I promised him I would only tell after he passed away, and it's not nearly that time yet because before we laugh, first we must allow ourselves to cry. Darn it. This is a mournful day. This is a period of mourning. Sure, Bill Walton was an NBA legend. But in the Grateful Dead orbit, he was just a fan - and that made him a legend here, too. In many ways, he was our number one fan... but Bill would've taken issue with that ranking because, while he won many awards in his storied basketball career - including MVP — Bill insisted that the Grateful Dead was not a competition - and that all Deadheads were equal. By that same notion, as I flash through decades of adventures with him, there isn't one favorite memory. They all shine through. And they're all important, because they all brought us both real happiness. And that's special. That's friendship. Bill was a genuine fan that became a genuine friend and someone I always looked up to. But his towering presence was more than just literal. Whenever I play, there will now always be a hole where a seat should be, about ten rows back, center, where Bill used to stand, eyes closed, arms raised, while he felt the music running through him. That was a happy place for him and seeing him out there was one of mine. We never did have a hard time finding him in the crowd. Similarly, when he walked into a room, you knew it - but it wasn't because of his size. It was because of that laugh of his that broadcasted joy, and it was his easygoing smile that beamed sunshine across any space he ever entered. So, yeah, losing Bill is an irreplaceable loss and, in simple terms, I am heartbroken. When somebody means that much to you, when their friendship is that important - that's called love. I loved Bill Walton. As we say in the land of the Dead: May the four winds blow him safely home. Bob Weir Yo Bill, thanks for the ride. Thanks for the wonderful friendship, the years of color commentary - and the Hall of Fame existence that you wore like headlights. Bon voyage ol' buddy. We're sure gonna miss you - but don't let that slow you down... mickey hart Bill was my best friend, the best friend I ever had. He was an amazing person, singular, irreplaceable, giving, loving. His love for our music was beyond description. He called himself the luckiest man in the world but it was us who were lucky-to know him, to share the adventure with him. He was the biggest Deadhead in the world and used our music as the soundtrack to his life. After our shows, he would regularly send messages that said, "thank you for my life." Over 1000 shows, he just couldn't get enough. Bill had an incredible passion for drums. After any meal at his house, we would play. There was nothing like a Bill Walton... nothing. There are things you can replace. And others you cannot. Bon voyage, old friend, I love you. john mayer Bill Walton lived a life that the rest of us could only hope to achieve on our second (or third) go-round. He had an eye toward the truly important stuff, the stuff we already know better than to lose sight of, but often do. One of Bill's great talents was to reorient you so as to stand bedside him and see the light in life that he refused to break eye contact with. The climb to acceptance is steep in the Grateful Dead universe, and Bill gave me a huge lift up those stairs with his kindness, his encouragement, and his friendship. He will be so deeply missed, but his approach to life will never be forgotten. I think it's pretty good advice that when times get tough, everything will be okay if you just pretend to be Bill Walton. Thank you Bill. this is a vid Dave Pasch retweeted that pretty much sums up the type of person Bill Walton was. Couldn’t help but cry the last t-shirt “I survived 12 years working with bill walton and I’ll I got was this t-shirt” couldn’t be truer. Dave Pasch was like a cattle wrangler trying to keep bill in some games. On the blowouts he’d just let bill tell stories as that was probably the only thing that kept anyone watching. Bill would be like what’s the point of talking hoops. This games over. Now let me finish my story i have a video somewhere on my phone where bill was off the rails announcing a game and Dave said “maybe you had too much too fast” 😂

Bill was always a beacon of light - even though he was in constant pain. He didn't like to obstruct fans view at shows but he admitted that it was just too painful to sit down and get back up. He was positivity and hope personified

5/11/24 Whirling Tiger, Louisville KY Born Cross Eyed (shotgun-ragtime band version with single drummer Dino English Touch MAMU Big River Drove Old Dixie Down Brother Esau Row Jimmy Masterpiece Take a Melody Hey Pocky Way Ain’t No Bread in the Breadbox Box of Rain Dont Let Go Unbroken Chain Twist of Fate Rubin and Cherise Throwing Stones Sugar Magnolia Mighty Quinn The Jerry band tunes were all highlights

47 years and 2 days ago…5/4/77 Palladium NYC…historic for me as it was my first GD show.

what’s wrong with Lafitte 55 ? 😉 I wish all of you were there the last two nights. From my seat, it doesn’t get any better. More like a fine Burgundy, though 😉 oh before I forget, the 69 from a few nights ago. 🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀 back to your regularly scheduled program 😉

HOLY SHIT! Best DSO show I have ever attended, by far!! Easily one of the top 5 CONCERTS I have ever attended! Please tell me I can find this show for sale on a DVD or on ReListen!

Overwhelmed several times by the bands inspired play. Scarlet Fire unreal energy lifted the whole theatre. Jeff really nailed the second set. Thanks band and crew. Praise DSO.

Very extra good

https://relix.com/articles/detail/dark-star-orchestra-deadhead-adventure-travel/ On Nov. 11, 2022, Dark Star Orchestra performed at Chicago’s Vic Theatre to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut concert. The Grateful Dead tribute act returned to the city where they initially appeared at Martyrs on 11/11/97, with their signature approach, which involves interpreting specific setlists from the Dead’s history. While this was a momentous occasion, perhaps a more significant one took place over eight years earlier, on April 12, 2014, when DSO played their 2,318th show, equaling the total number of Grateful Dead performances. As of Dec. 31, 2023, Dark Star Orchestra has played 3,217 gigs, including multiple appearances at their own Jam in the Sand and Dark Star Jubilee festivals. This an extraordinary achievement that speaks to the enduring music of the Grateful Dead as well as DSO’s ability to interpret it. The group’s current roster includes guitarists Rob Eaton and Jeff Mattson, drummers Dino English and Rob Koritz, keyboardist Rob Barraco, bassist Skip Vangelas and vocalist Lisa Mackey. English, Eaton and Mattson, who joined DSO in 1999, 2001, and 2010, respectively, are all Deadheads who had previously performed the music of the Grateful Dead with other groups. Here, they share their perspectives not only on the Dark Star Orchestra, but also on the legacy of the good ol’ Grateful Dead. We’ve reached a point where I believe there are more Grateful Dead fans who never saw Jerry Garcia than those who did. What do you think accounts for this surging popularity and how do you view your role in it all? DINO ENGLISH: For a lot of kids, we’re their first experience with Grateful Dead music. It’s all about keeping the music alive and whatever part I can play in that feels good to me. I’m just doing my part in trying to keep the whole thing going and I feel privileged to be able to do so. By no means do I think that I’m essential, but I think I should be doing this. The music is still extremely relevant, and it will continue to be strong for a very long time. We all love it and we want to contribute to it. It’s like a living entity. You want see it prosper, continue on and do well. ROB EATON: I think the catalog speaks for itself. In my mind, the music has always been timeless. When you can hear the lyrics, they’re not telling you, “Oh, this is 1985 angst.” It doesn’t feel like a song is associated with the politics of a specific time period. It’s not yelling at you. It’s accessible to people. It’ll be accessible to people in 100 years, just as it was to us 50 years ago. I think it’s a testament to Robert Hunter’s lyrics and [John] Barlow’s lyrics and how they saw the place of music in society. It’s a big catalog. One of the things that I like about Dark Star is we have the whole catalog at our disposal at any particular time, which is something the Grateful Dead never really had. They picked up songs, dropped songs, picked up songs, dropped songs and so on and so forth. The music makes me feel good. The melodies are so rich and deep, and the lyrics are so deep, as well. We’re just Deadheads. We don’t really know any better. We’re just out there playing music how we like to hear it. Our spin on it is all the improvisation. You can play “Sugar Magnolia” seven nights in a row and it’s going to be different every time you play it. So that’s what keeps it interesting for people like me, after so many shows and so many years. You never really know where it’s going to go or what’s going to happen. It’s still an adventure. JEFF MATTSON: I never thought that this many years after Jerry’s passing, people would still be so hungry to hear Grateful Dead music. It’s a powerful force in the world. It also amazes me how many young people there are, particularly up on the rail. But it’s a wonderful thing and a testament to how great the Dead were and how great the songs are. Robert Hunter’s lyrics are nonspecific in a way that these songs continue to evolve my understanding of them—what they mean and how they relate to my own life. Those are kind of the best songs, in the sense that they will change with you. Words you’ve been singing for many years will take on new significance. I think that the best lyrics continue to reveal themselves. Now you have bands doing a bluegrass twist on Grateful Dead or a Latin twist or a jazz twist. I guess DSO’s niche is that we will give it to you the way that it was at the time. As you’ve noted, the songs themselves are a major part of the equation. That’s now part of the prevailing wisdom, but back when you were seeing the Grateful Dead, that aspect was often overlooked, especially when local newspapers would review the parking lot rather the show. JM: I think that a lot of music critics didn’t know what to make of the music. It was so different than everything else they were reviewing. So maybe they were being kind in a way. Rather than commenting on something they didn’t grok, they just talked about the social phenomenon. I cut the review out from my first show [9/8/73]. I think it was from Newsday. I’ll never forget that the reviewer said, “And they encored with a lovely song about a woman named Stella Green.” [Laughs.] They were selling out arenas for all those years, but they were kind of doing it under the radar. It had nothing to do with the popular culture at the time, I guess until ‘87 with “Touch of Grey” and then, all of a sudden, MTV discovered the Grateful Dead, this new phenomenon. But before that, we were just going to the shows, creating the tapes and nobody paid any attention—other than an occasional article about the crazy Deadheads traveling around the country or something like that. Dino, how did you come to join DSO? DE: In the ‘90s, I was performing original music in St. Louis with bands on the weekends and then, during the weekdays, I started playing in one of the bands that was covering Grateful Dead to make some extra money and have a good time. In 1995, after we lost Jerry, it kind of hit me, though—“I need to do whatever I can to keep this music alive.” So we started taking it much more seriously, touring regionally and doing weekend runs. I was playing with Rob Koritz, doing the double drum thing—my first exposure to that was Genesis— and I was having a good time playing with him. Eventually ‘97 rolls around and I started hearing all this buzz about this band Dark Star Orchestra. Then one time, we were playing in Chicago and Dark Star Orchestra was playing earlier, so we ran over there and checked the show out. I was able to catch some of the first set and I thought, “Oh, these guys are all right.” They were in a much bigger venue than we were, with 1,000 people in there, and after I saw them that first time, I decided I was going to drop out of the whole thing because they had the ball. I felt like they’d taken care of the thing, and I could go back to original music. So that’s what I did. Then one day, our band needed a website, and Dark Star had a really advanced website for the time. So as I was showing it to the other singer, all of a sudden there was a pop-up window saying that Dark Star Orchestra was looking for a drummer. I mulled it over for a few days because I had already switched gears, but I decided to send an email. It went to Scott Larned [the band’s co-founder, who died of heart attack in 2005]. He contacted me, and when they were in Columbia, Mo., I met them there and gave him a tape of my playing. From there, they had me come out to play a show and then they asked me to join. It turned out they were also looking for another drummer, so I mentioned Rob Koritz. Rob, how did you connect with Dark Star? RE: We were doing a Dick’s Picks release party at Wetlands over the course of a weekend. The Zen Tricksters [Jeff Mattson and Rob Barraco’s band] played one day and Border Legion [Rob’s band] played the next. David Gans was the host and Dick was there being Dick. Later on, Scott Larned asked Gans if he knew of a guitar player and Gans mentioned me because he had seen me at Wetlands. So I got a call from Dark Star because of David. It’s all David’s fault. [Laughs.] I went out to do five shows with them in Chicago. This was December of ‘99, but I didn’t do it full-time right away. I would go into the studio and work for two months. [Eaton maintained an active career as a studio engineer with three Grammys and multiple platinum records to his name.] Then I’d go on tour with Dark Star, before I’d go back into the studio and do another record. I did that for about a year before I joined full-time in early 2001. When Jeff later joined in 2010 [after John Kadlecik departed to perform with Furthur], that expanded the range of DSO and you began dipping into 1969 material. RE: One of things that Jeff could do very well was the old stuff. He had to learn a lot of the later Garcia and Weir stuff, but the old stuff he knew off the top of his head. So we had to learn some of the old stuff to keep up with Jeff and Jeff had to learn some of the new stuff to keep up with us. It expanded the repertoire in a good way. Jeff’s approach to it is very free, and especially talking about the old stuff, his way of approaching music is kind of like Garcia’s in the sense that he’s just playing from the heart— whatever he feels—and that’s the most important thing. The fact that we can go out and do a ‘69 show one day, an ‘87 show the next day and then our own setlist the next day keeps it interesting for us and for the fan base. Some people chase the ‘69 show. We probably only do one a tour, if that. So it’s a novelty to a degree. We don’t do it all the time, but when we do it, it’s usually pretty fierce because that music’s pretty fierce. DE: It’s the really ravenous fan that loves the ‘69 stuff. It’s a little bit harder to digest sometimes— it’s just so raw and psychedelic. It’s intense. Cotter [Michaels], our longtime soundman loves that stuff. It’s one of his favorite time periods. When I first joined the band, I liked the ‘80s stuff because that’s mostly what I listened to. Of course, Europe ‘72 was pretty instrumental in getting me into everything, but I wasn’t really familiar with Live/ Dead that much. Also, all the bootlegs that came from that time period were not really good quality, and I was interested in hearing quality recordings. But the thing about playing this music and being in this band is that when I did dive into it, I really learned to love it, just like I learned to love all the different decades. If there’s any era of the band I think we do best, it’s probably the mid-‘70s because we’re firing on all cylinders and we’ve got the whole band up there. When I first heard about Dark Star Orchestra many years ago, I was told that you would replicate the Dead’s shows down to the errors, which didn’t make sense to me. It didn’t seem feasible and that sort of approach also would run counter to the ethos of the Grateful Dead. JM: That’s a very common misconception about Dark Star Orchestra. I hear a lot that people say, “Oh, they even copy the mistakes.” No, we really don’t. We make our own mistakes, but anything that smells of an error, we leave that out. If it’s a really fortuitous thing that happens, we might pay tribute to it in some way, but we certainly don’t copy mistakes. RE: You couldn’t replicate a show note for note. It would take me a lifetime to learn a show note for note, even if I could do that, which I’m not sure I could. But why would you even want to do it? The whole point of this music is that it’s improvisation. If you’re copying, then you’re not improvising. If you’re thinking, you’re not playing. I’ve had this conversation many times with people, and this music is based on improvisation. The analogy I often give is that we’re painters and we’ve got this canvas. The frame of this canvas is the year, the setlist, maybe the arrangements of the songs and tonally what’s happening. Then everything that gets splattered on the canvas over the course of the evening is all the improvisations. The only restrictions are the arrangements from that time period and the order of the songs in the setlist. It was a common misconception because people say, “Recreating Grateful Dead shows.” Well, you can’t recreate a Grateful Dead show. You can play a setlist. So we go out there and play as we know how to play and let it fall where it falls. It’s really quite simple. Frankly, because we’ve been doing it for so long, I think we’re playing this stuff freer than we ever have. It’s definitely morphed into something a little bit different in the last couple of years than it was 15 years ago. What is the process of selecting a setlist? DE: Scott Larned was the person who would pick the shows when I first got in the band. The idea was to not play a lot of repeats from night to night, just like the Dead. We also mix it up and try to do different time periods each time we go to the same venue or the same area, so that people aren’t getting 1988 over and over again. It’s quite a jigsaw puzzle, and after Scott passed on, Rob Eaton did it for a long time. Then he wanted to step away from that, so it was kind of voted that I would be the right person to do it. It’s extremely time consuming and it’s something you do during your time at home. So many different aspects come into play. Something that people might not realize is that stage size matters as well because we can’t do an ‘80s show on a lot of stages—they won’t fit all of our stuff. It’s definitely a chore, but it’s also a fun challenge. Eventually, I met someone who offered to put together a database that allows me to search out a show that doesn’t have any repeats of a given night. That helps me narrow down the shows a lot easier, although I still have all the other factors I mentioned. I also might look for anniversary dates, which is a fun thing to throw in when possible, especially when it’s the same date in the same city. That just happened on the last tour in Chicago. We happened to be there on November 18 this year, which is when the Dead had played there, right across the street. All things being equal, do you prefer staying in the same era for a few nights or would you prefer to jump around from show to show? RE: I like jumping around, but what was really interesting is what happened when we went to Europe the September before last and we did nine shows that were all Europe ‘72 shows. We were repeating a lot of the same stuff every night. I think I played “Truckin’” every night, and there were at least seven or eight other songs that we played every night. I saw how the Dead progressed so quickly, how they moved through material and how the material changed. Just in playing something nine shows in a row, every night I was trying to play it a little differently than the night before, adding something different or approaching it differently. I could see from the first show in London to the last show in Rome, how I was looking at it differently, and that was only a two-and-a-half week span. So I think of the Dead when they were over in Europe for five, six weeks and how that material really morphed and changed from the first show to the last show. I understood how that happened because I had to play all those shows in a row. How do you approach the elective shows where you create your own setlists? DE: We do custom elective sets about one third of the time, maybe even a little bit more. It’s somewhat like what most Grateful Dead bands do, but we do it in the sense that we are familiar with all these different approaches to each song. It’s often modernizing the earlier stuff. For instance, we’ll play “Alligator” and Jeff will do it on his woolly mammoth guitar. [Mattson has a guitar that was built in the style of Garcia’s Rosebud guitar from 1990.] RE: The elective shows for me are by far the most satisfying and fulfilling for multiple reasons. One is there’s no roadmap, there’s no frame, there’s no order and there’s no arrangements. All those things go out the window and you can piece together a song from ‘69 into a song from ‘79. That’s something the Dead never did. So it opens up another way of looking at the music and constructing setlists with the freedom that we have. We take everything we know about all these different versions of the songs and make them our own to a certain degree. I have some arrangements of songs that we only do in an elective format. “Let It Grow” is a prime example. There are all sorts of different ways that Weir looked at “Let It Grow” from ‘73 on. So I took different parts of all those versions and made one version of it. That’s the one we play during electives because the Dead never had it arranged that way. So if we do “Let It Grow” in an elective set, then we all know it’s going to be that particular version, which has elements of ‘73, ‘76 and ‘87. JM: The elective setlists are written by me and Rob Eaton because we sing the lion’s share of the songs. Sometimes we might imagine what it would have sounded like if the Dead had brought back a certain song in 1989. It’s also a great opportunity to play some songs that don’t get played very often in the show, like “If I Had the World to Give,” which they only played three times. So when the ballad comes around, we might put that in or “Visions of Johanna” or something like that. You can do things like play something from one era that never got played with another song because they were from two different eras. You can also play things from the same era that the Dead never put together, like “Help on the Way” > “Slipknot” and instead of going into “Franklin’s Tower” going into “Foolish Heart,” “Feel Like a Stranger” or something else people aren’t expecting. We have to be careful that we don’t fill the show up with esoterica, though. I remember one time we were doing an elective set for Jerry’s birthday, and we wanted to celebrate with all this different interesting stuff that Jerry liked to sing. Unfortunately, some people in the audience were appalled because they didn’t know half the songs we played. So we try to avoid that. [Laughs.] Rob, you were a Dead taper back in the day, before the creation of a designated section. What are your recollections of taping during that era? RE: It was venue to venue, but we’d have to get pretty creative with how to get our stuff in. I did everything, including strapping a deck underneath a girl’s long skirt. The cables were wrapped around my waist and I’d make crutches out of mic stand pieces, then reassemble it all when I was inside. I also rented a wheelchair and had somebody sit on the tape decks. The cables were wrapped around that person’s waist and the stand was part of the wheelchair. Barry Glassberg, who was a dear friend of mine and a taper back in the day, looked like an accountant. He had his suit on. He’d come from work with his briefcase and the briefcase held all his taping stuff. Sometimes you’d grease the guy at the door—20 bucks just to get your stuff in. It was an adventure, and once you were in there, it didn’t mean you could stay in there if there was hardass security—like in Hartford, which gave us a tougher time than anywhere else. You wanted to be one of the first ones in, so you’re waiting in front of a door—usually one of the side doors, not the main ones. You’d try different doors, and if you didn’t get it in, you’d just put it in your car and then go in to watch the show. There wasn’t a scene outside back in the ‘70s or even the early ‘80s. Once the show was going on, it was empty outside. There were no Shakedown Streets and stuff like that. Is it an odd experience watching people tape your shows? RE: It’s someone’s hobby. There’s no right or wrong to anything. Someone enjoys going out and taping and putting it on their shelf and labeling it. That’s great. It’s what I used to do all the time, right? I did it mostly for the Dead, but I know people who used to go to all the clubs in New York and record every chance they got. It didn’t matter who it was. They just liked documenting something that they were at. It’s a hobby—setting up your gear and looking at the meters and all the other stuff. The members of the Grateful Dead have sat in with DSO over the years. Is there a particular moment that stands out? DE: The first time Weir sat in with us because he was the first of the Core Four that came in, and we didn’t really know that it was actually going to happen. It was at the Warfield in San Francisco for a Rex Benefit [on 4/13/02], and we had heard the possibility that it might happen. Then that afternoon, this amp shows up—one of his sit-in amps—and his guitar showed up, too. We were like, “Wow, this is looking like it’s going to actually happen.” I’d been in the band for maybe a couple of years at that point, so this was quite a big deal. When he strolled up onstage and started tuning up his guitar, it was like what I’d seen so many times before. Then he looked straight at me, like “Are you ready?” I gave him a nod and it was goosebumps. It was definitely a profound moment for me. Bob has always been very gracious, and I think he’s played with us five different times. Phil’s played with us twice, and the first time at the Fillmore was special. That was one where Phil turned and gave me the look in the eye. That was something. One time at the Great American, Weir was up there and Rob stepped off to let him do it. But before the very last song, Weir’s like, “We’re going to bring out Rob Eaton.” Then Rob gets up there, so it’s the two of ‘em, and Weir goes, “What you have here is too much of a good thing.” [Laughs.] You’ve been hosting your Dark Star Jubilee event ever since 2012. What does that represent to you? RE: The Jubilee was created as a family-friendly festival where you bring your own beer, recycle, respect one another. We’ve kept it small because we don’t want it to be this giant thing. If more people are there, then you get the nitrous mafia, then you get people stealing from tents while others are at the show. The Jubilee is our way of giving back to our community. It’s a way for our fans to connect with each other and go to a festival where they feel like it’s their own. Our fans have seen us grow up right in front of their eyes—they’ve seen us go from playing little bars to playing theaters. They were around for a lot of it, and they feel like we’re a part of their lives as much as they’re a part of ours.

original. 1. 1/2 step/i know you rider, btw, peggyo, never trust a woman, tom thumb, biodtl, chimes of freedom, greatest story, tangled up in blue. 2. stranger (w/john kadlecik- no jeff mattson, jk left after stranger), speedway, playin/uncle johns/d/s/fire on the mtn/hey jude/china doll/playin. e. take a letter maria.

1969–12-30 The Ark Boston, MA Set 1 Good Lovin (pig) > Drums > Good Lovin, Mama Tried, New Speedway Boogie, Casey Jones, Black Peter, Me & My Uncle, Midnight Hour, Cumberland Blues, Cryptical Envelopment > Drums > The Other One > Cryptical Reprise > Cosmic Charlie Set 2 Uncle John’s Band, Masons Children, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Ryder, Dark Star > Alligator > Drumz > The Eleven > Alligator Reprise > And We Bid You Goodnight F: Big Boss Man, Volunteers

We won’t make penns this year. I want you to know that I’ve considered this a non negotiable show for a long time and we will be back next year. But have to sit this one out. I mean I’ve lied to my partner when she was pregnant to be there. I spent much money on shakedown that night to try to compensate for my guilt it was stupid. I had to go one year with a previous lover and partied all night. Went to her family’s thanksgiving the next on no sleep and sweated the night out during the thanksgiving festivities it would be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic and sad. But penns is special and always will be. The Dso pre thanksgiving show gave me something to be thankful for when I felt I had nothing else to be thankful for. Thank god I have so much to be thankful for today. But I want you to know that I love this community and this band. The fill cups of love when the cup empty. Make it over flow. For four hours they make everything just exactly perfect. I miss you guys so much and miss the music even more. Been a while since we’ve seen a show. We will make some of new years. And January is jam packed for us with Jamaica and the sages here in Colorado. We gonna do a week west coast in February too. But most important I want to tell you guys I love you and I am beyond thankful for all of you and the impact you’ve had on my life. I am forever grateful. Happy thanksgiving. I know you’ll crush it up on that mountain. I love you guys so much band and fan. Keep bringing the heat and joy to those around you. love is real.

The sure sign a great time was had. Have carried note taking supplies at shows for years to mark the signposts. Praise DSO.

Caught Hyryder at Headliners on Friday night. Their usual solid performance. Songs swirling in my head but cannot even attempt any coherent set lists. Of note… 25 years and 10 months ago at this exact venue I begrudgingly went to my first show where the band played “entire Grateful Dead shows” ( “note for note” lol ). No current DSO band members on stage that night are current, save for Lisa. Long strange trip rolls on.

One does not mess with Roberta Lincoln ❤️

Watching "Young Frankenstein " tonight for Halloween and in honor of Teri Garr. Been a while, such a classic.

We lost a good one. My favorite lyric of his, “ I’ll trade all my tomorrows for a single yesterday…” Powerful stuff there.

Now it’s confirmed Jack Straw ; Brown Eyed Women ; Mister Charlie ; Green, Green Grass of Home ; Don't Ease Me In ; Big Boss Man ; Box Of Rain ; Strange Man ; Dark Hollow ; They Love Each Other ; New Orleans > Good Lovin' Here Comes Sunshine ; Cumberland Blues ; It Hurts Me Too ; In The Midnight Hour ; Unbroken Chain > Dark Star > drums > Dark Star jam > Morning Dew > Not Fade Away > Going Down The Road Feeling Bad > Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks) Encore: Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu Notes: Dino on drums. Rob K drums on encore.

Really quite fantastic. Brother Esau was replaced by Black Thrusted Wind- apparently because someone yelled it right before they were going to start. I guess that works occasionally? I’m trying to figure out what else was different but I can’t remember. Cool venue- potential to be very cool. Reminiscent of Pisgah Brewery in Black Mountain NC (miss that place so much). Excellent 2 shows for me. Good to be back in the action. Selbyville DE next.

Aiko It’s all over now stagger Lee Tom Thumbs Blues Lindenburg Hop Easy wind Mission in the rain Jack straw Cats under the stars You ain’t women enough Let it grow China Watchtower Black Muddy river Corrina I know you rider Everybody must get stoned definitely not correct but close great show! please excuse my strange text, copied and pasted from notes in phone

Original Recipe Set 1: China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider ; Black Throated Wind ; Box Of Rain ; Althea ; The Stranger (Two Souls In Communion) ; Jack Straw ; Shakedown Street > Playing In The Band > Mission In The Rain > Throwing Stones > Tangled Up In Blue Encore: White Rabbit

Tea was accurate regarding the first set. 2nd set original recipe in same style…may be missing a tune Cold Rain MAMU St Stephen William Tell Eleven Alligator Caution Encore….Dancing in the Streets Absolutely phenomenal show…DSO at its best Lisa on harp for pigpen tunes with Rob B rappin away 2 drummers throughout

Thanks for your passion and your constant rib-rattling carpet bombs 💣!

Pulled trigger and assembled all the pieces to see Vegas show. Next night do a Sphere Dead & Co. since I’m there. Will be farthest west I’ve seen a DSO show. WTF it’s Vegas baby!!!

I read Mickey and Bill’s insta tributes to bill and literally started crying just now. Could be a few day post jubilee emotions involved but it was these happy tears that just kept flowing reading comments and stories of others below. The luckiest man in the world. I feel that way every time I’m at a show. I say “we are in the best place in the world at this moment” and to us it’s true. There’s nothing like a dead show and if it ain’t the real thing it’s close enough to pretend.

Set 1 Might as Well masterpiece Stagger Lee big boss man biodlt althea keep on growing ccrider birdsong jack straw set 2 hsf corrina unbroken chain ds the weight ikoiko all along the watchtower Positively fourth street omsn take a letter, maria

Actually, Willie Dixon wrote it. Also done by Muddy Waters

89/05/06 Frost Amphitheatre, Palo Alto, CA Jack Straw, Peggy-o, Walkin' Blues, They Love Each Other, Race Is On, West LA Fadeaway, Little Light, Queen Jane, China Cat>Rider. Let the Good Times Roll, Hey Pocky Way, Samson and Delilah, Ship of Fools, Playin' In the Band>Eyes of the World>D>S> Take You Home>The Wheel>I Need A Miracle> Wharf Rat>Round and Round>Not Fade Away. E: Black Muddy River. The calendar turn to 5/6 opens the door to memories of this fine afternoon on the campus of Stanford. A ten song first punctuated by one of five post coma Race Is On and the final first set closing China>Rider. Only Second set LTGTR, Samson on Saturday, a lovely Playin'>Eyes, Jerry's toe dipping into MIDI world on Take You Home, a 6/6 second set. An epic performance. It was 35 years ago today. Praise DSO.

Things have really calmed down since the good old days at the Ledges.

Very cool elective— kept me on my toes. Hot hot hot Help Slip franklins Box It makes no difference Loser Masterpiece Jack a roe It hurts me too GSET Tangled PITB Visions St Stephen Keep on growing Drums Space Tomorrow never knows Wheel Hey Jude PITB Big boss man Piece of my heart

officially ready for the Jubilee, please come promptly

1987/3/2 HENRY J. KAISER CONVENTION CENTER - OAKLAND, CA Jack Straw Althea C.C. Rider Bird Song Beat it on Down the Line Ramble on Rose Feel Like a Stranger China Cat Sunflower I Know You Rider Man Smart/Woman Smarter Ship of Fools Estimated Prophet Eyes of the World drums Truckin' Morning Dew e: Johnny B. Goode f: Take a Letter Maria

Show #438: Been a while since I got caught a pure 69 show like this. Sometimes getting hit with Dark Star as the opener can be a shock but I was ready this time and thoroughly enjoyed the whole 1st set sequence. Does it get any better than Dark Star>St Stephen>11>Lovelight? This stuff flows through my blood and makes me move in different ways. The venue- XL live - added a new "VIP" area this time around. It conveniently cut our usual open dance space down by 2/3s. But looking at the stage set up and knowing what we were in for I knew that all obstacles must be transcended. Sometimes the conscious choice to have fun- to be a conscious creator in that process- can make all the difference. Heck, maybe it is all the difference- what we bring to the party. I felt free last night. The music was beyond phenomenal- what is there even to say about it? They do keep refining ever further, tapping into deeper levels of mastery, coalescing into one mind. Such a pleasure to be a part of this. The Filler songs were so fun- esp Hard to Handle for me. "love the one you're with" was dedicated to me . Looks like that's it for me until the Jubilee. So good to dance with and see everyone that I did- sometimes I forget how good it is!

That scarlet fire was as good as it gets everything after was icing on the cake