Grateful Dead Music Forum

they are coming to my town in april, whos seen them, how good are they?

ive seen them once at the fillmore and im gunna agin in a month. There fantastic, there the best dead substitute other then bob weir or phil lesh shows. they're just really great

I've seen them somewhere around 10-15 times over the past 4 or 5 years and I don't think they have been overrated at all. They even mimic the "mistakes" that were made on dates they are playing. Truly amazing, really. Right on and you will love it.

Ive only seen em once quite a while back and they were great, at the time i wasnt nearly as packed with dead knowledge as i am now so i was only familiar with a handful of the songs (i believe they did a show from '73) but i still had an amazing time, and i think next time i go ill have an even better time. They wer in town last month but i wasnt able to go see em. I still dont think they wer quite as good as ratdog, but they are damn great

Dont even fret man. Ive seen them for the first time like 6 months ago and have seen them 5 times total now and loved it every time. Every show was a solid performance. Only problem was the first show. Me and my friend wanted to be right up front for our first DSO exp. But it turns out that the speakers were generating the vocals past us. So we didnt really hear the vocals throughout the first set. But we moved back and heard it all second set. They are spot on though. Some jams just arent the same. But you will not be disappointed. Let me know how it goes. Cant wait till they come back to Jersey in May! Dyin to hear a 73-74 performance. Or a JGB show would be sick too!

JONZILLA wrote:They even mimic the "mistakes" that were made on dates they are playing.

Can you provide any examples of this? Because while they may try to emulate the overall GD style of the time period of they are playing from, they make up the jams themselves. You were most likely hearing "original" mistakes.

Sasquatch wrote:they are coming to my town in april, whos seen them, how good are they?

AS GOOD AS IT GETS - GO SEE THEM

Darkstar is a group of very talented musicians that can sometimes lack a cohesiveness. They put on a great show that sounds like(effects,vocals) and has the atmoshpere dead show(a smaller one i guess), but as far as all the mistakes and stuff, thats bs. They are really the only cover band that can afford to sound like the dead. Grab your self a dead song, and then listen to the recreated darkstar song and you will be very disapointed. Dont get me wrong , i go to see them when ever they come around, but there are other bands that jam much harder. ie Cosmic Charlie, kettle joe. and i dont exactly think that a "live dead substitue" is what bob and phil are really going for these days.

I bought in to all the DSO hype recently. I went to see them in C-bus about 2 weeks ago, and I must admit that I was (and still am) extremely disappointed. Perhaps I just caught an off night (the setlist was from 92 for chrissake), but the show was far far below par. The band had no emotion, no enthusiasm. It is one thing to be a cover band, it is another thing entirely to be a mimick band. They were simply trying too hard. The beauty of live music is the soul of the performance, the vibe of the crowd, the energy of the band...the DSO show I saw lacked all of this.

I was very excited about the show, talked it up to all my friends, made a few non-heads go with hopes of conversion...nope. Call me a heretic, but I actually left early.

Another thing to be weary of (perhaps I'm alone in this thought) is the fact that a good majority of their setlists are taken from the 80s. I guess the point of this long, rambling, sacreligious post is to let you know that there are hardcore deadheads who simply cannot stand DSO. I suggest finding a good local band who inserts their own flavor and emotion into their jams and versions of dead tunes. Or go see RatDog on their current tour...that show will certainly not disappoint.

I'm sure it can sometimes be difficult to maintain intensity when you gig and travel more heavily than the GD themselves did, for going on... 8 years?

With regards to the 80s domination that's two-fold:
1 - their Donna is Chicago based and does her own thing (very successfully) so she cannot tour. Thus eliminating most of the 70s.
2 - 60's shows are usually too short for a full night and 90s shows are usually not to too many people's likings.

I'd venture to say if you didn't enjoy DSO at akk you caught them on an off night. Sure they are not to everybodys' liking but I'd be really surprised if you didn't find parts enjoyable.

I'll bee seeing them at the Jam in the Dam festival, I
really hope it's great. It'll be the closest to a Dead
experience I'll ever get, never heard of other deadbands in
Europe..

if you can't maintain the intensity and emotion....then what is the point? cut back, gig less. give it all you've got every night, or don't give anything at all.

i'm young and naive. forgive me.

I think another reason I was so disappointed is that I'm only 21 and never got to see the dead (with jerry) live. I think I misguidedly expected this show to make up for that lack. Those standards can never be met.

garciahead: How are they to know the nights that they just dont have it in them to put intensity and emotion? From what I hear and saw they put intensity and emotion into a "majority" of their shows so there is no need to cut back. There is a demand for them so I highly doubt they will slow down any time soon.

strumminsix wrote:With regards to the 80s domination that's two-fold:
1 - their Donna is Chicago based and does her own thing (very successfully) so she cannot tour. Thus eliminating most of the 70s.
2 - 60's shows are usually too short for a full night and 90s shows are usually not to too many people's likings.

I'd venture to say if you didn't enjoy DSO at akk you caught them on an off night. Sure they are not to everybodys' liking but I'd be really surprised if you didn't find parts enjoyable.

Lisa has been with them every single time I've seen them; if she isn't actually singing that night, I'll still see her inside the show or backstage. She defintely does tour.

Maybe its just my luck, but I've seen DSO do far more late 70's and 90's (and mix-all "original"[Dead cover])setlists than actual 80's setlists. Early 70's is very rare.

When they have a short setlist, they usually just pile on extra songs at the end. I think the reason they don't cover the 60's is its probably just too psy-chaotic and unweildy for their tastes; a different animal with lots of different material and sounds to tackle, meaning a LOT of extra rehearsing to do... but the real roadblock is probably that they've never had a regular "Pigpen" role player. I'll bet Eaton would be into doing 60's- so much of the available primal Dead recordings were seeded by him its hard to think that he wouldn't.