This reviewer last covered Dark Star Orchestra in 2011 when they covered the Grateful Dead’s final Fillmore East show from 1971. Since that time, Furthur disbanded after Bob Weir’s back problems forced him off the road and then last summer’s “Fare Thee Well,” shows commemorating the band’s 50th anniversary, which led to Weir and Phil Lesh once again going their separate ways. In 2016, both Dead and Company and Phil Lesh And Friends will be touring throughout the year, yet it seems like Dark Star keeps going. But especially for those of us who were fortunate enough to see countless Dead shows before 1995, these nights have taken on an even more special meaning.
For former Volunteers Turned Zen Tricksters vets Rob Baracco and Jeff Mattson, Long Island shows are hometown affairs. On May 14th at The Space at Westbury, they gave the faithful a top-tier show. Covering the Dead’s 4/22/77 show from the Philadelphia Spectrum, they opened with a punchy “Promised Land” followed by a powerful “Mississippi Half Step.” Even though they were following the script from the aforementioned show, these tunes seemed to work perfectly for the fired up crowd. Mattson truly captured that ’77 sound with his own Travis Bean TB500 which he’s had since 2013 as he wrung every ounce of that thing on fantastic versions of “Looks Like Rain” and “Peggy-O.” First set versions of “Estimated Prophet” and “Playin’ In The Band” really gave him a chance to stretch out and the “Playin’” that ended the set was particularly elaborate and contained a series of different themes.
The second set kicked off with a chunky “Scarlet/Fire.” The “Fire” featured some really nice guitar work from Mattson as he kept climbing higher and higher on the neck and this wasn’t aping Jerry’s solos, since he never really did that with those early two-verse renditions. It was really amazing to see new territory charted, especially since Mattson has covered so many ’77 “Fires” by now. A sweet “It Must Have Been The Roses” served as a perfect counter to a ripping “Samson & Delilah.” The band pulled off the Dead’s first attempt at “I Got My Mojo Working,” nestled in the middle of “Dancing In The Streets” very nicely. The show ended with the combo of “The Wheel” and “Terrapin Station,” both covered in their early forms. Since the Spectrum show inexplicably lacked an encore, Dark Star offered up Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit.” But while this song is usually a quick and fiery number that ends after the “Feed Your Head” finish, this night featured a nice closing jam – actually it was pretty damn nasty. While the band’s slogan has always been “Continuing The Grateful Dead Experience,” this show ended with such punch that “Once It Hits Your Ears, It’s So Good” would have been more fitting.
Setlist – 4/22/77 Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA
Set One: The Promised Land [#2:01] ; Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo ; Looks Like Rain ; Deal ; El Paso ; Tennessee Jed ; Estimated Prophet ; Peggy-O ; Playing In The Band
Set Two: Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain ; Samson And Delilah ; It Must Have Been The Roses ; Dancing In The Street > Got My Mojo Workin > Dancing In The Street > The Wheel > Terrapin Station
Filler: White Rabbit
Check out the Charlie Miller soundboard of the Spectrum show on Archive org and an aud of the Dark Star show on bt etree (links below)
https://archive.org/details/gd77-04-22.sbd.miller.27747.sbeok.flacf
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