I had a chance to take a week off of work to cathc nights two and three of Phish's three-night run in Broomfield, Colo. In retrospect, the Monday's show was great, and Sunday's was still pretty good despite a lackluster set list and discord among some fans.
Here are a few pictures I took and videos from Youtube.
While taking a quick vacation to Seattle last weekend, we found out that Dark Star Orchestra was playing at the Show Box Theater in downtown Seattle, near Pike's Place Market. I had never seen this band before (for a while I thought it was a classical tribute to the Grateful Dead) but I eventually found out the band is actually a straight-up tribute to The Grateful Dead, and they do a great job sounding like the legendary jam rockers, while adding some of their own musical tangents.
The crazy thing about DSO is how precise they aim to cover historically accurate GD set lists, while also "channeling the Dead" and transversing mystical musical jams that sound very natural and very Grateful Dead.
Seeing the band during the spring tour gave us a chance to see new lead guitar player and vocalist Stu Allen join the DSO. Allen, who has played in Melvin Seals and the JGB Band, Avalon Allstars, The Jones Gang, Workingman's Ed, Stu and Pat Nevins acoustic and more, does well to lead the talented group through interesting improvisations, landing back in the song's groove flawlessly.
Drummer Rob Koritz and Stu Allen get in-sync during the second set of the DSO show April 17, in Seattle. Allen joined the band on lead guitar and vocals beginning April 7, 2010. Photo by Brad Devereaux
The rest of the band members do their parts well, too, with drummers Dino English and Rob Koritz playing intricate tromping drumbeats in unison and Rob Barraco (keys) slipping out psychedelic melodies and laying down chords to fill out the compositions. Rob Eaton (rhythm guitar, vocals) and Kevin Rosen (bass, vocals) match the tone of the Grateful Dead with their instruments as well as vocals.
Actually, the entire band was impressive with the accuracy of their vocals. Not only that, each musician stays true to their original singing part in the Dead - Stu doing Jerry, Rob doing Bob, and so on (I can't say this is true for every song they played, but I noticed it on the majority).
The One Way or Another Tour continues through May 1 with dates in northern California. They will continue to tour through early August, including performances at Mountain Jam 6 June 4-6 in Hunter, NY, All Good Music Festival July 8 in Masontown, WV, plus more.
I would reccomend Dark Star Orchestra. They do a great job of making the Grateful Dead's sets come alive in all their glory. Also, it is nice to be able to see these songs played at smaller venues, where getting close to the band is easier and the crowd isn't packed into every crevice of the building. They do, however, draw a decent crowd, and the many people in the audience seemed to be spreading the good vibes just like the DSO.
30-May 2: Gamble Rogers Folk Festival, St. Augustine, Fla.; Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, Loudon Wainwright, Janis Ian, John Cowan Band, Pierce Pettis, Greg Brown, Patty Larkin, more.
7-9: All Tomorrow's Parties, Minehead, England; Currated by Matt Groening; Iggy and the Stooges, Deerhunter, Panda Bear, the Residents. 14-16: Bluegrass from the Forest, Shelton, Wash.; Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper headlining all three days, several top regional bands, master workshops, band scramble, band contest, banjo contest, great jamming indoors and out, vendors and much more.
28-30: Summer Camp, Illinois; Umphrey's McGee, Keller Williams, STS9, Pretty Lights, Victor Wooten and Moe.
4-6: Mountain Jam VI, Hunter Mountain, NY; Gov't Mule, Levon Helm and Friends, 70th birthday celebration (with very special guests), Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band, Matisyahu, more.
11-13: Isle of Wight, Newport, UK; Paul McArtney, Jay-Z, the Strokes, Editors, Friendly fires, Orbital. A Jimi Hendrix tribute band will play at the big top. 11-19: Riverbend Festival, Chattanooga, Tenn.; 5 stages, 100+ bands including Darius Rucker, Uriah Heep, George Clinton.
30-Aug. 1: Camp Bestival, Lulworth Castle, Dorset, UK; many acts including Madness, Friendly Fires, George Clinton and the Parliment Funkadelic, DJ Yoda and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.
*This list will be updated throughout the summer as more festivals are announced and/or discovered. If there are any summer music festivals going on in your neck of the woods, please leave a comment and it will be included in the list. Hopefully, this list will be more complete as the summer rolls on, and will serve as a guide to people looking for some great live music.
Also, please comment about which festivals or other shows you are most excited about this summer.
Missing acts
A few popular festivals aren't returning this year.
The Rothbury fest in rural Michigan has also announced there will be no festival in 2010, citing a contributing factor of not being able to assemble a "cutting edge roster" for the weekend festival, according to a statment on the Rothbury Website.
"Despite the 2010 postponement, we intend to move toward continuing ROTHBURY in 2011. This event is something very special, and we are unwilling to potentially tarnish what ROTHBURY is, and can become, by working under conditions that will produce anything less than a magical experience," according to the statement.
I am excited for the short string of cheese incidents that were announced by the String Cheese Incident. The Colorado band returns to the stage at one of their favorite backyard spots, Red Rocks.
Since The Cheese played their final scheduled show of 2007 at Red Rocks Aug. 9-12, they have made one other appearance as a band at the Rothbury festival in Michigan. The members have participated inb various solo and other musical ventures throughout the hiatus.
After the first night of these shows, Angie and I drove straight to Red Rocks without finding a place to stay (camp). Everyone at the show told us there was camping all around so we weren't worried.
But when the show got out it was late and we chose a random road to start out on. We drove for maybe an hour, before deciding to pull over and sleep on the shoulder of the road.
When we woke up we were in a wilderness looking area, with miles of forest in every direction.
We stayed in Denver the next day and made sure to head that way after the show.
The next day, we returned without tickets, but someone searched us out and convinced a stranger to give us free tickets.
The girl had been "miracled" the night before, and seemed to be trying to fulfill her karmic duties by bringing a miracle to another.
"Well maybe I'd take $20 for them," the man mumbled, but was swiftly interrupted by the girl with the fairy wings and Rainbow Brite hair.
"No way, you said miracle, you said miracle, man, that's not cool," she warned. The man gave in to her plea and gave up the tickets. We felt a little strange, but thanked him and went inside.
I attended the August Red Rocks shows, and I am excited to try to go to the next turn up the riverbed.
Some photos of the Aug. 2007 parking lot scene at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Golden, Colo., just a short drive West of Denver.
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