Dark Star Orchestra Welcomes Peter Rowan In San Francisco

Dark Star Orchestra launched a two-night run at The Warfield in San Francisco on Friday. The Grateful Dead tribute act welcomed legendary singer-songwriter and Jerry Garcia collaborator Peter Rowan for a stripped-down segment that kicked off the show in GD’s hometown.

The concert at the storied San Fran venue got going with an oft-covered Rowan classic, “Midnight Moonlight.” Rowan performed the song with Jerry Garcia in bluegrass supergroup Old & In The Way and it was also a staple for the Jerry Garcia Band. Rowan and Garcia collaborators New Riders of The Purple Sage named their 1992 album after the stellar tune. Peter led the band through “Midnight Moonlight” before keyboardist Rob Barraco, guitarist Jeff Mattson and Rowan took rides over the jam.

Next came Bill Browning’s “Dark Hollow,” an early staple cover of the Dead’s. Peter led the way once again with the band coming together on some nice country harmonies for the chorus. Barraco lent some swingin’ honky tonk piano to the tune as well. Mattson then fronted the group on GD classic “Friend Of The Devil” with vocalist Lisa Mackey and guitarist Rob Eaton joining on the chorus. Next up, the Rowan-penned Old & In The Way performed “Land Of The Navajo.”

GD acoustic favorite, “Ripple,” followed ahead of “Panama Red,” another Rowan tune NRPS recorded and used as the title track to their 1973 album. The collaborators threw in a verse of Elizabeth Cotten’s “Freight Train” (featured in a recent JamBase playlist) during “Panama Red.” The acoustic segment with Rowan came to a close with the Old & In The Way covered Jack Bonus bluegrass standard, “The Hobo Song.” DSO would go it alone electrically to round out the first frame with “Help On The Way” and “Slipknot!” as well as “Shakedown Street” in lieu of the usual “Franklin’s Tower.”

Dark Star filled the second set with GD favorites beginning with a “St. Stephen” opener followed by the classic pairing of “Scarlett Begonias” and “Fire On The Mountain.” Phil Lesh’s signature song “Unbroken Chain” followed ahead of “Drums” and “Space.” Buddy Holly & The Crickets “Not Fade Away” emerged from “Space” ahead of the JGB covered, Clapton recorded “Lonesome and a Long Way From Home” (written by Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell). DSO looked ahead to their Warfield closer with “One More Saturday Night” to close the second set. The band returned to encore with the beloved Lesh/Robert Hunter collaboration, “Box Of Rain.”

Watch fan-shot video of Peter Rowan’s complete sit-in with DSO below:

Setlist

Source: JamBase.com