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The Wellmont Crashes Into 1969 With Dark Star Orchestra

Photos by Vernon Webb

Dark Star Orchestra
Wellmont Theatre *Montclair, NJ
December 28

The day after the east coast’s Blizzard of 2010 the highly acclaimed cover band, Dark Star Orchestra didn’t fail to show or disappoint as they brought their version of The Grateful Dead’s December 11, 1969, Thelma Theater, Los Angeles, California show to the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ. The 2000 person capacity Wellmont was built in 1922 originally for live music, later turned into a movie theater in 1929 and then again renovated in 2008 at the tune of $3 million to again host live music.

Jeff Mattson

With Rob Barraco on keyboards and vocals, Jeff Mattson on lead guitar and vocals, Rob Eaton on guitar and vocals, Kevin Rosen on bass, Dino English & Robert Koritz on drums took the stage and made a few comments on their travels and difficulties and sailed right into a rocking version of “Casey Jones.” The crowd, who from the very start all seemed very eager to do some serious dancing, went into a frenzy and seemed to keep that momentum through the entire show.

Rob Eaton “China Cat Sunflower” > “I Know You Rider,” hit some serious peaks and was a first set highlight. This was topped however by a very lengthy “Dark Star” > “St. Stephen” > “The Eleven” > “Cumberland Blues” that closed out the first. The second set ended in an equally satisfying manner with a spacey “Cryptical Envelopment” that led into “Drums,” “The Other One” back into “Cryptical Envelopment” and then “Cosmic Charlie.” Evident by the people’s reaction during and after the show it was an overall enjoyable show and a not soon to be forgotten time.

The original set list is as follows:
Set 1: Casey Jones, Cold Rain And Snow, Mama Tried, (T.C. plays Bach), Yellow Dog Story, Dire Wolf, It Hurts Me Too, China Cat Sunflower > Jam > I Know You Rider, Black Peter > Me And My Uncle, Hard To Handle, Dark Star > St. Stephen > The Eleven > Cumberland Blues

Set 2: Morning Dew, Next Time You See Me > Sittin In Top Of The World, Beat It On Down The Line, Big Boss Man, Good Lovin’ > Drums > Good Lovin’, High Time, Dancing In The Streets, Easy Wind, Cryptical Envelopment > Drums > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment > Cosmic Charlie

The original Grateful Dead performance can be heard here.