Dark Star Orchestra

Friday night I went down to the Pabst Theater with The General and Tree's brother, Ed. The Dark Star Orchestra was playing. They are a Grateful Dead cover band. Their claim is that if you close your eyes, they sound just like the Grateful Dead. After listening to them in concert, I would have to agree. The lead singer even sounds like Bob Weir, and the Jerry Gracia guy doesn't quite sound like Jerry but is close. In fact I would have to say that Dark Star sound better (tighter) than the Grateful Dead I saw in the 90's. But that would only make sense since they are much younger than the Dead in the 90's, plus they don't have heroin coursing through their veins, at least I don't think.

The band got on stage around 8:30, they took an intermission and then continued to play until midnight.

Normally they pick a Dead show from the past and play the entire setlist from that show. But on this night, they played an original setlist. Here is it is:

Hell In A Bucket

Cold Rain and Snow

Mama Tired

Mexicali Blues

East To Love You

Catfish John

Lazy Lightnin'

Supplication

Sing Your Blues Away

Keep Your Day Job

Intermission

Sugar Magnolia

Mystery Train

Man Smart, Woman Smart

Saint Stephen

Alligator

Space

Drums

The Wheel

Attics of My Life

Sunshine Dream

Going Down The Room Feeling Bad

Johnny B. Goode

Encore: Help On The Way

Slipknot!

Franklin's Tower

How Sweet It Is

We got there a little after 8:00 and the show had started before we got to some seats. It was a general admission show so you could sit anywhere. We started off in the second level at the back. After a couple of minutes I spotted four open seats in the second row on the second level. I pointed these seats out to The General and Ed, and told them to follow me. I headed straight for the seats and somehow both The General and Ed lost me. The General texted me and he finally met me in those seats. But Ed was missing for the whole first set. At intermission we were able to track down Ed.

After intermission, I wanted to get down to the first level, but again I lost Ed somewhere in the trip. However The General managed to stay with me. We were sitting towards the back of the theater, but they were still real good seats. If you listen to the video clip above during Sugar Magnolia you can hear The General screaming. But that must have taken something out of him. Because with at least good hour maybe more to go in the show, The General took a seat. Then I looked over at him again a couple minutes later and he was sound asleep. I even took a picture.General? General!!! GENERAL AT ATTENTION!!!! WAKE UP!!! HELLO, ARE YOU THERE? TEN HUT!!! YOU ARE MISSING THE SHOW!!! GENERAL!!!

See, he wouldn't wake up. He slept through the whole end of the show, including all of the encore. Words can not begin to describe my disappointment. Who sleeps at a concert? Alright, passing out is something completely different. The General did not pass out, he decided to go to sleep. Thursday night, I had my old college roommate, Mark, and his wife, Suzanne stay with me. They were leaving Friday morning for Mexico. And I gave them a ride to the airport at 4 in the morning. I got a text from The General Friday afternoon, "Up at 4:30? I don't see you lasting tonight." I think what he meant to text me was "Would it be a big deal if in the middle of the concert, I just took a nap". I was finally able to wake him up after the show and then found Ed. As we were driving home we were joking about The General. The General has this thing called the Armageddon list. Basically it is the people that he wants to party with if the end of the world is coming. The General is officially off my list. Here would be my conversation with The General if Armageddon was coming:

Me: "General, hey I don't know if you have heard, but the world is going to end in 8 hours."

The General: "Hey that is cool, let's hit the strip clubs and the casino."

Me: "That sounds like a plan to me.:

The General: "Great, let's do it, but first I am going to need to take a nap. I wake me up in 2 hours."

The General's official statement on this incident, which he texted to me Sunday morning, is as follows: "When you party as hard as I do, your body has to shut down at some point. I became one with the music."

So good news for my readers out there. Normally when I get tickets to see the Dave Matthews Band, I take The General with me. But I am afraid I can't risk such behavior happening again. I mean it is embarrassing. So who wants that extra ticket?