The Dark Star Orchestra Joins Keller Williams for a night on the beach
This Saturday July 11th The Dark Star Orchestra, Keller Williams, and Pete Francis (of dispatch) will gather together to kick of the Beach series of concerts on Governors Island. Using entire shows from the Grateful Dead's 30 years of extensive touring as a launching pad, Dark Star Orchestra recreates the original song for song performance set list for an entirely new generation of, as well as old school, Deadheads. Dark Star Orchestra presents its critically acclaimed live show at esteemed venues from coast to coast and internationally.
Dark Star Orchestra performs Grateful Dead classics in the same way that an orchestra interprets music of classical composers. The composer spirit is derived and channeled as the players capture the excitement and innovation of the original performances and compositions. Touring nationwide for nine years to the tune of nearly 1500 shows since forming, the band's determined commitment to "raising the Dead" has drawn national media attention.
Joining this Grateful Dead experience will be the mad scientist known as Keller Williams. He is also known as a one-man-band for the new millennium and dozens of other clever sobriquets dreamed up by fans and music journalists trying to get a handle on his uplifting and ever-shifting style of music. Williams is considered by some but not by himself, to be a master of the acoustic guitar, known for his ability to solo over layers of spontaneously created loops. He is a generous performer who plays down to earth acoustic music that defies any effort to find a convenient pigeonhole. If pressed for a definition, Williams, as adept with language as he is with a guitar pick, calls it solo, acoustic jazzfunk reggae technograss - or simply - solo acoustic dance music.
On stage, Williams exudes a restless yet mellow energy. Barefoot he dances in place, alternately spinning out long solo lines and bouncing chord clusters that draw listeners and dancers into his own private world of rhythm and melody. The songs flow like rivers, full of flickering, kaleidoscopic images revealing new shapes, colors and meanings with every listen. On the stage behind him is a forest of stringed instruments as well as a keyboard and various drums and percussion toys. Williams jumps between instruments seeking out the perfect sound, the perfect note, the perfect beat that will transport him and his audience. This will certainly be a night to remember. Below is a sneak preview of whats to come
posted by Beach Concerts at
2:55 PM
4 Comments:
"Fanatical attention to detail." Rolling Stone
"Dark Star Orchestra takes its act to a level of detail that befits a rock band famous for its fanatical following." Associated Press
"The hottest Grateful Dead tribute act. A cover band for people who don't like cover bands." The Washington Post
Much more than a tribute band – DSO has an uncanny ability to recapture the sound of the Dead – and live performance was always what the Grateful Dead was about. DSO recreates sets from all periods of the Dead history, and vary their gear and stage setup to recreate the sound of each era.
Despite the improvisational nature of his stage act, even the most loyal Keller fans have expressed fear that his one-man show may be growing stale and repetitive. While the validity of that argument is clearly subjective, it appears to some extent that Keller has taken those criticisms to heart. Not to worry, this Sat. night he will be performing barefoot and solo.
Keller Williams has become an expert at solo performing. He started working with looping devices about a decade ago. It took him a couple of years to get the right kind of gear together to make it happen the way he wanted. By about 2000, it was really starting to come together, and the crowds followed, he said.
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