Dark Orchestra Brings Artistic Interpretation of Grateful Dead Music to Mercer County

Dark Star Orchestra will perform at the Mercer County Park Festival Grounds on Friday, Aug. 12, 6 p.m., the Mercer County Park Commission announced on Thursday. Doors open at 5 p.m.

Dark Star Orchestra offers a continually evolving artistic outlet within the Grateful Dead’s musical canon.

Its members seek out the unique style of each performance era and offer their own interpretations and improvisations at each show.

Using entire set lists from the Grateful Dead’s decades of touring as a launching pad, Dark Star Orchestra recreates song for song performances straight from the set list of these historic shows.  

However, the band doesn’t try to match Grateful Dead live songs note for note because they believe anything so formulaice would “quickly dispel the free spirit embodied in the music.”

The band is made up of Jeff Mattson (Jerry Garcia), Lisa Mackey (Donna Jean Godchaux), Dino English (Bill Kreutzmann), Rob Koritz (Mickey Hart), Skip Vangelas (Phil Lesh), Rob Eaton (Bob Weir) and Rob Barraco (multiple keyboardists).

Tickets are $27 for general admission and will go sale Friday, June 17, through the Sun National Bank Center Box Office.

To purchase tickets, visit www.sunnationalbankcenter.com or call 800-298-4200. Concert-goers who purchase a ticket are welcome to bring their own chairs and blankets.

Food and beverage vendors will be on site; no outside food, alcohol or other beverages will be permitted into the Mercer County Park Festival Grounds.

The Mercer County Park Festival Grounds encompasses more than 200,000 square feet of venue space with a 2,200-square-foot, state-of-the-art performing arts stage with a wide array of electrical, lighting, sound and rigging capabilities.

For information about the Mercer County Park Festival Grounds and other facilities of the Park Commission, visit www.mercercountyparks.org.