Dark Star Orchestra channels the Dead on tour

Grateful Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra is getting ready to transition from its 10th anniversary tour to its New Year's Eve run, and has just announced another US trek for next year.

The Chicago-based band launched its anniversary tour last month and will continue tomorrow (12/4) with a two-night stand in State College, PA, before wrapping Thursday (12/6) in New Haven, CT. A four-show New Year's celebration gets started Dec. 28 in Frederick, MD, and culminates with a Dec. 31 gig in Glenside, PA.

In the first week of January, Dark Star Orchestra will set sail on the MSC Lirica for the five-day Jam Cruise 6, which leaves from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and visits Roatan, Honduras, and Cozumel, Mexico. The band will play alongside a host of other jam bands, including Michel Franti & Spearhead, Soulive, Yonder Mountain String Band, and Toots & the Maytals.

DSO will then kick off its next round of US dates Jan. 31 in Milwaukee. The trek is scheduled to roam around the Midwest and East Coast through March 6, when the band will play the Langerado Music Festival in Florida. In mid-March, DSO has a three-show run booked in Amsterdam. US dates are included below, and overseas shows are listed at the group's website.

Earlier this fall, Dark Star Orchestra released the three-CD live collection "Ithaca 30 Years Later," which was recorded May 7 at the State Theater in Ithaca, NY, to mark the 30th anniversary of the Grateful Dead's Barton Hall show.

DSO has toured all over the world during the past 10 years, re-creating entire Dead performances, song for song. The bandmates are known for their attention to detail, adapting stage positioning, vocal arrangements, and musical equipment to fit the era of the show they are performing, according to their bio.

They've earned the respect of Grateful Dead members including Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Donna Jean Godchaux, Vince Welnick and Tom Constanten, who have joined DSO onstage.