Dark Star Orchestra onstage with Michael Kennedy in Clearwater, Florida, on Dec. 4. Photo courtesy of Kailey Aiken.
This article was originally published on Live for Live Music on Dec. 8. Minor edits were made to fit The Minaret’s Style Guide.
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By Kailey Aiken
CLEARWATER, Fla. – The streets of Clearwater were filled with tie-dye t-shirts and music of the Grateful Dead on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025 as Dark Star Orchestra (DSO) made their debut at BayCare Sound, bringing in hippies and Deadheads of all ages.
With over 3,300 shows over the past 30 years, DSO is arguably the most famous band keeping the Grateful Dead live concert experience alive. The seven-piece-band performs set lists from the Dead’s original concerts, but also creates their own unique set lists from the Dead’s vast catalogue.
DSO nails the energy and experience that deadheads travel across the country to follow. Walking through the crowd felt like stepping into the 70s. Tie-dye, flowy skirts, peace signs, dreadlocks, and sunglasses all around. Piles of shoes sat abandoned, strewn across the grass, as Deadheads spun and swayed barefoot to the music.
Baycare Sound’s all-outdoor venue on the grass, on a warm December night, was the perfect place to recreate the feeling of a real Dead show. Around 1,000 fans attended the show, and the usual seating arrangements were removed to allow fans to roam freely through the crowd.
Each member of the band plays the role of one of the original Dead members. For this show and their three other Florida shows, Michael Kennedy of Splintered Sunlight is filling in for guitarist/vocalist Rob Eaton, who normally plays Bob Weir’s role. DSO released a statement that “Rob is currently taking time off to focus on his health.”
Michael Kennedy of Splintered Sunlight on Dec. 4. Photo courtesy of Kailey Aiken.
Kennedy meshed very well with the rest of DSO and did well in Weir-heavy songs like Lost Sailor and Saint of Circumstance.
He lived up to his reputation of being a master at recreating Weir’s sound and was received well by the crowd, with one woman yelling from the pit, “Michael, you’re amazing, you all sound like you’ve played together for years!”
Vocalist Lisa Mackey gave a standout performance, and was easily a crowd favorite. Her vocals, especially during “It Hurts Me Too,” were incredible.
The rest of the band didn’t disappoint either. With Ron Barraco on the keys, Dino English and Rob Koritz on the drums, Skip Vangelas on bass, and Jeff Mattson leading the way on guitar and vocals, the band had all the ingredients they needed to deliver the audience an authentic, eccentric, Grateful Dead concert experience.
Photo courtesy of Kailey Aiken.
Midway through the show, the intermission between sets cleared out some of the crowd and brought the energy down a notch as it went on for over thirty minutes, but things picked up pretty quickly once DSO got back on stage.
For Clearwater, DSO did not recreate a specific Dead concert set list. Instead, Barraco told the crowd, “This is something special we put together just for y’all.”
Early in the first set, they performed a rendition of Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” under red and green overhead lights for the holiday season. As is custom for DSO, the dynamic lighting and visuals were captivating and added to the ambience of the show.
They ended their second set with “Not Fade Away / Going Down the Road Feeling Bad / Not Fade Away,” getting everybody singing along, cheering, and grooving. By the end of the four hour show when DSO wrapped up with “Brokedown Palace,” it still seemed that nobody was ready to leave.
Aside from the music, the highlight of the show had to be the crowd energy. The Tampa Bay Area has such a strong community of Deadheads and Dead cover bands, and they showed up for DSO. The energy of the crowd and the love everyone shared for the Dead’s music was contagious. Spinners and dancers floated through the crowd, offering a show within the show that no one wanted to end.
Set 1:
- Let the Good Times Roll (Sam Cooke cover)
- Hell in a Bucket (Grateful Dead cover)
- Althea (Grateful Dead cover)
- Beat It on Down the Line (Jesse Fuller cover)
- Dupree’s Diamond Blues (Grateful Dead cover)
- Box of Rain (Grateful Dead cover)
- Run Rudolph Run (Chuck Berry cover)
- Jack-A-Roe (Grateful Dead cover)
- Big Boss Man (Jimmy Reed cover) (Lisa Mackey on Harmonica)
- On the Road Again (Memphis Jug Band cover)
- Might as Well (Jerry Garcia cover)
Set 2:
- China Cat Sunflower (Grateful Dead cover)
- I Know You Rider ([traditional] cover)
- It Hurts Me Too (Tampa Red cover) (Lisa Mackey on Vocals and Harmonica)
- Lost Sailor (Grateful Dead cover)
- Saint of Circumstance (Grateful Dead cover)
- Drums (Grateful Dead cover)
- Space (Grateful Dead cover)
- I Need a Miracle (Grateful Dead cover)
- Standing on the Moon (Grateful Dead cover)
- Not Fade Away / Going Down the Road Feeling Bad / Not Fade Away (Grateful Dead cover)
Encore:
- Mr. Charlie (Grateful Dead cover)
- Werewolves of London (Warren Zevon cover)
- Brokedown Palace (Grateful Dead cover)