Marcus King Guests With Dark Star Orchestra At Jubilee

Guitarist Marcus King made a guest appearance with Dark Star Orchestra on Friday during their first set at this year’s Dark Star Jubilee. The Grateful Dead tribute act hosts and headlines the festival, which takes place every Memorial Day Weekend at Legend Valley in Thornville, Ohio.

DSO went with an “elective” setlist on Friday in which they mixed songs from various eras of the Grateful Dead’s career with a Jerry Garcia Band repertoire favorite in honor of Bob Dylan. The group kicked off the action with a run of “Jack Straw,” “Cold Rain And Snow” and “Broken Arrow.” Then, King, who was on hand with The Marcus King Band for a performance earlier in the day, emerged for the blues standard “Walkin’ Blues.” Marcus took a solo and dueled with DSO’s Jeff Mattson on the song the Grateful Dead is first known to have covered in 1966 and then revived in 1982 and kept in the repertoire through their final tour.

Friday’s first of two Dark Star Orchestra sets came to a close with a pair of Bob Dylan covers played in honor of lighting director Dave Quinn and Dylan’s birthday, “Visions Of Johanna” and “Tangled Up In Blue.” The evening’s second set started with a “Not Fade Away” the band used as a springboard to the popular “Scarlet Begonias”/”Fire In The Mountain” pairing. Next up was an “Unbroken Chain” that gave way to “Drums” and “Space” before DSO lit into a late ’60s style sequence of “Dark Star,” “Saint Stephen” and “The Eleven.” A surprise “Comes A Time” connected “The Eleven” to a reprise of “Not Fade Away.” For the encore, the group covered “The Weight” by The Band.

Listen to an audience recording taped by Toaste below:

Setlist (via DSO Forums)

Set One: Jack Straw, Cold Rain And Snow, Broken Arrow, Walkin’ Blues (w/ Marcus King), Loose Lucy, Black Throated Wind, West L.A. Fadeaway, Hard To Handle, Visions Of Johanna (Happy Birthday to lighting director Dave Quinn and Bob Dylan) > Tangled Up In Blue

Set Two: Not Fade Away > Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain, Unbroken Chain > drums > space > Dark Star > Saint Stephen (w/ William Tell) > The Eleven > Comes A Time > Not Fade Away (reprise)

Encore: The Weight