Thinking you've seen the John Kadlecik Band before is like saying you've heard Jerry play, "Dark Star," before. And if you haven't seen JKB, well then, you just don't know, do you? Ever dynamic, John has long since moved from prodigy to mentor. Master of the improvisational moment, one never knows what might arise when John takes the stage, and that alone is reason enough to set foot on the hill. Mixing and matching bands like notes on his guitar, John is joined by Further's Jay Lane on drums, the ever versatile, Benjie Porecki on keys, and frequent, Terrapin Flyer, Wavy Dave Burlingame on bass, (maybe a banjo, maybe not) setting the conditions for a unique, wonder-filled, mind-enriching musical experience.

The Grateful Dead brings people together. It’s bigger than the music; it’s the experience that the music creates. And once you get into it, you’re not getting out of it.

River Edge Park in Aurora, IL hosted a beautiful evening of Dark Star Orchestra on 6/24 ‘17.  While Chicagoland eagerly awaits the upcoming Dead & Co shows at Wrigley Field next weekend, a metro train ride out to the burbs provided 1500 guests a way to chill out by the mighty Fox River.  It was a grateful evening of sentimental tunes played out with perfect 70-degree weather. 

It is my honor to be writing to you all again about the wonder and beautiful sight that is Dark Star Jubilee. However, this year I write to you with feelings of pure joy and love that come from this festival but also a heavy heart. Dark Star Orchestra has had a tough week, as they face a possibly career-changing event. But more about that later, let’s talk about the joyful, blissful, wonderful, paradise event for friends and family that was Dark Star Jubilee.

Performing to critical acclaim worldwide for nearly 15 years and over 2000 shows, Dark Star Orchestra continues the Grateful Dead concert experience. Their shows are built off the Dead's extensive catalog and the talent of these 7 fine musicians. On any given night the band will perform a show based on a set list from the Grateful Dead's 30 years of extensive touring or use their catalog to program a unique set list for the show. This allows fans both young and old to share in the experience.

Dark Star Orchestra and Island Gigs announce Dark Star's Jamaican JAM IN THE SAND VI, returning to the all-inclusive Jewel Paradise Cove Resort in Runaway Bay, Jamaica, January 18-22, 2018.

Continuing the Grateful Dead concert experience in its 20th year, Dark Star Orchestra today announces special plans for The 40th Anniversary Shows as a celebration of the Dead’s infamous May 1977 tour.

Following a tour-ending, Memorial Day celebration at the 6th annual Dark Star Jubilee festival at Legend Valley in Thornville, Ohio May 26 - 28, Dark Star Orchestra Summer Tour 2017 gets underway June 24-25 in Aurora, IL and winds all around the Midwest and East Coast. Additional shows still to be added in the coming weeks.

One day in 1997, two Deadhead musicians were ruminating about life without Jerry Garcia and simultaneously came up with the same idea: "Let's recreate a Grateful Dead show."  Around forty people came down to Martyrs' in Chicago on November 11, 1997, to hear the brand-new Dark Star Orchestra's rendition of the Dead's show of 10/8/81. They'd planned it as a four-week experiment, ninety folks showed up the second week, then two hundred, then a 400-person sell-out, so it seemed like a good idea to keep going.

No stranger to the music of the Dead, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti  - of Dead and Company, and formerly of Furthur, RatDog, The Dead, and The Other Ones - joins Dark Star Orchestra November 18 at College Street Music Hall in New Haven, CT and November 19 at The Palace Theatre in Albany, NY.  DSO bassist Skip Vangelis is unavailable for these dates, so keyboardist Rob Barraco will pivot to fill in on bass while Chimenti, who joined DSO in 2012 and 2014 for similarly brief sit-in