DSO is a different breed of Dead band. What Dark Star Orchestra does is recreate the Grateful Dead. Not with hippie wigs and fake beards but through the live music. They play the setlist song for song in the same arrangements used by the Dead members of that period. Dark Star Orchestra takes the framework of the original setlists and sees where it can take them. Even the press has caught on to what the band is doing--USA Today says DSO is "channeling the Dead" and the Washington Post declared them "the hottest Grateful Dead tribute act going", but what DSO does is not just a tribute to the Grateful Dead, but a testament to the enormous number of unique setlists performed during their long career.