During a weekend visit to the Grateful Dead‘s home turf, Dark Star Orchestra donated $10,000 to the band’s charitable arm, The Rex Foundation. The distinguished Grateful Dead tribute band presented the check to Rex Foundation Executive Director Cameron Sears on Saturday night at the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA, in memory of the late Bob Weir.

“Bobby changed our lives,” Dark Star Orchestra drummer Rob Koritz said, “he made the world a better place, and was a believer in community and positive social impacts. He was a founder of the Rex Foundation in 1983 and a lifetime board member. We want to honor Bobby’s legacy by continuing our support for The Rex Foundation. We are working with Rex on some special events in the near future. And for now, with the support from all of you and proceeds from tonight’s show, we would like to present this $10,000 donation to Cameron Sears, Executive Director of The Rex Foundation.”

Founded by the Grateful Dead in 1983 and named for longtime roadie Rex Jackson, The Rex Foundation provides grants to organizations worldwide. To date, the non-profit has disbursed more than $10 million through 1,400 grants. Immediately following the Dark Star Orchestra donation, the Rex Foundation received a matching $10,000 gift from an anonymous source.

“We all believe in the music,” Sears said as he received the check from Dark Star Orchestra. “We believe in the power of what these songs have meant to us for so long. When the Grateful Dead decided to create the Rex Foundation, it wasn’t out of a sense of any obligation; it was something they wanted to do. Thanks to you and the strength of our community, we intend to keep it going just as Bobby implored us to make sure the music keeps on going. And thanks to DSO the music is going to keep on going.”

Dark Star Orchestra’s two-night run at the Fox Theater was rooted in the Grateful Dead’s history in the Bay Area. On Friday, the band opened the engagement with a recreation of the Dead’s February 17th, 1979 show at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, the band’s last with Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux. Then on Saturday, guitarists Rob Eaton and Jeff Matson went acoustic to start the second set with “Wake Up, Little Susie”, “Deep Elem Blues”, “Dark Hollow”, and “Ripple”, reminiscent of the Dead’s early three-set acoustic-electric-electric format from the late ’60s and early ‘7os (and the 1980 reprisal across the Bay at the Warfield). Each night’s setlists also included healthy doses of Bobby tunes as Deadheads continue mourning the co-founding rhythm guitarist who passed away last month.

Related: The Many Faces Of The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir [Feature]

These retrospectives came as Dark Star Orchestra readies a celebration of its own. On Tuesday in Boise, ID, Dark Star will play its 3,400th career concert, as part of the band’s largely sold-out winter tour. Check for tickets here and watch full-show video of Friday’s recreation of 2/17/79.

Dark Star Orchestra — Fox Theater — Oakland, CA — 2/6/26 — Set One

[Video: Ted Silverman AKA TedToob]

Dark Star Orchestra — Fox Theater — Oakland, CA — 2/6/26 — Set Two

[Video: Ted Silverman AKA TedToob]

Setlist: Dark Star Orchestra | Fox Theater | Oakland, CA | 2/6/26

Set One: Greatest Story Ever Told, Don’t Ease Me In (Henry Thomas), Mama Tried (Merle Haggard) > Mexicali Blues, Friend of the Devil, Passenger, High Time, Looks Like Rain, Jack-A-Roe (Traditional), Lazy Lightning > Supplication
Set Two: Might as Well, I Need a Miracle > Bertha > Good Lovin’ (The Olympics), From the Heart of Me, Big Railroad Blues (Cannon’s Jug Stompers), Terrapin Station, Playing in the Band [1] > Drums > The Wheel, Shakedown Street > Playing in the Band, Sugar Magnolia
Encore: One More Saturday Night

[1] Incomplete

Notes: Recreation of the Grateful Dead’s February 17th, 1979 show at the Oakland Coliseum Arena

Setlist: Dark Star Orchestra | Fox Theater | Oakland, CA | 2/7/26

Set One: Cold Rain and Snow (Traditional), Jack Straw, Hey Pocky A-Way (The Meters), Althea, Cassidy, Brown-Eyed Women, Black-Throated Wind, Keep On Growing (Derek and the Dominos), She Belongs to Me (Bob Dylan), The Music Never Stopped
Set Two: Wake Up, Little Susie (Boudleaux Bryant) [1], Deep Elem Blues (Traditional) [1], Dark Hollow (Bill Browning) [1], Ripple [2] (Rob Eaton and Jeff Mattson acoustic with Lisa Mackey), China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider (Traditional), He’s Gone, St. Stephen > Drums > Space, Tomorrow Never Knows (The Beatles), Love the One You’re With (Stephen Stills) > St. Stephen, Not Fade Away (The Crickets), Mission in the Rain (Jerry Garcia), Going Down the Road Feeling Bad (Traditional)
Encore: The Weight (The Band)

[1] Rob Eaton and Jeff Mattson acoustic