Dark Star Orchestra arrives at Binghamton’s Broome County Forum Theatre on November 24 three days removed from the anchor event of their fall tour: a full recreation of the Grateful Dead’s Reckoning at The Anthem in Washington, D.C., one acoustic set and two electric sets marking the 1981 album’s 45th anniversary. The Binghamton date is not the tour’s stated centerpiece. A previous Dark Star Orchestra show at this same Forum Theatre lasted nearly four hours, and this is a band that does not phone in a mid-week stop.
About the Show
The Fall 2026 Tour opened in the Northeast, hitting Albany’s Palace Theatre on November 13, before heading south for the Reckoning anniversary benefit at The Anthem on November 21. That performance benefits the Rex Foundation, a nonprofit Grateful Dead members founded in 1983, and will feature one acoustic set and two electric sets drawn from the era of that 1981 album. The Binghamton stop three days later returns to the format DSO has refined over nearly 30 years: setlists drawn nightly from actual Dead concerts or assembled from the catalog, different every time. Dark Star Orchestra is a seven-piece ensemble — two guitars, two drums, keyboards, bass, and vocals — that has logged more than 3,300 shows and seen six original Grateful Dead members appear as guests: Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, Vince Welnick, and Tom Constanten. Phish’s Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman, Warren Haynes, and Steve Kimock have also appeared with the band. Keyboardist Rob Barraco’s description of the mission: “We offer a sort of historical perspective at what it might have been like to go to a show in 1985, 1978 or whenever.”
Venue & Logistics
The Broome County Forum Theatre at 236 Washington Street in Binghamton is a 1,522-seat theater, the right size to feel full without losing the contact a four-hour Dead set requires. Dark Star Orchestra has sold out Red Rocks Amphitheatre and performed in London, Paris, and the Caribbean; on a Tuesday night in November, they are in Binghamton. The southern tier does not get bookings at this level every week. Show time is 7:00 p.m.
Tickets
Box office pricing is $52.50 and $62.50; tickets purchased online carry additional service fees. In-person tickets are available through the Mirabito Box Office to avoid those charges. Tickets went on sale July 31 at 10 a.m. Buy tickets