Grateful Dead tributes turn on lovelight in Asbury Park for Valentine's weekend

Can you feel the love, Asbury Park?

Three Grateful Dead tributes are happening in our fair City by the Sea this Valentine's weekend.

Dead On Live, the touring outfit specializing in note-perfect renditions of selections from the Dead's storied canon, is back in Asbury Park for the first time in nearly six years for a Sunday evening engagement.

The band, under the musical direction of Neptune-native guitarist Marc Muller, is typically found in prestigious theaters (this fall will be its 10th annual Halloween season stand at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, for example).

But its Jersey Shore debut on Sunday will be in the relatively intimate confines of Cookman Avenue club the House of Independents.

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“It’s wonderful for listening, for those who want to tune into listening to what we’re doing but then it’s also great for dancing," Muller said of the space. "It’s like a perfect combination of a theater and a club, and the sound is great. So it’s like we’re presenting a theater presentation with a club vibe.”

Muller and company will be joined for the occasion by locals including harmonica maestro Sandy Mack, singer Emily Grove and drummer Kevin Grossman, and attendees can expect the band to play into the spirit of the Valentine's season a bit.

“It’s not like we’re going to do ‘Turn on Your Lovelight’ for two hours, although we could," Muller said. "But I think we’re just going to present a fun night of good old Grateful Dead music and throw in a few ditties, love songs.”

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With the late, great Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow handling the lion's share of the Dead's lyrics, the band's approach to love songs was as singular as, well, everything else they did. One would be hard-pressed for find another band that crafted songs of devotion like Hunter's "Attics of My Life" or Barlow's "Looks Like Rain," their unique and idiosyncratic worldview clear in every word.

“Unique and idiosyncratic is like the perfect two words for the entire Grateful Dead thing," said Muller. "I mean, if you’re a bass player and you play like Phil (Lesh) on a gig, you’ll get fired. If you play like (drummers) Mickey (Hart) and Billy (Kreutzmann), you’ll get fired. All those idiosyncratic styles and personalities just mixed to be so right, along with the writing. But the whole Grateful Dead thing is just so unique and special in that way.”

The Englishtown Project celebrates the music of the Dead's historic September 3, 1977, appearance at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, alongside New Riders of the Purple Sage and The Marshall Tucker Band.

Featuring New Riders and Hot Tuna guitarist Michael Falzarano of Millstone, The Englishtown Project returns to the landmark Stone Pony in Asbury Park for a Valentine's Day show on Friday, Feb. 14.

Fellow tribute act Cosmic Jerry Band plays the Asbury Lanes on Fourth Avenue on Saturday, Feb. 15.

Sandy Mack's weekly Sunday afternoon Dead-heavy jam at The Asbury hotel welcomes members of the North Jersey-based tribute act Reflections on Sunday afternoon, too.

All this is going down the same weekend that tickets for Dead and Company's 2020 summer tour dates — featuring Bob Weir along with Hart and Kreutzmann of the Dead — go on sale, including an Aug. 1 show at East Rutherford's MetLife Stadium.

Muller, who spent nine years on the road in Shania Twain's band and can be heard delivering Jerry Garcia-inspired licks on Bruce Springsteen's 2019 "Western Stars" LP, said it's been amazing to see the growth in Grateful Dead devotion over the last decade or so.

"I teach at Monmouth University (in West Long Branch) and the last two years, all of a sudden there’s Dead T-shirts on the kids, like from when I was in high school," said Muller. "So I think it’s moving further, and I think Bob and Phil and their projects are just moving it.

"And certainly John Mayer coming in (for Dead and Company), there’s a whole generation of Deadheads now that maybe don’t even know who Jerry Garcia is. I think it’s welcome. It’s just moving the whole thing further in a new direction, yet based in the tradition of what it was.”

The Englishtown Project with The Bilsby Brothers and Mojohand, 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, Stone Pony, 913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park, $20 advance, $22 at the door, www.stoneponyonline.com.

Cosmic Jerry Band, 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15 at Asbury Lanes, 209 Fourth Ave., Asbury Park, $10 in advance and $15 at the door, www.asburylanes.com.

Sandy Mack Sunday Jams featuring members of Reflections, 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 16, Soundbooth at The Asbury hotel, 210 Fifth Ave., Asbury Park, no cover, www.theasburyhotel.com.

Dead On Live Valentine's Show, 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 16, House of Independents, 572 Cookman Ave., Asbury Park, $22 to $45, houseofindependents.com.