The Englishtown Project brings a Jersey Dead legend back to The Wonder Bar

Michael Falzarano's band, built around the Grateful Dead's 1977 Raceway Park show, returns to Asbury Park on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2027 — its first Shore date since 2023.

Some bands borrow a name from a song. The Englishtown Project borrowed theirs from a single day in New Jersey history: Sept. 3, 1977, when the Grateful Dead played Raceway Park in Englishtown. Nearly half a century later, the band built around that show is coming back to the Shore — Saturday, Jan. 23, 2027, at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park.

The details: The Englishtown Project plays The Wonder Bar on Saturday, Jan. 23, at 7 p.m., with Michael Falzarano on the bill. Tickets are $32.45 through Ticketmaster. The room holds about 600. The show was announced Oct. 22, and it's the band's first Jersey Shore date since Sept. 1, 2023 — also at The Wonder Bar.

The project is the work of guitarist and vocalist Michael Falzarano, best known for his years with Hot Tuna and the New Riders of the Purple Sage. He founded the band to recreate that 1977 Raceway Park concert, and it pulls together seasoned players from across the jam scene to do it. Over the years its rotating lineup has included musicians from Phil Lesh and Friends, the Donna Jean Godchaux Band, Assembly of Dust and the Zen Tricksters, alongside New Riders members, according to coverage in the New Haven Register and venue listings like Tribes Hill.

The concept explains the setlist. The repertoire covers the Grateful Dead, the New Riders of the Purple Sage and The Marshall Tucker Band — the music that orbited that 1977 bill. It's less a tribute act than a reunion of the people and the songs that shaped a particular moment, played by musicians who came up inside that world.

A band built around a single day in New Jersey history

And the band can play. When The Englishtown Project took the stage at Garcia's at The Capitol Theatre, the venue's own recap singled out their take on "Not Fade Away" for its guitar work. They've also played rooms like Brooklyn Bowl and The Iridium in New York, places with a crowd that knows the material cold.

Which is why this booking feels right. Jersey is where the story starts, and Asbury Park is a town that takes its rock history personally. At around 600 capacity, The Wonder Bar is close enough that you can watch the guitar conversations happen, and big enough for a real Saturday-night crowd of heads who remember — or wish they'd been at — Raceway Park.

What's changed since the last visit is mostly time: more than three years between Shore dates for a band whose whole reason for existing is a Jersey show. That gap makes this one easy to circle.

Doors-to-close planning note: the show is listed for a 7 p.m. start, earlier than a lot of Saturday bookings, so don't wander in at 9 expecting the first set. Tickets are on sale through the Ticketmaster link.

Fifty years on, the Dead's Englishtown show is still a story Jersey tells about itself. On Jan. 23, a room full of people in Asbury Park get to hear it told again — out loud, and in tune.

Sources: Michael Falzarano – Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); The Englishtown Project – CTvisit (ctvisit.com); The Englishtown Project – Tribes Hill (tribeshill.com); New Haven Register (Sunday), Jan. 6, 2019 – PressReader (pressreader.com); reCAP :: The Englishtown Project :: 2018.05.18 :: Garcia's at The Cap (thecapitoltheatre.com); The Englishtown Project – Brooklyn Bowl (brooklynbowl.com); The Englishtown Project – The Iridium (theiridium.com); The Englishtown Project at The Wonder Bar – JamBase (jambase.com)