The Ultimate Doors in the Great Cedar Showroom at Foxwoods Resort Casino
The Ultimate Doors in the Great Cedar Showroom at Foxwoods Resort Casino brings the music, atmosphere, and unmistakable stage presence of one of rock’s most influential bands on Saturday, August 29.
The concert begins at 8 p.m., but it isn’t a typical night of musicians playing familiar Doors songs. The four members of The Ultimate Doors have built their show around something far more ambitious: recreating the experience of seeing Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore perform during The Doors’ late-1960s prime.
Period-correct instruments, vintage equipment, wardrobe and even the arrangement of the musicians onstage are part of the illusion.
For a couple of hours, they’re trying to make 2026 disappear.
Four Musicians Recreating Four Originals
The Ultimate Doors deliberately maintains the four-man configuration of the original band.
Darrian Kenney takes the Jim Morrison role on vocals. Branden Eifrid handles organ and keyboards in the Ray Manzarek position, Todd Huffman takes Robby Krieger’s guitar role and Jordyn Huffman sits behind the drums in the place occupied by John Densmore.
That configuration matters more with The Doors than it might with many other rock bands.
The original group didn’t rely on a traditional full-time bass guitarist onstage. Manzarek frequently supplied bass lines with his keyboards while simultaneously contributing the swirling organ sound that became one of The Doors’ musical signatures.
Krieger brought influences ranging from blues to flamenco guitar, while Densmore’s jazz background gave the rhythm section an unusual looseness.
Then Morrison stood at the front of it all.
The combination produced a band that was immediately identifiable, even before he started singing.
This Is Supposed to Be 1968
The Ultimate Doors isn’t trying to imagine what The Doors might sound like today.
The target is much more specific.
By then, The Doors had exploded out of Los Angeles with their 1967 self-titled debut and followed it with Strange Days. In 1968, Waiting for the Sun became the band’s first No. 1 album in the United States, while “Hello, I Love You” reached No. 1 on the singles chart.
Jim Morrison had become one of the defining figures of the counterculture, and The Doors had developed a reputation for concerts that could feel theatrical, unpredictable and occasionally dangerous.
That’s the period The Ultimate Doors wants audiences to enter.
They Sweat the Small Stuff
Playing the songs correctly is only part of the job.
The Ultimate Doors uses period-correct instruments and vintage-style gear chosen to reproduce the tones of the original recordings and concerts.
The band also pays attention to how that equipment is positioned onstage, how the musicians dress and how the performance itself looks.
It’s an unusually obsessive approach to the tribute-band idea.
There’s a practical reason for some of it. A vintage-style organ isn’t simply a stage prop when you’re recreating Ray Manzarek. The equipment is responsible for a major part of the sound.
But some details exist purely to complete the illusion.
The wardrobe matters. The stage arrangement matters. The way Kenney inhabits Morrison’s role matters.
Even the microphone cable can matter.
The goal isn’t to remind you of The Doors.
It’s to make you briefly forget you’re watching anybody else.
Someone Who Was There Put Them to the Test
Plenty of tribute bands have glowing quotes from fans.
The Ultimate Doors has something considerably harder to dismiss.
Gareth Blyth worked as a roadie for the real Doors from 1969 through 1971.
Blyth’s experience wasn’t limited to hauling equipment. He worked soundchecks with Jim Morrison, tuned Robby Krieger’s guitars and worked alongside producer Paul Rothchild and recording engineer Bruce Botnick. At one point, when John Densmore developed blisters, Blyth even sat behind Densmore’s drum kit.
Decades later, he saw The Ultimate Doors.
Blyth wasn’t predisposed to love the idea. By his own account, cover bands generally aren’t his thing.
What caught his attention was the detail.
He recognized the equipment. He noticed that it was positioned correctly. He recognized the wardrobe and presentation. More importantly, he thought the four musicians could actually play the material.
Coming from someone who had stood onstage and backstage with the real band, that’s a considerably different endorsement than a five-star review from somebody who heard “Light My Fire” on the radio.
More Than “Light My Fire”
The Doors left behind one of the most recognizable catalogs of the classic-rock era.
“Light My Fire” is unavoidable, but the songbook reaches much further.
“Break On Through (To the Other Side)” introduced the band on its first album. “People Are Strange” captured its darker psychedelic side. “Hello, I Love You” gave the group another massive pop hit.
Then there are songs such as “Roadhouse Blues,” “Love Her Madly,” “Riders on the Storm” and “L.A. Woman,” recorded as the band’s sound continued evolving.
A convincing Doors show also needs room for the stranger material.
Songs such as “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar),” “Back Door Man” and “Five to One” reveal the blues, theatrical and experimental elements that made the original group harder to categorize than its biggest radio hits suggest.
The Ultimate Doors has incorporated that deeper material into its performances rather than treating the catalog as a classic-rock jukebox.
The Morrison Problem
Every Doors tribute eventually runs into the same problem.
Jim Morrison wasn’t merely the lead singer.
His baritone voice, movements, poetry, unpredictability and almost confrontational relationship with audiences became inseparable from the band’s identity.
Try too hard to imitate him and the performance becomes parody.
Don’t go far enough and it stops feeling like The Doors.
Darrian Kenney has to occupy the space between those extremes, recreating the visual and vocal presence audiences expect while allowing the musicians behind him to do what ultimately made Morrison’s performances work in the first place.
There was a very good band behind the mythology.
That’s why The Ultimate Doors’ attention to Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore is just as important as finding somebody who can wear the leather pants.
From Los Angeles to the Great Cedar Showroom
Saturday’s performance takes place inside Foxwoods’ Great Cedar Showroom.
The venue is one of the resort’s more intimate entertainment spaces, a very different experience from seeing a concert in the much larger Premier Theater.
That smaller room should work particularly well for a Doors recreation.
The original group emerged from the clubs of Los Angeles rather than arenas, developing its identity at venues such as the London Fog and Whisky a Go Go before becoming internationally famous.
A close audience and relatively compact stage put some of that intimacy back into the music.
Before You Go
The Ultimate Doors performs at 8 p.m. Saturday inside the Great Cedar Showroom at Foxwoods Resort Casino.
Foxwoods recommends the Grand Pequot Tower for the most convenient parking for the show.
Guests should also pay attention to the resort’s bag rules before leaving the car. Shopping bags and backpacks aren’t permitted in the venue, and permitted bags are subject to search.
Then it’s through the doors and, at least for the duration of the concert, back toward 1968.
Event Details
Event: The Ultimate Doors: Tribute to The Doors
Date: Saturday, August 29, 2026
Time: 8 p.m.
Location: Great Cedar Showroom at Foxwoods Resort Casino
Address: 350 Trolley Line Boulevard, Mashantucket, CT 06338
Best Parking: Grand Pequot Tower
Performer: The Ultimate Doors
Music: Tribute to The Doors
Band: Darrian Kenney, vocals; Branden Eifrid, organ; Todd Huffman, guitar; Jordyn Huffman, percussion
Bag Policy: No shopping bags or backpacks; all permitted bags are subject to search
The Ultimate Doors recreates the late-1960s Doors experience using a four-piece lineup, period-correct instruments, vintage equipment, wardrobe and stage presentation inspired by the original band.
More information is available at the Event Website link below.
To purchase tickets, click the Event Ticketing link below.
Featured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people, location, or activities shown.
