Grateful Fans Share Their Experiences as the Dead turns 50!
- Nick Hutchinson
- Jul 8, 2015
- 7 min read
“If the [Grateful Dead] had been anywhere else at any other time, the very peculiar fusion of the elements that they encompassed never would have worked. But because there was a looseness at the time and an acceptance of certain things . . . they somehow survived.” — Grateful Dead biographer Dennis McNally
Fifty years ago, no one would have imagined that the band called the Grateful Dead could last as long as it did. Despite the marked absence of the group’s mythical founder, Jerry Garcia, the long strange trip known as the Grateful Dead culminated with a jaw-dropping show of enthusiasm at Chicago’s Soldier Field last weekend.
TipJar asked a few friends and acquaintances who attended the final Grateful Dead shows in Santa Clara and Chicago to share their photos and stories from the Fare Thee Well concerts.
Here’s what they submitted:
(photo by Dan Katz)
Dan Katz, from Boulder, Colorado, flew to Chicago for the final three Grateful Dead shows. When his flight, which was filled with Dead fans, touched down in Chicago, the flight crew piped a version of Sugar Magnolia through the in-flight sound system to welcome them to town. We thought we’d start with Dan’s panoramic sweep of Soldier Field (swathed in ultraviolet blue light and filled to the brim with a record breaking 70,000+ faithful Deadheads). It took Dan more than half an hour to make his way through the crowd and reach his seat near the top of the stadium for the spectacular shot featured above on the first night of the Chicago run. TipJar salutes him for his perseverance!
Here’s Dan, front and center in the shot below (in sunglasses and Hawaiian-style shirt) along with a sea of Deadheads streaming towards Soldier Field. In the background is the Everything is Dead exhibit at Chicago’s Field Museum.
(Dan Katz and friends grinning from ear to ear in Chicago)
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(Field Museum GD exhibit: photos by Tony Stack)
Longtime music photographer and Boulderite Tony Stack, who attended both the Santa Clara shows at Levi’s Stadium and then drove 16 hours to Chicago from Colorado for round two at Soldier Field, was physically drained upon his return from his ventures; but Tony says he was ecstatic to have made both events and provided us with this brilliant photographic evidence of his journeys.
Above is Tony’s capture of the much-debated rainbow in Santa Clara! Was it a fake created by high-tech lighting, or was Jerry simply smiling down from above?
TipJar contributors, Dan Katz and Tony Stack, bumping into each other on Day 1 of Chicago!
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Deadhead and professional entertainer Nick Newlin sent this report after attending the first run of Fare Thee Well shows in Santa Clara, California:
(Nick and fellow Deadhead Annie Leonard, Executive Director of Greenpeace, in Santa Clara)
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I got into the Grateful Dead in 1974 in tenth grade and went to my first Grateful Dead concert on 5/14/78 (which was the one show from 1978 to be released as part of the big box set in September just in time for my 56th birthday). I saw the Grateful Dead about 100 times before Jerry Garcia died, and I have seen post-Jerry Dead-member groups about that many times too. So I have plenty of post-Jerry configurations to compare to GD50 Santa Clara, which I attended, and am recovering and getting some work done before heading out for the final three shows in Chicago. So there’s a little background.
Now on to the shows!
I was shut out on mail order and Ticketmaster for Chicago like many many others, so when I saw that they still had CID packages for Santa Clara I hopped on a 3-night deal that included a room at the Hotel W San Fran, two floor seats for each night, our own entrance and free food and beverage in a lounge. Much more stylin’ than any Dead show in my previous history, with the possible exception of Furthur’s last shows at Riviera Maya (Paradise Waits) where waiters came by and served you drinks while you danced. A far cry from the Dead shows of the ’70s where I never knew where I was going to sleep. Come to think of it I didn’t really sleep then.
But back to the shows: Because I had been to the last two Dead incarnations (2004 and 2009), a number of Furthur Shows, Phil and Friends and Rat Dog, I knew more or less what the sound palette would be, though Trey was the big question mark. But was he really that big a question mark? I had seen Phish a number of times (20?) and though I’m not crazy about their songs, I have seen what Trey does with the guitar, and have appreciated his solid professionalism and combination of technical prowess with the ability to emote with his axe, so I wasn’t too worried. I knew he wouldn’t be a weak link.
(Trey on the Jumbotron)
He played with finesse and fun, and rocked it strong when he needed to. In fact everybody up on stage was having fun; that was clear. There were probably a half dozen missteps each night, probably 2 or 3 significant ones where the band had to regroup, but that part added to the “live”ness for me, and was also quite “Grateful Dead”–ish. I remember my 2nd Dead show (Meadowlands Sep. ’78) the boys came in from a hellacious Estimated Jam where Jerry was just wigging out and Bobby stepped into the “My time coming” verse part too early and recoiled in horror and embarrassment. During this show, when they flubbed, they just laughed it off and kept on truckin’.
Saturday and Sunday shows were very different from each other. Saturday night had some deep Grateful Dead material that I love: Dark Star, St Stephen, the Eleven, and I like that old stuff like Alligator and Cryptical envelopment. I like weird Grateful Dead where they go into deep space because nobody else really luxuriates in it like that. So I like Saturday’s second set list the best. I alternated between field first set Sat and in stands with friends second set.
Sunday was more of a dance party and I had more “fun” in terms of laughing and dancing. I did dig the Death Don’t have no Mercy, Sugar Magnolia as well as the dancey Alabama Getaway and Hell in a Bucket. Sunday I was on the field whole time. I guess in terms of sheer fun, Sunday ruled, but in terms of playing songs I dug, and getting good old grateful dead weird, I liked 2nd set Saturday. I could have used more of Trey in the mix and less Phil singing!
I LOVED seeing Mickey and Billy back together; they fell into it like sailing on a bloodstream. Chimenti is a fine keyboard player, more than fine. He is the stuff. I have seen him play solos on Eyes with Furthur that made Hornsby look like a lounge player. Hornsby was good with this ensemble, fit in nicely. I actually like him better with this GD50 configuration than I liked him with the Grateful Dead because he is a good listener and was not overplaying. Bobby looked fine and was funny when the meltdowns occurred; funny Bobby facial expressions as he tried to wave the band back into shape, sometimes being ignored! Phil is solid, and I love his bass playing and hate his lead singing, but what are you going to do? The harmonies were at times shaky, but mostly pretty strong.
Bottom line: I had a blast and was as happy as a pig in mud. I believe that shows are what you make them. I was with dear friends from all over the country and from all eras of my life, listening to my favorite music played live in a big field in California with stunning sound and visuals, free and dancing. What more could one want?
During Death Don’t Have no Mercy, one of the deepest songs ever, I was weeping gently and thinking about my friends and family members gone on to the great beyond when I saw Blue Loincloth Guy dancing merrily in a circle grinning ear to ear. There I was in deep contemplation of mortality and he was spinning and grinning. I pointed it out to my friend Annie and we started laughing uncontrollably, as if Death Don’t Have no Mercy was the funniest funnest song ever. That song is now forever changed for me and I will laugh until I cry. That is what the Grateful Dead is about for me.
During Sugar Mag, which was my wish that the band fulfilled for the night, and which was thoroughly satisfying on all levels, Blue Loincloth Guy revved up and his little chest puffed out and his smile got impossibly bigger and he whipped off the loincloth and started waving it above his head, stark naked and spinning to Sugar Magnolia on a perfect night in California. Annie and I agreed that whenever life got too serious for us, we would picture in our minds Blue Loincloth Guy naked with his chest puffed out, the happiest man in the world, spinning to the music of the Grateful Dead, like a child learning how to walk, and squealing “look what I can do!”
There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert.
Nick Newlin July 1, 2015
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Will Maeck of San Francisco made the trip to Chicago with bells on, a photographer’s eye for the spectacle and a frisbee and hacky sack to pass the time on the stadium floor. While in the Windy City, Maeck also caught a show by the Colorado-based jamgrass band Leftover Salmon and even took in a game at Wrigley Field. Maeck, who made it to four of the five final shows, says he felt like a Cheshire cat that was left with only the grin and reports that at the end of the experience there were “tears in every one’s eyes.”
(photos by William Maeck)
While it’s sad to think that the band named the Grateful Dead has played for the last time, there are no doubt more performances by its individual members (in different configurations) still to come!
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