Thousands truckin’ to Chicago for final Grateful Dead shows

Yet, underneath it all lies a truly radical concept: When you find a process that works, like the Dead did, keep doing it over and over. That increased his already high motivation to go to the Chicago Dead shows.

My first encounter with them was in (1968) when they appeared at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, Ore. with Quicksilver Messenger Service.

When the Ticketmaster sale came and got the web traffic normally only seen for an event like the Super Bowl, I began to panic.

But, according to Grateful Dead archivist Nick Meriwether at UC Santa Cruz, it was still a scene that had rules and limitations. Ages 18-34 like the Dead at a 4.20 good-to-bad ratio, and the pollsters swear they just happened to end up at that specific ratio. I was selling handmade shirts that had a burning American flag over the Steal Your Face skull logo. But you don’t spend decades with fans who literally travel town to town to see you and then just hang it up without a goodbye.

In this Tuesday, June 30, 2015, photo, a young boy looks at Jerry Garcia’s guitar, Tiger, as part of a Grateful Dead exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago. He just “smiled, smiled, smiled”, and kept playing. Banjo-playing Garcia’s influences were bluegrass; Phil Lesh was classically trained and into avant-garde; the organist, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, was a blues singer, and they had two drummers.

I only saw the Dead perform once, at Dillon Stadium in Hartford on July 31, 1974. There were about twenty thousand people at this outdoor show. All of a sudden, her contact popped out of her eye and landed in the mud.

He wasn’t alone. Within a few choice minutes, a football stadium-sized community was singing “what a long, odd trip it’s been” as the so-called core four – Weir, Lesh, Kreutzmann and Hart – conjured and connected, as well-practiced, fluid and masterful as ever. Tickets were still available earlier this week for Friday and Saturday, but you’d best get them now.

Still, many Deadheads expect a final communal experience. With so many delicate hands working instruments with grace, touch and emotion, the band seemed to connect not only instrumentally but also at times astrally. Boston is $299, while San Francisco will cost $260.

But the biggest name in the band died 20 years ago.

Jerry Garcia left this planet-and The Grateful Dead-in August 1995.

While the March 25 show went on without incident, the 1985 shows marked the last time the Grateful Dead would perform in the City of Homes. This was in (1977 ) during the Camp David Accords.

Fare Thee Well will be simulcast in two formats.

Taking Garcia’s place in the line up for this weekend’s gigs will be Trey Anastasio of Phish. How can you actually replace someone as iconic and talented as Jerry Garcia? You could hear it.

To Henley, in 1984, this represented Baby Boomer hypocrisy at its zenith: Sixties peace-and-love shouldn’t coexist with such a vehicle.

Fans of the Grateful Dead are flocking to Chicago to watch one of rock “n” roll’s most revered bands unite one last time, reports CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds. Sting opened the show. The version they played was light, airy, ethereal.

In the lead-up to Chicago, the event’s organizers, most notably the promoter Peter Shapiro, have been praised by some Deadheads as reverent masterminds – fans and facilitators with a deep understanding of the Dead’s legacy.

“It’s not the same as being on the rail at the Greek seeing Jerry, but in today’s world, it’s pretty good”, she said, referring to the Berkeley amphitheater on the University of California campus frequented by the Dead in its prime.