Grateful Dead Tops Record

More than 70,000 fans packed Soldier Field for each of the Grateful Dead’s final three shows this past weekend.

So began the end of an intensely bittersweet weekend for Deadheads, a 50-year tribe that was gathering for one last set of instructions from its elders.

Many will miss the Grateful Dead, but their legacy will live long in the memory of everyone who was ever touched by their music.

Formed in the cultural ferment of the San Francisco area in the 1960s, the Grateful Dead was generally described as psychedelic rock, but brought in elements of blues, country, bluegrass and jazz. The show started off on an emotional note as the band members assembled at the front of the stage for a bow and a group hug before launching into the opening “China Cat Sunflower” which was followed by “I Know You Rider”. And I wasn’t sure about this ginormous, over-marketed stadium deal or how well they’d play with Garcia’s stand-in, Trey Anastasio of the band Phish, also a guitar hero in his own right.

Deadheads, many sporting tie-dye shirts and dabbling in the drugs of the era, would travel from show-to-show as much for the music as for the communal experience.

“The lights were incorporated into the Chicago show on the screens as a huge video-tribute to watch while they performed”, lighting designer Marc Brickman told Billboard.

Let’s face it – the vibes at this spate of Grateful Dead shows in Chicago have been pretty darn good. The second of three Fare Thee Well showcased some big jams, quintessential Dead, and one heck of an ode to the Fourth of July.

“In the attics of my life, full of cloudy dreams unreal…”

Marking their 50th anniversary, The Grateful Dead played the last leg of their “Fare Thee Well” tour.

“Following the Grateful Dead was one of the last structured-but-wild things you could do in America, at least when I was in high school and college”. I belong to the sorry lot you might call the uninitiated.

The folks who couldn’t obtain tickets to the grand show saw the concert on their television sets in the safety of their living rooms.