Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of The Grateful Dead

The Cineplex movie theatre at the AMC Forum 22 was filled with Deadheads on Sunday, July 5th for the simulcast of The Grateful Dead concert in Chicago. The sixty or so fans were joining, if not in person then in spirit, with the 71,000 in attendance at Soldier Field for the final night of the Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of The Grateful Dead tour.

To mark the golden anniversary, the four remaining members—percussionists Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, bassist Phil Lesh, and guitarist Bob Weir—decided to take to the road and share the experience with their fans. Joining them for the ride were Trey Anastasio on guitar, Bruce Hornsby on piano, and Jeff Chimenti on keyboards.

For five nights, the first two in Palo Alto California, and the last three in Chicago Illinois, the band was able to turn off the noise from the outside world and let the music play. For an all too brief moment they created an oasis of sound and light where the only care was what The Dead were playing, and what they were going to play next. The shows afforded one last opportunity to hang out with friends in the park near Atwater during intermission, and run through the mental list of songs played during the last four and a half shows and try to figure out was was left for the final set of the final concert.

They opened that final set with a repeat of the opening song from the first night in California, "Truckin'", which features their most famous lyric, what a long strange trip it's been. A long strange trip, back to a time free of robocalls, secret trade agreements, and the obligatory pat down upon entry to a concert. Yes that happens, even in Canada, we ain't so different after all. I saw Trey's band Phish at Exhibition Place in Toronto, and the fans were forced the indignity of a body search as a right of entry to the show. Fortunately, like stormtroopers and all weak minded individuals, concert security is very susceptible to the force, "this isn't the bottled water you are looking for," but don't forget to wave your hand. 

Then came an empowered version of "Cassidy", a song that eludes to the early days of The Grateful Dead with Ken Kesey, The Merry Pranksters, and the driver of The Furthur Bus, Neal Cassady (speaking of Ken Kesey and The Grateful Dead, why not listen and read? That could be so much better...)  Up next was one of the highlights of the evening, the much-anticipated opus "Terrapin Station", which featured some great improvisational jamming.

The emotions were running high throughout the evening, but they reached their peak during the closing song of the second set when the band broke into the Buddy Holly classic, "Not Fade Away". As is the tradition, the fans got to sing along with the audience repeating the lyric, know our love will not fade away. Only on this night the chant went well past the end of the song and into the encore, "Touch of Grey". The verse was then picked up again during a pause before the second encore. A moving version of "Attics Of My Life", with Bob Weir on acoustic guitar and the rest of the band singing a cappella, and pedals unfold in a dreamland conjured by the singer or by the one to whom he is singing.

Unlike their fans, The Grateful Dead were never ones to live in a bubble (not that bubbles are bad for they climb, drifting on air currents floating from show to show) and that was made clear when Bob Weir shouted out during the band's one protest song, "Throwing Stones". "You can buy the whole goddamn government today!" I'm thinking the evil, we are not worthy enough to know the details of, Trans-Pacific Partnership is not only on this reporters mind but also that of Mr. Weir's (for a full breakdown of the trade agreement and all things evil, listen to New Media & Politics 2.0 with host Karl Knox, Mondays 8-10 AM on CJLO 1690 AM), and this was after President Obama congratulated the band on Twitter.

The shows were progressively getting better and given more time the newest configuration of The Grateful Dead could have reached in some measure the musical heights they scaled in their youth (Trey is fine and all but he's not Jerry Garcia and you cannot reach the stars without your guiding light). But as it stands, the five shows offered glimpses into what was a real good time. But that is what one should expect, for good or bad, The Grateful Dead were always in the moment. And this moment was really about closure to what was a very abrupt and sad end back in 1995 (although some think, this reporter included, the band should have called it a day when keyboardist Brent Mydland passed away in 1990, but by then it was all about The Grateful Dead Incorporated, and like all corporations they had kids to feed and private schools to pay for).
 
It was obvious by the end of the weekend that the band had enjoyed the experience as much as the fans in Chicago and around the world. The final words of the evening were those of hope, "The feeling we have here remember it, take it home and do some good with it," percussionist Mickey Hart said in closing. "I'll leave you with this: Please, be kind." This in stark contrast to violent July 4th weekend in the windy city that saw ten people killed and fifty injured.

If you care to listen to the Fare Thee Well concerts, they are available for steaming using the following links:

http://www.panicstream.net/vault/grateful-dead-07032015-chicago-il/
http://www.panicstream.net/vault/grateful-dead-07042015-chicago-il/
http://www.panicstream.net/vault/grateful-dead-07052015-chicago-il/
http://www.panicstream.net/vault/grateful-dead-06272015-santa-clara-ca/
http://www.panicstream.net/vault/grateful-dead-06282015-santa-clara-ca/

--Don't Fret! Brave New Jams is on the air every Saturday at 10:00 PM to midnight with your host Clifton Hanger, only on CJLO 1690AM in Montreal.