The Grateful Dead toasts its 60th with concerts at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park
Dead & Company , featuring original Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, will play Golden Gate Park's Polo Field starting Friday with an estimated 60,000 attendees each day. The last time the band played that part of the park was in 1991 — a free show following the death of concert promoter and longtime Deadhead Bill Graham.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
36 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
‘A damn good start': Grateful Dead reflect on 60th anniversary at Golden Gate Park
In the wake of a sold-out, three-night run in Golden Gate Park commemorating the Grateful Dead's 60th anniversary, the band's surviving members and collaborators took to social media to reflect on what may have been the group's final bow. 'Night 3 in Golden Gate Park... will be one we'll never forget,' guitarist John Mayer posted on Instagram on Tuesday, Aug. 5. The musician also recalled his first onstage collaboration with Phish's Trey Anastasio. 'The lock we had going was instant,' Mayer wrote. 'Trey's ear-to-fretboard data transfer time is unparalleled.' Mayer, who joined original Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann in 2015 to form Dead & Company, has long acknowledged the legacy he stepped into. 'I'll never come close to playing like Jerry Garcia,' he acknowledged. 'But if I can somehow get you closer to him... then I suppose I've done my job.' The anniversary shows on Friday-Sunday, Aug. 1–3, coinciding with what would have been Garcia's 83rd birthday. Each night featured entirely different setlists and a rotating cast of guest acts, including Billy Strings, Sturgill Simpson (performing as Johnny Blue Skies) and Anastasio. Though billed as a celebration, the weekend also carried a palpable sense of closure. Drummer Hart called the experience 'truly profound.' 'I saw 60,000 people sparking light, in love, (entertained) big time and coming our way,' he wrote in a post on Wednesday, Aug. 6. 'Different than applause after a song, it sounded more like an ahhhhhh. All the peace and love in proximity generated a collective energy that was shared by all. Very rare stuff indeed.' Hart also shared a surreal vision of lost bandmates, Garcia, Ron 'Pigpen' McKernan and most recently Phil Lesh. 'I saw Jerry and Phil and Pigpen hovering over the crowd smiling like Cheshire cats,' he wrote. 'All the peace and love in proximity generated a collective energy that was shared by all.' Hart continued, 'In the final moments of the weekend standing right next to Bob and feeling the raw emotion coming our way from our fans, I felt Bob's heartbeat, along with mine, and the deep connection we have with all of you. All the years combine. They melt into a dream.' Weir, the band's rhythm guitarist and one of two original members who performed this weekend, was characteristically succinct: '60 years… I'd say that's a damn good start.' Kreutzmann, who stepped away from touring in 2023, offered a message from afar. 'Thank you for celebrating 60 years of not just Grateful Dead music, but also Grateful Dead community, friendships and love,' he wrote Monday, Aug. 4. 'We will survive.' Though Dead & Company concluded its official farewell tour at Oracle Park in 2023, this weekend's homecoming — in the city where the band first took shape — felt like a more fitting epilogue. Tens of thousands of fans packed Golden Gate Park, flooding the surrounding streets in a celebration as much about the music as the enduring spirit it created. 'Happy 60th, Grateful Dead,' Mayer wrote. 'And long may you run.'
San Francisco Chronicle
5 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
This ‘Top Gun' star visited S.F. for its Grateful Dead 60th anniversary celebration
Actor Miles Teller and television personality Andy Cohen were among the tens of thousands of Deadheads flowing through Golden Gate Park last weekend to celebrate the lasting legacy of the Grateful Dead. The two were photographed together during one of Dead & Company's sold-out shows at the Polo Field, posing with black sunglasses against the backdrop of the event's packed crowd. Cohen, host of Bravo's late-night talk show 'Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen,' wore a yellow and grey tie dye hoodie, while the ' Top Gun: Maverick ' star had on a white T-shirt and denim jacket. The image was shared by internet personality Maurice Aouad on Tuesday, Aug. 5, as part of a carousel of film photos that he took over the three-day outdoor event, which kicked off Friday, Aug. 1, with bluegrass musician Billy Strings as the opening act. Cohen reposted the image to his Instagram story later that day. Another photo of Cohen and Teller at Golden Gate Park, shared to Instagram by the New York Post's Page Six on Monday, Aug. 4, shows the two taking a selfie amid the crowd, with the stage behind them. The caption notes that the image came from Cohen's Instagram account, but his post seems to have expired since then. It is unclear if they attended all three of Dead & Company's San Francisco concerts, but the two photos appear to have been taken on the same day. Both Teller and Cohen have never been subtle about their Deadheads status. Cohen even has a Highlight saved to his Instagram profile titled 'Grateful Stuff,' filled with archived story posts of his experiences at Dead & Company concerts. Teller previously revealed that fans sent him Grateful Dead T-shirts after he and his wife, Keleigh Sperry Teller, lost their Los Angeles home to the Palisades fire at the start of the year. He also recounted a "spiritual experience' that he had while watching Grateful Dead founding member Bob Weir perform during college. 'From then on, that was it,' Teller told NME Magazine. 'I was sold.' The historic weekend celebrated the legacy of the Bay Area jam band and its members, old and new. Festivities kicked off Thursday, July 31, with the Heart of Town concert series. The three-night event was organized by Grahame Lesh, son of late Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, and featured appearances by Dallas musician Stephen Stills, Los Angeles folk rock group Dawes and Melvin Seals, longtime member of the Jerry Garcia Band . A number of free celebrations took place in tandem, from the open-air, city-sanctioned Shakedown Street market to the Jerry Garcia Street naming event and Dead drummer Mickey Hart's ' Art at the Edge of Magic ' exhibition at Haight Street Art Center.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
A guide to the Grateful Dead's 2025 Meet-Up at the Movies
The Grateful Dead's annual Meet-Up at the Movies is expanding in honor of the 60th anniversary of the legendary Bay Area band's founding. Traditionally celebrated only one day each year, its 2025 edition — featuring a 4K restoration of the 1977 concert film 'The Grateful Dead Movie' — can be seen in theaters starting Wednesday, Aug. 13, through Sept. 2. What's more, this year's Meet-Up will include IMAX screenings for the first time, Wednesday-Sunday, Aug. 13-17. 'It was the greatest screening I've ever experienced of a film I've seen hundreds of times,' declared David Lemieux, Grateful Dead archivist and legacy manager, in a statement after seeing a preview of the film in IMAX. What is Meet-Up at the Movies? It is an annual event in which concert videos and films of the Grateful Dead are screened in movie theaters around the world, allowing Deadheads, as the band's superfans are known, to gather together for a communal experience. This year in the Bay Area, it also serves as a special treat for those who attended this months' anniversary concerts at Golden Gate Park earlier in the month. The first event occurred in the United States on April 20, 2011 — appropriately 4/20, the cannabis holiday — with screenings of 'The Grateful Dead Movie.' What is 'The Grateful Dead Movie'? Though released in 1977, 'The Grateful Dead Movie' was filmed in October 1974 during a five-night run at San Francisco's now-defunct Winterland Ballroom. At the time, they were thought to be the band's final performances, with the Oct. 20 show billed as 'The Last One.' The concerts featured in the film showcase the Dead's Wall of Sound — the sound system designed specifically for the band — that redefined concert audio. The film also includes interviews with band members and crew, as well as a rare portrait of the band's fans and even some animation. The movie had a budget of $600,000 and was directed by the band's frontman, Jerry Garcia, and documentarian Leon Gast. It opened in theaters on June 1, 1977. In addition to the first Meet-Up, 'The Grateful Dead Movie' was screened at the 2017 event. It has since been restored in 4K with remastered sound. Where can I see it in IMAX? 'The Grateful Dead Movie' will be available to watch on several IMAX screens across the Bay Area, including the traditional large IMAX screens at the AMC Metreon 16 in San Francisco and the Regal Hacienda Crossings in Dublin. Is it only showing in IMAX? What else will be screened? 'China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider,' a bonus live performance from the Winterland shows not included in the official film release, will make its theatrical premiere after 'The Grateful Dead Movie.' How can I get tickets? Will there be merchandise? Of course! Many theaters will offer hats, T-shirts, hoodies, posters, etc. How can I keep the party going? Last October, the band released 83 minutes of additional footage that didn't make it into its final cut on its YouTube channel. The bonus material, previously included in a 2004 DVD release, has been remastered in HD and includes performances of 'Uncle John's Band,' 'Sugaree' and a handful of extended numbers.
