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The Guardian
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘LSD? Been there, done that': the Grateful Dead's 60 years of drugs, epic noodling and obsessive fans
'We didn't want to be the cops,' says Bobby Weir, guitarist and founder member of the Grateful Dead, laughing as he describes his band's legendarily lax attitude to people taping their concerts. Bootleggers were given their own area at gigs on the proviso their tapes were traded, not sold – an illustration of the band's generosity of spirit. 'It was an easy decision to make,' Weir says. Decisions like those have ensured that, decades before today's obsessional Swifties and K-pop stans, the Dead have cultivated one of music's most passionate fandoms. They are surely the world's best-documented band. This year, they're marking their 60th anniversary with a 60-CD box set, just one of many gargantuan packages over the years. Their 2024 Friend of the Devils box set only covered a single month of live music (April 1978) yet it stretched to 19 CDs. 'When we first got started,' says Weir, 'it quickly became apparent that the business of music was pretty much populated by people who were only a notch above – or maybe not even a notch above – the level of professional wrestling. The business was really tawdry. And so we went about things in our own way.' The Dead have duly operated largely outside the mainstream: not so much a band as a fiercely independent travelling circus that could comfortably sell out 100,000-capacity stadiums, while only ever having had one single grace the US Top 40 (Touch of Grey in 1987). While the original lineup ended in 1995, with the death of bandleader Jerry Garcia, a plethora of Dead-related projects have spiralled out ever since. In June, Weir's band Wolf Bros will play the Royal Albert Hall in London, alongside a full orchestra. Meanwhile, the wildly successful spin-off band Dead & Company has just finished a residency at the Las Vegas Sphere, the immense dome that dominates the strip skyline. Formed in 2015, the lineup includes 77-year-old Weir on guitar and vocals, with original drummer Mickey Hart and various guests. Dead & Company are big business: their 2023 tour grossed $115m, not far behind Metallica, Depeche Mode and Coldplay. The Vegas show featured a mind-bending AV element. 'For us,' says Weir, 'it's a matter of what are the storytelling possibilities on stage?' He adds that in the 1960s, 'we'd do liquid light shows. It's a part of what we do, always has been.' Emerging from the San Francisco Bay Area's countercultural maelstrom in 1965, the Dead gained a reputation for hypnotic, freewheeling, improvised jam sessions. No two gigs were ever the same. Psychedelic in their sheer unrelenting scope, yet grounded in a rootsy, bluesy Americana, theirs was music you could move to. It was the time of Ken Kesey's Acid Tests – LSD advocacy parties with a rotating lineup of acts at the author's farm at La Honda, California. These provided a natural setting, though today Weir is surprisingly loth to attribute too much importance to chemical influence. 'I don't think drugs had all that much to do with our development, actually,' he says. 'I was in and out of that scene. But after a year or so of taking LSD, I felt it just wasn't bringing me much in the way of clarity or new direction. So I stepped out of it. Some of the guys smoked pot for decades but I don't think you'd find – certainly with what's going on in Dead & Company – that there's much in the way of drug use. We've really been there and done that.' As the Dead's popularity grew, a significant number of their fans – known as the Deadheads – began dedicating their entire existence to the band, planning their lives around tours, where they would set up food stalls or sell clothes to support a full-time nomadic lifestyle. John Kilbride, author of The Golden Road: The Recorded History of the Grateful Dead, recalls 'going down the Barras market in Glasgow in the early 80s and getting a load of live cassettes, and just being completely spun around by the sound. Even some of the more underground bands in the UK were nowhere near as radical from a business perspective, encouraging fans to tape shows and so on. Not even Hawkwind did that!' It didn't stop at taping: the Dead set up publishing companies and record labels, booked their own gigs and tried to keep everything DIY. The back cover of 1971's Skull and Roses live album bore the promise: 'Tell us who you are … we'll keep you informed.' By the 1980s, the Dead boasted a mailing list of over half a million fans, and were also frequently handling their own ticket distribution – no mean feat when it came to stadium shows. The full Dead experience was, to many fans' ears, never captured on a studio recording. 'I mean, we got some of it down,' says Weir. 'American Beauty and Workingman's Dead fell together pretty well. But I won't say they reached some of the loftier moments that we got to on stage. In order to really get what we're doing, and what we're up to, you've got to be there.' Weir uses the extremely Dead-coded phrase 'gestalt linkage' to describe the quasi-telepathic feeling that has resulted from more than half a century of playing. 'That's what we bring to the table,' he says, 'although it's not all that unusual: a good jazz band will have that going. We've learned to trust each other. That makes a big difference.' The linkage wasn't even broken by Garcia's death, aged 53. 'The feeling that we had to carry it on was immediate,' says Weir. 'Jerry wouldn't have had it any other way. It was a major blow to us for sure, but there was no fighting it, so on we went.' But how have they kept such passionate fans onside for six decades? Sam Bedford, co-founder of Brighton record label None More Records, is one, and he emphasises a lack of polish and predictability. 'They were different to everyone else,' he says, 'and yet they couldn't find stadiums that were big enough.' He marvels at how they'd play '10 minutes of feedback during the 60s, or in the 80s, doing 20-minute ambient interludes. It's incredible that they were playing to 90,000 people and there's an ambient interlude in the middle. I love all that stuff!' I wonder if there are tensions between the countercultural, DIY, rootsy aspects of the band, and a project such as the Las Vegas Sphere residency. 'The Dead have always been a broad church,' Kilbride argues. 'There's people who want to go to a big slick show and spend hundreds of dollars on merchandise, but they had that element in the 70s, too. The well-heeled fans who would jump on a plane to shows and stay in the same hotels as the band – that's always been there. So have the people who've spent hundreds of miles on the road and make a living selling T-shirts. It works on every level and there's space for both.' Part of the ongoing attraction is that, even today, the band don't just trot out a steady setlist of classics. Kilbride has just bought a ticket to see Weir and Wolf Bros at the Royal Albert Hall in June. Even as a diehard fan, he says: 'I have no idea what to expect.' The London gig will feature two sets: Dead classics and music from Weir's solo repertoire, all with the orchestra. 'We've been hearing enormous philharmonic renditions of what we do all along,' says Weir. 'That's what's been going on in our heads – it's been great to be able to flesh that out.' Bassist Phil Lesh died in 2024 and it's not clear how long the Grateful Dead's legacy can last after they stop playing shows, without a definitive run of studio albums. But Weir says that isn't really the point of the band: 'We initially learned to play from a place of profound disorientation and fun – where we didn't have much legacy to draw from, when we were playing at the Acid Tests and that stuff. Every time we pick up our instruments, it's a new situation.' Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros play the Royal Albert Hall, London, on 21 June
USA Today
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Massive Grateful Dead box set with 60 CDs and unreleased tracks available for pre-order
Massive Grateful Dead box set with 60 CDs and unreleased tracks available for pre-order If you have enjoyed the musical ride of the Grateful Dead, there's a new box set for you: "Enjoying the Ride," has 60 CDs marking the band's 60th anniversary. It has 17 complete concerts and more. Want the music to never stop? There's a new massive Grateful Dead box set just for you. "Enjoying the Ride," is a 60-CD box set encompassing more than 60 hours of music, collected from the iconic band's live performances from 1969 to 1994. Available to pre-order now on and due out May 30, 'Enjoying the Ride' ($599.98) comes on the 60th anniversary of the iconic band's formation in 1965 and changing its name from the Warlocks to the Grateful Dead later that year. Nearly all of the 450 tracks in the set are previously unreleased and fans can listen to three of those tracks – unreleased versions of 'Scarlet Begonias,' 'Touch Of Grey,' and 'Fire On The Mountain,' recorded live at the Berkeley Greek Theatre on July 13, 1984 – on streaming services now. 'My health must come first': Billy Joel delays 8 concerts for surgery recovery The collection is comprised of concert recordings from 20 different venues across the U.S.: 17 full-length concerts, some with additional material from the same venue, plus multiple performances from shows at three other venues: Fillmore West, Fillmore East, and Boston Music Hall. 'On these 60 CDs, you'll find music spanning more than 25 years, from 1969 to 1994, with the venues and the millions of journeys to get to them, making an essential part of the story,' said Grateful Dead archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux. 'Going to see the Grateful Dead, following them from city to city, was likened to the modern equivalent of running away and joining the circus. These 20 venues are where the circus took us, and the show was something we never wanted to miss.' The box set has a special meaning for Rhino Records President Mark Pinkus, because it includes that July 1984 show at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California, his first-ever Grateful Dead concert, which he recalls had an "epic 'Dark Star' encore. "This show marked the start of a lifelong journey for me, and I'm willing to bet there are many shows in this fantastic set that will resonate with fans who also found community on the road," Pinkus said in a statement. "I am forever honored to work alongside David and the Grateful Dead to keep this long, strange trip alive.' Only 6,000 individually numbered copies of the 60-CD set will be made available. Digital downloads in ALAC ($399.99) and high-res FLAC ($499.99) will be available on the same day. Included with the set, a tour guide with liner notes by Jesse Jarnow (author and co-host of the Good Ol' Grateful Deadcast podcast) with a producer's note from Lemieux, plus scores of photos. Get an edited-down Grateful Dead retrospective If 60 CDs seems a bit much, Rhino is releasing some smaller versions: Vinyl LPs: 'The Music Never Stopped,' ($149.98) is a six-LP version of the music in the box set with at least one song from each venue in the deluxe set. 'The Music Never Stopped,' ($149.98) is a six-LP version of the music in the box set with at least one song from each venue in the deluxe set. Compact discs: A three-CD version of 'The Music Never Stopped' is priced at $34.98. A three-CD version of 'The Music Never Stopped' is priced at $34.98. Digital: A download version of 'The Music Never Stopped' is available in ALAC ($14.99) and high-res Flac (26.99). For the record, this isn't even the largest Grateful Dead CD box set ever released. A decade ago, Rhino released "30 Trips Around the Sun" for the band's 50th anniversary, a collection of 80 CDs. Only 6,500 were made, but there's a few available on eBay, starting at $2,300. For a supposedly fading technology, compact discs have shown some resilience. Other musicians recently issuing mega-box sets include Bob Dylan and The Band: The 1974 Live Recordings ($159.99), a 27-CD set with 417 live tracks from the 1974 tour, and Neil Young Archives Vol. III (1976-1987), a 17-CD set of unreleased albums and songs, including alternate and live versions (deluxe version with Blu-ray Disc, $449.98; CD version, $239.98). Also on tap: Dogfish Head's Grateful Dead Juicy Pale Ale The new box set isn't the only celebration of the Dead's legacy being served up. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery recently released Grateful Dead Juicy Pale Ale, in collaboration with the Grateful Dead. The 5.3% ABV beer is made with granola and krenza, a sustainable grain. 'As a beer geek with a music problem, few things in life are as sensorially sensational as enjoying a great beer while simultaneously listening to some great music,' said Dogfish Head founder and brewer Sam Calagione in a press release. It's the third beer the Delaware-based brewery and band have collaborated on. 'With its layered, nuanced flavors of tropical hops complemented by its malty body, our Grateful Dead Juicy Pale Ale is as compelling and joyful as the band's music.' And the live music hasn't stopped either. Dead & Company, which includes Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, along with John Mayer, will kick off their second residency at Sphere in Las Vegas next week. Follow Mike Snider on Threads, Bluesky and X: mikegsnider & @ & @mikesnider. What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day
