Grateful Dead goes out on a high
By Aidin Vaziri
June 16, 2015 Updated: June 18, 2015 9:37am
It's hard to explain how the Grateful Dead became the summer's hottest concert ticket 20 years after the death of Jerry Garcia. But with a handful of "Fare Thee Well" shows marking the band's 50th anniversary (two at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara on June 27 and 28; three dates in Chicago over the July 4 weekend), the core four members — percussionist Mickey Hart, guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh and percussionist Bill Kreutzmann — will close the chapter on one of rock 'n' roll's most storied acts in grand style.
From a band of Bay Area misfits who instigated a major cultural movement in the Haight-Ashbury to stadium rock behemoths who became a top concert draw by the time they initially split up in 1995, drawing more than $50 million in ticket sales annually, there are no half measures with the Dead.
They are either loved or reviled.
To Deadheads who spent 30 years following the band from the pizza parlor in Menlo Park where they first performed as the Warlocks and the acid-test festivals thrown by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters to MTV stardom and points around the world, they symbolized the creative and cultural freedom of another era. Their improvised, free-form sets could sprawl for hours, but the fandom never wavered — the people in the audience were always there to absorb every note, every climax, every bad trip.
50 years of the Dead
Grateful Dead are summer's hottest ticket
Burned bright
Of all the seminal bands to come out of San Francisco in the '60s — the Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone, Big Brother and the Holding Company — only the Dead burned bright into the '90s, influencing bands such as Phish, Vampire Weekend and Animal Collective.
When it comes to the Dead, the late rock promoter Bill Graham put it best: "They're not the best at what they do — they're the only ones who do what they do."
New divisions
The reunion shows have cast entirely new divisions among Deadheads. To some, calling the current lineup the Grateful Dead is something close to blasphemy. Garcia was more than a singer or guitar player or icon — he represented the soul of the band. With Phish's Trey Anastasio, pianist Bruce Hornsby and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti filling in at the farewell concerts, a few alternate monikers are floating around: Almost Dead, Walking Dead, Not Quite Dead, Dead Phish, etc. Others are repulsed by the whiff of greed around the whole enterprise.
But there are still just as many people who are devoted to the group, whatever you want to call it. On StubHub, the secondary ticket market, tickets for the Santa Clara shows are going for as much as $115,000. Fans will pay $60 just for the privilege of parking at the shows. Then again, it's hard to put a price tag on the sense of exuberance, joy and celebration the guys onstage will bring to their enduring followers.
"This is a peak moment," Hart told us. "It borders on the miraculous — that we actually get to play and people still want to hear us."
Aidin Vaziri is The San Francisco Chronicle's pop music critic. E-mail: avaziri@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MusicSF
Grateful Dead: 7 p.m. Saturday, June 27, 6 p.m. Sunday, June 28. Sold out. Levi's Stadium, 4900 Marie P. DeBartolo Way, Santa Clara. www.dead50.net.
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Topic - 115,000 $ a ticket?!! - LWR 11:11:23 06/18/15 (7)
- RE: 115,000 $ a ticket?!! - Schlep 10:47:59 06/28/15 (0)
- RE: 115,000 $ a ticket?!! - Hornlover 08:12:23 06/19/15 (1)
- RE: 115,000 $ a ticket?!! - semuta 10:33:25 06/19/15 (0)
- RE: 115,000 $ a ticket?!! - Scholl 17:13:17 06/18/15 (1)
- Guess I got a $19K ticket to the shows nt - Scholl 14:45:43 06/19/15 (0)
- RE: 115,000 $ a ticket?!! - FenderLover 12:31:14 06/18/15 (1)
- RE: 115,000 $ a ticket?!! - fantja 13:26:49 06/18/15 (0)