Grateful Dead

I am about to embark on my first trip traveling for music in nearly 30 years.  The destination is Las Vegas to see Dead & Company at The Sphere.  I actually had to look up the band to see who all would be on stage and was pleasantly surprised to see the original Mickey Hart, Bob Weir and Bill Kreutzmann along with Oteil Burbridge, Jeff Chimenti and John Mayer on the listing for 2024.

I was first exposed to the Grateful Dead in 1991 after a 3 day run of concerts at Cal Expo in August with my friend Jeff.  In those days you would mail the band requesting tickets and they would arrive in the self-addressed stamped envelope you sent.

After that I ventured to a couple of more concerts making the drive from Memphis to Chicago at Soldier Field.  I tracked down a t-shirt and ticket stub from 1992 (with Jeff & Ian; Ian recalls selling Moosehead beer on Shakedown Street; I thought we sold grilled cheese sandwiches) confirming that event with Steve Miller Band opening.  I also tracked down a 1994 (not sure who I was with maybe Jeff and Troy) ticket stub when Traffic opened for them in July.

I also made the drive from Indiana to Richfield, Ohio (with Andrew) to see the band.  As they were typically in Ohio in the fall, I am guessing it was 1992 or 1993.

I also have a concert t-shirt from 1995 (not sure who I was with, maybe Tom and Bill) which would make sense as the last time I saw the Grateful Dead at Soldier Field.  That would have been my last "free" summer as I was working after that every year.  Jerry Garcia passed away shortly afterwards in August 1995.

They typically played 2-3 nights and I probably made it a total of (10) shows over that span of four years.

I never got too excited about spin offs like Phil Lesh and Friends, RatDog or Further.  Part of that was probably taking a step away from alcohol and any other mind altering substances.  I kind of moved away from mellow music and tended to enjoy more first wave alternative and punk like The Offspring and Blink-182.  

I saw some pretty big names when I lived in Indiana including Hank Williams Jr & Lynard Skynard; Metallica, Pink Floyd and The Eagles.

When I first moved to Colorado, I saw some live music with Nolan (George Clinton and the P-Funk Allstars stands out).  I saw Hootie and the Blowfish at Red Rocks and Blink-182 at Fidler's Green.  Ratna and I recently saw a husband and wife country music duo at Ball Arena.  Finally, I took in a couple of Kidzbop concerts with the kids.  We were also at the Boulder Theater for some live music with Ken, Amy, Andy and Cathy.  I also recall some smaller events like Helles Belles an all girl AC/DC cover band near the CU campus and The Bellamy Brothers at the Grizzly Rose.

I am getting more excited to jump back into the live music scene.  My wife and daughter have caught some real headliners including Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden and another big act at Empower Field.