250 to 750 dollars a show? Strange that average Americans can't afford Americana.

"Out on the road today, I saw a DEADHEAD sticker on a Cadillac. A little voice inside my head said, "Don't look back. You can never look back."

New technologies are perhaps forming in response to these reunion appearances i follow this.

-John
K Perkins

https://www.youtube.com/cha...

OK: they are hippies... and vastly overrated hippies at that. All the light shows and quad sound systems in the world are not going to change that.

Shouldn't you be in some downtrodden pub somewhere, loudly recanting your Vietnam experiences for the 40th time to people who couldn't care less.

Nah, I'm way too young to have been in Vietnam… but not too young to have seen these charlatans twice.

Light shows and quad sound? RTFA

Thanks, I did. FTA: "The Dead and its extended family essentially created the sound of modern rock-and-roll concerts, rejecting the small amplifiers and tinny PA systems of the 60s—think of the Beatles at Candlestick Park—in favor of ground-shaking stereo and quadraphonic sound."

Seems you missed the point.

Yes, you're right: let's all bow down before the Almighty Dead.

Thank you, I will. But since you obviously missed out on the whole transformational experience, I guess all you can do now is whine about it.

Don't think I was talking to you (I know, I know, you're all one big enlightened family), but if by "transformational experience" you mean mass, self-inflicted delusion that mindless modal jams and mid-tempo excursions covering up half-assed songwriting and quarter-assed vocals are musical manna and that the Dead were somehow touched by the music of the spheres, sure, I guess I "missed out", and the elitism in your post makes me even more "grateful" that I did; how "counter culture" of you.

I gave them more than a fair chance MANY times, and there is much that I do admire about them (such as their willingness to forgo being "entertainers" and just get up there and play their music), but it all should have ended in the late 70s; they were just running on steam after that (and that includes the shows I saw in the Eighties). Their high point, for me anyway, was playing on David Crosby's first solo album; Garcia's pedal steel playing is phenomenal on it; achingly beautiful. Too bad they never reached such heights on their own body of work (though "American Beauty" is a pretty kick-ass album).

The less said about the cult surrounding them, the better.

http://www.theguardian.com/...

In the same post you mention American Beauty being a "pretty kick-ass album" AND make a statement about half-assed songwriting- okay... seems like you're generalizing a bit.

Lyrically and melodically, they have a very large body of strong writing (not all great, but mostly great). In terms of the Dead's playing, the fact that in the 80s you saw two bad shows doesn't in a general sense convince in regards to the notion that overall, over the years it was weak. For many years their live performances were at a very high level for improvised rock , but like most rock bands that stick around long enough, they did decline. Yeah, their vocals are typically weak by conventional standards, but with the bulk of bands I've seen live, the performances overall are simply canned or phoned in (though granted, that's how the Dead's farewell shows with Anastasio sounded to me), so for those focused on the instrumental side of things, there was much to reward the listener.

The Dead's concert history was vast and varied, so these generalizations are not helpful, as your own post at points hints at- and btw, while they had many hippie followers, the band members themselves were not themselves hippies, if you look at their lives, e.g., they were highly devoted to their craft, savvy technologists for their field, and iconoclasts in the professional music community, none of which really fit the 'hippie' label. That characterization suggests a lack of familiarity with them.

notable omission: Internet Archive's repository of 10K+ live recordings

http://archive.org/details/...

Check out Zappateers if you want real tech...

if you are talking Zappa, I'd agree

Robert Hunter wrote most of the songs. The Grateful Dead kept on playing music even though its been said, it only took thirty years later to perfect their music to quality sound. Also, they all formed Furthur to keep on playing as Jerry would of wanted them, to. They played as long as they could in honor of Jerry Garcia and themselves for the people. Those shows were awesome. It's a spirit about them that makes it different than the rest of the bands. The gathering of folks coming together in peace as a community should and as if all folks are free to be themselves. To just dance and be kind to one another. It's amazing. :)

I love the band, the jams, the scene. They have topped the highest grossing concert $ per year list a few times. Hey, why not? As Jerry said, "Touring was our bread and butter." But the SC shows seemed to lack energy, the band didn't seem happy on stage, hardly anyone cracked a smile... There were some good moments too. Certainly enough to put a smile on my face.

Like any speculative bubble, it burst. A friend paid $28 on stubhub to attend last weekend.

Face value of tickets ($59-$199) was about in line with what "big" shows cost these days. The market, as they say, took care of the rest.

The Grateful Dead were also one of first musical acts to incorporate in-ear monitor systems that allowed them to get rid of on-stage monitors, starting in the early '90's. Nowadays, everybody uses in-ear monitors but twenty years ago, I think they were the only ones. Furthermore, another side result from the "Wall of Sound" involved the piano. Before 1974, pianos were amplified by simply pointing microphones at the strings. Since they could not do that with the Wall of Sound, the team had to devise a 'pickup' for the piano. I believe Carl Countryman was primarily involved with that. Since then, all the rock pianists (Elton John, Billy Joel) have the Dead and their crews to thank.

I saw The Dead back in the 70s with this absurd PA and monitor system that had been designed by Ousley. It was then I realized that it doesn't matter how big or hi-tech the sound system is if the soundman is on acid.

Soundmen screw up so many bands, the GD was so bad it was impossible to truly make them any worse

"Turning to the Sun" is a poetic journey through the lives of a passionate young couple as they reflect upon their love 40 years later. It speaks to our universal desire to relive the most brilliant moment in our lives, to right the wrongs and heal the wounds we've inflicted on ourselves and others along the way. While I did not grow up in the '60s, the atmosphere is so vivid that I can almost feel what it was like to be young and in love in that era. Those who do have personal memories of the '60s may particularly enjoy this read. http://goo.gl/y1vE53

Profit secondary? We have all witnessed the cashgasm that has gone along with the last shows... And I still don't see where the Dead were "tech pioneers"....

Did you read the article? Plethora of examples. Even my 5 year old understood.

John Meyer was the pioneer, not the Grateful Dead... The only thing they can lay claim to is the monster sound system they commissioned Owsley to do and it was ridiculous... Everything else came from the community...

Don't you think Frank Z and his roadies got some tips from things that were done in the late 1960's and early 1970's??? BTW, did john Meyer play in a band? Make his own music? Were the Dead the first to utilize his equipment? Its quite clear that the sheer popularity and love for the GD rubs people the wrong way. The article isnt saying the GD were the only ones........they were just one of the first and clearly the most popular and ENDURING band to do so. Get over yourself.

To lay tech at the foot of the Grateful Dead because a couple of their followers helped build Silicon Valley is preposterous...

Lol Zokuapp. Hey, I've got drugs, arrest me please.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of music do you like?

He likes Brittany Smears and Justin Timberdick!

Bob Dylan's genius is in his song writing. Maybe the BEST song writer of last 100 years. Keep listening to the radio's top 10.

Never liked the Dead much. Always sounds to me like they were/are ripping off country music (which I dislike.) There were much better bands coming out of the San Francisco hippie era--Janis, Big Brother, Steve Miller, even Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys if you insist on recycled country music ( I can stand Kinky's version of country briefly.)

Totally agreed, add to that Jeff Airplane, Buffalo Springfield, especially Dan Hicks, etc.

Steve Miller??? Seriously? Zero credibility. Lol

A bonghole who doesn't like/understand Stevie "Guitar" Miller lectures me, a lifelong fan? Shove your head back up your butt, fool.

Steve Miller was good in middle/High school......and then I became an adult. Stevie "Guitar"??? That is RICH! Stevie was Jerry's opening act.........and that was a gift because often the Dead had really talented musicians like Steve Winwood open for them. Then again calling someone a "Bonghole" likely means you are still in high school. Thanks for the Friday afternoon laugh!

You're no adult. You're a dripoff and a silly-ass fool. Fuck you.

Good article. Dead shows were a revelation to me back in the mid-80's when I went and realized just how different they were from the dismissive cliché's about spaced out hippies. Plenty of spaced out folks in the mix in the parking lot but the band and their crew were f'ing awesome and delivered beautiful sound into huge spaces. I just heard a joke on the radio the other day about the Grateful Dead and how they didn't bother to tune their instruments. The best and biggest American rock band in history and still so many people never picked up on what was happening, indeed, what is going to happen again tonight in Chicago. Still puzzled dorky newsmen with big microphones wandering around the parking lot wondering what all the fuss is about. The Prank goes on.

I am heartbroken this day, the first in my life that precludes the possibility of the Grateful Dead. I don't know what we will do without them. There are none rising up behind them to fill the void and pioneer new efforts. It's like Garcia has died a second time.

never could stand that band, like all the rest just not the dead, worst concert I ever saw

That's funny. In 1993 the GD were the highest grossing band in the WORLD. I am sure all those fans thought it was the worst concert they have ever seen too........

& another notable omission, if I may: http://motherboard.vice.com...

I was there that day.. what we witnessed wasn't man made.. it was Jerry Made!!

The Grateful Dead are also more responsible for bringing us the internet than Al Gore. When Cisco Systems (or whomever it was that pioneered the commercial internet system) went to the venture capitalists for financing they used the Grateful Dead as examples for what the "world wide web" could be used. Deadheads had already set up discussion boards for trading tapes, tickets, reviews, rides to shows etc on the State of California's primitive ethernet.

I worked for the State of California in 1993 and would play on the system.

GD50 aerial photos - amazing aerial photos of the July 5 Fare Thee Well show at Performance Impressions photography archives - http://www.performanceimpre...