This Friday marked the first in a weekly series of weekend live stream starring the Grateful Dead. The Shakedown Stream features iconic performances broadcasted on the Grateful Dead YouTube account, making for brighter evenings full of good music and a lively comments section. Fans virtually gather and chat about all things Grateful Dead while thousands of viewers jam out and donate to the COVID relief fund.

This Friday premiered the 7/2/89 Foxboro, MA Grateful Dead show, with Bob Weir live on air beforehand (here’s the link to the pre-show). As for One More Saturday Night, the 2/24/18 Dead & Company show from the Smoothie King Center had the spotlight.

“Even though we couldn’t be together at JazzFest, let’s celebrate a weekend late and pay homage to the beautiful city of New Orleans.” says the band in the description of the livestream.

Underneath every video is a link to MusiCares and information on making donations. Spotify will also be matching all donations up to a collective total of $10 million! The number of donations is rising as we speak, giving much needed support to the music community during this time of crisis. 

Check out this weekend’s shows, and tune in next week live at 8 pm EST to catch another in this Shakedown Stream series. Schedule a zoom call and crack a beer because #wewillgetby.

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When you’re the original three members of one of the most historical and mind-altering bands of all time, Bonnaroo gives you two full sets on the last night of their 15th Anniversary.

When you shred the guitar in a newsboy whilst still managing to make thousands of girls melt at once, you get to join those three members in a collaboration of talent, vivacity, and incredible vibes.

John Mayer joins the surviving members of the Grateful Dead in their new group, Dead and Company, and let me tell you – they couldn’t have picked someone better to work with. His sweet voice and insane guitar skills mesh perfectly with Bob Weir’s rough-yet-laid-back voice, and the two of them absolutely jam together. One song after the next, they rip off of each other’s energy and interact in a way that blew the performance completely out of the water.

Other original members Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann tore it up on the drums for four full hours, along with former-Allman Brothers Band bassist Oteil Burbridge and The Dead’s Jeff Chimenti on keyboards. Donna Jean Godchaux joined the boys for a series of songs throughout the show, entering and leaving the stage periodically throughout the set-list and combining her vocals with Mayer’s and Weir’s.

The crowd consisted of every different type of person under the sun – children and their parents, life-long Grateful Dead followers, EDM-crazed teenagers, musical performers, hula-hoopers, hippies – you name it, they were there. The main stage was lit up in every color, and featured a series of psychedelic light shows and videos. From the pit all the way to the food stands in the very back, the grass field was covered front to bottom with dancing people singing along to some of the most classic songs in the history of rock ’n’ roll.

The show started at around 8 p.m., and ended at midnight with a firework display and a touching speech from Weir on elected officials’ responses to the recent shooting incident in a gay nightclub at Orlando. Weir spoke of how their hate was no different than the hate of members of Isis and other terrorist organizations.

“Register and vote,” he added, pointing his fingers at the crowd. “Get those assholes out of there.”

Weir then took off his guitar as the crowd exploded in cheers, giving a bow before exiting the stage with the rest of the guys.

Dead and Co. played a plethora of Grateful Dead songs, Mayer’s modern twist giving them each a touch of something entirely unique and perfect for the mixed group of attendees.

“Truckin’” was the opener for the first two-hour set, and the second set ended with a psychedelic-jam session and an encore of “Touch of Grey.”

The chemistry between these musicians and the adoration of the Dead’s fans melted together into one magical performance and ended Bonnaroo 2016 on an incredible note. The band continues their tour throughout the rest of the summer.

Other jaw-dropping top performances from the fifteenth anniversary of Bonnaroo include J. Cole, who brought out Chicago’s Chance the Rapper to perform his new song “No Problems,” Tame Impala’s 1 a.m. explosion of magic and color, LCD Soundsystem, Tyler the Creator, Halsey, The Chainsmokers, Death Cab for Cutie and Ween.

Some disappointments showed up too, as they typically do at such large festivals. Borns had a quiet, boring set with hardly any interaction from the crowd. Pearl Jam played their songs in a strange order, leaving all the hits for the end and losing half of it’s audience a quarter-way through the set.

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Celebrating 50 years of the first live jam band in rock and roll history, the Grateful Dead’s ‘Fare Thee Well’ concerts held at Soldier Field Stadium during 4th of July weekend left audiences with an unforgettable and historical memory of some of the best live music ever to be performed by a band known for their extended, improvisational live performance skills.

Filling the streets of the Windy City prior to the concerts each day were Deadheads of all ages, seas of tie-dyed t-shirts painting the pathway towards the entrance gates, and marijuana billowing in the warm summer air. Whether you were an original Deadhead from the ’60s or a new-age fan in your ’20s, no one could have predicted just how monumental the next three days would be.

‘Fare Thee Well’ attendee Jake Green, 23, of Minooka, IL, said the concerts were “an incredible weekend celebrating the magic that is the Grateful Dead,” adding that “the boys proved they can still jam.”

Featuring the surviving members of the Grateful Dead–otherwise known as the “core four”–were Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart. Phish frontman Trey Anastasio accompanied the core four, serving as placement on several songs for the beloved Jerry Garcia. Along with the core four and Anastasio were keyboardists Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti.

In regards to Anastasio playing with the Dead, attendee Pat Querio, 26, of Channahon, IL, said:

Being a Phish fan, I thought Trey was the perfect choice, and I think it showed. It brought both the Dead fans and Phish fans together, which is something that wasn’t expected.

It wouldn’t have been a true Dead show had it not begun on day-one with a tip-of-the-hat to Jerry when the band opened with “Box of Rain,” a song played during Jerry’s final show at Soldier Field in 1995, Phil Lesh providing lead vocals.

Following “Box of Rain” were fan favorites such as “Bertha,” “The Music Never Stopped” with Bob Weir on lead vocals, and “Ripple” as their day-one encore. The second-day July 4th show on Saturday opened with “Shakedown Street,” following past tradition as an opener for several Dead concerts, specifically during the late ’70s-early ’80s when the similar titled album was released. The band appropriately and expectedly ended their first set with “One More Saturday Night,” followed by their encore “U.S. Blues,” remaining true and patriotic to the 4th of July holiday. During the show was a phenomenal firework spectacular in honor of Independence Day.

Each night, the Grateful Dead incorporated extended, exuberant drum improvisational jams, allowing the audience to truly get a feel for what it was like to see the Dead perform their famous ad hoc skills they are so distinctly known for.

Day-three opened with “China Cat Sunflower,” followed by tunes such as “Mountain of the Moon,” “Truckin’,” “Terrapin Station,” and ended their second set with “Not Fade Away,” where the audience repeatedly chanted this line for what seemed to last a lifetime after the band already walked off stage. The band then played a double encore including “Touch of Grey” and “Attics of My Life.”

The third day provided audiences with an emotional and nostalgic look into the past. On the big screens, audience members could enjoy timeline photos old and new of the band’s long-lasting musical history, focusing on the late Jerry Garcia and every member of the Dead from beginning to end. The stadium was filled with hysterical crying fans, boisterous dancing in the halls due to overcrowding inside the venue, hugging, swaying and an overall sense of the inevitable end to an era that came all too soon.

“The last day, you could tell no one wanted it to end. I actually just sat outside the museum and talked to people and people watched for over an hour, because going back just kind of meant it was over,” Querio said.

Following the three-day farewell, Soldier Field officials announced that each show broke attendance records for the venue. Sunday held the title for nearly 71,000 people, blowing U2 out of the water for their previous held record of 67,936 in 2009. The concerts also generated over $750,000 for charities related to the Grateful Dead.

Although the Grateful Dead have announced upcoming concerts under the new title “Dead & Company,” the Chicago ‘Fare Thee Well’ shows will remain the final performances under the original name of the Grateful Dead. Despite this end to an era, the Grateful Dead and their music will forever remain in our hearts, not fade away.

Were you at the Dead’s final shows? Post your reactions/thoughts in the comments box below!

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