Living in San Francisco near the Haight-Ashbury district, the Grateful Dead become a part of your everyday life. Now, I don’t consider myself a deadhead, but when you love rock and roll and 60’s counter-culture as much as I do, there are some shows you can’t pass up the opportunity to experience. Boy am I glad I had the opportunity to be at this show – the first time the four core members reunited in 20 years to kick off the last time, just a couple of miles from where it all began.

Free Roses to all patrons at Levi’s Stadium
The 70,000 strong deadhead community decended on Santa Clara spreading peace and love – with a very chill atmosphere all around. Upon entry to the brand new Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, concertgoers were offered up complimentary roses and lanyards. A nice gesture from the venue that definitely evoked imagery of seeing the Dead in a venue like The Fillmore, where there are free apples at the top of the stairs. Not only was I impressed with the venue’s operation of efficently getting fans in quickly, but it was apparent that staff understood why these people were here. This wasn’t a football game, this was a great big lovefest.

The Stage
Mickey Hart, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzmann were joined by supporting musicians Jeff Chimenti and Bruce Hornsby, with Trey Anastasio (Phish) filling in on guitar. The group, most well known for their jam band style, used the night as a sound check for their sold out shows at Soldier Field in Chicago, where the Dead played their final shows with Jerry Garcia in July 1995.
Upon taking the stage for the evening around 7:45pm, the band kicked off the night with Truckin’ off their American Beauty album. Other fans around me pointed out that this would be the newest song the boys would play over the course of the evening. After a couple of extended jams and the band having some trouble getting in the same groove, the crowd cheered loudly for what seemed to be bursts of songs between long musical interludes. At the end of Cream Puff War, a small rainbow appeared in the sky directly above the stage. By the end of Viola Lee Blues, the rainbow had grown to a full arch, prompting fans around me to burst out in happy cries along the lines of “It’s Jerry saying hi!” and “Jerry approves!” It was a fantastically perfect way to end the first set, and a concert memory I will cherish. An almost hour long intermission let fans grab some food, and the sun set behind the scoreboard.

Fireworks over the stadium mix with the light show to create the ultimate trip
After the intermission, the band came back on and it was time for the light show. After a little bit, the band launched into Dark Star, a fan favorite. Fireworks from nearby amusement park California’s Great America accompanied the jam with almost precision timing. If definitely felt as though the extended intermission was to perfectly time this event. After about another hour of jams, Hart and Kreutzmann joined forces for the extended percussion solo drums. At this point in the evening it was just about 11:30pm, almost 4 hours into the show. Next, the jam What’s Become of the Baby, a song never played live before, rejuvenated the audience from their drum and resonating beam -induced trance.

“Jerry says hi!”
Deadheads young and old stuck it out until the final song of the set, ending 8 minutes until midnight. With that, an encore of Casey Jones, arguably the shortest song of the evening, brought the boys home at midnight. While there wasn’t any patter from the band, Kreutzmann did make sure to recognize the rainbow from earlier int he evening, and asked concertgoers to remember the momentous occasion of marriage equality and pride weekend.
So am I a deadhead now? Far from it, but I did enjoy the show and hold it high among the most important concerts I have been to. It is clear that fans have been waiting for this one for two decades, and the Grateful Dead delivered. This is one for the record books, but as they say… what a long strange trip it’s been!