Grateful Dead

I had not heard going with Trey was a Phil decision.. more a democratic one but who knows for sure. I don't begrudge the band for doing Fare Thee Well. Geography and pricing precluded my attendance. I can certainly understand Phil's desire to slow down on cross country touring, he had been eluding to this for years and has a few health conditions to consider too. As for the marketing of the last ever GD shows, did anyone really believe it was going to be a finite end? These guys are wired to play music.. I think deep down we knew it would continue in one form or another. I look at Trey much like I look at what they have done since Jerry's passing, involving another talented musician into the fold and making Grateful Dead music. No matter who they picked, there would be people both for and against the decision. It did seem overly pricy to me, so I chose not to attend. No hard feelings. I also suspected the FTW DVD/Blueray offering was going to be the fiasco it turned out to be. The pre-order was especially off point and misleading. Anyway.. bygones. I'm sure the band was under tremendous pressure to do something, and so they did. Better than doing nothing, right? On a related note.. I am excited for our friends across the pond on the rumors that there might be some discussion about playing in Europe (and beyond??). Share the wealth I say, us stateside have been spoiled the last 50 years and a non US tour is long overdue. I think adding a touch more global presence is an excellent idea. As it has always been.. GD music is much better live and in person than CD's, streams and DVD's could ever represent.

Tom Rapp, he of the magical Pearls before Swine, has passed.This one hurts. He promised beautiful lies you could live in. He knew the use of ashes. Tom, thanks for all the wisdom and enriching my life. Now to play Familiar songs, once again, but this time with a lump in my throat.

I didn't realize they printed 20,000 DVD and 20,000 Blue Ray copies of the Fare Thee Well box - I wonder how that sold thru. Yeah, the Trey choice was a commercial and symbolic choice, I think. Commercial because Shapiro was laying out big bucks and they needed a name-brand guy with a following to elevate the hype, attendance, and DVD/merch sell-thru to the Phish-heads as well s Deadheads. It was symbolic in that I think they were handing the torch off to the Phish-heads, but they also wanted to pull Phish-heads into the Dead scene (also a long-term commercial decision). Would have been great to see Trey get past the learning-the-songs stage and really cook. At least we have John Mayer/Dead & Co. showing us what amazing late-era cops these guys still have.

Congratulations on #2 Seth. Wishing you and your family health, happiness and sleep.

any one got his copy in europe yet? me not. seems I'm always the last one. poor me.

...but Fare Thee Well, was not the Grateful Dead, nor was it the GD name being used. Look at the posters and all official merch, it says "Fare Thee Well:Celebrating 50 years of the Grateful Dead." Should have been called "Pete Shapiro and Lesh': Fare Thee Phil". Dead and Co.deserves to carry the GD name more the Fare Thee Phil bs. That was a money grab and a cash cow too big not to milk. It manipulated peoples emotions, ideas aboit "last concerts" and gave people who paid too much a chance for a Facebook post and some cheap cultural cache and clout. Lameness. Trey was THE WORST choice for that slot and Im sure that was Phil putting his foot down for that one. Poor judgement on axe player for sure. Santa Clara got the closest. Thats why the shows aint soldout on here.

Jim, I agree - I think they had a setlist of 3 hours of music for that gig, but they got dosed and it FELT TO THEM like a 3 hour show. They panicked thru 12 seconds of each song, 4 total minutes and DONE! That or they promised the bar owner they'd play 23 songs, but then suddenly realized Starbucks closes in 20 minutes. Seriously, good work by those guys. I play guitar in a band, and there's lot going on in all those riffs. Great to see the next generation flying the flag.

A twisted, humorous look at this possible release: 2019 Dave's Picks Subscriptions $130.98 early bird rate $195.98 regular rate Subscription orders taken starting December 3, 2018 DaP 29: 12/08/95 Berkeley Community Theatre, Berkeley, CA* DaP 30: 06/10/73 RFK Stadium, Washington DC Bonus disc: "Set 3" starts w/ It Takes A Lot to Laugh and ends with Johnny B. Goode. DaP 31: TBA DaP 32: TBA Limited edition of 199,000. Bonus disc only with subscription order.** *12/08/95 was the day the name Grateful Dead was retired, only to be used on special occasions, which were the Fare Thee Well concerts/events in 1995. ** A twisted humorous take of the subscription numbers. LOL!

Congratulations on the birth of your second child.

Nice tone that guy gets on his telecaster.