Celebrating 50 Years of The Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead at Soldier Field - Fare Thee Well Tour

This past July marked arguably one of the most epic spectacles in the history of live rock n’ roll.  Over the Fourth of July weekend The Grateful Dead reunited for the last three of five shows to mark their 50^th anniversary in what they said are the final shows that they will be playing as a complete group on a short tour they called Fare Thee Well.  They chose Soldier Field in Chicago in Chicacgo, Illinois as the venue for these magnanimous performances because it is the last location that The Grateful Dead played with late front man Jerry Garcia before his untimely passing.   The group brought on Trey Anastasio of Phish fame as a Jerry replacement, as well as keys players Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti.  Despite the pressure of having such large shoes to fill, Trey did a great job singing lead vocals on many songs as well as switching off lead guitar with Bob Weir.  With around 70,000 people attending each night, these shows were truly for the record books.  They could not have chosen a better location.  The warm summer nights and beautiful scenery including the surrounding skyscrapers looming in the background provided the perfect aesthetic for a phenomenal  musical experience.