when was the first drums and space played by the grateful dead?

Over two nights in Santa Clarita, CA and three nights in Chicago in June and July 2015, the band played for nearly 362,000 people and over 400,000 tuned in via simulcast, breaking both ticketing and streaming records. It is a culture of seekers-of wanderers in search of meaning, experience, and connection, dissecting every note in an exhaustive ritual of devoted fandom.Ī catalyzing moment for the current renaissance came in the form of Fare Thee Well, the final performances by the core four surviving members: guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh, and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann. And it would be negligent to not mention that a genuine pop star, the attention magnet that is John Mayer, is currently touring in the Garcia role with three of the band’s original members as Dead & Company. Misguided thinkpieces on the resurgence in fashion publications spring up seasonally, with many seemingly baffled as to the Grateful Dead’s newfound popularity. The Day of the Dead compilation, released in 2016, outed indie rock titans as fans, suggesting that if the National, Kurt Vile, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and Courtney Barnett found the music worthy of exploration, maybe there was broader appeal than previously thought. While Deadhead culture has continued to operate as a diminished, but consistent, force since Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995, in the last several years, it’s seemed closer to mainstream acceptance than any time since the early 90s. It is a culture of seekers-of wanderers in search of meaning, experience, and connection, dissecting every note in an exhaustive ritual of devoted fandom.

That potent combination of mystery, drama, and tradition, along with an ideology of openness and inclusion, fuels the spread of the culture the Dead engendered. Over the course of 30 years, the Dead invented their own internal musical and visual language, one that evolved in front of the audience, with the band’s repertoire growing to include hundreds of songs that could shapeshift from night to night.

When was the first drums and space played by the grateful dead?