After playing three sold-out nights to mark the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary, the band’s drummer Mickey Hart has shared a poignant reflection with fans.
Dead and Company played massive shows at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park last weekend (August 1 – 3), with the first show falling on what would have been the late Jerry Garcia’s birthday.
Each night featured unique setlists and saw a rotating cast of special guests – including Grahame Lesh, Billy Strings, Sturgill Simpson (as Johnny Blue Skies) and Anastasio – join surviving members of the psychedelic rock band.
Taking to Instagram, Hart described the three-night run as “profound”, and said it felt like “coming home”.
“I saw 60,000 people sparking light, in love, entrained big time and coming our way,” he said. “Different than applause after a song, it sounded more like an ahhhhhh. All the peace and love in proximity generated a collective energy that was shared by all. Very rare stuff indeed.”
He then nodded to the Dead’s late members, including Garcia, Robert Hunter, Phil Lesh and their longtime roadie Laurence Shurtliff, aka Ramrod. “I saw Jerry and Phil and Pigpen hovering over the crowd smiling like Cheshire cats,” he said. “I saw Hunter and Ramrod through the beauty of the fog and lights.”
He added: “In the final moments of the weekend standing right next to Bob [Weir] and feeling the raw emotion coming our way from our fans, I felt Bob’s heartbeat, along with mine, and the deep connection we have with all of you. All the years combine. They melt into a dream.”
Bob Weir, the band’s rhythm guitarist and one of two original members who performed last weekend, also shared a brief reflection on the show, writing: “60 years… I’d say that’s a damn good start.”
Earlier this year, Weir played his first show in London in over two decades at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.
In June, he was joined joined by Wolf Bros bandmates Don Was and Dead & Company musicians Jeff Chimenti and Jay Lane, and played reimagined Grateful Dead classics and hits from his own catalogue with a full 68-piece orchestra.