Tens of thousands of Grateful Dead fans converged upon San Francisco last week to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Bay Area psychedelic rock pioneers’ first show at Magoo’s Pizza in Menlo Park.
Long hair, swirling tie-dye and unmistakable puffs of smoke flowed throughout the city as Deadheads of all ages packed Golden Gate Park and spilled out across Haight Street to the Embarcadero. It was a scene that proved that the band’s music still resonates decades later, and even after the death of several of the band’s members — from its founding singer and guitarist Jerry Garcia to, more recently, longtime bassist Phil Lesh.
The band has seen multiple iterations in the three decades since Garcia’s death, with two of the three surviving members — guitarist Bob Weir and drummer Mickey Hart — continuing to play alongside bassist Oteil Burbridge, drummer Jay Lane, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and guitarist John Mayer as Dead & Company. A juggernaut in its own right, the group sold nearly half a million tickets during its 2024 Las Vegas Sphere residencies of more than 30 dates, following a massively successful farewell tour that ended at Oracle Park in 2023…