By Jackson Holtz
Special to The Herald
The Grateful Dead, the saying went, weren’t the best at what they did, but were the only ones doing it.
In the two decades since the legendary band’s lead guitarist and zeitgeist Jerry Garcia died, that’s changed. Today, a number of bands have emerged who play Grateful Dead-style concerts — extended psychedelic jams steeped in blues and folk traditions drawn from the Grateful Dead songbook.
Many groups, some featuring original Grateful Dead members, formed to recreate the famed live-concert experience. Also, a recently released album of Dead songs performed by contemporary articles, “Day of the Dead,” is extending the long, strange trip.
Last summer, to celebrate 50 years of the Grateful Dead, Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio sat in with the band’s surviving core four, guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh, and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzman. There were five epic “Fare Thee Well” concerts, with a pledge that it was the last time the core four would play scheduled shows together. Overwhelming energy, love and tickets sales from those mega events helped spawn an evolution of tremendous talent playing the Grateful Dead songbook in small venues and large.
Grabbing headlines this summer is Dead &Company. With pop star and guitar savant John Mayer stepping into the Garcia slot alongside Weir, Kreutzman and Hart, the band is bringing in news fans and pleasing longtime Deadheads with music-packed, three-hour-plus concerts. Former Allman Brothers’ bassist Oteil Burbridge and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti round out the act. This band is making their Pacific Northwest debut with a gig on July 22 at the Moda Center in Portland, and the next night, July 23, at The Gorge.
The ultimate meta Grateful Dead cover band, Dead &Company plays no set list twice. They’ve been digging deep into the Dead’s original concert repertoire, finding gems like “Viola Lee Blues,” “Ripple” and the far-out “Dark Star.” And just like the Grateful Dead, they’ve busted out songs from Bob Dylan, The Beatles and Motown, including a gorgeous rendition of “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” a fiery “Johnny B. Goode,” and the Mardi Gras funk of “Iko Iko.” At last count, the band has more than 100 songs ready to deploy on any given evening.
Mayer, 38, doesn’t recreate Garcia’s colorful guitar solos or soulful vocals. Instead, he is making the songs his own. His silky vocals gives Deadheads something they haven’t heard in a long time: talented singing. Appreciating Garcia’s voice, especially in his later years, was an acquired taste. Deadheads still argue today about whether Weir’s strained falsettos are bliss or blistering. Bassist Phil Lesh, who today headlines gigs at smaller venues with a revolving line-up of artists, still plays some of the best bass guitar. His singing voice, however, can sound flatter than a pancake.
Watch for the Dark Star Orchestra to swing through the area about twice yearly. The Andy Coe Band is a Seattle-based group that draws heavy inspiration from Garcia’s tunes.
“Day of the Dead,” released this spring to benefit the Red Hot Organization and curated by The National, features Dead songs reinterpreted by some of today’s best alt-rock bands. With nearly five dozen tracks, it’s a bit of a grab bag, but there are some gems. Bonnie “Prince” Billy makes “If I Had The World To Give,” ethereal and other worldly. Marijuana Deathsquads take on the classic “Truckin’” is electric, psychedelic and totally street rocking.
Plus, the Grateful Dead always allowed people to tape their concerts. That spirit continues today with most concerts available live via Mixlr, streaming via Soundcloud, and nugs.net is making many Dead &Company concerts available via a pay-per-view platform. #Couchtour is trending.
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