Best of Fare Thee Well Tour

On my two hour drive to Cleveland, I filled the time and the inside of my car by listening to the music of the Grateful Dead, blaring from my CD. I was playing the Best of Fare Thee Well tour from Chicago, Illinois, Soldier Field on July 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th of 2015.

It was difficult to believe that the music of the Grateful Dead has been around for 50 years! As I listened to the first two songs – Box of Rain and Shakedown Street, I was surprised at how weak the singing sounded. It was the Grateful Dead music and songs but I realized that those musicians were older…some in their 70s. They still could play their instruments and they did with feeling but the voices were somewhat frail.

I love their music and the way they play, going on and on with their feelings and letting the music flow and with their improvisation. Every time they played a song they changed it up or added more. The music of the Dead struck something inside of its followers. Right now, it struck me as how carefree their music was and how listening to it, I didn’t want it to stop. I felt myself being carried back in time.

The music brought me back in time to when the Dead became phenomena, when the music took off, and it mostly kept our minds off our daily problems. It kept our minds off of the war. It helped fuel the days, it made young girls follow the band and sometimes to see the band they made jewelry to sell and buy a ticket to the concerts. I like the fact that you could record the Grateful Dead concerts without getting hassled or arrested. The music was to listen to, enjoy, and share with other Dead Heads.

With the Farewell Tour, I was disappointed with the astronomical prices of the tickets. I knew in my heart, that Jerry would be frowning over this. This was all about the promoters and making a lot of money. For me, I was just plain disgusted and disappointed.

I am grateful that I have a ton of CDs of the Dead in their prime, where their voices were strong and robust.  This Farewell CD had a lot of their songs included in it. The voices were weaker but the music still had their passion. It was a Farewell tribute, indeed. Thanks for the memories and a vault full of songs!