Grateful Dead's 'Fare Thee Well' Bows Out With Core Four And Friends
By Casey Moffitt in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 5, 2015 4:35PM
More than 70,000 Deadheads converged at Soldier Field Saturday to celebrate 50 years of the Grateful Dead's musical legacy. Which for better or for worse, has become woven into the fabric of American culture, and fans of the band certainly got a show to remember.
The "core four" of Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir were joined by guests Trey Anastasio, Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti to run through a litany of crowd favorites during a four and half hour performance on a gorgeous night, playing the second of three sold out Fare Thee Well shows. The show was billed as the penultimate performance of the surviving members of the Grateful Dead playing together on the same stage. They kicked the night off with "Shakedown Street" and the eager crowd exploded with joy when the first chords were struck.
The band, to their credit, were in fine form as they breezed through both sets with relative ease. Their playing chops were in very good shape, they captured nice tones and the sound in the stadium was decent, which always can be a bit tricky when playing in a building designed to host football games.
Weir sang the first two songs of the set, and Anastasio, filling in on lead guitar for the departed Jerry Garcia, took the microphone for the third song of the night, "Standing on the Moon." The crowd gave a warm applause when Anastasio sang the number, realizing that he wasn't there to replace Garcia, but rather to hold his place on stage.
Anastasio did a nice job on leads by not trying to replicate the guitar work of Garcia. He sounded, in his playing and his tone, very much like the lead guitar player of Phish (no surprise there). It was a wise move to stay in his comfort zone as it fit in well with the rest of band. That's not surprising given that he has made a career out of culling from Garcia's bag of guitar licks.
The first set of the night was laden with country and blues flavored numbers, while the second delved into more of the psychedelic aspects of the Dead's catalogue, starting with "Bird Song" where Lesh took over on lead vocals. The second set also included "Lost Sailor/Saint of Circumstance" as well as the inevitable "Drums" and "Space."
The second was the more tedious of the two sets. We suppose if you were high "Drums" and "Space" melted your mind or took you to another planet. If you weren't, it was an aggravating experience as the songs don't really go anywhere. The light show was cranked up to enhance the experience, but it really meant you got some intense spotlights shining in your face. We get it, it's a Dead tradition. And we're all about a good drum solo. Kreutzmann and Hart have their cool tricks and can come up with some interesting polyrhythmic patterns, but they're not exactly Buddy Rich and Ed Shaughnessy.
The band was at its best when they played through the verses and choruses of the songs, but of course, that isn't the Grateful Dead way. It doesn't take long for them to bust out into a jam and play a number for 10, 12, 20 minutes. But when they stay in those more basic aspects of the songs, or even during solo sections, and it sounds like they are pulling on the same rope, they built some solid grooves.
When they erupt into the improvised jams, however, its a different story. It sounds like they're all off in their own little worlds, playing what they feel and not really working together. Kreutzmann holds it all down and he propels the songs along. But the rest sounds like mess, going in all directions. It's a sort of sonic version of being drawn and quartered.
They put the whole show on a rollicking track at the end, busting out the party jam "One More Saturday Night" to close the set. They came out and played "U.S. Blues" for an encore to cap off Independence Day, with a fireworks show over the stadium and John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" blaring over the P.A. system.
If you're a Dead fan, you got yourself a hell of a show. If you're not a Dead fan, you probably walked away with a better appreciation for their musical accomplishments and a better understanding of what the whole gag was about for 50 years. You still probably wouldn't rush back for another one, though.
Grateful Dead Setlist, July 4, Soldier Field, Chicago, IL
Shakedown Street
Liberty
Standing on the Moon
Me and My Uncle
Tennessee Jed
Cumberland Blues
Little Red Rooster
Friend of the Devil
Deal
—Intermission—
Bird Song
The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)
Lost Sailor
Saint of Circumstance
West L.A. Fadeaway
Foolish Heart
Drums
Space
Stella Blue
One More Saturday Night
—Encore—
U.S. Blues