More than a touch of grey: Grateful Dead bid farewell to devoted fans

The Grateful Dead have given what they say will be their last group performance in front of 70,000 fans, some in tears, in Chicago. The four surviving members of the band ended their 50-year run this weekend with three concerts in the city. The Fare Thee Well shows came 20 years after the death of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, who played his last show in Chicago in 1995. They started the show with one of the group’s most psychedelic early songs - “China Cat Sunflower,” paired with the folk blues standard, “I Know You Rider.” The second half included extended jams on crowd favourites “Truckin’” and “Cassidy,” and ended with Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” the Dead’s biggest popular hit, “Touch Of Grey,” and “Attics Of My Life.”

God bless you all, and thank you for listening.

Bass player Phil Lesh

Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio filled in for Garcia at the Chicago shows, joined by original members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzman who have toured, along with other musicians and under various names, for years. Those who couldn’t get tickets to the sold-out concerts followed simulcasts on cable television around the country.

After 50 years, you’ve had your chance to take what you wanted to take from it.

Fan Chris Wainscott