That was one hell of a concert. Three hours of nonstop brilliance. I hardly missed Jerry Garcia. They were exquisite!
Phil Lesh – The Grateful Dead – The Everlasting Trip Is Over!
Sad news – Phil Lesh is dead. We’re all melting away into history!
“Phil Lesh, bassist and founding member of The Grateful Dead passed peacefully this morning. He was surrounded by his family and full of love. Phil brought immense joy to everyone around him and leaves behind a legacy of music and love.”
The message also included a request for privacy, stating: “We request that you respect the Lesh family’s privacy at this time.” Lesh, who helped shape the sound of a generation with the Grateful Dead, was 84 years old and is mourned by his wife Jill amongst others.
The Grateful Dead were formed in 1965 as The Warlocks and became the house band for Ken Kessey’s Acid Tests. They were a seminal part of the San Francisco sixties scene.
In 2011 We were heading off to Australia and had booked a nostalgic trip back to San Francisco and Los Angeles to revisit our youth. We were there in 1971 and 1979 and had many experiences on the road, met lifelong friends and visited the haunts of Jack Kerouac and Henry Miller at Big Sur and Pfeiffer State Beach.
San Francisco held great memories of a fleeting burst of sanity with bands like Country Joe and the Fish, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service and, of course, The Grateful Dead.
We were only in San Francisco for a few days before heading off down the coastal highway to Big Sur and Los Angeles. We stayed at a little boarding house and the landlady told us we were lucky to have got a room. San Francisco was flooded with weirdos. I asked why. She told me that this druggy weirdo band was playing their annual gig at Bill Graham’s Auditorium and it attracted every stoner from the whole of the States. Well, my ears pricked up. I checked it out. That weirdo band was none other than The Grateful Dead – or the remains of them – playing under the name Furthur (The name of the Ken Kesey bus the Merry Pranksters had toured the States in). I went straight down and bought tickets.
We were only in San Francisco for 3 days but we were lucky enough to see Phil Lesh and the rest of the band play a riveting set at the Bill Graham Auditorium. They were fabulous – just like seeing the Dead at the height of their powers. At the end of the gig I stayed behind. They were burning off CDs from the set straight off the mixing board. I bought a 3 CD mix of the entire set. It was brilliant!!
That was the last time I saw Phil Lesh! But what a memory of a great gig.
Thanks Phil!
I shall play that gig today and reminisce.
Photography – The Grateful Dead at the Bill Graham Auditorium 2013 – as Furthur.
My book on Rock Music – Rock Routes – the Cover!
I based the cover for my book on this photo I took in San Francisco in January 2013.
I was off on a tour round the world. Liz and I drove down from San Francisco to Los Angeles going over the old route that we hitched along in 1971. It was great to revisit and catch up with a few old friends.
We were only in San Francisco for two days but found we’d arrived at exactly the right time. Furthur (The remains of the Grateful Dead with Phil Lesh and Bob Weir), named after Ken Kesey’s psychedelic painted truck, were playing at the Bill Graham Auditorium. We got tickets.
Going into the place the sweet smell of marijuana was overpowering!! It set the tone.
The band were brilliant and just like seeing the Dead at their best. I got a triple album of the show that was distributed half hour after the show finished! It was perfect!!
I took this photo, among a lot of others, of the band with their great light show. I thought it made a great book cover.