The Dead are wrapping up a spring 2009 tour tonight at the Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington. The band are the core four from the Grateful Dead - Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart - along with Jeff Chimineti and Warren Haynes (filling some big shoes). For a bunch of old guys, they are playing some of the hottest rock and roll of the decade.
After the jump I'll talk a bit about the music and the politics behind The Dead and the Grateful Dead.
This tour and current incarnation of the band was born out the Deadheads for Obama rehearsals and fund raiser last year. Mickey Hart and Bob Weir both have some pretty strong ties with the Democratic Party including personal friendships with the Gores, Sen Leahy and other grown up hippies. Tipper Gore sat in for a song at the show in April in DC.
Tonight the band plays their fairly unique brand of rock and roll. Influenced by bluegrass, the psychedelic revolution, and the jazz of the times, the Grateful Dead crafted a new genre of music that carries on today in the bands they inspired. From their start (more or less) as Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Band (when Jerry met Bobbie) in the early 60s until Jerry Garcia's death in 1995, the band and it's cast of musicians experimented with the boundaries of genre stumbling upon and inventing a format of free solos and extended improvisations incorporating elements of jazz, country and bluegrass into the traditional rock and roll experience. The Grateful Dead's catalog of songs crashed through the gates including folk, country, C&W, traditional covers from the pages of a Pete Seeger song book - songs like Peggy-O, Me and My Uncle, and Reverand Gary Davis' Death Don't Have No Mercy.
In the 80s, the typically a-political songwriters began writing some fairly overt social commentaries. Perhaps their first and most explicit political song being "Throwing Stones" written by John Perry Barlow (political and technology activist) and Bob Weir with it's lively verse providing a reality check for the social-phobic:
The future's here
We are it
We are on our own
While the band in any incarnation never became as political as say Michael Franti, the devoted audience did have a very socially active subgroup with counter culture revolutionaries, alternative lifestyles and activist education opportunities with parking lot canvassing and tabling. Amidst the partying there many seeds were planted.
By the 90s members had become quite plugged into the California political scene participating in fund raisers and rubbing elbows with fans that had moved into politics and activism. By the 90s the band members amassed private fortunes as a result of their immense popularity (for the latter half of the 80s and the early 90s the Grateful Dead was the top grossing touring act in the country), and along with wealth comes obligation. In parallel, song writer and friend of the band, John Perry Barlow was becoming quite engaged with the politics of technology issues which lead to his co-founding of the Electronic Freedom Foundation with Mitch Kapor. And now Mickey gets Tipper on stage.
Today ends a great tour for a rock and roll band that continues to break boundaries and turn a lot of people into a happy dancing mess. Those guys can sure put a smile on a face.
Who else is listening to tonight's show? Or any of the very hot 09 tour?