Dead & Company returned to where it all began last weekend (8/1, 8/2, 8/3), lighting up San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park with a three-night stand that doubled as a love letter to the Grateful Dead’s unpredictable and unprecedented 60-year legacy. 

Over 180,000 tickets were sold for the Polo Field shows in what may have looked like more of a pilgrimage to outsiders to see and hear from Dead & Co who are Bob Weir (rhythm guitar, vocals), John Mayer (lead guitar, vocals), Mickey Hart (drums, percussion), Jay Lane (drums, percussion), Oteil Burbridge (bass, percussion, vocals), and Jeff Chimenti (keyboards, vocals). 

Light poles from the Marina to the Haight, from the Embarcadero to the Sunset proudly flew banners celebrating the anniversary weekend devoted to one of the central groups of the Summer of Love, a band that refuses to fade away.

Friday night opened with the wildly talented musicianship of Billy Strings, who later joined Dead & Co. during their set for a raw, spiraling rendition of “Wharf Rat.”

Earlier Bobby et al opened the show with "Feel Like A Stranger," which they opened with twice in Vegas at the Sphere, but how is it anything but sarcastic to hear them that classic on their home court?

They closed the night with a cover of Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” under a foggy sky whose temps struggled to reach 60 degrees.

“We’re just getting started,” 77-year-old Bobby promised.

He did not lie. Saturday’s opener revealed the secret weapon of Sturgill Simpson appearing as his cosmic cowboy alter ego Johnny Blue Skies.

During the main set with Dead & Co he traded verses on the Wilson Pickett cover of “In the Midnight Hour.” From there, the band slid into “Bertha,” and a scorching “Jack Straw” with a beautiful interplay between Mayer and Weir.

“We used to play for silver, now we play for life,” Bobby sang poignantly. As the band briefly teased the Allmans’ “Blue Sky” mid-jam, it was hard not to recognize at that moment who in the Dead hadn't made it to this part of the journey.

Ron “Pigpen” McKernan – died March 8, 1973 (age 27)
Keith Godchaux – died July 23, 1980 (age 32)
Brent Mydland – died July 26, 1990 (age 37)
Jerry Garcia – died August 9, 1995 (age 53)
Vince Welnick – died June 2, 2006 (age 55)
Phil Lesh – died October 25, 2024 (age 84)
and of course their great manager Bill Graham – died October 25, 1991 (age  60)

Saturday also saw Phil Lesh's son, Grahame, stepped in to play his father legendary bass, “Big Brown,” on “St. Stephen.” Opening night he used Big Brown on "Box of Rain" and "Playing in the Band."

Not only was it adventurous, trippy, delightful music, but it planted the flag that the Dead’s DNA is still mutating in freaky good ways.

Sunday's grand finale had The Trey Anastasio Band open, which certainly doesn't happen very often. But of all the jam bands who owe their success to the Dead, Trey and Phish might be in the front of that line.

Naturally he stuck around to sit in with Dead & Co. for much of the night with a set that began with "Scarlet Begonias," went into a spirited "Fire on the Mountain.

Grahame then jumped in for "Broken Arrow" and stuck around through "Cumberland Blues."

With the moon rising behind the stage, Sunday's final tune was "Touch of Grey," the 1987 miracle ticket to the Top 10 of the Billboard charts. The lyrics “I will get by / I will survive” ringing truer in August of 2025 than nearly 40 years after it was first sung.

Longtime Deadhead Paul Codespoti called it “one of the most powerful weekends of my life.”

He told the SF Chronicle he had been to more than 100 Dead & Co shows, and still, he said, “once I get there, I stay there.”

The Dead are taking a breather for a while.

But Trey & Phish will be playing the south this September. Go to the Phish website to get tickets while you can.

Phish remaining 2025 tour dates

Sep 12 – Bourbon & Beyond Festival, Louisville KY
Sep 13 – Coca-Cola Amphitheater, Birmingham AL
Sep 14 – Coca-Cola Amphitheater, Birmingham AL
Sep 16 – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre, Alpharetta GA
Sep 17 – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre, Alpharetta GA
Sep 19 – Hampton Coliseum, Hampton VA
Sep 20 – Hampton Coliseum, Hampton VA
Sep 21 – Hampton Coliseum, Hampton VA