President Obama has acknowledged the cultural contribution of The Grateful Dead to the USA.
It was quite a Saturday for the Grateful Dead. Not only did they play their penultimate show as a band but they also received salutes from both President Obama and the Empire State Building.
Obama is quite familiar with the Dead. They played for his campaign in 2008 and were guests at the White House the next year. To honor the band coming to an end as a working entity, he also issued a special message, saying “Here’s to fifty years of the Grateful Dead, an iconic American band that embodies the creativity, passion, and ability to bring people together that makes American music so great. Enjoy this weekend’s celebration of your fans and legacy. And as Jerry would say, ‘Let there be songs to fill the air.'”
In New York, the Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. lit up the Empire State Building in red, white and blue (and every other color of the rainbow) in sync with the band’s playing of U.S. Blues at their Chicago concert.
ESB lighting designer Marc Brickman teamed up with the band to create the vision and technical design of the music-to-light show, which featured an assortment of Grateful Dead imagery in the mast of the building.
As for the actual show, it was the first night, including last week’s California shows, where the band featured music from the 80’s and 90’s although it was balanced with 70’s material and one song (The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion), the first cut from their first album) from the 60’s.
The set list:
Set 1
Shakedown Street (from Shakedown Street, 1978) Liberty (from So Many Roads (1965 – 1995), 1999) Standing on the Moon (from Build to Last, 1989) Me and My Uncle (from Grateful Dead, 1971) Tennessee Jed (from Europe 72, 1972) Cumberland Blues (from Workingman’s Dead, 1970) Little Red Rooster (from Dead Set, 1981) Friend of the Devil (from American Beauty, 1970) Deal (from Jerry Garcia’s Garcia, 1971)
Set 2 Bird Song (from Reckoning, 1981) The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion) (from The Grateful Dead, 1967) Lost Sailor (from Go to Heaven, 1980) Saint of Circumstance (from Go to Heaven, 1980) West L.A. Fadeaway (from In the Dark, 1987) Foolish Heart (from Build to Last, 1989) Drums Space Stella Blue (from Wake of the Flood, 1973) One More Saturday Night (from Bob Weir’s Ace, 1972)
