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Grateful Dead Concert Essay

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For concert essay 2, I have went with an online concert. I have chosen the concert at Alpine Valley, where the Grateful Dead performed July 7, 1989. This is a historic venue for the Grateful Dead and the Deadheads, because this was an atmosphere that always seemed to be far more electric than most. Although the Grateful Dead was a great live act throughout the entire existence of the band, many of the band members admit during the 89 & 90 tours, they were at their best. To open the concert, the band members claim the stage to a roaring crowd, particularly focused upon Jerry Garcia. With very little preparation time, the band jumped right into their first song, without hesitation. This stood out to me because all of the concerts I have seen live, they’ll spend quite some time tuning, and chatting up the crowd. This crowd sure did not need the pep talk, because of the virve already presented by the crowd. The opening song was “Let the Good Times Roll.” With this song as an opening and a more prominent Grateful Dead hit, the aura of the concert had already been set. Each singer of the band had their own verse in this song, to really get the crowd engaged with each member. A very distinguishing piece of the Grateful Dead was that they had …show more content…

However, they had a tremendous ability to set a change of pace, with country, rock, and roll. My personal favorite performances include those songs categorized as a rock ballad, with the stage lights low, and the band gently playing songs such as “Standing on the Moon.” This song depicts a man standing upon the moon, gazing upon unfolding events on Earth, longing to return to his lover and home. Within this song, The Grateful Dead pay homage to their roots, including a line “Somewhere in San Francisco, on a back porch in July.” After this verse, Jerry Garcia erupts into a phenomenal guitar solo, as the lights fade to

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