The Grateful Dead has carried on over the last 25 years in different shapes and forms. Dead & Company lead the culture in current times with OG members Bob Weir, Mikey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann. John Mayer carries the torch of Jerry Garcia, but there will never be another Jerry in this world.
Garcia is regarded as one of the best guitarists to have lived, and his legacy is undying. It's been exactly 25 years today since fans got to see him play with the Dead for one last time before he left the world too soon on August 9th, 1995.
The show took place on July 9th, 1995 at Soldier Field, the Dead's Chicago stomping grounds. It was the last stop on their Summer Tour of 1995 and night two at the venue. Deadhead's weren't aware that the 18-song setlist would be one to go down in history in the Dead archives.
The first set started off in a beautiful daze, opening with "Touch of Grey" and working in licks like Bob Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece," "Cumberland Blues," and finishing off after 7 songs on Chuck Berry's "Promised Land."
The second set embraced higher energy as they started with "Shakedown Street." They worked in deep cuts like "So Many Roads," "Samba in the Rain" and "Corrina" before transitioning in the Drums and Space segment of the evening.
The main set ended on "Unbroken Chain" and "Sugar Magnolia" before they came back to encore with "Black Muddy River" and left Deadheads in a dreamy state of mind when Phil Lesh took the reigns for "Box of Rain."
Check out the full setlist below:
Many say that they could sense the sadness in Garcia's eyes that night and the equipment trouble he experience didn't help.
You can watch the show its entirety below and draw your own conclusions, or simply get lost in the beauty of it all. RIP Jerry, we love you.
