Let me just emphasize here that it wasn’t the music that was disappointing it was the lack of enthusiasm I was seeing around me. Throw in “I Need a Miracle,” “Brown Eyed Women,” and “Alabama Getaway,” and it made up an incredibly solid set list, a good mix for any serious fan.

Opening with “Iko Iko” was a huge deal for most, who cheered and screamed for the beloved Dead classic. I was just more worried about how the second set would be able to make up for what I’d just witnessed while the band was spot on and the music was rad, it was difficult to concentrate with the crowd around us acting as though the group hadn’t even taken the stage. Or maybe they’re just taking bong rips.”Įither options were starting to sound extremely probable. “You and I might be able to say that we were at the exact show where Bob Weir died backstage during intermission. “Well,” my friend said, checking his phone for the time. It was starting to get dangerously close to 8:45, and there was still no sign of the band coming back onstage. Eating brunch in Midtown Atlanta before driving to Lakewood, we saw a couple holding the hands of two little girls in Grateful Dead t-shirts. There are even parents passing along the tradition to toddlers. The drunk frat guys making the fraternity pilgrimage to a show where all manner of substances are completely acceptable.

The college girls clamoring onto the free-spirit trend, each one in Etsy flower crowns, who in all honestly are really just there to see John Mayer and to post pictures to Instagram. Grateful Dead shows together, the wife in tie-dye with the husband in a Steal Your Face t-shirt. On top of the drug freaks, there are the middle aged couples who probably attended the O.G.

They were just one of the many stereotypes that you might run into at a Dead and Company show. Stealing your face in Atlanta (Image: Zooma/Flickr)

Space your face grateful dead meaning