Special Thanks to Barrack Obama-The Dead & Furthur

Having been a Grateful Dead fan for a while now, I was overwhelmed by the opportunity of seeing the remaining founding members unite and go on tour once again. Before spring 2009, the Dead had not toured since early 2004. The one and only reason they decided to tour was because of Barrack Obama. He requested that they play an event to benefit his campaign, and again asked them to play the inaugural ball just after his election.

It was the first time that the founding members played together in four years; guitarist/vocalist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh, and drummers Mickey Hart & Bill Kreutzman. They picked up Allman Brother's guitarist Warren Haynes to take the place of Jerry Garcia, and Ratdog's Jeff Chimenti on keyboards. After this amazing and honorable experience, the guys decided to take the show on the road, and immediately scheduled tour dates.

I luckily got to see a show in Worcester, Mass in April, and caught their only show of the summer at Rothbury Festival in Michigan. The band had said that their chemistry had become so great and had evolved in the way they play their songs, that it's ever-changing and different every time. You can tell by being there that they're very happy doing what they do when they're up there on stage. Following their "final" show, the two front men Phil Lesh and Bob Weir have decided to put together a band and do more shows, the band being named Furthur, which was the name of the ever-famous psychedelic bus used in the 60's in the acid-tests, being drove by Neil Cassidy. I'm very excited to see Furthur and hopefully jump on the bandwagon for a few weeks to hit some shows.