Grateful Dead fans are saying goodbye to the band this weekend. It’s not the first time.
Since the band lost its frontman Jerry Garcia nearly three decades ago, it has reformed several times, touring continuously and winning over new generations. Along the way, it gave each new set of fans their own opportunity to mourn, my colleague Marc Tracy writes.
The day Garcia died in 1995, Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir gave a concert near Boston. One fan, Albie Cullen, recalled that the encore felt like an emotional send-off for Garcia and the band. “Everybody knew that was the end,” Cullen said. But it wasn’t.
In 2015, the surviving members held a series of farewell concerts. It was another emotional send off, but it wasn’t the end either. Within months, a new iteration had formed, Dead & Company. It features the singer-songwriter John Mayer, who was born more than a decade after the original group formed.
During Dead & Company’s eight-year run, the band once again became a cultural touchstone. Longtime fans embraced Mayer, a skilled guitar player. Many young fans discovered the band through streaming services or through its deep online archive of live concerts, and the band recently had its best week of record sales in 35 years. When I saw the band perform at Citi Field in New York last month, the upper deck of the stadium was packed with tie-clad Gen Z fans.
Tonight, Dead & Company is in San Francisco to play the final show of what it says will be its final tour. Even if this turns out not to be true, once again fans have embraced the ritual.
“We like to say goodbye. We find utility in saying goodbye. It’s almost like practice,” Marc told me. “People really like the bitter sweetness of it. You don’t have to like sad things, but people go see sad movies all the time.”
Read Marc’s full story here.
NEWS
War in Ukraine
Sunday’s question: Should Ukraine join NATO?
Bringing Ukraine into NATO “would draw a bright line that.” Russia does not dare to cross,” Marc Thiessen and Stephen Biegun write for The Washington Post. But the support Ukraine needs after the war can be achieved “without admitting Ukraine to NATO”, writes the editors of The Los Angeles Times.
MORNING READINGS
Lives Lived: Everett Mendelsohn, a longtime Harvard professor, became known for lecturing on a variety of topics—genetic engineering and the creation of the atomic bomb—and encouraging students to examine the impact of science. He died at 91 years old.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE
“viewers”: Ann Beattie’s new story collection, her “best in more than two decades,” examines the forces shaping America by looking at Charlottesville, Va.
Our editors’ picks: “Directions to Myself,” a balanced memoir about parenting and processing, and eight other books.
Times best selling: Colleen Hoover is all over the latest paperback trade fiction list.
THE MORNING RECOMMENDS…
Plan the perfect weekend in Telluride.
use these kitchen compost bins.
convert your desk into a standing one.
Try it these bistros in Paris.
NEXT WEEK
What to Look for
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Novak Djokovic, seeking his third Grand Slam title of the year, faces Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon men’s final today.
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Jurors in the trial of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting will begin deliberating Monday whether to recommend that the judge sentence the gunman to death or life in prison.
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The Senate is scheduled to begin considering an annual defense bill on Tuesday. House Republicans loaded their chamber’s version with social policy provisions.
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The president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, will meet with President Biden at the White House on Tuesday.
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The Women’s World Cup starts on Thursday in Australia and New Zealand.