dear-jerryThe Grateful Dead 50th anniversary (I know!) shows happened at Chicago’s Soldier Field in July of 2015.  This double CD serves basically as a listen to the show that occurred as a warm up for those three monumental shows. The collective consisted of the surviving members of the Grateful Dead and other musicians they had working with them. As you might suspect this Maryland show turned into a celebration of the musician that was Jerry Garcia, who passed away in 1995, and the whole concept of jam band music. Though no one involved could ever replace or make us forget Jerry Garcia there were some moments of note in the concert. It starts off on a seventeen minute high note courtesy of Phil Lesh. Along with Communion his take and bass playing on “The Wheel” and “Uncle John’s Band” is mesmerizing. Other fantastic musicians and collaborators include Allen Toussaint, Jimmy Cliff, moe., Widespread Panic, Don Was and Los Lobos. Songs performed include “Touch of Grey”, “Loser”, “Morning Dew”, “Ripple”, “Get Out of My Life, Woman” and “The Harder They Come”. All in all the sentiment is heartfelt and the enthusiasm is audible making this a worthy purchase for Grateful Dead fans