The Dead play with two drummers, two guitarists, bass and piano, and from 1972 on, Donna Jean, a female voice, also joins in. The songs become jams, the music a medium of psychedelic dimensions. The band’s performances are never identical, on the contrary, they are characterized by a lot of improvisation. Especially when listening to the thousands of live recordings of the band. Everyone - bass, lead and rhythm guitar, drums - gives musical impulses and follows those of his colleagues. The philosophy of the band is formed by the psychedelic experience as well: There is no hierarchy, no leader. Without him, there would be no LSD and no Grateful Dead, and therefore no flower power. He is also the biggest LSD producer in America and sound man, sponsor and friend of the band. They move into a flat in Haight-Ashbury, they perform at Woodstock and Monterey.īesides Ken Kesey, Owsley Stanley (called Bear) is one of the central figures of the 60s.
The band is friends with Janis Joplin and Grace Slick, with Tim Leary and Allen Ginsberg, and performs regularly with other San Francisco bands. LSD is now more and more popular, thousands of young people move to San Francisco, they grow their hair long, take acid, make music - and the Dead are right in the middle of it, geographically as well as culturally. The Acid Tests are considered the beginning of the Hippie movement in the months that followed, it became unstoppable. “The first mass acid experience, the dawn of the Psychedelic, the Flower Generation.” In his classic The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, author Tom Wolf gives a nice summary: This communication, communion between band and fans is what gives the concerts the so-called “X-factor” and makes the Grateful Dead the soundtrack of the psychedelic revolution.
Oftentimes, they play under the influence of LSD, they are on one wave with everyone present, with the music. The Dead do not see themselves as entertainers, but as part of the audience - or better: for them, there is no distinction between audience and performers.
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