Last Friday the great Phil Lesh, founding member and bassist of the Grateful Dead, died at age 84. Here's some guy called Bob Dylan, writing in his 2022 book The Philosophy of Modern Song, rhapsodizing Lesh & Co.:
What makes them essentially a dance band probably begins with the jazz classical bassist, Phil Lesh, and the Levin Jones-influenced Bill Kreutzmann. Lesh is one of the most skilled bassists you'll ever hear in subtlety and invention. And combined with Kreutzmann, this rhythm section is hard to beat. That rhythm section along with elements of traditional rock and roll and American folk music is what makes the Dead unsurpassable. Combined with their audience, it's like one big free-floating ballet. Three main singers, two drummers and triple harmonies make this band difficult to compete with. A postmodern jazz musical rock and roll dynamo.
Sure, but how'd they sound in '88 at The Met in Bloomington, Minnesota? Local photographer James Orndorf, whose wonderful photos you'll see below, didn't attend that gig, though he did capture the audience living it up in the parking lot.
"Basically, we went out to experience the parking lot of a Grateful Dead show and take pictures, none us went to the show," Orndorf tells us. "Not a lot to write about it, but the pictures are a good time capsule."
I couldn't find a review of that concert in the Star Tribune/City Pages/Reader archives, though two years earlier Dylan and the Dead broke in the Metrodome, musically speaking, with infamous results.
"Can the Dome sound as good as an arena? The technology exists," promoter Randy Levy told the Strib's Jon Bream in '87, reflecting on the "debacle" (Bream's words) of the first-ever Dome concert. "But Dylan and the Dead each brought their own PA systems… People have to see a great production—a conceived-for-a-stadium show with reasonable sound—to be convinced the Dome will work."
Not sure that ever happened.
But!
We're not here to dwell on bummer elements of the past—we're hear to soak in nostalgic scenes of '80s Deadheads who, presumably, heard a much better show that evening in the fresh suburban air.
"Good to bring a little joy to people during this shit week," Orndorf says. We couldn't agree more.
