Human Be-In Preview: Dead & Company are Returning To Golden Gate Park

Dead & Company – Live in Golden Gate Park
August 1, 2, & 3, 2025 – San Francisco, CA

This summer, the music plays the band — and it plays right back where it all began.

Dead & Company return to Golden Gate Park for three unforgettable nights, August 1–3, bringing the spirit of the Grateful Dead home to San Francisco. Fresh off a second high-tech, mind-bending run at the Las Vegas Sphere, the band is trading LED immersion for redwoods and the warm soul of the Bay.

Each night features a 75-minute set from a different heavyweight opener, and the curation is no less than cosmic:

  • August 1: Billy Strings, the face-melting space-grass prodigy, spins tradition into astral jams.
  • August 2: Sturgill Simpson, the enigmatic, psychonautical outlaw, returns to the stage with rare, fire-tested fervor.
  • August 3: Trey Anastasio Band, ready to rain down 75 minutes of phresh jams and phunk for all.

That’s three nights, three musical worlds, all orbiting around the gravitational pull of Dead & Company.

San Francisco and the Dead are inseparable. From Tupac’s collaboration with Bruce HornsbyRobin Williams emceeing Jerry Day in Golden Gate Park, and the unerasable, painted imprint of Haight-Ashbury and the Panhandle, this city is part of the Dead’s DNA.

Though the lineup continues to evolve, the mission remains the same. As Jerry Garcia said, “The goal is for the music to outlive us all.” Dead & Company embodies that legacy, not just recreating it but evolving it in real time.

Dead & Company lineup:

  • Bob Weir (Grateful Dead, Wolf Bros) – rhythm guitar, vocals
  • Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead, Planet Drum) – drums, cosmic energy
  • Oteil Burbridge (Allman Brothers Band, Aquarium Rescue Unit) – bass, vocals
  • Jeff Chimenti (RatDog, Bob Weir & Wolf Bros) – keyboards
  • Jay Lane (Primus, RatDog, Wolf Bros) – drums
  • John Mayer (solo artist, Continuum, Born and Raised) – lead guitar, vocals

These are players in the band, yes — but the spirit of the Dead is bigger than any one of them. It’s in the songs. It’s in the sky above the park. It’s in the people.

Come early. Stay late. Pack water, snacks, and your weirdest shirt. This is history — one that only San Francisco could host. 

Tickets are on sale Wednesday, May 28th at 10 am. 

Record Store Day 2023 – My Guide to the Most and Least Essential Releases

For as long as I can remember, independent record stores across the world have celebrated Record Store Day. At first a small initiative to get people to shop at their local record stores, it’s now an excuse for thousands of people to join hours-long queues at record shops across the world to buy one (or several) of the several hundred special releases made for that day that will only ever be sold in stores, and for which pre-orders are not allowed to be taken. As the list of releases has grown, the quality of those releases has diverged. While some of the announced records are long-awaited reissues of rare and important material, others are obvious cash grabs meant to appeal to the completist nature of a certain type of collector. Now, I’ll sort some of these in buckets for you, starting with the most essential and ending with the least essential.

I’ve focused on the U.S. list for this post as this is where we are and will be waiting in line. 
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Film Feature: 2017 Sundance Film Festival Spotlights #2

Our coverage of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival continues with this look at five documentaries that premiered at the Fest a few weeks ago.

Many of these may receive distribution or television deals (if they haven’t already; see our notes below), so you can know what to watch for in the coming year with these handy capsule reviews, which use our patented Sundance Viewing Priority Level (VPL) Guide:

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 10/1/15-10/7/15

Emmylou Harris
She put the “Hardly” in the Hardly Strictly.

It’s a packed week with Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in Golden Gate Park and Alternative Press Expo in San Jose.

Coming up we have concerts by old people, young old people, and very old people who don’t much age. Let’s preview! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 10/1/15-10/7/15”

SF Sketchfest Review: The Watkins Family Hour on 1/26/14

watkins-family-hour

I think, officially, we can all say that SF Sketchfest is more than just a comedy festival. It’s evolved into, more or less, a place where people that create can present their wares with as much or little levity as they so desire. The Watkins Family Hour performance was hardly a straight ahead comedy show. In fact, it was hardly even a straight variety show. Heck, it even lasted 90 minutes, so calling it an hour is, well, a bold faced lie! It was, however, pure entertainment from a crew of some of the most talented people on earth.

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Show Review: Greg Behrendt’s “Bring The Rock”

Pre Mohawk Photo

Spinning Platters is, according to the banner, is a “Community Of Bay Area Music Nerds.” So when I learned of this show at Cobb’s, I got very excited. The premise is comedians telling stories about music, and singing a song relevant to the story with a live band. Of course, this event causes my music nerd soul to glow.
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