Skull and Roses is a celebration of community, a community generated by the music of the Grateful Dead. Our music.
Somebody asked Uncle John what being a Dead Head was all about. He smiled and said, “When you want to be fully alive, an individual but also tied at the heart within a rich, vibrant family, somebody who wants to have a lot of fun and probably dance, too – then you’re a Dead Head.”
Come on along or go alone, then find your way home to Skull and Roses at the Ventura County Fairgrounds April 6, 7, & 8, 2018.
Snuggled up to the blue Pacific Ocean in that funky bowl full of memories that many thousand Dead Heads can still feel, taste, and remember, there’s going to be a veritable Grateful Dead garden.
The music will run from Friday through Sunday, with various bands presenting a wide set of interpretations of Grateful Dead music. The headliners —unique for such a situation—will play full shows on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. Performances will not overlap.
Headliners:
The Golden Gate Wingmen (John Kadlecik (Furthur, Dark Star Orchestra), Jeff Chimenti (RatDog, Dead & Co.), Reed Mathis (Tea Leaf Green, Billy and the Kids) Jay Lane (RatDog).
Stu Allen (Phil Lesh, JGB) and Mars Hotel. (Veterans of Jerry Day in San Francisco)
Melvin Seals and JGB (15 years with the man himself).
Cubensis (Los Angeles’s own, legendary Dead interpreters with 4,000 shows under their belt.)
Also: Moonalice (John Molo, Barry Sless, Pete Sears, Roger McNamee), David Gans (the solo + electronica approach to the canon), Roosevelt Collier (a brilliant sacred steel player ripping up Dead music), Shred is Dead (Jerry Garcia meets Jimmy Page & such), Alligators (because a Dead festival without Pigpen would not be right), Grateful Bluegrass Boys (their form taken from Jerry’s own musical history), Shaky Feelin’ (young Jam Band approach to Dead music), Jerry’s Middle Finger (honoring the Jerry Garcia Band).
Tickets will be available in three phases: Early Bird: beginning today and running through January 29 -- $69 for a three day camping & music pass. Outrageous Deal! – 50% off. January 30 – February 26: On Sale One: $83.97, 40% off. On Sale Two: February 27 to April 2: $97.97, 30% off. At the Door: $139.95. There will also be one and two-day tickets in varying permutations.
RVs will be welcome, but there will be no RV power hookups – camping will be as it was with the Grateful Dead.
The “Shakedown Street” market will be represented in ways you never dreamed of – clothing, mind-body-spirit, artisan goods, and memorabilia will be available. There will also be vending from cars and blankets in the campground. The Food Court will feature many cuisines; we promise that your stomach and taste buds will be happy. Adult beverages, too.
The music of the Grateful Dead wasn’t just assorted songs – it became a full, detailed language, one that musicians can speak and Dead Heads can dance to. It was so fertile that it generated an entire subculture, one that shows no signs of flagging. The question before us is how the language will carry on into the next generation. Skull and Roses will present the language largely in the day time, in the rhythm of the earth that is the bowl at Ventura.
The spirit of the Grateful Dead doesn’t just endure; it thrives. And in April it will blossom.
