It dawned on me half a year before I boarded a plane to Chicago for the final three Dead shows. The King Sooper’s (Western Union) teller laughed when I told him why I needed seven money orders to purchase, potentially, just three tickets. “So there are different price points for various seating levels.

They were all there. All of the things that make a show great.  Not just the music but the people, the atmosphere, the place, the time. It’s a unique time to be taking part in Musical history. Electronic music rules the club, the theater, TV and everywhere in between.  The era of the D.J. I’ve heard it called. However there is another group of people. Not rebelling against culture, not fighting the times, simply being different for difference sake.

As the years accumulate since the passing of American music icon Jerry Garcia, performance recordings long lost have continued to reemerge. The guitarist, singer and songwriter’s roots were deeper than his rock ‘n’ roll project Grateful Dead. He was known and respected in Palo Alto, California as a folk guru who played regularly with the best of the local scene.

For a band that excels in the live music setting, Umphrey’s McGee have not really released a whole lot of live material in the past, at least not when compared to a lot of their jamband counterparts.  Outside of Live at the Murat and a few Hall of Fame releases, most of their official projects have come out of the studio lately.  Now with the band working to spotlight their standalone streaming platform on the UMLive App released less than a year ago, the demand for live performances has become greater than ever before.