Editing Grateful Dead (section)

==Live performances==
[[File:Billbongo.jpg|thumb|Grateful Dead members in the early 1980s: Brent Mydland, Bob Weir, and Jerry Garcia watch Bill Kreutzmann play the drums. Not pictured: Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart.]]
[[File:Grateful Dead tickets for Nassau Coliseum run, Spring 1994.jpg|thumb|[[Mail order|Mail-ordered]] Grateful Dead concert tickets for their concerts at [[Nassau Coliseum]] on [[Long Island]] in March 1994]]
The Grateful Dead toured constantly throughout their career, playing more than 2,300 concerts.<ref>Deadbase Online Search, ver 1.10</ref> They promoted a sense of community among their fans, who became known as "[[Deadhead]]s", many of whom followed their tours for months or years on end. Around concert venues, an impromptu communal marketplace known as '[[Shakedown Street (vending area)|Shakedown Street]]' was created by Deadheads to serve as centers of activity where fans could buy and sell anything from grilled cheese sandwiches to home-made t-shirts and recordings of Grateful Dead concerts.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bienenstock |first1=David |title=Deadheads Forever Changed the Way We Eat |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/deadheads-forever-changed-the-way-we-eat/ |website=Vice |access-date=July 13, 2019 |date=January 28, 2015}}</ref>

In their early career, the band also dedicated their time and talents to their community, the Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco, making available free food, lodging, music, and health care to all. It has been said that the band performed "more free concerts than any band in the history of music".<ref>Garofalo, p. 219, quote in Garofalo, cited to Roxon, ''Lillian Roxon's Rock Encyclopedia''.</ref>

With the exception of 1975, when the band was on hiatus and played only four concerts, Grateful Dead performed many concerts every year, from their formation in April 1965, until July 9, 1995.<ref>Scott, Dolgushkin, Nixon, ''Deadbase X'', {{ISBN|1-877657-21-2}}{{page needed|date=August 2019}}</ref> Initially all their shows were in California, principally in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] and in or near [[Los Angeles]]. They also performed, in 1965 and 1966, with [[Merry Pranksters|Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters]], as the house band for the [[Acid Tests]]. 

In 1967, they toured nationally, including their first performance in [[New York City]]. They appeared at the [[Monterey Pop Festival]] in 1967, the [[Woodstock Festival]] in 1969 and the [[Festival Express]] train tour across Canada in 1970. They were scheduled to appear as the final act at the infamous [[Altamont Free Concert]] on December 6, 1969, after the [[Rolling Stones]] but withdrew after security concerns. "That's the way things went at Altamont—so badly that the Grateful Dead, prime organizers and movers of the festival, didn't even get to play", staff at ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine wrote in a detailed narrative on the event.<ref name=rrwd>{{cite magazine|title=Disaster at Altamont: Let It Bleed|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=January 21, 1970|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-rolling-stones-disaster-at-altamont-let-it-bleed-19700121?page=12|access-date=March 18, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325142007/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-rolling-stones-disaster-at-altamont-let-it-bleed-19700121?page=12|archive-date=March 25, 2016}}</ref>

Their first UK performance was at the [[Hollywood music festival|Hollywood Music Festival]] in 1970. Their largest concert audience came in 1973 when they played, along with [[the Allman Brothers Band]] and [[the Band]], before an estimated 600,000 people at the [[Summer Jam at Watkins Glen]].<ref>McNally, Dennis, "A Long Strange Trip", New York 2002, pp. 455–58. {{ISBN|0-7679-1185-7}}</ref> They played to an estimated total of 25&nbsp;million people, more than any other band, with audiences of up to 80,000 attending a single show. Many of these concerts were preserved in the band's tape vault, and several dozen have since been released on CD and as downloads. The Dead were known for the tremendous variation in their setlists from night to night—the list of songs documented to have been played by the band exceeds 500.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://deadlists.com/|title=deadlists home page|publisher=Deadlists.com|access-date=July 16, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040831204937/http://www.deadlists.com/|archive-date=August 31, 2004}}</ref> The band has released four concert videos under the name ''[[View from the Vault]]''. In 1978, they played three nights at the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] in [[Egypt]]. 

In the 1990s, the Grateful Dead earned a total of $285&nbsp;million in revenue from their concert tours, the second-highest during the 1990s, with the Rolling Stones earning the most.<ref name="Waddell">{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OhAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA18|title=The Dead Still Live for the Road|author=Waddell, Ray|magazine=Billboard|date=July 2004|volume=116|issue=27|page=18|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506170940/https://books.google.com/books?id=OhAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA18|archive-date=May 6, 2016}} {{ISSN|0006-2510}}</ref> This figure is representative of tour revenue through 1995, as touring stopped after the death of Jerry Garcia.<ref name="Waddell"/> 

In a 1991 [[PBS]] documentary, segment host Buck Henry attended an August 1991 concert at Shoreline Amphitheatre and gleaned some information from some band members about the Grateful Dead phenomenon and its success.<ref name="Henry 1991">[[Buck Henry|Henry, Buck]] (October 1991). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVh0X6DYxoM "Buck meets the Grateful Dead"]. Edge ([[PBS]]). Season 1, episode 1. Accessed September 9, 2018.</ref> At the time, Jerry Garcia stated, "We didn't really invent the Grateful Dead, the crowd invented the Grateful Dead, you know what I mean? We were sort of standing in line, and uh, it's gone way past our expectations, way past, so it's, we've been going along with it to see what it's gonna do next."<ref name="Henry 1991"/> Mickey Hart said, "This is one of the last places in America that you can really have this kind of fun, you know, considering the political climate and so forth."<ref name="Henry 1991"/> Hart also stated that "the transformative power of the Grateful Dead is really the essence of it; it's what it can do to your consciousness. We're more into ''transportation'' than we are into music, ''per se'', I mean, the business of the Grateful Dead is transportation."<ref name="Henry 1991"/> One of the band's largest concerts took place just months before Garcia's death — at their outdoor show with Bob Dylan in [[Highgate, Vermont]], on June 15, 1995. The crowd was estimated to be over 90,000; overnight camping was allowed and about a third of the audience got in without having purchased a ticket.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hallenbeck |first1=Brent |title=VT security firm now ubiquitous |url=https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/money/2015/02/26/grateful-dead-phish-security-firm-turns/24009819/ |access-date=July 1, 2020 |work=Burlington Free Press |date=February 26, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Novack |first1=Jay |title=June 15 - Franklin County Airport - Highgate, VT |journal=Unbroken Chain |date=Fall 1995 |volume=October / November / December 1995 |issue=53 |page=21 |url=https://gdsets.com/magazines/uc53.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200701234017/https://gdsets.com/magazines/uc53.pdf |archive-date=July 1, 2020 |url-status=live |access-date=July 1, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=LIFE The Grateful Dead - The Long Strange Trip of the World's Greatest Jam Band |date=August 16, 2019 |publisher=Time Home Entertainment |location=Essay by Patrick Leahy |isbn=978-1547852055 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kYOqDwAAQBAJ&q=highgate+vermont+largest+grateful+dead+concerts&pg=PT163 |access-date=July 1, 2020}}</ref>

Their numerous studio albums were generally collections of new songs that they had first played in concert. The band was also famous for its extended musical improvisations, having been described as having never played the same song the same way twice. Their concert sets often blended songs, one into the next, often for more than three songs at a time.

===Concert sound systems===
The [[Wall of Sound (Grateful Dead)|Wall of Sound]] was a large sound system designed specifically for the band.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pechner.smugmug.com/gallery/2383161|title=Pechner Productions- powered by SmugMug|publisher=Pechner.smugmug.com|access-date=July 16, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091125144654/http://www.pechner.smugmug.com/gallery/2383161|archive-date=November 25, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alembic.com/family/history.html|title=Alembic History&nbsp;– Long Version|publisher=Alembic.com|date=August 22, 2001|access-date=July 16, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110712132709/http://alembic.com/family/history.html|archive-date=July 12, 2011}}</ref> The band was never satisfied with the house system anywhere they played. After the Monterey Pop Festival, the band's crew 'borrowed' some of the other performers' sound equipment and used it to host some free shows in San Francisco.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/01/may-june-1967-grateful-dead-itinerary.html|title=May–June 1967 Grateful Dead Itinerary Overview|publisher=lostlivedead.blogspot.com|date=January 1, 2010|access-date=October 16, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919184758/http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/01/may-june-1967-grateful-dead-itinerary.html|archive-date=September 19, 2011}}</ref> In their early days, soundman [[Owsley Stanley|Owsley "Bear" Stanley]] designed a [[public address]] (PA) and monitor system for them. Stanley was the Grateful Dead's soundman for many years; he was also one of the largest suppliers of [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD]].<ref>McNally, Dennis, "A Long Strange Trip", New York 2002, pp. 118–19. {{ISBN|0-7679-1185-7}} and Brightman, Carol, "Sweet Chaos", New York 1998, pp. 100–04. {{ISBN|0-671-01117-0}}</ref> 

Stanley's sound systems were delicate and finicky, and frequently brought shows to a halt with technical breakdowns. After Stanley went to jail for manufacturing LSD in 1970, the group briefly used house PAs, but found them to be even less reliable than those built by their former soundman. On February 2, 1970, the group contacted [[Bob Heil]] to use his system.<ref name="performing">{{cite news|url=http://www.performing-musician.com/pm/dec08/articles/bobheil.htm?print=yes#top|title=The Night that Modern Live Sound Was Born: Bob Heil and the Grateful Dead|last=Daley|first=Dan|date=December 2008|publisher=Performing Musician|access-date=May 7, 2011|archive-date=October 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005221916/http://www.performing-musician.com/pm/dec08/articles/bobheil.htm?print=yes#top|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1971, the band purchased their first [[solid state (electronics)|solid-state]] sound system from [[Pacific High Recording|Alembic Studios]]. Because of this, [[Alembic Inc|Alembic]] would play an integral role in the research, development, and production of the Wall of Sound. The band also welcomed [[Dan Healy (soundman)|Dan Healy]] into the fold on a permanent basis that year. Healy would mix the Grateful Dead's live sound until 1993.

Following Jerry Garcia's death and the band's breakup in 1995, their current sound system was inherited by [[Dave Matthews Band]]. Dave Matthews Band debuted the sound system April 30, 1996, at the first show of their 1996 tour in Richmond, Virginia.

===Tapes===
Like several other bands at the time, the Grateful Dead allowed their fans to record their shows. For many years the [[Taper (concert)|tapers]] set up their microphones wherever they could, and the eventual forest of microphones became a problem for the sound crew. Eventually, this was solved by having a dedicated taping section located behind the soundboard, which required a special "tapers" ticket. The band allowed sharing of their shows, as long as no profits were made on the sale of the tapes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead|title=Internet Archive: Grateful Dead|access-date=July 16, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719012925/http://www.archive.org/details/GratefulDead|archive-date=July 19, 2011}}</ref>

Of the approximately 2,350 shows the Grateful Dead played, almost 2,200 were taped, and most of these are available online.<ref>{{cite news|author=Ratliff, Ben|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/arts/music/12ratl.html|title=Bring Out Your Dead|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=April 10, 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160521041217/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/arts/music/12ratl.html|archive-date=May 21, 2016}}</ref> The band began collecting and cataloging tapes early on and [[Dick Latvala]] was their keeper. "[[Dick's Picks]]" is named after Latvala. After his death in 1999, [[David Lemieux (archivist)|David Lemieux]] gradually took the post. Concert set lists from a subset of 1,590 Grateful Dead shows were used to perform a comparative analysis between how songs were played in concert and how they are listened online by [[Last.fm]] members.<ref>{{cite news|author1=Rodriguez, Marko |author2=Gintautas, Vadas |author3=Pepe, Alberto|url=http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2273/2064|title=A Grateful Dead Analysis: The Relationship Between Concert and Listening Behavior|work=[[First Monday (journal)|First Monday]]|date=January 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202170336/http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2273/2064|archive-date=December 2, 2010}}</ref> In their book ''Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn From the Most Iconic Band in History'',<ref>{{cite book|isbn=978-0-470-90052-9|title=Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn From the Most Iconic Band in History|author1=Scott, David Meerman |author2=Hlligan, Brian|date=August 2, 2010|publisher=John Wiley & Sons }}</ref> [[David Meerman Scott]] and [[Brian Halligan]] identify the taper section as a crucial contributor to increasing the Grateful Dead's fan base.