Grateful brings Treasure Valley the legacy and energy of a Grateful Dead show with their tribute concert that will be held at Caldwell’s Indian Creek Plaza this Friday evening, October 9, 2020. As a band, Grateful tends to emulate the Grateful Dead, not doing carbon-copies of songs but instead embracing the free-form style that made the Grateful Dead such a joy to see over and over. Sean Hatton, who brings the persona of guitarist and singer Bob Weir to life, explained what ischallenging about trying to recreate a Grateful Dead show. “For me, the instrumental improve jams; matching the foresight and cohesiveness of a band- that has played 250+ shows a year for nearly 30 years- is challenging. Big ears come in handy, as does a lot of trust, and maybe some luck. In the end, it’s probably my favorite part of this gig. There’s a freedom to it that you don’t exactly experience in most music circles”.
The Grateful show will represent several decades of tunes from this iconic group. Bernie Reilly heads an all-star lineup of local musicians as Jerry Garcia (lead guitar, vocals) Sean Hatton as Bob Weir (guitar/vocals), Louis McFarland as Bill Kreutzman (drums), Christine Thomas as Donna Godcheaux (vocals), Tomas Paul as Keith/Brent/Vince (keyboards), Bob Nagel as Phil Lesh (bass) and Jason Grazian as Mickey Hart (percussion). Enhancing the feeling that “there is nothing like a Grateful Dead show” will be a full sound system, light show and lighting by CP Audio. Following other standout performances at the Olympic Venue and Visual Arts Collective, the recent Idaho Botanic Gardens show in Boise sold out in less than 24 hours. As Grateful brings Treasure Valley the music of the Grateful Dead this event will yet again give a everyone a chance to step out and start enjoying life and music.
Sean explained that Indian Creek Plaza provided a wonderful venue for the show, saying “What better time of year to play than on a mild fall evening? There’s a mood to the night air, and the venue itself is as wide open as the stage is deep. This should allow for some extra volume, energy, and some of those long jam sections I just mentioned”. In addition to the stage area itself, Shakedown Street will include food trucks such as Wok and Roll and Walking Sombrero Tacos. Beer, wine and canned spirits (for those 21+) will be available for purchase from Indian Creek Plaza.
This show promises to be an extraordinarily timely event, given what is going on in our neighborhood and our world now. The Grateful Dead started playing in the 60s. In 2020, Grateful in Boise is still doing shows that embrace the music and its timeless sound. When asked what he felt about all of this, Sean answered, “It’s a Hell of a thing, what we’re going through as a community, a nation, a world. I imagine that there are a lot of people who could use a little time outside in the crisp Fall air, dancing to music in a safe, well spaced venue with good people. Music always seems to promote a healthy Body, mind, and community. We’ve partnered with a venue and a promoter we believe can help manage a safe environment. We play music. This is where we want to be… playing to people”.
Of course, one of the trademarks of a Grateful Dead show was that musically you never knew what to expect. No pre-planned set lists, guaranteed “top hits” playing or short copies of songs. Sean explained how Grateful follows the GD philosophy, saying “The GD always had a fresh roster of tunes. Likely because they had hoards of people moving from show to show with them over the course of 1-2-3 months. They’d also have these blocks of 4-10 Nights in a row at one venue. The fans would be treated to something new each night. Makes a lot of sense from that angle. I’m guessing that it kept the band interested as well. We don’t play the same show twice and we don’t ply the same song on back to back performances… because it’s worth pursuing that same philosophy. It’s challenging and it does keep us interested. Some of these tunes are deep and require some additional investment. They can be really weird tunes… almost alike they were written on drugs! Sometimes I even have to relearn the same song a few times. There’s just so damn many of them!”
In a sense, though, that is why so many people went to 40, 100 or more Grateful Dead shows. Sure, you go to a few and you’re likely to hear Ripple, Casey Jones, Touch of Grey and Truckin’, but only the most dedicated Deadheads might be lucky enough to hear some of the tunes that the Dead may have performed only a few times live, or ones that they were trying out from solo albums to see what they thought. Sean explained, “Our goal has been to keep things as authentic as possible. We don’t take a great deal of liberty with arrangements or song orders. The Dead have miles of shows to research and as most deadheads know there’s a bit of math in their format; some songs tend to stick together, some songs are first set only, some songs are openers and closers. We try to use that same math when building our set for a show. I like to think it’s more important for us to ask ourselves “what would they do”, than “what do we want to do”. There are a few Bob tunes I wasn’t particularly fond of- and a bit reluctant to play- and still plugged them in, out of respect for that measure. Those same tunes are now some of my favorites to explore”.
Sean put into words the basic philosophy behind the creation of Grateful. He summed things up by saying, “We do what we can to give people a chance to hear and experience the GD music in a way that provides some nostalgia. These roles are really just a conduit to performing as close to authentic as possible. We do our best to recreate that feeling and we have fun doing it. There’s no impersonating the characters… they’re impossible to replace. We’re just doing our part to share the memory”.
Grateful brings Treasure Valley a rare chance to enjoy a wonderful evening of music, friendship and fun. Come to Caldwell for a night under the stars.
Grateful
Indian Creek Plaza
Arthur St. And S. 7th Ave.
Caldwell, ID 83605
Gates open 6pm // 7-10pm show
Tickets: All Ages VIP $50/eaGA $25/ea Day of Show OR only $20/ea in advance online (plus tax)
Website Grateful Tribute Band
Website Indian Creek Plaza
