It is great to see the band returning to the Rosemont Horizon, now known as All State Arena, and the Chicago area, a place filled with loads and loads of wonderful Grateful Dead concerts from 1968 to the very final Grateful Dead show, on 7/9/95 at Soldier Field.

The first time the Grateful Dead visited Illinois was in November, 1968, when they’d played the Kinetic Playground for two nights (with Procol Harum), a venue to which they’d return two months late for two more shows. From November 1970 to October 1971, the band performed six shows in Chicago on four separate visits, two each to The Syndrome and the Auditorium Theatre. A couple of these concerts, 8/23&24/71 have been released on CD as Dick’s Picks Vol. 35 (aka The Houseboat Tapes) and Road Trips Vol. 1 No. 3, both releases worth checking out if you like that stripped down one drummer Grateful Dead. With Pigpen beginning to feel a little under the weather, those concerts featured really more of a quartet, with occasional organ, vocal and harmonica contributions by Pigpen. The concert on 8/24/71 featured the first of two live versions of Pigpen’s Empty Pages, included on DP 35. The Dead would return to the Auditorium Theatre in 1976 during the comeback tour, and 1977 for two shows on the magnificent April-May 1977 tour.

In 1978, the Grateful Dead moved on from the Auditorium Theatre, performing at the Uptown Theatre on the three separate occasions in 1978 for a total of eight shows. They’d also play six more shows there in 1980 and 1981, three per year. Other venues in Chicago worth noting in regards to the Grateful Dead’s history there include UIC Pavillion, where they played three great shows in 1987, the International Amphitheatre (site of shows in 1973 and 1974) and Solider Field, site of nine Grateful Dead shows from 1991-1995. The title track from the So Many Roads boxed set was recorded at Soldier field at the very last Grateful Dead show. The site of these shows on The Dead’s current tour was also the home of 13 Grateful Dead shows from 1981 to 1994, and was pretty much the band’s indoor home in Chicago starting in 1981. Brent Mydland’s final concerts too place in the town of Tinley Park just outside of Chicago, at the World Music Theatre in July 1990. Just days later, Bret was gone. Also worthy of honourable mention is a venue not in Chicago, but also not too far, and that’s Assembly Hall in Champaign-Urbana Illinois. I only mention it because two outstanding Grateful Dead shows took place there in February 1973 (and a pretty good show in December 1981).

Musically, there was plenty of great material played by the Grateful Dead in Chicago. The second show at the Electric Theatre in 1969, on 4/26/69, was included on Dick’s Picks Vol. 26 (coupled with the excellent show the next night in Minneapolis). The show on 7/25/74 featured a distinct Slipknot! jam coming out of Dark Star, the second such stand-alone attempt at Slipknot, and the last time it would be played on its own before being joined with Help On The Way and Franklin’s Tower in 1975. The three show in January-February, 1978 were incredibly tight and were closer in their energy and format to the 1977 sound than they were to the 1978 sound that was more distinctly formed in April, 1978. The Soldier Field show on 6/22/91 was one of the finest shows from a very, very good year of Grateful Dead performances, and features a terrific opening sequence of Hell In A Bucket, Shakedown Street, Wang Dang Doodle. That’s some music certainly worth seeking out.

The late-add of the second night in Chicago on the current tour by The Dead is definitely a welcome addition. It just didn’t seem one night would be enough to pack in what we expect will be so much great music in such a great city.

We'll update this page shortly after the show with the setlist and to recap each performance by The Dead as it relates to the context of the Grateful Dead's history at this venue or city.