The Grateful Dead is wrapping its storied half-century of concerts this weekend in Chicago Soldier Field, which was the last place legendary guitarist Jerry Garcia played with the band before his death in 1995. The venue, is hosting the final three shows of the short “Fare Thee Well” tour. The remaining core members — rhythm guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh and percussionists Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann — say it will be the last of their shows. The lakefront stadium no doubt will be a sea of tie-dyed shirts, and the sounds of bootleg concert tapes will fill the air in the parking lots. Certainly, there’ll be young people who never saw Garcia play among the tens of thousands of fans, but they’ll likely be outnumbered by Deadheads who display more than a touch of grey.
Many of those who followed the band around decades ago — and can recite the exact number of shows they’ve seen
