Credit: Far Out / jgullo
Mon 31 August 2026 20:15, UK
What is it that makes a good gig, and why is the Grateful Dead often considered one of the best at it in the world?
Let me answer that question by talking about a gig from a different band. Not too long ago, at a tiny venue in Sheffield, I watched punk outfit Maruja play, and they were pretty damn good, as each song was packed with the rage and frustration that a lot of people around the world feel right now, however, the best part of the show came when they opted to improvise for about 15 minutes.
There are a lot of punk bands out there at the moment, and you can understand why, as it’s a popular genre and there is a lot of political and societal content to write about, but those punk messages can overlap and contort when you’re exposed to so many of them. Is a scream really a scream if everyone is doing it?
In that moment during the Maruja gig, when they improvised, it felt like the most punk thing they could have done, offering the most honest representation of society than any of the songs that the band no doubt spent months pining over could, and this is what the Grateful Dead managed to do at every show.
Granted, the two bands have very different sounds, but the sentiments stay the same, as people who went to shows felt connected to the world, to themselves, and to the people around them, as they knew they were experiencing music that would only ever exist within that moment. It’s because there is a magic contained within the couple of hours of a set that sees the Grateful Dead continue to sell millions of live albums, despite the fact that a number of the original line-up are no longer with us. They don’t just put together a list of songs and then blast through them; the whole thing is much more intimate than that.
So, when you pair a band who are arguably the greatest live act on the planet, with what is arguably the greatest live event on the planet, you would think that there is no escaping that you’re en route for one of the greatest sets of your life. That’s most likely what the crowd at Woodstock 1969 thought, as the audience of hippies gathered in the mud waiting for Bob Weir and co to take to the stage.
Those in attendance didn’t just think they were watching bands they liked play live, they thought they were watching the world change before their very eyes, which meant that every set felt like more than music, like a definitive moment in time, one that would line the pages of history books for decades to come. As the Grateful Dead took to the stage, people gathered round and prepared themselves, but there was something wrong.
Further reading: From The Vault
The problem wasn’t the way that the band played but that the sound engineer had opted to change things around during the set, which made their music borderline unlistenable. The Grateful Dead played unpredictable sets, and so by changing the way people heard the sound during the show, that unpredictability turned into chaos. When reflecting on the gig, Weir said that the crowd still seemed to enjoy the show, but the band knew in their hearts that it was one of the worst gigs they ever put on.
“The people were just glad to be entertained, to get their minds off the rain and wind and mud, no matter what was happening,” he said, “Had we played a good set, we probably would have transported them to another reality entirely. Some people made their careers at Woodstock, but we’ve spent about 20 years making up for it [laughs]. It was probably the worst set we’ve ever performed. And to have performed it in front of a crowd that size was not an altogether fulfilling experience.”
