{"id":395374,"date":"2026-07-12T05:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T05:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/395374\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T05:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T05:09:11","slug":"grahame-lesh-to-play-free-ggp-concert-as-grateful-dead-exhibition-opens-in-sf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/395374\/","title":{"rendered":"Grahame Lesh to play free GGP concert as Grateful Dead exhibition opens in SF"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"527\" height=\"351\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1-527x351.png\" class=\"attachment-csco-thumbnail-uncropped size-csco-thumbnail-uncropped wp-post-image\" alt=\"The Magic Bus, Ken Kesey, Grateful Dead, Merry Band of Pranksters\" decoding=\"async\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1044\" height=\"696\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1-1044x696.png\" class=\"attachment-csco-large-uncropped size-csco-large-uncropped wp-post-image\" alt=\"The Magic Bus, Ken Kesey, Grateful Dead, Merry Band of Pranksters\" decoding=\"async\"  \/>\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8220;The Magic Bus,&#8221; also known as &#8220;Further,&#8221; as it was called by counterculture novelist Ken Kesey. The bus was used to carry Kesey and his Merry Band of Pranksters. Photo by Joe McNally\/Getty Images.\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-129782\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1-1024x683.png\" alt=\"The Magic Bus, Ken Kesey, Grateful Dead, Merry Band of Pranksters\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"  \/>\u201cThe Magic Bus,\u201d also known as \u201cFurther,\u201d as it was called by counterculture novelist Ken Kesey. The bus was used to carry Kesey and his Merry Band of Pranksters. Photo by Joe McNally\/Getty Images.<\/p>\n<p>A new immersive exhibition celebrating the Grateful Dead\u2019s legacy will open Sept. 5 in San Francisco\u2019s Golden Gate Park, culminating with a free Labor Day weekend concert by Grahame Lesh and Friends.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cForever Grateful, Golden Gate Park\u201d \u2014 what the city is calling this exhibition \u2014 will transform the County Fair Building into a multimedia experience exploring the music, art and community that helped define the Grateful Dead\u2019s place in San Francisco history. The exhibition runs through Oct. 25.<\/p>\n<p>Created by the Haight Street Art Center in partnership with Third Rail Projects and the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, the exhibition will feature large-scale projections, interactive installations, original artwork, memorabilia and live performers. Highlights include Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters\u2019 iconic Furthur bus and Jerry Garcia\u2019s BMW.<\/p>\n<p>Opening weekend concludes Sept. 7 with a free performance by Grahame Lesh and Friends from 2 to 6 p.m. at Robin Williams Meadow. Lesh is the son of late Grateful Dead bassist <a href=\"https:\/\/riffmagazine.com\/news\/obituary-grateful-dead-phil-lesh-dead-at-84\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Phil Lesh<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMusic is for everyone, and I am honored to celebrate the band\u2019s legacy and history in San Francisco \u2014 in Golden Gate Park \u2014 with all of you, the wonderful Deadhead community!\u201d Lesh said in a written statement.<\/p>\n<p>The new attraction expands on Forever Grateful, an exhibition currently on display at the Haight Street Art Center through Sept. 20 featuring more than 400 paintings, photographs, instruments, posters, vinyl records and other Grateful Dead artifacts spanning the band\u2019s 1965-\u201995 career.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets for Forever Grateful, Golden Gate Park are on sale now through the Haight Street Art Center and <a href=\"https:\/\/haightstreetart.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external noreferrer nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">online<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The exhibition is one of several Grateful-Dead-related events coming to the Bay Area this summer. On July 31 and Aug. 1, the Greek in Berkeley will host The Music Never Stops: A Rex Foundation Benefit and Tribute to <a href=\"https:\/\/riffmagazine.com\/news\/san-francisco-celebrates-bobby-weir-20260117\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bob Weir<\/a>, a two-night benefit featuring Dark Star Orchestra. Timed to coincide with Jerry Garcia\u2019s Aug. 1 birthday and the annual \u201cDays Between\u201d celebration of his life and legacy, the event will raise money for the Rex Foundation, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rexfoundation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external noreferrer nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">charitable organization<\/a> founded by members of the Grateful Dead in 1983.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets for the Dark Star Orchestra shows are available through the band\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.darkstarorchestra.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external noreferrer nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>        About The Author<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/riffmagazine.com\/author\/staff-report\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/test-2-150x150.png\"  class=\"avatar avatar-150 photo\" height=\"150\" width=\"150\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"m-a-box-avatar-url\" href=\"\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/test-2-150x150.png\"  class=\"avatar avatar-150 photo\" height=\"150\" width=\"150\" itemprop=\"image\"\/><\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#8220;The Magic Bus,&#8221; also known as &#8220;Further,&#8221; as it was called by counterculture novelist Ken Kesey. The bus&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[86133,38728,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-395374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-grahame-lesh","tag-grateful-dead","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}