The Final Tour
Photographing the Grateful Dead collaboration designed by Mike Gracie for Rowing Blazers at the infamous Barton Hall.
For some reason, it seems to surprise people that I love the Grateful Dead. Perhaps judging by the lack of tie dye in my every day wardrobe, my tidy haircut and clean shave, they wrongfully assume that I’m not a Dead Head. They aren’t totally wrong though - until this spring, I had never been to a Grateful Dead (or member’s side project) show, instead delving deep into their prolific live performance history via archival recordings for most of my adult life.
All that changed when I heard Rowing Blazers were working on a collection in collaboration with the band and a plan began to take shape to photograph the pieces on location at the Dead and Company tour this spring. Serendipitously, timelines aligned for us to shoot at the May 8th show at Cornell University - a natural fit for Rowing Blazers’ ivy-inspired roots.
The shoot unfolded as anything associated with The Dead should - it was as improvisational as they come, with a small group of key players reacting to the scene and crowd. Literally - we street cast audience members as they were headed into historic Barton Hall as the doors began to open for the concert commemorating the infamous show there 46 years earlier.
I’ll let the images speak for themselves, but I have compiled some choice tracks from one of my all time favorite bands to soundtrack your viewing. That show gave me the bug, and thankfully it wasn’t too late to catch them again - hopefully I’ll see you on Sunday at the last show here in San Francisco.