HEART OF GOLD BAND: GD 50

Twenty five years ago, the Grateful Dead rang in the New Years from Oakland Coliseum Arena in fine style. The band is coming off a fall tour which some see as the best tour of the decade. This New Years run picks on this energy and runs with it. The fall tour and this run also saw Garcia do something that he hadn't done in 10 years, he came to stage with a guitar other than the Tiger. Jerry started playing the Tiger on August 4th, 1979 and played it exclusively till the fall of 89. The supped up Wolf made sporadic appearance starting on Bobby's birthday, which would later be released as "Nightfall of Diamonds." The night beforehand Jerry played the Wolf but then went back to old reliable for New Years. Download the SBD of this New Year show HERE.

Bob Weir comes to the microphone after New Years to joke, "I hear this is the start of a new Dick-aid, I mean decade." A collective grown lets out as the drummer play him a clap. As most are aware, 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead and also the 20th anniversary of the loss of Jerry Garcia. The fans have been impatiently pointing fingers at the core four to put their differences aside and dust off those rusty strings one more time. Rumors have been bouncing around but nothing has been confirmed, except from Phil who has put together Grateful Dead retrospectives at Terrapin Crossroads. He is planning to play Grateful Dead material from a designated year for each different night. A cool concept but what about the other three original members. Well last night's season greeting from Mickey Hart might have shed some light on the rumors that have bounced around. In his statement Mickey wrote, "The bird gave me the word. 2015 will be even better. Our long strange trip continues."All DeadHead's know "Bird Song" was written for Janis Joplin, and in the years since Jerry passed, it was common for them to sing "All I know HE sang a little while than flew off." Is Jerry that Bird, metaphorically speaking. We'll be waiting. We'll be ready to fly off.