Because you dared dream this might happen one day… Because you went down to the Gypsy Woman and offered up your first-born to try to make it happen… Because there are enough passionate Dead Heads at Rhino/GD who thought it might be cool for this to happen… It’s happening! Coming in September is a gargantuan, beautifully designed EUROPE ’72 MEGA-BOX SET containing ALL 22 SHOWS of what is arguably the greatest tour the Grateful Dead ever played, on a whopping 60+ DISCS (over 70 hours of music!).

My wife and I are both Deadheads. Neither of us gets out to shows as much as we used to now that we have a family, but a few years ago I bought her a Phil and Friends ticket for Christmas. She got to go to the show while I stayed home and watched the kids. I wasn’t up to snuff on the line-up as I’ve paid pretty scant attention to the Dead spin-offs for one reason or another.

The first night started out surprisingly quiet around the Boulder Theater, although the crowd packed in quickly after the opener.

A semi-circle of six acoustic guitars with a microphone in the center shone down on by natural, uncolored stage lights faced the crowd. Show-goers enthusiastically bantered in anticipation and sipped their drinks.

Today dates and the initial line-up for the 2011 Grateful Garcia Gathering were announced.   Artists for 2011 include: THE SCHWAG/DEAD AHEAD w/ MELVIN SEALS of the JERRY GARCIA BAND for two nights featuring guitarist Dave ABear, GERONIMO BLACK featuring two sons of Jimmy Carl Black, Boney Fingers, The Brent Brown Band, The Grass Hoppers, WOOK, One Man Gathers, Tim Olson, and