THE GRATEFUL Dead's music "touches on ground that most other groups don't even know exists," said Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye; while Allmusic.com called them, "the ultimate cult band, creating a self-styled universe all their own".
That three-decade adventure, which began in Palo Alto, California in 1965, will be told in Long Strange Trip: The Untold Story Of The Grateful Dead, directed by Amir Bar-Lev. It receives its Irish premiere in Monroe's Live on Friday July 14 at 6pm in Monroe’s Live as part of the Galway Film Fleadh.
Famously averse to publicity and seemingly incapable of recording radio-friendly hits, they flouted music industry convention by giving their live music away to a global network of tape traders and becoming the highest-grossing concert act in America through word of mouth alone.
Long Strange Trip features never-before-seen interviews, footage, and photos; includes unguarded offstage moments; and boasts a soundtrack capturing some of the band’s most dynamic live performances, and is an inspiring tale of unfettered artistic expression, and an incisive history of 20th-century counterculture.
Speaking ahead of the screening, Amir Bar-Lev, said: "So often when we talk about the counterculture or the 1960s, we veer into nostalgia or worse, snark. Yet, I feel the Dead’s story is more vital now than ever. What the Dead and the Deadheads did; we could do today. To paraphrase Jerry Garcia, when he talks about slipping acid into coffee at the Playboy Channel show, it would “turn an artificial party into an authentic one".
There will be a Bushmills Whiskey reception, complimentary finger food at the interval, and a Q&A with director Amir Bar-Lev. Tickets are via www.galwayfilmfleadh.com #FilmFleadh
