The Grateful Dead - by the photographer who immortalised them

It is 30 years since their talismanic lead guitarist Jerry Garcia died but the kings of countercultural music live on - as documented in Jay Blakesberg's spellbinding new book

Dead & Company was formed by surviving members Bob Weir, centre, Micky Hart, back right, and Bill Kreutzmann, back left, and included John Mayer, left, and musicians Oteil Burbridge, right, and Jeff Chimenti, not pictured. Photo Courtesy: Jay Blakesberg

John Mayer, left, and Bob Weir of Dead & Company. Photo Courtesy: Jay Blakesberg

Dead & Company at Playing in the Sand in Riviera Cancun, Mexico, on January 17, 2023. Photo Courtesy: Jay Blakesberg

Dead & Company in full flight. Photo Courtesy: Jay Blakesberg

Grateful Dead fans, or Deadheads, dance during a Dead & Company concert. Photo Courtesy: Jay Blakesberg

Drummers Micky Hart, left, and Bill Kreutzmann. Photo Courtesy: Jay Blakesberg

Dead & Company in action. Photo Courtesy: Jay Blakesberg

Fans pack Oracle Park in San Francisco to see Dead & Company. Photo Courtesy: Jay Blakesberg

A woman dances during a Dead & Company concert. Photo Courtesy: Jay Blakesberg

Dead & Company take a bow before adoring fans. Photo: Jay Blakesberg

Few bands have a history as storied as the Grateful Dead, whose exploits at times verge on the quasi-mythological.

Founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1965, the American band rose to fame during the apex of the hippie movement, blending a wide range of musical influences to create their own improvisational style and becoming the poster children for the counterculture movement cultivated along the streets of Haight-Ashbury.

Now, almost 30 years after guitarist and songwriter Jerry Garcia's death, the Grateful Dead are bigger than ever as the band. Their offshoot, Dead & Company, recently finished a summer residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas after an eight-year tour where they packed stadiums and arenas around the US.

Dead & Company's touring years were captured by legendary rock and roll photographer Jay Blakesberg, whose book on the band, Dead & Company: Rainbow Full of Sound, was released last week and available on Blakesberg's website.

The book features more than 400 photos from 2018 to 2023, capturing the energy of this new offshoot after the band performed their last gig as the Grateful Dead in 2015.

“I just wanted to kind of celebrate and document those eight years that were a lot of fun for a lot of people who reconnected with this music,” Blakesberg told The National.

Blakesberg has worked with artists including the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Nirvana, U2, Joni Mitchell and countless others since he first picked up a camera. But the legendary rock and roll photographer is best known for his work with the Grateful Dead, whose journey he has documented through his lens since the Grateful Dead performed at Giants Stadium in New York in 1978.

Asked why he chose Rainbow Full of Sound as the book's title, Blakesberg said he drew inspiration from the song The Music Never Stopped, the lyrics of which refer to “fireworks, calliopes and clowns” as throngs of people dance to the music.

“That's the Grateful Dead experience, right? You know, we're all just clowns and it really is just dancing, right?” he said.

That energy stems from the group's legions of fans, known as Deadheads, known for criss-crossing the country to watch any of the band's about 2,300 concerts.

“The improvisational aspect of Dead & Co or the Grateful Dead takes the fans on a different kind of journey that they're able to give back to the band with a different kind of energy that that involves dance and swirl and psychedelics,” Blakesberg said.

The band are set to be honoured as the 2025 MusiCares Persons of the Year in January for transcending music by fostering their community of fans and engaging in a wide range of philanthropic efforts, ranging from social justice to environmental conservation to mental health.

The ceremony will coincide with the band's 60th anniversary.

It's a remarkable experience for the Dead, whose story is equally about grieving as it is about dancing. The band and its fans suffered tremendous loss this year with the death of Phil Lesh, one of the band's founding members.

“I think that it really hit everybody really hard, that this band … are mortal creatures, and that they will not live forever,” Blakesberg said.

“Every time they sort of end an era like, you're never sure. You know now with the death of Phil Lesh, right? We know that the dynamic has changed forever, once again, like it's happened with Jerry, and now it's happened with Phil.”