While Fare Thee Well was the most recent reunion of the Core Four surviving members of the Grateful Dead, by no means has it been the only one. Members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart have united on several occasions, including an exciting tour in 2003 as The Dead. With members Jimmy Herring, Rob Barraco, Jeff Chimenti and Joan Osborne, the band performed a one-off February show at The Warfield in San Francisco, and launched a major summer tour thereafter.

After hitting Bonnaroo in its second year ever, the band worked their way up the coast to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. On this day thirteen years ago – June 20, 2003 – the band featured opening act Steve Winwood to get things going. Winwood not only opened, but joined in for a little fun on the classic Traffic tune “Dear Mr. Fantasy.” 

One of the bigger surprises of the show came after a rockin’ “Drums/Space” segment, when the band was joined by Phish bassist Mike Gordon for a bass-fueled jam session. The magic between Gordon and Lesh was unstoppable, and carried all the way through a supreme “Eyes Of The World.” It was truly a show for the ages.

Thanks to the work of Ken Doughty and Matt Cole, we have full audio to share from this performance. Tune in and listen to the magic below.