Famed photographer Jay Blakesberg was on hand to capture the Grateful Dead’s final moments in Santa Clara, CA and Chicago, IL earlier this year. Having photographed the Dead since he was 15 years old, Blakesberg was the perfect person to capture the “Fare Thee Well” festivities. Now, he’s collected images of those iconic concerts for a new coffee table book: Fare Thee Well: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Grateful Dead.
Due out on December 1st, Blakesberg’s new volume chronicles the five monumental shows featuring the “Core Four” surviving members of the Grateful Dead, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, alongside Trey Anastasio, Jeff Chimenti, and Bruce Hornsby. The book features some unique guest contributors, including a Foreword from Bill Walton, two essays from “Tales Of The Golden Road” host Gary Lambert, and an Afterword from Dead archivist David Lemieux.
We spoke to Blakesberg recently about his last book project, Hippie Chick, and his adventures in concert photography. You can read that here.
Pre-orders for the Fare Thee Well book are available here. You can also download a PDF preview of the book here.