On the 20th anniversary of Jerry Garcia’s untimely passing, Alex Bleeker & The Freaks, scheduled to perform a Grateful Dead tribute set at Outside Lands Music Festival, got a little help from the Dead’s own drummer, Bill Kreutzmann, in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA.
The festival tweeted out the following message confirming the Kreutzmann appearance:
ranger dave welcomes grateful dead drummer and longtime friend bill kreutzmann back to golden gate park #outsidelands pic.twitter.com/bpEyID6oMJ
— ranger dave (@sfoutsidelands) August 9, 2015
His manager Benjy Eisen posted the following on Instagram, revealing that Kreutzmann said “This is for you, Jerry” before performing:
This isn’t the first time that Kreutzmann has surprised fans with a Grateful Dead tribute. He made a similar appearance in New Orleans during Jazz Fest week, playing “Scarlet Begonias” with a band at Howlin’ Wolf.Â
Bill Kreutzmann Sits In With Unsuspecting Band Covering The Grateful Dead
Of course, this performance certainly had a lot more gravitas to it, considering both the time and location. It must have been an emotional experience, to say the least.
Kreutzmann will link up with Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, along with Jeff Chimenti, Oteil Burbridge, and John Mayer, for a Halloween performance at Madison Square Garden under the name “Dead & Company”. Read more about that here.
Here are a few fan shot videos of Billy K rockin’ out on “The Other One” and “St. Stephen.”