‘Deadhead-Oriented’ Tour May Stop Here

Grateful Dead band members are planning their first national tour since the death of band leader Jerry Garcia, and it might include a stop in their favorite master-planned city on Aug. 1.

The tour, called “The Further Festival,” brings back some troubling memories for city officials who asked the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre to ban the group after three concerts on consecutive nights in 1989 attracted hundreds of Deadheads and culminated in rock- and bottle-throwing mayhem.

“My concerns would be the same now as when we requested the amphitheater to no longer book them as a group,” said Irvine Councilwoman Paula Werner, who was also on the council in 1989. “That would be not because of the group itself, but because of the hangers-on who followed the band. They were not good neighbors.”

Deadheads camped out near the amphitheater and in nearby Laguna Hills neighborhoods. Irvine officials were swamped with complaints ranging from public urination to the use of residential swimming pools for bathing.

On the second night, about 500 fans without tickets threw rocks and bottles at police and security guards and lighted bonfires when they couldn’t get into the concert.

Garcia subsequently appeared at the amphitheater in his spin-off band, the Jerry Garcia Band, five times without problems, according to Irvine Meadows managing partner Bob Geddes. “This is not going to be a Grateful Dead audience by any stretch of the imagination,” Geddes said. “There are five acts in the show and two of them have former Grateful Dead members in them.”

But Grateful Dead publicist Dennis McNally says the concert tour will attract Deadheads. “Clearly, this is a Deadhead-oriented extravaganza,” McNally said. “But we’re only going to be there one day.”