Deadheads, Dwindling Yet Dedicated

How many bands do you know that would start a show in the middle of a song?

That’s what the Other Ones did at the Universal Amphitheatre on Thursday, headlining the fourth edition of the Furthur Festival tour. The group, featuring former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann and auxiliary Dead pianist Bruce Hornsby, opened the show with a jam that led to the coda of “Sugar Magnolia,” one of the Dead’s most popular songs.

As odd as it sounds, that midsong kickoff was symbolic. This is neither a new beginning for the musicians, nor a mere re-creation of the past.

“It’s definitely a continuation,” said tie-dye-clad audience member Michael Cristin, a 53-year-old lawyer from Newport Beach who first saw the Dead in 1967.

Indeed, five years and two weeks after the death of Dead leader Jerry Garcia, there was evidence Thursday that not just the music, but also the community surrounding it are continuing--and renewing themselves.

Witness another fan hanging out in the vendors’ arcade outside the amphitheater before the show: Sadie Grusin, 17, of Topanga Canyon. A hippie-sprite in a long skirt, bandanna bikini top and an ivy wreath on her head, she said that she never saw the Grateful Dead or any of the three previous Furthur Festivals.

“But as much as [the Dead] could possibly influence my life, they have,” she said.

Still, to some it would appear that the Deadhead Nation is, well, dying. This show, the second on the five-week Furthur trek, was originally booked for the 12,000-seat Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim but was moved to the 6,000-seat Universal because of poor ticket sales.

Even with a surge of sales in the last few days making it a sellout, it was a far smaller crowd than the one the Other Ones’ 1998 Furthur appearance drew at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, and way below the Dead’s stadium or multinight arena standard.

To the faithful, there’s some good news in the smaller numbers.

“It’s the real Deadheads and the folks who missed it,” said drummer Hart backstage before the show.

Vendor Jerry Converse, 44, a longtime Deadhead who was selling tie-dyed clothing in his booth, agreed, saying the event had the feeling of a reunion of family and friends--something that was lost when the old band’s shows drew an influx of “weekend Deadheads.”

“This is more like the old days,” Converse said as some younger fans played Hacky Sack on the lawn behind him. “It’s the most dedicated [fans], and I get to see my old friends.”

But even for those who came, there seem to be more distractions and competing forces pulling them in different directions. That’s also the case for the musicians. A mushrooming roster of young bands--Phish, the Dave Matthews Band, String Cheese Incident--has in recent years filled the void for fans looking for a similar musical experience.

“That means we have to be damn good, ‘cause a lot of those other bands are,” guitarist Weir said backstage.

But neither he nor the other players are ready to commit to the Other Ones as their primary activity. Weir has another band, Ratdog, with a debut album coming soon. Hart is busy with his Mickey Hart Band and duties overseeing historical recordings preservation for the Library of Congress. Hornsby, an auxiliary Dead member since 1990, has his solo career as well.

At the Universal, though, it all pulled together, true to the Dead’s exploratory spirit. But it also had its own distinctive chemistry--and not just from the absence of Garcia and now bassist Phil Lesh, who recently broke from the group in a dispute over plans to make the Dead’s vast vault of music available for Internet download.

Drummer Kreutzmann, who sat out the Other Ones’ 1998 inaugural tour, is back, and the rhythmic chemistry he has with Hart is unmistakable. Jazz and fusion veteran Alphonso Johnson, taking over for Lesh, added to the rhythmic thrust, and guitarists Steve Kimock and Mark Karan continue to evoke Garcia’s sounds while asserting their own presence.

The touchstone of Thursday’s set was the group’s eponymous piece “The Other One.” The song emerged from jams several times in the show and tied together a solid selection of Dead-associated material, from the sweet “Bird Song” to the folk-blues “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad.”

“The music is different than before, evolving,” Weir said earlier. “If not, we’re not doing our jobs.”