With the Fare Thee Well 50th anniversary shows rapidly approaching, the Grateful Dead have been involved in a number of projects concerning documentaries, contests and now, an 80-disc box set of the band's work for a price of $699.98.
Grateful Dead: 30 Trips Around the Sun will be released in September, containing live recordings from 30 shows around the country performed by Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart. The Dead archivist David Lemieux decided to honor the anniversary by spanning the illustrious careers of the American folk rock band in with a tangible tribute.
"When we began discussing audio projects to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead back in 2012, we knew we wanted to do something completely unprecedented. We could think of nothing more exciting or ambitious than a career-spanning overview of the band's live legacy focused on what best tells the story: complete concerts," Lemieux said in a statement on the band's official site.
Deadheads can purchase the compilation on their website as an 80-disc set or a custom-made USB-drive in the shape of a lightning bolt — both holding over 73 hours of tunes. There will be a limited amount of 6,500 disc copies including a 288 page book, and 7-inch gold vinyl highlighting the band's hit tracks. USBs etched with the 50th anniversary logo are limited to 1,000 copies holding music available in FLAC as well as MP3.
"This tells the entire narrative of the Grateful Dead live: how they changed from year to year, how they grew. Lots of bands change, but they don't grow. The Grateful Dead grew, and this set tells that story," Lemieux told Rolling Stone in an extensive interview.
According to the site, the 7-inch vinyl's "A-side is 'Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)' from the band's earliest recording session in 1965 with the B-side of the last song the band ever performed together live, 'Box Of Rain' recorded during their final encore at Soldier Field in Chicago on July 9, 1995."
