Pam Ho (vrajabhumi) How do you explain the Grateful Dead phenomena to one who hasn't experienced it? How do you explain color to someone who sees in black and white? You can experience the Dead or color and not understand what others see in it. It can be just another music act or just another shade of gray or black or white. This doc tries to explain the mystical connection to the Dead, because really that is what it is - the initials GD are not an accident, nothing is. As the origin of the name "Grateful Dead" is explained in the early going of the doc a famous conception from Hegel came to me, "Die to Live." Which to me sums up the message of this movie as it pounds home the same message over and over about the nature of Jerry Garcia's vision for his life and music. The life lived outside the box, always moving in a new direction, fun as the purpose of life. As for a history of the Dead there are new things here, but there is only so much you can do with a 4 hour movie and there are some autobiographies that serve that function much better. This is more like an introduction into "Jerry Garcia and His Cult of the Dead." More so than what occurs around other musicals acts what binds the real Deadheads (rather than just those who appreciate the music or whatever), is a similar "divine" experience in the music, live or otherwise. And of course that is/was based on the psychedelics people take as this doc tries to make clear in the early going. The metaphysical nature of psychedelics combined with a band that was divinely designed to express the divine metaphysical mysteries of the universe in a way that can touch everyone individually tried to be explained. For example it's why so many of the lyrics are so opaque so often - they need to be so they can reveal different things in the moment to each individual in due course of time. Through music the Dead opened up a divine world of deep ecstasy for the newly psychedelically sensitized and spiritually opened people who often found themselves reborn into a world of higher dimensional/transcendental possibilities - a higher reality was promised - and it was delivered. "G-D well I declare have you seen the...light?" Reborn in song, past conceptions on the limitations of reality now dead, we are grateful. Can you explain the Dead? Sure. Can people understand the Dead? Only the initiates.

johnysparrow Nothing beats the Grateful Dead. Much love...Love the all the stories and love the music and love the people and characters involved. I think this is of course a must for all deadheads who were there as well as the ones who wish they were. Gawd those were the best of times. This kind of media I can never get enough of. Dead for life!

chatless46 There are a few surprises in this series. None are really startling, but they make you understand more why you like this band in the first place. If you don't, hear them more. The Grateful Dead have all the goods: Joy, bravery, humanity, and musicianship. They're not without fault - see "humanity".This an excellent series for fans and, I hope, soon-to-be-fans. Advice: don't skip the credits. Their soundtracks are worth it.

bbrecken I saw this at the Realto Elmwood Cinema in Berkeley. From the beginning, it was like going to a show. I couldn't even find the movie, listed on the website for the theater. Finally, I found it, buried, after a few clicks, but not displayed with the other movie showtimes. Then a glitch happened in the website and I was out before I could finish paying for tickets. Then I found it, listed with the other movies and was able to get tickets. When I arrived, over an hour early, there was already a line, waiting to get in (as expected). The take-home I had was that Gerry was always very careful about not becoming the leader. Probably that's not a spoiler to true Deadheads. It was sad to see the progression of Gerry, toward the end, particularly as told from his wife, who seemed to have a selective memory of the final turning point in their relationship. But the movie really captures the essence of what it was like, in the band and even with the roadies and followers, who felt it was imperative to attend every show they could. They discussed the origins of the Dead, the progression of the Wall of Sound that they carried around with them and much of the psychedelic, idiosyncratic and iconoclastic culture, enshrouded in mystery, which some might consider occult. But really, it was just a guy having fun with his friends of a similar mindset. And still is, as I see continued shows at various venues around the San Francisco Bay Area, with former members of the band, which are often not officially announced, with bands that have obfuscated or obscure names, so as to attract the curious wayward wanderers but not the average pop culture seekers.