‘Truckin’’ launches first of final Grateful Dead shows

Ecstatic Deadheads packed Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara Saturday night for the first of the two sold out “Fare Thee Well” concerts celebrating 50 years of the Grateful Dead by a band that contained four of the band’s original members, the penultimate event of the long, strange trip that pulls to a close Fourth of July weekend at Soldier Field in Chicago. Guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann were joined by guitarist Trey Anastasio of jam band Phish, who took the Jerry Garcia chair, and keyboardists Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti, both veterans of previous Dead and post-Dead editions of the group. Opening with the band’s autobiographical staple, “Truckin’,” in bright sunlight, the band brought the hour-long opening set to a close with “Viola Lee Blues” from the band’s first album as a rainbow appeared over the blue night sky behind the band, bringing cheers from the enthusiastic crowd.