Good news for Grateful Dead fans who might become despondent after the final Fare Thee Well concerts take place at Levi's Stadium on June 27-28: An 80-disc box set of live Dead shows marking the band's 50th anniversary is on the way in September.
Rhino Records will release "30 Trips Around The Sun" on September 18. Five of the 30 career-spanning concerts featured in the 73-plus hour collection took place in the Bay Area, including early gigs at now defunct venues such as the Fillmore Auditorium and Winterland in San Francisco and The Dream Bowl in Vallejo.
"['30 Trips'] 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," Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux told Rolling Stone.
The box set, which comes with a gold-colored seven-inch vinyl single and a 288-page book and is also available as a custom lightning-bolt USB drive for the CD-averse, is currently available for pre-order for $699.98; shipping is included.
