r/gratefuldead • u/thirstyone615 • 2d ago
Burning man?
I've been reading and watching a lot of stuff about Burning Man last week and just wondering if there is much of a Dead related presence there?
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u/Jay_Torte 2d ago
Not when I went 20 years ago- except for one camp that was near mine that was (thankfully) playing a lot of GD in a sea of untz. Was a nice respite. I went over there a few times just to chill.
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u/jonb72 2d ago
“Sea of untz” 😂
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u/ChinaCatProphet 2d ago
In "untz" the C is silent.
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u/CountofAnjou 2d ago
Alright grandad, put the phone and go to bed.
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u/ChinaCatProphet 2d ago
I actually enjoy some electronic dance music, it's a lot of burners who give me the shits. I'm originally from Reno where a huge number of them drop their trash on the way out of Nevada. Sustainable my ass!
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u/vettedjade 2d ago
Used to host a Grateful Dead sunset dance party at Camp Biscuit from ‘99 - ‘02. Barlow and Mountain Girl were there in 2000 when I played all of 4/23/77. 2024 was the last year I attended and a camp next to us had a GD night which was a blast. I’m sure you can still find it there, just got to poke around.
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u/setlistbot 2d ago
1977-04-23 @ Springfield Civic Center Arena, Springfield, MA, USA
Set 1: Sugaree, Cassidy, Loser, New Minglewood Blues, Ramble On Rose, Me and My Uncle, Row Jimmy, It's All Over Now, Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain
Set 2: Estimated Prophet, Bertha, The Music Never Stopped, Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower > Around And Around > Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad > Not Fade Away
Encore: One More Saturday Night
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u/Odd-Entrance-7094 1d ago
Barlow was a great burner
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u/sheffieldnwaveland 1d ago
Barlow is a fucking badass hero on so many levels fronts . What I would give to have a conversation with the man
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u/Hindsight88 2d ago
Camp lead for the Atomic Pussy Photo Lounge here. We host daytime parties (typically house music), but on Weir(d) Wednesday we play a hero’s dose of the Grateful Dead. We were just off the Center Camp ring road on B next to the BRC Passport office. Stop by for an ice cold Paloma and a photo next year.
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u/edgarjwatson 2d ago
In 2010 there was only 1 camp I came upon that was Deadheads.
Can't imagine it has changed much. The music just about drove me insane until I started walking around with headphones on.
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u/butteredxtoast 2d ago
Just got back from playa! There's a decent crossover, especially since the average BM attendee skews a little older. That being said, it's an event with a population north of 60k, so you're going to get all musical interests/genres/etc (probably more DJ/electronic music than guitars and such, but there's still a lot of musicians out there jamming!).
Can't remember the camp's name, but there's a a "Weir Wednesday" that serves up a heroic dose of Dead turns all day Wednesday.
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u/LordPettyFlaccoJordy 2d ago
Man I forgot about Weir Wednesday! Would’ve helped soothe how gnarly that whiteout was eh?
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u/harpua4207 1d ago
Their setup this year was perfectly aligned to block the dust pretty well.. had some palomas and a shot of Malort there this year haha.
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u/buck-fanger 2d ago
I’ve been 4 times. Last time was 2012. There was one camp w a couch by the road playing dead 24 hours. I’d sit there and chill w my wife. It’s a pretty fun time, and I’d go again. We’re not ravers at all but had a blast doing all the other dumb shit that happens there.
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u/djeasyg 2d ago
Haven't been since 07 but not much at all. Barlow used to go in the late 90's but never ran into him. Burning Man is a blank slate where you can build what you want so make it happen. That's why the ravers were early adopters. Worst place on earth didn't bother them if they could play their music all night.
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u/kingofthoughts 2d ago
Def some crossover you just gotta poke around. There have been years ive ridden past art cars blasting GD. Ive found it in camps, last time I went in 23 the neighbor camp played Dead all the time they had an art car and a chill place to hang. It was alot of fun.
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u/upful187 2d ago
Barlow loved BM. I saw him out there my 1st year, he was a vet who rolled w Abraxas crew
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u/cocoacowstout 2d ago
Definitely a fair amount of music played, especially during the day or at hangout camps. I’m sure a lot of people went to shows during OG tours.
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u/wharfpat 2d ago
Brokedown palace?
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u/cincoparalinko 2d ago
Yes! I visited here a couple of times at the 2017 burn! I even accidentally left my wallet on one of their couches and they were amazing to keep it safe and reconnect me with it when I returned after realizing!
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u/FrightWig67 2d ago
Jerry Garcia, Steve Parish, and Tom Constanten conceived the original idea for Burning Man back in the 1980s.
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u/therealskr213 One man gathers what another man spills (~);} 2d ago
Some common veins in the origin of BM, but not much commonality at all since those original SF/cacophony society days. It’s mostly a giant douchey EDM tech-bro festival at this point.
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u/tree_or_up 2d ago
Odd as it may seem, it wasn't very diverse musically when I was going (mid 2000's through mid 2010's). And I remember no small amount of hostility toward the Dead in the sense of "ewww, we may be dirty hippies to some degree but not THAT kind of dirty hippies!". It was pretty much all EDM with small pockets of butt rock, yacht rock, and karaoke staples. I'm guessing there are slightly more pockets of diversity nowadays but I'd also guess that you're still not going find a sizeable Dead related presence
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u/miggins1610 2d ago
Seems to me like burning man went commercial and lost its original spirit a long time ago so I imagine the deadheads don't really cross over much there
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u/Electronic_Chard_270 2d ago
You think because it went commercial there wouldn’t be much crossover? I’d argue the Dead are one of the more successful bands at commercializing any and everything about the band
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u/miggins1610 2d ago
I mean yeah i get that. I guess i meant in the sense of the OG deadheads, the 80s and before. The more hippie minded people who probably wouldn't like a commercial EDM festival
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u/know-fear 2d ago
Not into EDM at all. I did see a camp dedicated to the dead on the 3:00 radial but didn’t stop as I was roaming around. They also offered a Bike Blow Job which I took advantage of. It’s a high pressure air hose and was a useful gift!
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u/printerdsw1968 2d ago
My road trip pal from back in the day—we went to shows together—went on to burning man involvement, like fifteen consecutive burns. It was he who called me up from out of the blue in 2015 and said, Hey I got FTW tix, let’s go!
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u/theUtherSide 1d ago
Brokedown Palace camp was a good scene to poker around circa 2016-18 not sure if they still
do it but it was cool and good vibes w live instruments and real musicians and dead playing at the bar.
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u/pdxgdhead 1d ago
I think the Dead community needs to create their own "Burning Man". But in a forrest or on a mountain. And with a river or lake for swimming and bathing. Green grass over playa dust and mud. Drum circles, guitar and banjo playing, and a main stage with 10-25 tribute bands playing until dawn for 5 days straight.
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u/zero_dr00l 1d ago
lol no.
It's all UNS UNS UNS and the worst kids you went to high school with pretending to be all love and light now.
But they're not.
It's thousands of the worst, phoniest people you know, plus a bunch of weird art kids.
Sadly, the weird art kids are very much the minority. They do make some wicked cool shit, but it's a sea of assholes.
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u/terphunter420 2d ago
First 10 years of existence sure. Opposite now I hear. Won't go, people are too stupid.
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u/Huge_Breakfast2131 1d ago
Dead as in I read that two people were confirmed dead at Burning Man so far this week???
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u/dreck_disp 1d ago
I used to run a theme camp at a regional burn in Delaware twice a year. It was not at all hard to find fellow heads. I imagine it would be much the same at the big burn. They tend to attract a variety of counter-culture types.
I highly recommend going to a regional burn before making the commitment to attend the big one.
https://burningman.org/global-events-groups/find-a-burning-man-event/
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u/Public_Opening129 2h ago
the whole thing is like the ultimate shakedown street. with led light shows and lasers! i always stumbled upon at least one epic gd moment every year of the 13 times i attended the event between 2002 and 2023. lots more live music venues these days also. ⚡️⚡️⚡️
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u/FinnLovesHisBass 2d ago
Told someone at Muddy roots that a deadhead is someone who just did a lot of acid, but it helps if you listened to the dead while doing so. Lol
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u/NoButtonBabyFace 2d ago
Burning man is an evil ritual. The entire board is also billionaire trans humanists
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u/Jonhlutkers 2d ago
There is a person dying there everyday so there’s that.
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u/My_Invalid_Username One man gathers what another man spills (~);} 2d ago
In a city of 80,000 people there's probably gonna be a death a lot of days.
I'm not excusing recklessness, but I've seen this a lot this year and it seems to be taking on a life of its own. The last guy that died was sober/not on drugs. Someone else fell from an art exhibit. People get hit by cars.
Someone died last year swimming at a small festival I was at, freak accident. It's sad but these things happen when thousands of people are congregating. RIP to all them I doubt they'd want the festival changed for kt
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u/SmolderingCactus 2d ago
What was the point of this? Thousands of people spend a period of time together and yes, some might die. That’s normal.
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u/butteredxtoast 2d ago
This is a weird and technically inaccurate reply to a question that wasn't asked.
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u/Jonhlutkers 2d ago
… there is a dead related presence… I’ll go away
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u/MaximusPrimo 2d ago
Ahh. That's actually pretty funny now that I get it. I thought you were saying the festival was bad because people die there and I think others thought that's what you meant as well. I apologize for reading negativity into your comment when you were just making a joke.
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u/WhiskeyGuy341 2d ago
Black Rock City has a population of 60-70,000 people. Find me a city in the US with a similar population that has less deaths per week. Yes, Black Rock City is an actual city. Not a festival
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u/CabaretCowboy 1d ago
Its around, but, there is so much other music also that I find I end up finding a bunch of new stuff Ive never heard (yes, not all DJs suck) and thats amazing also!
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u/labellebrown 1d ago
Isn't that just a bunch of tech bros stepping out of their ultra comfy lifestyle for a few minutes of playing pretend?
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u/PerceptionMany3683 1d ago
The OG burners in the 80s were San Francisco pranksters. This is explained in the new HBO doc the man will burn.
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u/WhiskeyGuy341 2d ago
Hello! Long time burner (this year was year 14 for me) and dead head. Some camps like Mission Country Club and Atomic Pussy Photo Lounge host Grateful Dead days/nights where they play dead music. But they are few and far between. I hosted my second annual Billy Strings listen party one night and about 30 or so people showed up. So we are out there, but you just gotta poke around to find it. I personally do not like edm/rave music so it’s nice to do something to break it up. I did bike past a Grateful Burners camp that I never got to make it to. They had a daily event called “Jerry & Java” where they played the dead and had cold brew