Historic Theater Closes With Grateful Dead Finale

The historic Warfield Theater in San Francisco closed down with a grand finale on Sunday at the end of a week-long celebration revolving around the band that made it historic in the first place: the Grateful Dead and family. The sold-out shows were simply advertised as an unusual five-night stand by Phil Lesh and Friends but ended up being a goodbye run to the venue that hosted 88 Jerry Garcia Band shows, 30 Phil Lesh and Friends shows, and 21 proper Grateful Dead shows. The theater's hallways and lobbies had permanent displays of Grateful Dead memorabilia as well as a giant framed picture of Bill Graham -- the venue's legendary original promoter -- and pictures or posters from all the many other artists who appeared there during its 29 years as the Warfield (including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Phish and Ween). It was originally opened in 1922 by Marcus Loew as a silent film and vaudevillian revue house.

In honor of its history, Phil Lesh -- whose shows primarily consist of Grateful Dead material anyway -- dug even deeper into his old band's songbook, performing complete albums during each set until the final night. On Tuesday, he performed the band's first two studio albums with help from original Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir. Throughout the run, Lesh invited other guests from the Dead family onstage for other albums, but none as significant a reunion as Weir, who he brought out again for the three-set finale on Sunday, closing down the theater in a balloon-drop affair that featured a smorgasbord of Grateful Dead hits. Rising roots rocker Jackie Greene, Bob Dylan's guitarist Larry Campbell and the Mother Hips' Tim Bluhm kept the music going between sets with acoustic renditions of -- you guessed it -- songs somehow tied in with the Dead songbook.

AEG Live will take control of the 2,200 seat venue with unannounced but highly speculated plans to renovate, redo and rename.