
The 30-year odyssey of the Grateful Dead was the most unlikely success
story in rock 'n' roll history. Famously averse to publicity and
seemingly incapable of recording radio-friendly hits, they flouted
music-industry convention by giving their live music away to a global
network of tape traders and becoming the highest-grossing concert act in
America through word of mouth alone. Directed by Amir Bar-Lev (The
Tillman Story) and executive produced by Martin Scorsese (The Last
Waltz), Long Strange Trip is the first full-length documentary to
explore the fiercely independent vision, perpetual innovation, and
uncompromising commitment to their audience that made the Bay Area band
one of the most influential musical groups of their generation. Artfully
assembling candid interviews with the band, road crew, family members
and notable Deadheads, Bar-Lev reveals the untold history of the Dead
and the freewheeling psychedelic subculture that sprouted up around it.
The film also provides poignant insight into the psyche of late lead
guitarist Jerry Garcia, whose disdain for authority clashed with his de
facto leadership of the sprawling collective that kept the show on the
road. With a soundtrack that captures some of the band's most dynamic
live performances as well as unguarded offstage moments and
never-before-seen interviews, footage and photos, Long Strange Trip
explores the Dead's singular experiment in radically eclectic music
making. Much more than the "behind the music" backstory of an
exceptionally talented and beloved group of musicians, the film is at
once an inspiring tale of unfettered artistic expression, a heartfelt
American tragedy, and an incisive history of the rise and fall of
20th-century counterculture.