Phil Lesh to mark 50th anniversary of ‘Quick and The Dead’ tour in Portland

It’s being billed as “epic semicentury shows” in Portland.

Phil Lesh, a founding member of the Grateful Dead, will return to McMenamins Crystal Ballroom, where the Dead and The Quicksilver Messenger Service performed in 1968.

The shows will be at 8 p.m. Feb. 2-3.

Tickets for Lesh and The Terrapin Family Band go on sale at noon Friday (Oct. 20.) Go to http://bit.ly/2yAKLnY to register your email for more information. The presale has sold out, according to the website.

“The 1968 event was an epic double-bill, featuring the Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service, with performances that were magical enough to merit inclusion in the Dead’s ‘Anthem of the Sun’ album, released that same year,” according to a release Thursday from McMenamins.

According to the Lost Live Dead blog, much speculation still exists about that long-ago tour, which also included appearances in Eugene, Oregon, and Seattle at the Eagles Auditorium.

“Where did 15-20 hippies and a truckload of equipment go for three days? ... Somebody had to be willing to put the bands up, and most hippies were poor and could not absorb such a crew. Once again, many of the signs point to (Ken) Kesey’s farm, but that is only a hypothesis ... .”

This story was originally published October 19, 2017 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Phil Lesh to mark 50th anniversary of ‘Quick and The Dead’ tour in Portland."