Your description of the Grateful Dead as a “karaoke band” (Editorial, 2 March) is the opposite of the truth. Their only real hit was Touch of Grey that peaked at No 9 in the Billboard chart in 1987, some 22 years into their career. They had one of the largest repertoires in rock history and, according to Songfacts, over the course of three decades played 317 covers and 184 original tunes. You never knew what would be played at a particular event but could be confident that every song would be played with fresh imagination and never the same again – hence the fans’ obsession with taping every performance. There was unavoidably some repetition of songs since they played over 2,300 concerts, but the ethos of the Dead was communion with the audience and the joy of making music together on the night. Not something you would find at most pop concerts today where an exact reproduction of the manufactured recording is what the fans demand. If you had expected that from the Dead you would have been sorely disappointed.
Richard Gilyead
Saffron Walde, Essex
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