CHICAGO -- Every Grateful Dead tour had something new. Trey Anastasio, the undisputed right guy for this job, is an obvious one here.
But there's so much more that could happen.
With the Phish guitarist standing in for Jerry Garcia, the boys have quietly reassumed their trusty moniker the Grateful Dead, worked out the kinks with a couple of shows in Santa Clara, California, and are now primed for a three-night blowout at their old summer-finale stomping ground of Soldier Field.
Where, if you'll recall, there have been shenanigans before.
In 1992, the Dead brought blues harmonica maestro James Cotton onstage for "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl." Later that night, as "Drums and Space" got to full steam and lighting designer Candice Brightman made the backdrop silks look like a fast-bearing locomotive, they blasted a real train horn right at us.
"WHOOOO-WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" -- just like that in our faces! Good gracious, that was awesome.
The following summer, nobody could've possibly called a "Touch of Grey" opener that would chase off a daylong rainstorm. And behold, the towering rainbow over Saturday night's show just reminded us that the Grateful Dead still had that kind of magic.
Odds are that more lies ahead. Deadheads love to try to predict what they'll play, but odds-making this band is a fool's errand; they are in all ways enigmatic and mysterious, which is exactly how we want them.
What's to lose? Roll them bones! "Fare Thee Well" begins in earnest in just a few all-too-short hours. Let's see if we can call one:
Trey pulls out one of Jerry's guitars made by Doug Irwin
Anastasio stuck with his trusty blonde Paul Languedoc custom guitar for the Santa Clara shows, but we know he's been studying Garcia for months -- could he have gotten his hands on one of Jerry's old instruments for a spin?
Obscure luthier Doug Irwin sold the first guitar he ever made to Garcia, who promptly ordered him to build a custom. That guitar was Wolf, which Garcia bought in 1973 for $1,500, and first played onstage the following year:
In the meantime, Irwin worked for several years on Tiger, which Garcia played steadily from 1979 to 1990:
There was also Irwin's Rosebud, which looked similar to Tiger, and Lightning Bolt (a one-off made by Florida woodworking hobbyist Stephen Cripe), which Jerry loved for its acoustic sound, and played regularly from 1993 until his death.
Mega-auctions have cast most of the guitars to extremely wealthy collectors, but there's no reason one can't let one loose for a weekend -- it would only make the instrument more valuable. And some of them are already nearby at the Field Museum.
Cameos!
The Grateful Dead have had 11 full-time members in their 50 years, and have played with dozens of guest musicians. Who could show up for a curtain call?
Bob Dylan seems the most likely, since he's still actively playing, the band has covered him countless times and they toured together in 1987. A cameo from Dylan, who is practically an honorary songwriter for the Dead, would blow the roof off of Soldier Field -- and it doesn't even have a roof.
Other possibilities: Donna Jean Godchaux, who last truly sang backup for the Grateful Dead in 1979, but still sings from time to time. Also, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, who often jammed with the band from 1990 to 1994, most memorably on the live recording "Without a Net."
Tom Constanten! What!
Okay, this almost definitely won't happen.
But Tom Constanten, the Dead's classically trained and highly eccentric full-time keyboardist from 1968 to 1970 is still alive and kicking at 71. Sure, it was 45 years ago, but he left on good terms -- and what else does he have going on this weekend?
The Dead already have a dual-keyboard attack going with Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti, but an appearance by Constanten -- such an integral part of the sound of many beloved vintage recordings -- would blow people's minds.
A Phish song
"Playin' in the Band" --> "Tweezer" with a second-set "Tweezer Reprise," and why not? Why. The hell. Not.
A new cover
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/bob.weir_.jpg" caption="Bob Weir at the "Fare Thee Well" show in Santa Clara." credit="Jay Blakesberg/Invision for the Grateful Dead/AP Images" alt="Bob Weir"]
You don't get to 500 songs in the songbook by playing the same covers every year. The Dead were a house band first, and kept current by adding popular music to their repertoire for years. Why not get caught up?
A new original song
Ha ha ha, okay. You can laugh at me. BUT WHAT IF THEY DID?
A Jerry Garcia hologram
Whoa, whoa, whoa, chill out. That's definitely not happening, okay?
We only threw that in because Garcia's daughter Trixie, who's been a prominent face of the #GD50 effort, told Billboard that they had considered it at one point. He was just going to appear for a few seconds. Didn't work out.
As you were.
Something we're not thinking of
Frankly, this is the most likely of all these possibilities.
None of the above
A whole three-night run at Soldier Field with no surprises? That would be the biggest surprise of all.