Spoiler Alert | Grateful Dead 50 Chicago Thursday Soundcheck

While the first of three Fare Thee Well -Celebrating 50 Years Of Grateful Dead shows at Soldier Field in Chicago takes place tonight, the band soundchecked for over an hour on Thursday night at the football stadium. The soundcheck gives us a taste of what to expect either tonight or later this weekend.

[via PT’s opossum]

One of the criticisms of last weekend’s shows in Santa Clara that had fans talking this week was the lack of lead vocals from guitarist Trey Anastasio outside of a few songs. If last night’s soundcheck was any indication there should be more songs sung by Trey this weekend as he sang both “Crazy Fingers” and “Help On The Way.” The soundcheck also featured a number of tunes the Dead didn’t play in later years including “Mason’s Children,” “Lost Sailor” and “New Potato Caboose.” Mixlr user Hamburglar399 stood outside of Soldier Field and captured audio of the soundcheck. As you can imagine, the audio is far from good quality but you can listen to an hour’s worth here.

There’s plenty of options to watch and listen to this weekend’s shows live from Chicago.

Soundcheck Setlist (Songs in bold confirmed, possibly incomplete)

Box Of Rain, Music Never Stopped jam, Crazy Fingers, Mason’s Children, New Potato Caboose, Let It Grow, Help On The Way, Slipknot!, Lost Sailor

Watch a YouTube playlist of our Grateful Dead 50 tribute, the Songs Of Their Own video series: