Winterland’s ‘Grateful Holiday’ coming to Iowa City

The Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco was home court for the Grateful Dead. The decrepit music venue/ice skating rink was the site of many classic Dead shows.

One of the most memorable concerts was the final event at Winterland on New Year’s Eve 1978.

The show spanned more than eight hours and spawned an album, a DVD and a cover band based in Iowa City. Winterland, a Grateful Dead tribute act that formed in 2013, treats the Englert Theatre as its comfort zone.

“It’s always a special time when we play the Englert,” vocalist-guitarist Stacey Webster said while calling from his Iowa City home. “It’s where we enjoy playing the most. We’ve played there three times and it’s always amazing. Playing the Englert and playing the Summer Concert Series are the highlights of our year.”

When Winterland performs its fourth concert Friday at the Englert, the band will document the event.

“We have a crew coming in from St. Louis to film the entire set,” Webster said. “This is a big show for us. We’re focusing on it and we even have a set list.”

Much like the Dead, Winterland often flies by the seat of its pants live.

“It took a while to get to that point,” Webster said. “But we're comfortable now performing without a set list. But with the Englert show, our aim is to be spot-on so we’re going with a set list.”

Since the Winterland venue closed in 1978, the band Winterland doesn’t usually play Dead tunes that were recorded before that year.

“There is plenty to play from when the Dead formed (in 1965) to 1978,” Webster said. “We usually stick to that era, but every now and again we play a Dead song from the ’80s.”

Like the Dead, the Winterland band has a 200-song repertoire to draw from, and the musicians enjoy playing in an extemporaneous fashion.

“We’re a highly improvisational band,” Webster said. “We don’t have to learn every lick. We learn the song, the lyrics and the melodies, and have fun with it. I go out there and play like (the late Grateful Dead icon) Jerry Garcia and just have fun with it.”

Many Dead tribute acts have the same approach as Winterland. Webster is pleased he’s not part of a Frank Zappa cover band, since most of those acts treat that unique icon’s music as if it’s classical.

“I’m too lazy to be part of a Zappa group,” Webster with a laugh. “I wouldn’t want to learn every single riff. That would take forever if you have a catalog as large as we have.”

Webster, 55, initially experienced a Dead show in 1987 and caught 10 concerts before Garcia died in 1995. Like many Dead fans, Webster was uncertain if Dead & Company would work with guitar hero John Mayer.

“You can never fill Jerry’s spot, but I like Dead & Company with Mayer,” Webster said. “I’ve seen them, and what's interesting is how many young people Mayer has brought into the shows. His younger fans have checked out Dead & Company and now they’re into the Dead, and that has only helped bands like ours, since now there are more Dead fans out there.”

Dead & Company made the surprising announcement that the group will embark on its final tour in 2023.

“It’s wild that Dead & Company will no longer tour,” Webster said. “I think there will be even more demand for bands like ours, because people love hearing the Dead songs played by a live band. That’s the way it was before Dead & Company got together. We formed in 2013 before they announced they were a band (in 2015). It’ll be fine for us.”

Winterland, which also includes guitarist Kevin Wulf, vocalist-pianist John Mattingly, vocalist Sarah Nevins, drummer-vocalist, Chad Slater, bassist-vocalist Byron Stevens and drummer Jon Wilson, has yet to hear from a member of either Dead camp.

“They don’t care about us since we’re all from a flyover state,” Webster said. “Each of us lives in Iowa. We’re not New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco and it’s just fine.”

Winterland is playing more shows just like the band did before the pandemic, when it averaged five concerts a month.

“We want to bring it on in terms of shows,” Webster said. “The more we get to play out, the better.”