Photos: Grateful Dead classics live on at Deadfest cover band weekend

July 22, 2024

Allison Scavo,

Shakedown Strings // Photo by Allison Scavo

Deadfest Day One
Kane Family Farm
Friday, July 19

The first annual Deadfest at Tonganoxie’s Kane Family Farm kicked off with smooth acoustic Dead tracks as people set up their tents, swam, checked out the vendors, played bean bag toss, and gathered for a beautiful sunset.

Local cover act Laughing Willow created a serene vibe which set the tone for the entire weekend.

Headlining Deadfest on Friday night—immediately following their three night run in Vegas as part of the official pre-show and after-parties for Dead & Co.—Shakedown Strings exemplified their rigor and dedication once again with grace and gusto.

Our photographer Allison Scavo was in attendance to capture the jams:

Shakedown Strings

Laughing Willow

The Crowd

Deadfest Day 2
The second day of Deadfest started out with wavering anxiety and plan arrangements due to the rain. Just as the organizers felt it was clear, set a rain delay start time, and began preparing, the rain picked up.

Having to cancel the opening act of the day, Kansas City’s Better Off Dead delivered a longer set. Better Off Dead had 6 of their 8 piece band on stage: William “Mac” Titlton, “Simmering” Chris Symmonds, Mark Montgomery, Michelle Cox, Billy “Melv” Melvin, and Brandon Vogul. Playing two full traditional sets of all killer no filler Dead songs, Better Off Dead made everyone forget about the burdensome weather. Not only does this band play all over town with gigs but they are the official band for Grateful Dead Night at the K!

PlayDead adds a blues kick to the Dead which I particularly appreciate as it brings the vibe of 70s Pigpen era back into play, but they switched it up by going full ’90s era with Brent Mydland songs, then shocked everyone with a full Drums/Space segment that the Grateful Dead themselves have included in every second set since 1978.

KC Bones headlined the festival Saturday night with jams disbursed throughout songs that made you forget what song they were playing only to jump into a completely different song. They played continuously for the rest of the night for a packed house.

I was able to sit down with Ted Ward, organizer of the event, who says it all came to fruition because “the owner [Todd Kane] and I were talking about what would be fun genres to have play at KFF. I had seen some video of KC Bones amd PlayDead and thought these guys would be great acts. I reached out to John Hubbard of KC Bones and we talked at length about the music scene and life… I checked out some of the other Dead acts and really liked Shakedown Strings’ unique approach. The acts were easy to access, eager to participate, and the people loved them and the venue. I’ve had many requests to repeat this next year. We are looking at bringing in a regional act to headline perhaps Forgotten Space or even at some point, Melvin Seals & JGB.”

KC Bones