If there was one positive thing about the whole COVID-19 pandemic, it's that I've been able to listen to a lot more of the Grateful Dead. During the first few months, David Lemieux and his band posted a lot of concert footage of the band online, and I loved watching those moving images and finally putting faces and interactions to the band members' names. In that respect, I also felt the time was finally ripe to delve into the two photo albums I have of the band.
That's this Between the Dark and Light, but also Bob Minkin's Live Dead. Ultimately, I chose Between the Dark and Light by chance and wasn't disappointed at all. With a foreword by Phil Lesh, we get an entertaining glimpse into the various incarnations of the band (members) and everything that came with it. It's a bit of a shame that Blakesberg only boarded the Grateful Dead bus at the end of the Donna & Keith era (there are only a handful of photos in the book featuring this formation), but it's a pleasure to see the band documented in the '80s and '90s. The way Blakesberg presents the photos also demonstrates a respect for anyone invested. Each photo is accompanied by a short annotation of the date and location, and when it concerns guest appearances (basically anyone who wasn't part of the band itself), there's also a clear indication of who is who. Several themes are also explored with additional explanation (for example, a special benefit concert and how it came about), and that's the reason you pick it up. Seeing the photos themselves is enjoyable, but understanding the concept behind them is even more rewarding.
It seems clear to me that this is a book that Deadheads in particular will appreciate. That doesn't change the fact that there are some very cool photos in here (which sometimes perfectly capture the essence of a Dead concert) and if I may be nitpicky: the photos of the audience should simply have been placed chronologically with the rest of the photos instead of being scattered somewhat randomly throughout the book.
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