Dead & Company has only existed since 2015, but their legacy started much earlier. In the 1960s, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Ron McKernan, and Phil Lesh (and Mickey Hart, 2 years later) founded The Grateful Dead, a psychedelic rock band. Up until Garcia's death in 1995, they created an empire that would go on to make history. They released more than a dozen albums and built a dedicated fan base called the "Deadheads," who started the tradition of following a band on tour. Surviving members Weir, Hart, and Kreutzmann teamed up with Oteil Burbage, Jeff Chimenti, and singer-songwriter/guitarist John Mayer to create a revival, which stopped in Atlanta on June 13.

For this tour, Dead & Company's typical venue is a sports stadium that holds more than 30,000 people, such as Fenway Park or Wrigley Field. So it's no wonder that when I arrived at the sold-out Lakewood Amphitheater, it took me an hour to get from one side of the road to the other to park. The parking lot in front of the amphitheater was full of Deadheads who camped out, tailgated, and made tie-dye clothing.

The show was a three-hour non-stop psychedelic/folk jam session. Since Dead & Company have so many popular songs to choose from, all of which are adored by Deadheads, they never perform the same set twice. In Atlanta, they opened with an upbeat number called "Scarlet Begonias," and they smoothly transitioned into each following song.

Matching the Deadheads' tie-dye clothing, Dead & Company's signature trippy backgrounds added to the aesthetic of the show. Along with the music, it captivated everyone in the audience and made us feel as though we had traveled back in time. From the passionate looks on the band's faces as well as their interactions with each other, they were just as captivated.

Not many of today's bands today can compare to the Grateful Dead's legacy. Without Deadheads, we may not have seen the trend of following a band on tour or camping out to get front row. 50 years later, the Grateful Dead's signature psychedelic jam-band style still influences many instrument-based bands in a world of synthesizers and computer-generated music.