My best guess is that if you’re reading this message, you’ve come to this site because either a) you’re someone who follows the activity and downloads the shows that are put up on the boilerinthebasement site, b) you’ve found this address at the end of a text file that has accompanied a Further Festival set that you’ve downloaded, 0r c) you have some level of interest in helping the Furthur Project.
In 1996, I hit the road for the first time and did a short run of Furthur Festival shows. In 1997, I did the same, but the trip was longer a more enjoyable, and in 1998, you guessed it, same deal (however, the focus of this site is more on ’96 & ’97, the ’98 shows are, for the most part, readily available). Since this time, I have been tracking down these shows, and it’s been one hell of a task.
So…the goal of this site is two-fold. First, it’s a location that I hope will eventually get to enough people who may have some old cassettes, cds, DATs or whatnot of these shows kicking around in a box in their basement or in the attic of their parents house who want to help get these shows circulated and will send them in for inclusion in the project. Second, it will be a place to announce when and where these shows will be made available.
Over the next couple of weeks or so, I’ll come up with a method for posting those sets that we need to complete this project. One significant caveat to this project…I do not expect it will ever be complete. These shows took place in a time when tapers were in the gray period between taping on cassette and DAT, and, from what I’ve gathered, many people stopped taping altogether after 1995.
Anyway, this site will be updated often, but if you do have any of the sets from the Furthur Festivals in 1996 or 1997 (regardless of the media…I can transfer anything short of reel to reel) please get in touch at thefurthurproject@gmail.com
The Furthur Project 
thanx so much for doing this. “Furthur” was a cathartic moment for me, and I went in 1996 (Old Orchard, ME and Great Woods, MA) , hit Great woods in 1997, and went to the Great woods and Hartford, CT shows in 1998. Post-Dead in 1996 was a weird feeling, until I got to Old Orchard and had a blast…I had a funny occurence with a newbie Head recently who kept insisting that Furthur was this “new” band, and I had to send him pics/vids from 96 and 97 to prove it! Anyways, thanx again, I wish I had some audio to offer…the Old Orchard show in 96 was awesome!
Saw all three tours, back then this was so great for all of us. The Crowes had a great run in 97′ The final jams are so fun. Thanks for all your effort to organize this and get this great music heard and documented. Peace Larry
Thank you. I have been looking for many of thesemshowsmfor a long time. Especially 1996, as it was a surprise that this tour would happen and it was so nice just to be together again after Jerry had pased away.
I have been looking for Furthur Atlanta 1996 for a long time. Thanks!! Every now and then I do an internet search for the few shows from those years that are unaccounted for…and now this one finally pops up, sweet! LMK if you ever run across Ratdog 4/12/97 from the GA Theatre in Athens, GA, please. Thanks for your time and efforts!!
Ernie
Thank you for your time and effort in this musical odyssey. I can’t believe that I just stumbled on this project, but my appetite for downloading live music waned when I ran out of storage space. BUT, I can always find room for shows I’ve been to (or love)!
The Furthur Festivals were cathartic for me. I had heard of the Grateful Dead in high school, but didn’t get to see a show and truly understand the “scene” until after college (post-1987), which to me can best defined as a symbiotic relationship between the band and audience. As cliche as it sounds, with Jerry’s passing there was also new beginning for me. I was sad that he was finally taking care of himself, wrestling his demons, only to die suddenly. It was during this time that I took the opportunity to explore other bands, and found several that I really connected with. The Furthur Festivals gave this relatively new Deadhead a chance to reunite in the arena of something familiar while at the same time venture out to experience other bands and collaborations. I enjoyed being able to go to the all of the Furthur Irvine shows; I only wish there were more. Even though there are dozens, if not hundreds, of festivals today, how many have the same origin as Furthur?
Furthur was cathartic for me..it was just a year before that we lost Jer..I just NEEDED to be there, and hear that the music was still moving out from the stage into the crowd..Old Orchard Beach, Maine, Great Woods in Mass..just a whole lotta celebrating ‘We Will Survive’, jams in the parking lots, great collabs, I loved it!!