{"id":58981,"date":"2026-02-26T21:41:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T21:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/chloe-sevigny-on-producing-deadhead-doc-summer-tour\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T21:41:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T21:41:45","slug":"chloe-sevigny-on-producing-deadhead-doc-summer-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/chloe-sevigny-on-producing-deadhead-doc-summer-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Chlo\u00eb Sevigny on Producing Deadhead Doc ‘Summer Tour’"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tChlo\u00eb Sevigny has been a Deadhead since her high school days. \u201cI think it was maybe first the drugs, and then the band,\u201d she jokes on a phone call in late February. Her first-hand experience in this realm is coming in handy with the release of Summer Tour,<\/em> a new documentary she\u2019s executive producing. Directed by Mischa Richter, the film is all about the Deadheads who followed Dead & Company\u2019s final tour<\/a> in 2023 (prior to their subsequent runs at the Sphere<\/a> in Las Vegas).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Summer Tour<\/em> premiered at Telluride Film Festival last August, and was recently acquired by Utopia. The film will screen on a multi-city tour this summer, featuring performances by various artists inspired by the band. \u201cThe film is so beautiful,\u201d Sevigny tells us. \u201cThese kids are so pure, and their love of the Dead is so engaging.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhy did you want to make this film?<\/strong>
Mischa is a friend of mine from high school. He was a hardcore kid, and we were both really into hip-hop. We\u2019d come home after school every day and watch Yo! MTV Raps<\/em> together. And then I somehow evolved into a Deadhead, and he followed suit. We started going to shows together in 1990, I would guess.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd then he ended up going to College of the Redwoods and seeing the Jerry [Garcia] Band and the Dead out West in the early Nineties. Then he moved to England, got married, had a couple kids. And then he and his family decided to move back to America and they moved to Brooklyn. We were hanging out again as friends. I was like, \u201cHey, there\u2019s this New York Dead Night at this bar called Clem\u2019s in Williamsburg. Do you want to go?\u201d And we went and he made friends with a bunch of these kids in the scene and fell into this whole New York City Dead Family vibes. He and I went to Chicago for all three nights of Fare Thee Well<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s been a lot of films about the Dead. What makes Summer Tour<\/em> stand out?<\/strong>
This one\u2019s really about this young couple who are in their teens, falling in love. It\u2019s a road movie. It\u2019s also a love letter to America, and some of the things that we can still say are good about the country [laughs<\/em>].\u00a0 And just this act of rebellion and what the music means to the kids. There\u2019s no footage of the band, they aren\u2019t in the movie at all. It\u2019s really just what tour means to a lot of different people. Different generations are shown throughout the movie, different friends that Mischa\u2019s made while touring himself. So you get all these different insights into why people have decided to follow the Dead, because as we know, this culture has sprung up around the band that\u2019s so devoted. All these different people can speak to why the band means what they mean to them.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s like that episode of Long Strange Trip<\/em>, only you guys made it into an entire film.<\/strong>
We all love to see the Deadheads, and there\u2019s very [little] footage of them, because a lot of people can\u2019t get access into the venues. We had the permission of Dead & Company management, and they were really generous with us, and realized which venues would let us in. And so Mischa went in with a skeleton crew. Really \u2014 it was him and two people and a tiny 16-millimeter camera, and he would shoot inside the shows. They also had access to the parking lot. We really got access, in a way that a lot of other photographers or filmmakers haven\u2019t had.<\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUtopia<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tHow many times did you see the Dead?
<\/strong>I don\u2019t know, I never counted. But a lot. I still have a lot of ticket stubs. And I remember seeing different iterations after Jerry died. And then I started to get really into the cover scene for a while. Dark Star Orchestra, obviously. High Time \u2014 they actually played at my wedding [laughs<\/em>]. They\u2019re one of my favorites. So I was really into the Dead cover band scene, going to the Capitol Theatre and things like that.<\/p>\n

\n\tI was curious about Dead & Co. and I went almost every time they came to New York, and once in Portland and once somewhere else, maybe L.A. If I was somewhere and they were coming through, I would go to a show a year. Maybe not every tour, because they weren\u2019t my favorite.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tAlso, this so crazy, but the LED of stadium lighting now is very hard for me. I saw Depeche Mode at MSG and so many other bands and it\u2019s just very hard for me to be in that kind of lighting. I don\u2019t want to be the actress douche with sunglasses on while inside a concert, but I can\u2019t handle it. Everyone\u2019s like, \u201cAre you going to the Sphere?\u201d I was like, \u201cThat is my worst nightmare!\u201d My sensory sensitivity. I would fritz out. But I would always give it a whirl, just because I love the scene. I love seeing the kids. I love the joy of the fans and just how immersive it is as an experience. And obviously, the music.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou spoke when the Dead were <\/strong>honored<\/strong><\/a> at the Kennedy Center in 2024. What was that experience like?
<\/strong>I\u2019ve met Bobby [Weir] before, backstage. It\u2019s really hard to meet idols in that way, and I was just respectful. They had hooked us up with tickets, so I wanted to say thank you. But I spent some time with Trixie [Garcia], and that was really emotional for me, because Jerry was really my in to the band. And Bill [Kreutzmann] and Mickey [Hart] were there, and I spent some time with Bill and his children. \u201cDrums\u201d is always one of my favorite parts of the show. And meeting Phil [Lesh]\u2019s son, more of the extended family. But the Trixie of it all was very emotional for me. Being in her presence was really heavy. And poor girl, the worst nepo of it all. But she handles it with such grace, and she just has such beauty and warmth. Her presence is so solid \u2014 it\u2019s what you would imagine his offspring [to be like]. She\u2019s also funny and has an opinion. That was a real standout of that experience for me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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