Summer Tour is a new documentary from director Mischa Richter and producers including actress Chloë Sevigny. The film will have its local premiere at the Del Mar Theatre on Sept. 9. After the movie, film subject Annie Dunn and her mother, Christine Gibson, a Santa Cruz Deadhead, will join a Q&A moderated by DNA.
In the documentary, we follow Annie and Jerry Pierce, two young, long-haired hippies, as they traverse the country following the most recent incarnation of the Grateful Dead. Pierce describes life on tour as “one of the last American adventures still out there,” a sentiment reinforced by a welcome appearance from Jerry Garcia early in the movie.
Annie grew up being taken to the weekly Michael’s on Main Grateful Dead gatherings by her mom for intergenerational bliss.
“My first show was Dead & Company at the Hollywood Bowl on Halloween 2021,” says Annie from her home in Santa Cruz. “I got the download then and there and decided that’s what I needed to spend my time doing. Going to these shows.”
In 2023, when Summer Tour was filmed, John Mayer’s Dead & Company provided its musical world, filling the score with Jerry-perfect tones and rapid flurries of notes.
Director Mischa Richter captured a spot-on moment at the very start of Summer Tour. The sincere young couple—they have since split—were asking patrons at a gas station to help fill their tank. Running out of gas is an inside joke and part of the package for anyone who has been on Dead tour.
The idea that all Deadheads are well-heeled, so-called “trustafarians” is a misnomer. Whatever passed for middle class in the late 20th century is now barely making it. The wild hair and positive outlook haven’t changed, but the economics have.
Summer Tour opens a magical door that admits a willing audience into a vibrant, incredible, real American dream. For most people, the idea of traveling the country without any means of support would seem foolish and impossible.
“I would sell fresh fruit,” Annie begins. “You could buy fruit with food stamps. So I’d buy fruit with my food stamps and sell fresh fruit bowls. I sold some necklaces here and there and other things.”
It sounds like a fairy tale that in 2026 this could still be an option—but how?
In a win for humanity, a lot of Americans across the country saw this ragtag group of young people traveling the U.S. and supported that dream.
“We would get donations and some people were happy to fill our tank with gas. They supported the mission. So just angels all along,” says Annie.
The movie was filmed during the final cross-country summer trip of the Dead & Company tour. The band at that point was John Mayer, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Jay Lane, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti. Original Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann had stepped away earlier that year.
For somebody completely unfamiliar with what a Grateful Dead scene and show look like, it might appear that you’re watching a new People documentary on cults, or perhaps a Cuckoo’s Nest of crazies spinning themselves into the ground.
For longtime Deadheads, nothing has changed. Yes, Dead & Company circa 2023 was missing the bear of a man Garcia and scholar Phil Lesh, but in the fields among the twirling young people wearing cotton-print sundresses, this documentary might as well have been filmed in 1973.
Annie and Jerry do “the thing,” the same thing every Deadhead who has traveled across the country on tour has done since the 1960s. You get in tune with your road angel. You beg for spare gas and sell what you can to make your way to the next show.
Annie considers herself a “private person,” which might seem at odds with being one of the documentary’s two main subjects. But that is actually what gives Summer Tour its charm and authenticity. Annie comes across as quiet but kind and seeking joy.
Director Mischa Richter has manifested a more accurate representation of Deadheads with Summer Tour than the cinematic universe has provided thus far. There’s magic in Summer Tour.
The flip side of Annie is Jerry, a Northeast dude with long hair, a cherubic smile and some real chops on guitar. Jerry also has an enthusiasm for life accompanied by a lot of deep thoughts. Without giving a spoiler, when we visit Jerry’s home life, it’s perhaps an optimistic nod from Richter that maybe the different “sides” of America can work things out.
“I think that’s what it’s about. It’s a kind of crushing stereotypes and being open to things. And reconciliation. The universe loves reconciliation. And that was hard for Jerry. He hadn’t been home in a long time and he really wanted to do that. He pushed to do that, you know, and that was beautiful,” says Richter from his home office.
Richter and Sevigny—star of Kids, Boys Don’t Cry and Big Love—started dating in high school and saw their first Grateful Dead show together in 1990 at Madison Square Garden.
Thirty years later, Richter was searching for a way to celebrate the music that was the soundtrack to his life. He began looking around the Dead & Company crowds to see if he could find a compelling story and a reason to dedicate three years of his life to making Summer Tour.
“I wanted, as an artist or filmmaker—whatever you want to say I am—an intention and something to carry me through that everyone could relate to. And then I met Jerry and Annie,” says Richter, who looks every bit the cool, early-50s Head.
Something was in the air in 2023, and Richter felt there was something special about that last summer tour.
“The bigger venues, the big tours, the huge Shakedown—I felt like that hadn’t really happened since the ’90s when I first got into it,” Richter says.
“So I didn’t know Jerry and Annie really well, but when I met them at the Warfield, I felt their love for each other at that time. And they reminded me of Chloë and me, because Chloë and I were high school sweethearts. For me, most important was that the film be full of music and the experience of the music,” Richter concludes.
Annie is shy about any potential celebrity status because of Summer Tour. All she wants to do is get back on the road and see some more shows.
“I’ve even had my grandma find ways to compare it to her experience going to church. She’s a very devout Catholic, my sweet grandma. She mentioned, ‘You know, Annie, going to church is really similar. You’re going to this place where everyone is believing in the same thing and you’re all wanting to do the same things.’ That was really sweet to hear her say. I think there is this third collective consciousness that’s really special. Dead & Company opened the door for a lot of kids to go experience that for the first time. Which is cool,” Annie says.
See Summer Tour Sept. 9 at 7pm at the Del Mar Theatre, 1124 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. Tickets are $16.75. Film subjects Annie Dunn and Christine Gibson will appear for a Q&A moderated by DNA. More information at landmarktheatres.com/events/60716-summer-tour.
