Ok, so I'm not a true dead head, but I like to call myself a junior dead head.
My dad should be answering this...but he used to play all the dead albums (recorded on tape) when he drove me to daycare and himself to college when i was little (side note: i came home one day singing ' high on cocanine; and my mom flipped...hehe)
Anyway:
Fav song: Touch of Grey or Ship of Fools
Never say them live
I'm not that well versed that I know the other answers... but may I suggest that although Phish is not an offshoot of the Dead, nor can they compare, I think they are the closest thing to the Dead that I've seen?? Just a thought...