Home

At The Festival
2015 Archive

Links

Tour info: Dead & Company | BobWeir.net | TerrapinCrossroads.net | BillKreutzmann.com | MickeyHart.net | BruceHornsby.com | Robert Hunter | Dead.net | GDTSTOO | PollStar | TicketMaster

Official websites: Grateful Dead | Jerry Garcia | Dead & Company | Bob Weir | Phil Lesh | Rhythm Devils | Bill Kreutzmann | Mickey Hart | Robert Hunter | Hornsby | Donna Jean | T.C.

Fan websites: Philzone.com | RatDog.org | OtherOnes.net | DaveClarkLive.net photos | Rabhan.com photos | Bruuuce.com

Updates and Articles

12/30/15 - From Billboard:

Shirley Halperin: Will this be a one-off tour or could we possibly see a summer leg in the future?

Jeff Chimenti: Well, I certainly hope it will continue! I don't have any details, but if it's good and successful, why let it go? The music's got to carry on.

NEW YEAR'S EVE! Ring in the New Year with Dead and Company live from The Forum in Los Angeles, CA on the Grateful Dead Channel. Dead and Company features Grateful Dead founding members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann along with John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti playing timeless Dead Head favorites. Host Gary Lambert will guide your trip into 2016 with information and commentary. It all begins Thursday 12/31/15 11PM ET. Rebroadcasts: Friday 01/01/16 12 NOON EST, Friday 01/01/16 9 PM EST.

12/11/15 - From AXS TV:

AXS TV expands its music programming lineup with the all-new original series ROCK & ROLL ROAD TRIP WITH SAMMY HAGAR . . ., premiering Sunday, January 24, at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. . . In the series’ first two episodes, Hagar and former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony cruise the Sunset Strip and reminisce at the world famous Whisky A Go Go, before heading out to Motley Crue star Tommy Lee’s house to cook, talk, and perform rock staples “Rock Candy” and Jeff Beck’s “Going Down.” Then, Hagar heads out to San Francisco for a special Grateful Dead episode, joining founding members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart as they relive the glory days of the Peace & Love Movement on Haight-Ashbury, delve into their musical influences, discuss what made the Grateful Dead so special, and bring the house down with a Hagar/Weir duet on the Grateful Dead classic “Loose Lucy,” followed by a jam session with Hagar and Hart.

Alan Paul: Dead and Company is booked through New Year’s Eve and there’s a lot of speculation that the group will tour next summer. What comes after January 1?

Oteil Burbridge: I haven’t heard anything concrete yet about 2016 but as well as things are going I would guess there will something next year. God willing….

In its quest to help bring #PeacethroughMusic, The Jerry Garcia Foundation, along with The Hard Rock Cafe, will present a WhyHunger Holiday Benefit at 7pm on December 18, 2015, at the Hard Rock Cafe in San Francisco. The event will feature special guest appearances by the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, seventeen-year-old guitar prodigy Corby Pryor, Rainbow Full of Sound and Keystone Revisited. Artist Stanley Mouse and Wavy Gravy are sharing their artistry at the Benefit as well. All door proceeds will benefit Yoko Ono’s “Imagine There’s No Hunger” Campaign.

Dead & Company appears to have a future. “Absolutely,” Hart said with enthusiasm. “You couldn’t walk away from something like this.”

Is there a future for the Fare Thee Well lineup?

“We haven’t spoken per se about that. But if it were to come around next year and we talked it out and made it as smooth as possible, I would do it again,” Kreutzmann said. “I never say no to good things Grateful Dead.”

[Dead and Company's tour] runs through the end of the month and then returns for four year-end gigs in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Weir said he hopes to continue touring in 2016 and the band has talked about recording an album. But for the immediate future, the focus is on the live shows.

“I hope he sticks around. I love his playing, and John Mayer is really a part of this, an equal part of this, and we’ll see how far this goes. But right now we’ve got the magic and as long as we have that we’ll play into the future." —Mickey Hart via The St. Louis Post-Dispatch & STLtoday.com

11/17/15 - The Tennessean: What's it like to be the new guy in the 'Dead'?

11/17/15 - Live for Live Music: Jeff Chimenti's Long, Strange Trip As The Dead's Longest-Tenured Keyboardist

11/17/15 - AL.com: Former Alabama resident, Allman Brother Oteil Burbridge on playing in post-Grateful Dead band Dead & Company

11/10/15 - From Relix:

Mickey Hart: We had heard that John [Mayer] had Grateful Dead leanings—that he loved that music—so he was very excited to be talking to us. We just clicked. This music really moved him, totally twisted his head for whatever reason. He got it. After Bob was onThe Late Late Show, he told us he felt good being around John, so we had a few rehearsals this spring and then another month of rehearsals this fall. It was one of the happiest, most joyful, most productive months I’ve ever spent with an ensemble.

Bob Weir: "From my perspective, I was invited to play with John when he was guest-hosting The Late Late Show and we developed a little chemistry there that was the kind of thing you don't just offhandedly walk away from. We got to talking and things got rolling. I would play something and I would hear his answer very clearly – he was listening to what I was playing, listening to what I was singing and responding to it."

11/04/15 - From Live for Live Music:

L4LM: Do you see this band continuing beyond this year? Would you stay involved?

Oteil Burbridge: Oh yes. And hell yes! If they want me around, I’m definitely coming back!

10/29/15 - From the New York Times:

Mr. Lesh, who is 75 and recently announced that he has bladder cancer, said that he preferred to pick his spots instead of hitting the road hard after the summer anniversary shows. This month, he began cancer treatments, canceling only a few gigs. “It’s under control,” he said, and his doctors “are very confident that it’s not going to be an issue going forward.”

In addition to his health, Mr. Lesh said he planned to focus most of his energy post-Dead on Terrapin Station, the music hall and restaurant he owns with his wife in Marin County in California.

“When I agreed to do Dead 50, my stipulation was, ‘That’s it,’ ” he said this week by phone from his home in Marin. Touring with the rest of the group “was a nonstarter from the beginning,” he added. “It was just understood. They were all ready before we even started rehearsals, talking about going out themselves. I’m just not into touring, and those guys are.” (Citing rehearsal obligations, the members of Dead & Company declined to comment.)

• • • •

Asked if he might run into his band mates during their overlapping New York stops, Mr. Lesh said: “Absolutely not. I am so busy.” However, they have been in touch since July’s cathartic valediction.

“I congratulated Bob on his birthday,” Mr. Lesh said of Mr. Weir. They have plans for dinner upon everyone’s return from tour.

There's a chance Dead bassist Phil Lesh could appear at some shows if he's not busy, Weir says, although he is currently being treated for bladder cancer. (Lesh seems to be doing "fine," Weir adds. "From what I understand, it was more an inconvenience than a major concern.")

Dead & Company started rehearsing for the tour last month, running through close to 100 songs from Grateful Dead's expansive catalog for set lists that will vary nightly. Working with Mayer over the last four weeks, "he's really gathered the material into his soul; he's taking it to bed at night, basically," Kreutzmann, 69, says. "He really has a lot of fun playing and brings a lot of great energy into it," with rehearsal standouts including Franklin's Tower and Row Jimmy, which "he sings and it's really beautiful."

Mayer anticipates singing in one way or another on roughly 80% of the songs, and lead vocals on a "little less than half," he says. (Weir will take the reins on others.) Accompanying his new bandmates on guitar, Mayer says he constantly needs to remind himself to slow it down — not musically, but mentally. "'We'll get there when we get there' is the sort of mantra of this whole thing,' " he says. "The solo artist in me wants to make sure I'm toeing the line correctly, (but) that can only be great for me to just let the line go a little bit."

In the days leading up to the tour kickoff, Mayer says he is feeling suspense more so than nervousness. "I've been preparing for it like a boxer, like 'I've got to be in tip-top shape for that thing, and that thing is a Dead concert, more or less.' Playing that music with those guys, it becomes cosmically, culturally a Dead concert."

As for potentially mixed reactions from Deadheads, Mayer tries to take it all in stride.

"It's the Internet and you're going to get a range of absolutely every kind of opinion, and all of them are valid in one way or another, based on somebody's perception or knowledge of what I do," Mayer says. "I've become so Zen about all that stuff. My thinking is, 'Who knows what's going to happen? But how cool would it be if I pulled it off?' "

You can view the concert live 11/7 on www.amexunstaged.com at 7:30pm EST.

Mayer added that he likely won't party at any point on tour because, after each show, he'll have to go back to his hotel room and do homework, which in this case means studying up on the 80 or so Dead songs he learned for the trek. While the guitarist wasn't too forthcoming about Dead & Company's set lists, he did reveal that he and Weir would split vocals on the Grateful Dead's epic "Terrapin Station" suite. "If you're a Dead superfan, you'll understand this: I'll be singing 'Lady With a Fan' and Bob will be singing 'Terrapin,'" Mayer said.

After Dead & Company's first gig in Albany, the group – which also features Allman Brothers bassist Oteil Burbridge and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti – will head to New York's Madison Square Garden for three nights at the World's Most Famous Arena, including a free performance that will be live-streamed. The band's first jaunt will conclude with a New Year's Eve show at Los Angeles' Forum.

10/16/15 - JamBase: Phil Lesh Battling Bladder Cancer

10/09/15 - From Rolling Stone:

While Phil Lesh is the only member from those shows not joining Dead & Company on the road, Weir is not ruling out the possibility of Lesh appearing with the band onstage again. "I would expect if that's going to happen, it's going to be if we're in ... He has a place in New York, but more so, he lives out here [in California]," Weir tells Rolling Stone. "But he doesn't want to hit the road. He's 75 now. It's kind of not an option for him, the way he puts it. And so, you know, that's still where we are; that's still where we're going to live, at least I am. And so, if we're going to see him, we're going to see him around here or around someplace where he is."

It may seem like an obvious move for Lesh to participate, aside from the fact that the Fare Thee Well shows were billed as the last time the "Core Four" — Weir, Lesh, Kreutzmann and Hart — would ever perform together. Now, Weir admits he's not so sure the Fare Thee Well lineup is finished. "Well, you know, I'm going to just go ahead and say it: It feels like there is some unfinished business. As Billy pointed out yesterday, we didn't get to the East Coast this summer. And you know, it won't be the 50th anniversary, but I'm certainly open to it."

Pressed to clarify if the Fare Thee Well lineup will play together again, Weir pauses for a moment. "Right now, my notion of what that is or could amount to is still nebulous — I don't even want to poke it. But you know, like I said, I'm open."

“It’s basically going back to school as a guitar player and learning the catalog,” Mayer says. “It’s a completely new aspect [to me] as a musician.”

• • • •

For Mayer, he’s trying to learn a much as possible in this new outfit. “It’s one of those experiences that I’m enjoying for what it is and what it will mean for me as a musician for the rest of my life,” he says. “It’s like a journey to the center of the earth or something.”

The tour is set to conclude with New Year’s shows in Los Angeles at the Forum on Dec. 30 and 31. Beyond that, there are no set plans for Dead & Company. “Way back when, we sort of learned not to plot our career moves and just take it as it comes,” says Bob Weir. “We’re putting in a lot of work in it, is all I can say.”

10/07/15 - CNBC: The Dead go corporate, but it's not what you think

10/06/15 - From the Associated Press:

"I don't know of any Deadhead in the world who said, 'When I paid my money, I paid to see these guys finish this,'" Mayer said in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press in the Marin County recording studios of singer and guitarist Bob Weir.

The Grateful Dead's Weir and percussionists Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann are part of Dead & Company with Mayer. Bassist Phil Lesh is not involved, although Weir in an earlier interview did not rule out the possibility of Lesh joining an upcoming show.

• • • •

Weir said Tuesday that when they played together, he noticed Mayer "was answering back, and it was fun, and more fun than I was really going to be happy about just walking away from."

"I heard the opening riff to 'Althea,' and it was just directly injected into my vein," Mayer told Mashable. "And from that moment on I had this thing in my blood. ... I just went down the wormhole."

With more than 500 songs in their canon — 300 or so covers and 180-plus originals — that's a mighty deep wormhole. Besides learning the chord changes, melodies and lyrics, Mayer also has been picking up what he calls the "ergonomics" of Garcia's stylings, from the fat, wet, slappy low-end foundations to the shimmering, warp-speed jazz-charged solos ... and all points between.

Mayer was already an accomplished and versatile guitar player when he discovered the Dead, which he likens to less of a band and more of a "musical research facility," but it might still be the most daunting assignment in rock 'n' roll. Tackling Garcia's material requires more than technique and proficiency; you need to have the feel.

"I’ve never played these letter shapes in my head," Mayer said. "I’ve never bounced off a string like that, from one to the next one."

• • • •

"We struck a vein in there somewhere that we can draw endlessly off of," Weir said, when asked what Mayer brings to the mix. "Everything's good. We’re not concentrating on when he’s soloing; concentrate on when nobody’s soloing. That’s where you’re gonna hear where he fits in this little assemblage."

With Dead & Company's first show just a few short weeks away, Mayer admits that he's still picking up the offense, though there's plenty of evidence out there that he can pull it off. Mayer had Weir on The Late Late Show to play "Althea," and subsequent recordings make it clear that he's progressed from capably fitting his own style into the mix to picking up the sounds and nuances of Garcia's playing.

"I'm still taking the tapes home and kicking myself," he said. "Whatever it is, I’m still focusing it. I’m still focusing the beam."

"You’ll just have to wait to see what he does," Hart said. "This band is mostly — this is a group feeling, and he not necessarily just a soloist, but a real good groupist. We like this band. We like this group. That’s the real payoff for us."

Dead & Company . . . announced Monday that 5,000 fans will have a chance to win two tickets each to their Nov. 7 show in New York City.

The group has partnered with American Express for its music series, "American Express Unstaged," for the sweepstakes. Film director Brett Ratner will direct the concert's livestream from Madison Square Garden.

"People who want to hear the music get to hear it for free and we get to promote our music and share it with people," Bob Weir said in an interview with The Associated Press on Saturday.

• • • •

"We're about halfway in and rehearsals are going well, if I may say," Weir said. "We've been through 45 or 50 tunes and I'm not going to tell you that we have them entirely locked down, but we have a good handle on them."

09/30/15 - Sammy Hagar's blog: The Dead and John Mayer

09/28/15 - JamBase: More Dead & Company Rehearsal Clips Surface

09/23/15 - JamBase: John Mayer Shares Taste Of Dead & Company Rehearsals

09/22/15 - JamBase: Dead & Company Promo Video Shows Band At Work

09/19/15 - From Instagram.com/Oteil_Burbridge:

oteil_burbridge
Flying out tomorrow to start rehearsals for [Dead & Company Tour]. So psyched....

09/13/15 - From Twitter.com/TamSoundSummit:

Sound Summit
@TamSoundSummit
Thrilled to announce that good friend and neighbor #BobWeir will join us [on 09/19/15 at Mount Tamalpais State Park] as a special guest!

Two became three when Mickey Hart emerged to help Bobby, Billy & The Kids end [their 09/12/15 Lockn'] set with "One More Saturday Night" and "Not Fade Away." For his part, Lesh watched the action while holding grandson Levon Lesh.

Oct. 29 Times Union Center, Albany, NY
Oct. 31 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Nov. 1 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Nov. 5 Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
Nov. 6 Verizon Center, Washington, DC
Nov. 10 DCU Center, Worcester, MA
Nov. 11 First Niagara Center, Buffalo, NY
Nov. 13 Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
Nov. 14 Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, NC
Nov. 17 Phillips Arena, Atlanta, GA
Nov. 18 Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN
Nov. 20 Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO
Nov. 21 Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
Nov. 24 1st Bank Center, Broomfield, CO
Nov. 25 1st Bank Center, Broomfield, CO
Nov. 27 MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, NV
Nov. 28 MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, NV
Dec. 27 Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA
Dec. 28 Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA
Dec. 30 The Forum, Los Angeles, CA
Dec. 31 The Forum, Los Angeles, CA

Mickey Hart
"The hardest thing in the world is to start an orchestra, and the next hardest, to stop it." ~Hans Richter. Let's take these words and feel blessed that the "orchestra" of the Grateful Dead will be forever hard to "stop".

A complete list of tour dates will be announced soon.

John Mayer
@JohnMayer
New tour dates announced... This is getting exciting. (And I'm told it's not over yet...)

08/22/15 - From Ultimate Classic Rock:

Jed Gottlieb: OK, you’ve done so many collaborations, but after those Dead shows what I want to see is Phil Lesh and Friends with you and Trey or even an Anastasio-Hornsby tour.

Bruce Hornsby: [Laughing.] You know you’re not the first to suggest this idea?

Jed Gottlieb: Oh, I know but to see you two playing together was so delightful. I have got to have more.

Bruce Hornsby: Well, you could describe it as a delightful time together. We developed a great bond both musically and personally. He was talking to me a bit about doing something and I’m not – well, look at those collaborations on the Essential record. With the exception of Robbie Robertson of the Band, who I called up and told about this idea I had for a record he was doing that he might like, it has always been people calling me. They have been the catalyst. They came forward with the idea of collaboration. For instance, I played on Brandon Flowers‘ new record and I’m working with Justin Vernon from Bon Iver on a couple of different things. Those are new collaborations for 2015. But it’s always been about them calling me. So, we’ll see what happens. You’re not alone in that thought, though.

Dead & Company
@deadandcompany
2 sold out MSGs. Thank you! If you’re trying to get tickets via broker, you may want to hold off. We’re working on it. Stay tuned…

What matters most [about Fare Thee Well] to Hornsby is the shows didn’t disappoint Deadheads.

“I thought that it was pretty damn consistent for a band that learned 90 songs for five concerts,” Hornsby said ahead of tonight’s solo stop at Lowell’s Boarding House Park.

Three of the original members of the Dead have decided to carry on with a fall tour featuring John Mayer on guitar. Hornsby and Anastasio won’t be along for the trip, which means they may have time to join forces.

“If Trey has some big idea and calls me up, I’m all ears,” Hornsby said. “I loved the time with him and would definitely be interested in exploring something else.”

• • • •

Hornsby thinks he’ll end up sitting in with Dead members in the future. But he’s not waiting. As always, he’s moving ahead.

“I’ve been working in modern classical music more,” he said. “I’m also doing my old music in new ways and using (the Appalachian folk instrument) dulcimer in my sets. I hope to put out a dulcimer record next year. All this is much to the chagrin of some of my audience that wants me to play it safe.”

08/10/15 - From the Asbury Park Press:

Alex Biese: When playing with a catalog as historic and well-known as the Dead’s, how do you strike a balance between reverence for the material and still doing your own thing, putting your own spin on the material?

Oteil Burbridge: It’s one of those things like life itself where you have to accept the tension of it.

Life is creative tension from the very beginning. An orgasm is creative tension. So is birth, death and everything in between. You have to reconcile with it. I want everybody to like me but I also can’t please everybody. I want to sound like Phil (Lesh) in this band but even if I could, people would hate me for it. Fortunately for me I can’t, so I can let that free me of the anxiety of it. Of course Dead fans are as brutal as they are kind. Lucky for me the kind ones are really pulling for me. I’m gonna take my comfort in that.

There are a few points where I really connect with the Grateful Dead music and think that I can make some cool contributions. One is the gentle acoustic jazz side of things. Another is all the blues and R&B influenced music where I think I can provide a great groove for it and really make it bounce. And I’m really looking forward to the completely out there Sun Ra, Col. Bruce Hampton, leave-the-galaxy part of the music. It’s a good thing I have all of these ARU gigs right before the Dead and Company starts to get me in that frame of mind. This is going to be a great adventure!

Due to overwhelming demand, Dead & Company has added a 2nd show at MSG on 11/1! Tix go on sale this Friday!

Jeff Cornell: Have you ever performed with John Mayer? What are your thoughts on him as a guitar player and what do you think he will bring to Dead & Company?

Oteil Burbridge: I never have before, but from conversations we’ve had, I know how far down the rabbit hole he’s gone with Grateful Dead music. He is so madly in love with it. When you have the skill and the talent that he has combined with being that in love with it he’s gonna do something really beautiful. It’s impossible to please every Dead fan. We are both probably way more focused on making Bob, Bill and Mickey happy. Besides, I think it was Leonard Bernstein that said, “I’ve been all over the world, countless times, and the one thing I’ve never seen is a statue of a critic.” Of course if ALL the fans hate us then we have a problem. But we both love the music and I think that love is always gonna prevail.

• • • •

Jeff Cornell: Other than New Year’s Eve, Halloween is probably one of the best holidays for a concert. What do you expect from the dedicated and loyal Grateful Dead fans at Madison Square Garden on Halloween?

Oteil Burbridge: Holy crap! I can’t even imagine what a freak show it’s gonna be. It’s gonna be epic. I was laughing my head off today at the band’s ongoing group texts about what costumes they wanted to wear. Too funny!

Hart shared his thoughts on Dead & Company's bass player Oteil Burbridge, calling the former Allman Brothers musician a "virtuoso player" who will bring "some funk to the groove." He adds, "I think he'll bring a lot to the band that wasn't there before." While the statement was not a jab at Lesh, Hart quickly clarified, "I love Phil's playing, no doubt, but he has other plans and so do we and so all is good and there's peace in the valley.

"You know how live music goes on because of things very much like this. If people stop playing our music, especially us, eventually, I fear we will die," Hart says of the band's need to perform. "This is something I think is worth going after and giving it away in this respect for ears that want to hear it. That's all -- it's not to please all the people, but I think a whole bunch of them are gonna love it."

Shirley Halperin: How deep did you go?

John Mayer: I'm going pretty deep. I've been going for a while and it has been such a joy to go back to playing guitar for 4 to 5 hours a day. It’s been 15 years since the last time I sat in the room and just tried to get better at playing. It's what I've called Grateful Dead University. It's like a study abroad -- a totally immersive course and a real self-driven scholarship.

"Fare Thee Well proved to me that I'm not done exploring new rhythmic territory with Mickey — I'm recommending that everyone puts their helmet on, because we are going to blast our way into some serious drums and space," Kreutzmann said in a statement Wednesday. "And with Mayer riding shotgun with Weir — we're in good company, so to speak."

Oteil Burbridge
I’m honored and excited to share that I'll be joining Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, and Jeff Chimenti of the Grateful Dead and John Mayer for a new venture - Dead & Company. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to try to help take this iconic band to new places.

Three of the Dead’s "core four" players -- guitarist Bob Weir and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann -- plan to continue the party, with John Mayer on guitar. Their first performance as Dead & Company is set for Halloween night (Oct. 31) at New York’s Madison Square Garden . . . Joining the group on bass is Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers and Aquarium Rescue Unit and Ratdog keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, who played all five Fare Thee Well shows . . .

"Those songs weren't done with us," Weir tells Billboard of a decision that came with little deliberation. "It was a matter of who wanted to get back out on the road and keep doing it." Mayer’s enthusiasm, he adds, "was the cherry on the sundae that made this project look like a good idea."

Indeed, Mayer had been jamming with select band members since March, learning the late Jerry Garcia’s guitar parts by ear and immersing himself in the repertoire in hopes of possibly hitting the road. At the same time, he decided to bench an album he had started working on so he could devote all of his time to the Dead.

• • • •

Adds Weir: "It's gratifying to see somebody discover our work and it's also fun to have someone who's cranked up about it -- a new initiate into our way of doing things."

It’s a sentiment Kreutzmann shares, noting that Mayer also brings with him a feel for the blues that was crucial to the band’s early material. "When we first started playing years ago, it was with Pig Pen, and he was nothing but a blues guy. We took that and made it into the Grateful Dead and we're doing that with John. And John gets to open up to many styles and doesn't have to be locked into any one genre. And I think that's why John is excited to play with us because we offer up a whole new cookie. He's told me that he’s been at home working on our material like crazy. He'll be one of us."

• • • •

Built to last; the music never stopped; a long strange trip gets a little longer -- affix any number of Dead song titles to this run, which Weir says will stretch beyond the announced MSG date ("It's kind of late in the year to put together a tour, but we're gonna try"), but clearly goodbye is no longer on the table.

Does the band anticipate a backlash from fans who shelled out hundreds of dollars for what they thought might be their last chance at a Dead show? "None of us ever said we didn't want to play anymore," Weir defends. "We're gonna kick it around and see where it takes us. That's what we've always done and making plans is something we found out over the years is kind of a waste of time. The music tells us what it wants, where it wants to go, what it wants to do."

Judging from the ticket prices, however, it seems the band was listening to post-Fare Thee Well reaction. Top-tier seats for Dead & Co. will cost fans less than $100 and a $50 ticket will also be offered in honor of the band’s 50th anniversary. The general on-sale is scheduled for Aug. 14 with American Express card holders able to buy tickets starting Aug. 10.

[Aquarium Rescue Unit] bassist Oteil Burbridge has reportedly been studying up on the Dead's music.

UPDATE: Billboard has changed its initial report that Bob Weir would guest with Phil Lesh & Friends featuring Carlos Santana at this year's Lockn' Festival. The post now says that Weir will be a featured guest on the Saturday of Lockn' 15 as he will appear "in unique artist collaborations" throughout the day. A guest spot with Phil & Friends has not been confirmed contrary to Billboard's initial report.

• • • •

"After the magic of the 'Fare Thee Well' shows, we knew we had to figure out how to have Bobby and Mickey at Lockn'," said festival co-­founder/co-­promoter Peter Shapiro. "All four of the guys are coming to do their own thing, but just to have them all there with us in Arrington is sure to mean a lot to our extended Grateful Dead family."

The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir and Mickey Hart are the latest additions to the lineup at the Lockn’ Music Festival. Weir will perform as the Featured Guest Of The Day appearing in unique artist collaborations on Saturday, Sept. 12. Hart will curate a “deep rhythm experience” at Lockn’s forest stage during two consecutive one-­of-a-kind late night presentations, tuning The Woods with sound, lights, and vibrations and performing a third evening on the main stage with EOTO.

Additionally, the Dead's Phil Lesh will hit the stage with another rock icon: Carlos Santana.

"It is an honor to be invited to share the stage at Lockn’ Festival with my musical brothers and sister, Phil Lesh, Warren Haynes, Phil's Band as well as my talented wife, Cindy Blackman Santana," Santana tells Billboard. "Each bring their own unique vision and touch that will make for a rainbow explosion of sound, resonance, vibration that will touch everyone at the center of their heart. I know my brother, Jerry Garcia, will be smiling down on us as we compliment and soar into the heavens to create a new landscape of light & love, where time, space and gravity disappears and it is just the music and your heart."

Elsewhere at Lockn' Fest, Dead vets Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann will perform (separately), meaning anyone who hits up the Sept. 10-13 fest has the opportunity to check out the Core 4 (though not together) during their post-Dead period.

07/14/15 - From Glide Magazine:

Neil Ferguson: Given all the momentum, do you see anything happening in the future for more Dead-related stuff?

Trixie Garcia: The Rex Foundation has its annual Tie Dye Ball in December, and we have Jerry Day coming up. That’s not a Rex thing but it goes to benefit the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater that they did here in San Francisco. But there will be more events. There’s no one looking at all of those 70,000 people and thinking it’s not going to happen again. In some shape or form obviously – with that exact lineup I highly doubt – but we’ll see. There’s definitely going to be more large events.

Neil Ferguson: You’re talking about shows with different members of the band?

Trixie Garcia: Right, there’s going to be much more.

Neil Ferguson: Is there a feeling in the Grateful Dead camp that you’d like to see more of that?

Trixie Garcia: Yeah, there’s a feeling that our fanbase wouldn’t be served if there were no more events. I think it’s pretty obvious to everybody. Everybody wants to go to more shows.

When the Grateful Dead announced their Fare Thee Well shows, they insisted that their July 5 concert would be their last ever. But if drummer Bill Kreutzmann had his way, they would do a few more.

Speaking to PBS’ News Hour, he said, “I would like … to do it more. Between you and me and all your lovely fans, I would like to have a couple more shows on the East Coast … I want to do it for the fans again because we had such, such amazing support in the East Coast from the Deadheads, the whole thing called the ‘Grateful Dead Belt’ between Boston and Washington. They deserve concerts like everybody does. I wish we had done two there too.” You can watch the interview [here].

Kreutzmann admitted that he was speaking solely for himself and not the other members of the band. But earlier in the interview, he acknowledged that this was “the latest invention of the Grateful Dead,” and that “it might be ‘Fare Thee Well’ for this particular … group of fellows, right? But I know I’m gonna be playing a lot more. I’m sure Bobby [Weir] has intentions to play more.”

this is not technically a Grateful Dead concert. In the 20 years since Garcia died, the surviving members have intermittently reconfigured themselves in different permutations – The Other Ones, Furthur, The Dead – to keep the music alive, and of course to keep the bank accounts healthy. For these last five gigs, however, the band name is delicately obscured. “Remember, it’s called ‘Fare Thee Well, Celebrating 50 Years Of The Grateful Dead’,” cautions the promoter Peter Shapiro, a couple of weeks before the show. “That’s how we branded it. Jerry was the soul of the band – they all know that, we all know that – but we’re gonna do it one more time.”

07/06/15 - JamBase: Bill Walton Documents Grateful Dead 50 Chicago Experience

07/06/15 - Jambands.com: Fare Thee Well Comes to an Emotional Conclusion

07/05/15 - Jambands.com: Fare Thee Well Continues with Fourth of July Celebration

07/04/15 - Jambands.com: Fare Thee Well Opens Final Run in Style

07/03/15 - JamBase: President Barack Obama Fares Grateful Dead Well

07/03/15 - JamBase: Spoiler Alert | Grateful Dead 50 Chicago Thursday Soundcheck

07/02/15 - From The Guardian:

Even though members of the Dead have had other musical projects, from the Other Ones and Ratdog to Kreutzmann’s Billy & the Kids, it took 20 years for them to feel the time was right to perform together again as the Grateful Dead.

Kreutzmann says he felt not doing so short-changed the band’s fans. As more time stretched between their last performance and this weekend, the market has been flooded with substitutes, including a sprawling subculture of Grateful Dead cover bands, many of whom fill theatres performing entire shows from the past. One player, John Kadlecik, of Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra, even proved he had the mettle to substitute for Garcia in Further, a band fronted by Dead founder members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh.

Even though he sees the cover bands as “a compliment” to the strength of the band’s songwriting, Kreutzmann says the Fare Three Well shows are meant as a final testament by the original band itself.

“Fans deserve to hear great music again and this is the last opportunity for them to do it, plus I still like making music with these guys,” Kreutzmann says. “We’re not a cover band. We are the band.”

And credit is due to the "core four," which also include drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, for reapproaching these songs with the added collective experience of 20-plus years playing on their own and in Dead offshoots and opening the door to new interpretations by their heirs apparent — be that Phish on this round, perhaps John Mayer on the next and more after. Speaking of Mayer, he was spotted in the "friends and family" VIP viewing area on the floor, singing along "pretty much the entire time," one observer noted. "He knew all the words."

06/28/15 - From the Marin Independent Journal:

Backstage [at Levi's Stadium 6/27/15], Allman Brothers bassist Oteil Burbridge and guitar hero John Mayer said hello to friends and posed for photos with fans, but neither sat in during the show.

06/28/15 - Jambands.com: Fare Thee Well Kicks Off in Santa Clara

06/27/15 - From Billboard:

VIPs of the tech world are on the [Santa Clara] guest list along with Bravo's Andy Cohen and John Mayer, who is not expected to join in on this run of shows but is likely to make an appearance at one of the many ancillary concerts taking place in Chicago over July 4 weekend.

For many Grateful Dead fans, the group's farewell concerts this weekend and next are bittersweet. It's an opportunity for the band and its followers to commune again, en masse. But it also represents the final closing of a door and the end of an era (even if, as rumored, three of the four band members tour in the fall under another name, with John Mayer assuming Garcia's role).

06/27/15 - The Barn Presents: Setlist / Recap / Stream | Grateful Dead Soundcheck @ Levi's Stadium 6/26/15

06/26/15 - Billboard.com: Peter Shapiro, Co-Producer of the Grateful Dead's Reunion Concerts, Reveals How He Got the Band Back Together

06/26/15 - From Facebook.com/BIllKreutzmann:

Bill Kreutzmann
Well of course I feel like the happiest -- and definitely the luckiest -- man alive. I mean... we're back!! (And...we're ready.)

06/25/15 - Hollywood Reporter: Grateful Dead's Fare Thee Well: Stage Revealed as Secondary Ticket Market Heats Up

06/25/15 - From Bloomberg:

Last year, Shapiro spent months persuading each Grateful Dead member to do the shows. Some of the relationships were strained after decades of knowing each other. . . But by early January, after much coaxing, Lesh called to say the band would work with Shapiro. “There were times it was on and off,” Shapiro says. “I had to reach into the toilet sometimes.”

Mickey Hart added 2 new photos to the album: Fare Thee Well - A Celebration Of 50 Years — at Levi's Stadium.

06/24/15 - Rolling Stone: Trey Anastasio on Phish's Bond, His Man Cave and the Dead's Big Gigs

06/23/15 - Relix.com: YouTube to Broadcast Fare Thee Well Shows

06/20/15 - From Facebook.com/MickeyHart:

"The Grateful Dead band is one thing; the Grateful Dead feeling and what it stood for is another. Its legacy is really in the people who were touched by it, who will be touched by it, and whatever they imagine between [Robert Hunter's] words and the feeling we gave them through the experience and the groove. I know what it is to me, and I see it as a great gift." —Mickey Hart

06/19/15 - Relix.com: Trey Anastasio Talks Fare Thee Well, Phish in New Interview

06/15/15 - From Facebook.com/BIllKreutzmann:

Bill Kreutzmann
Alright. Before we say farewell, we get to say hello (again). And with that -- who is ready for some good ole' Grateful Dead?

06/12/15 - JamBase: John Mayer Joins Phil Lesh & Friends At Terrapin Crossroads

06/12/15 - From the Washington Post:

The pledge by the remaining four to no longer play together added urgency. Weir, declining to discuss how he and his bandmates made peace, speaks of a higher calling.

“Pete Shapiro sure as hell helped,” says Weir, “but I think the guiding force is that it’s the right thing to do. I think everybody came to that realization. We have a duty.”

• • • •

You won’t hear the original four talking about a truce. That’s because you won’t hear the original four talking much at all. At first, they declined all requests for interviews.

“They’re not selling an album,” Shapiro said earlier this summer. “It’s so sold out, there’s no point.”

But then Kreutzmann had to promote his book, which led to interviews. He talked freely about sharing 13 groupies with a friend one night, as well as his cocaine addiction. When it came to the “Fare Thee Well” shows, he turned as tight as a snare drum.

“I don’t really have anything to say except I’m really looking forward to playing them and that’s all I’m telling you,” he said, ending a planned 30-minute interview 13 minutes in.

Weir, doing an interview to promote a new documentary about him, “The Other One,” was looser in describing early rehearsals with Anastasio and Lesh. (The band, as of this week, had not begun rehearsing together.)

“There’s a little anxiety,” he admitted. “I want to get rolling, basically. Right now, it’s easy to feel a little anxious about it just because we’re not doing it. We’re thinking about it. There’s ample opportunity for any of us to overthink the situation. Which won’t serve us at all. I think once we get rolling, we’ll find our center.”

• • • •

Whether this truly is the Grateful Dead remains a debate even among the players. Technically, they say they’re doing a tribute and farewell. Just try to interpret that from the way the band name is plastered on the ads for “Fare Thee Well.”

“A good friend of mine had a dream in which Sigmund Freud came to him and said, ‘Listen, I’ve been dead for a little over 100 years and I’ve had some time to think it over and I’ve determined that neurosis is the inability to accept ambiguity,’” Weir says. “I totally buy into that description. Let’s not get neurotic about this.”

06/04/15 - Washington Post: Basketball legend Bill Walton vows, with love, to stop Grateful Dead’s farewell

06/04/15 - PR Newswire: SiriusXM to Broadcast Grateful Dead's Historic "Fare Thee Well" Concerts on its Exclusive Grateful Dead Channel

06/04/15 - Wall Street Journal: SiriusXM to Broadcast Grateful Dead’s Final ‘Fare Thee Well’ Reunion Shows

06/01/15 - From The New Yorker:

Bob Weir visited New York recently to prepare for the Fare Thee Well tour . . . Weir and Anastasio met for a few days in a studio on an upper floor of a building in the far West Fifties, where the car dealers are.

It was their fourth set of meetings. “We holed up for three days in early March, out in Stinson, where I have a cottage on the beach,” Weir said, meaning Stinson Beach, in Northern California. “Me and Bob and two archtop guitars,” Anastasio said, a few days later. Weir said that Anastasio “then came out to the Coast for a day to work with Phil and me. Then we put in another three days.”

Mickey Hart added 6 new photos to the album: #gd50 — with Bill Kreutzmann.

05/29/15 - From Facebook.com/MickeyHart:

Mickey Hart
Rhythm Devils reporting for duty.

Weir, Kreutzmann and Hart are rumored to be joining up with John Mayer for a fall tour that may try to extend the celebratory vibe of Fare Thee Well.

05/20/15 - Rolling Stone: Bob Weir on Dead Reunion, His Doc and Being Jerry's 'Bag Man'

05/15/15 - From the Wall Street Journal:

John Jurgensen: Can you shed any light on that photo of you, John Mayer and Mike Gordon of Phish that went public recently?

Bob Weir: Eh, one thing at a time.

John Jurgensen: Which implies that there is a thing following the Dead concerts…

Bob Weir: We’ve got to focus on the task at hand, I think.

Pianist Bruce Hornsby was also scheduled to perform but was removed from the [Dear Jerry] lineup because he was sick.

05/14/15 - JamBase: Fare Thee Well Grateful Dead 50 Viewing Options Grow

05/12/15 - From Facebook.com/BlackbirdMusicGroup:

The Dear Jerry concert is only two days away! Our team is on the ground rehearsing for the show and we're capturing it all. Make sure to check back on this Facebook page and follow us on Twitter, Instagram and now Periscope to see exclusive behind-the-scenes photos and live video at rehearsals and backstage during the show!

Weir said rehearsals for this summer's reunion shows are going well, and didn't rule out the possibility of some configuration making a return to Madison Square Garden.

"We'll be back," he said, "and relatively soon."

Rudi Greenberg: You and the other surviving members of the Dead — Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart — are all performing separately at Thursday’s Dear Jerry concert. Do you think there’s a chance you might all share the stage?

Bill Kreutzmann: I would gladly share the stage with Phil and Mickey and Bob if that opportunity arises. I won’t even know until we start rehearsing for that show coming up but that’s the thing I do: I like playing music.

Both Billy and Bobby were asked by journalists whether the members of the Dead would be performing in New York City any time soon and both men shied away from giving a firm answer one way or the other.

When asked about rumors that he has been working on a project with John Mayer, Weir stated “There’s nothing I can say about that right now.”

05/06/15 - From the Wall Street Journal:

Though details of the planned concerts are under wraps, members of the Dead have been communicating via group text messages and practicing in units with their scheduled guests (including Mr. Anastasio, pianist Bruce Hornsby, and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti) before full band rehearsals start in June. Each concert will consist of two sets and will likely last about four hours each. Bill Kreutzmann’s son Justin, a director, is making a documentary about the band’s history that will play on the stadium’s video monitors between sets.

05/04/15 - From a Rolling Stone interview with Eric Church:

You're also taking part in the Jerry Garcia tribute in Maryland in May with the surviving members of the Grateful Dead and other special guests. Are you a big Deadhead?

I'm a big Dead guy, but I'm also a big fan of the Jerry Garcia Band. The stuff that he did after the Dead and the stuff he did with David Grisman, I grew up on that. Being from North Carolina I had a really bluegrass-folk-jam band moment in my life, especially during college — I went to Merlefest every year. Jerry Garcia is easily one of the most underrated guitar players ever. Is [his playing] the greatest technically? No, but it's just so damn identifiable, it's so unique, you can tell it's him when he's playing. . . He was a huge influence. And I get to play with the Dead! Come on, man, it was an easy thing for me. I said, "I am in, I am your guy."

05/02/15 - From Billboard:

From what we hear, Anastasio has been rehearsing religiously -- on some days, playing as much as seven hours of Dead tunes.

04/28/15 - From the Wall Street Journal:

Wall Street Journal: Given the history, something special must happen when the four of you play together.

Bill Kreutzmann: Well, we’ll find out! Phil Lesh and Jerry were my older brothers. And I loved them dearly and deeply and I still do. We might not get along right now or at a given moment, and we might not talk much, but I’ll love Phil forever. I can’t say too much about what we have planned for the shows, but I am looking forward to it all immensely.

04/24/15 - JamBase: City Winery Chicago Plans Weir World Events

04/24/15 - From Billboard:

Speaking to multiple sources, Billboard has learned that a fall tour featuring John Mayer [and members of the Dead] is in the works. According to insiders, the trek is due to kick off in October, with the Grammy-winning singer and guitarist having already begun to jam in a rehearsal-like setting with select members of the group, chief among them Weir. Observers say he's ecstatic about the prospect. A rep for the band tells Billboard that it's "premature" to suggest any such outing is being planned.

Certainly, the 37-year-old Mayer would have his work cut out for him. The Dead's arsenal contains hundreds of songs and many more free-form solos, led traditionally by guitarist Jerry Garcia, who died in 1995. It's also unclear how Deadheads, the most devoted of the band's fans, would react to the lineup. Sniffs one insider: "It sounds like Ratdog, the sequel," referring to Weir's longtime side-project.

04/20/15 - Relix.com: Bob Weir, John Mayer Spotted at Coachella, Hanging with Ryan Adams

04/19/15 - There is a new photo of Bob Weir and John Mayer watching Ryan Adams at Coachella on 4/12/15.

04/16/15 - Jambands.com: Bob Weir, Mark Karan Join Jackie Greene at Sweetwater

04/16/15 - Billboard.com: Grateful Dead's Final Concerts To Be Broadcast in Theaters

04/15/15 - Jambands.com: Billy and the Kids to Play ‘Dear Jerry’ Pre-Party

04/15/15 - From U-T San Diego:

“I don’t feel a bitter-sweetness about it,” Hornsby said of the Dead’s pending last curtain call.

“I’m just pleased and proud to be a part of it. To get to play that music one more time, with most of the people who created it, that’s special for me. I have my own career that keeps me totally busy as a musician, and my life as a dad, frankly. So this is great. I’m happy just to be part of this.”

• • • •

“I’ve talked about being influenced by modern classical composers,” Hornsby said. “I’ve been influenced just as much by the Dead’s songwriting… Now, I have a lot more places I can go, musically, than when I first played with the Dead. So I would be surprised if I don’t throw in a little Carter or Webern (at the Dead’s early July concerts) at (Chicago’s) Soldier Field. Why not?”

Hart said, “I hope people can hear and feel the Grateful Dead again. All the kids wanted to know what all the hubbub was about because you have to really feel it and hear it and experience it. Now they’re going to get the real thing.”

The original members of Grateful Dead have announced two additional shows at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on June 27th and 28th, as part of their “Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead” run.

04/09/15 - There is a new photo of Bob Weir, John Mayer and Mike Gordon rehearsing in the studio; two drumsets can be seen in the background. According to some folks on this PhantasyTour.com thread there is also a private video of a Late Winter TRI session featuring Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart with Jeff Chimenti, Steve Kimock, John Mayer and Mike Gordon, probably recorded just before Kimock and Chimenti went on tour in March.

04/01/15 - From Marquee Magazine:

Kreutzmann is feeling very good these days. As summer approaches he and his former bandmates, along with Phish’s Trey Anastasio on guitar, have made the concert announcement heard round the world, that they will reunite for “Fare Thee Well” at Soldier Field in Chicago over Fourth of July weekend for a three-night good bye. “I’m very grateful it’s happening, because without it it’d just be left out there and ambiguous without any real ending or closer and that would suck,” he said. “I know there was some commotion about the ticket sales and I feel really bad about that. I think scalpers are the lowest thing on earth. But our biggest point is our audience, which deserves something else. They’re an incredible audience. There’s nobody else like Deadheads. So I’m just going into this with a real open heart without any big plans. I just go in knowing I can play the drums.”

03/20/15 - Diablo Magazine: Awesome Exclusive Interview with Bruce Hornsby

03/16/15 - Chicago Tribune: No plans for Scorsese to film Grateful Dead documentary in Chicago

03/13/15 - Billboard.com: Source: Grateful Dead 'Considering' Additional Fare Thee Well Dates Ahead of Chicago

03/09/15 - TRI Studios posted a new photo of Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart playing in the studio.

03/05/15 - From DearJerryConcert.com:

On Thursday, May 14, an extraordinary collection of music stars will come together at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, for the concert event of a lifetime, DEAR JERRY: CELEBRATING THE MUSIC OF JERRY GARCIA, to honor one of the most influential musicians and cultural icons of our time. The concert event will feature performances by: Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann’s Billy & the Kids, Bob Weir, Bruce Hornsby, Buddy Miller, David Grisman, Eric Church, Greensky Bluegrass, Jimmy Cliff, Jorma Kaukonen, Los Lobos, Moe., O.A.R., Railroad Earth, The Disco Biscuits, Trampled By Turtles, Widespread Panic, Yonder Mountain String Band and Communion featuring Phil Lesh, Stu Allen, Grahame Lesh, Ross James, Alex Koford, and Jason Crosby. Additional performers will be announced in the coming weeks.

Were there any conversations about how to prep for these reunion shows?

Hopefully Bobby, Trey [Anastasio] and I will get together and work on vocal parts and harmony sections. There’s so much great harmony in the Dead music. We’re going to rehearse, of course, before the shows. I’m sure there will be some preliminary work that we’re talking about. We’re probably going to be learning 60-plus songs or more. Or re-learning for me.

03/01/15 - From Billboard:

At this point, Shapiro and Madison House are fine-tuning plans to host after-show concerts and events at various venues around Chicago, as well as finding a way to provide an experience for the millions of fans who want to see the show but can't get in the venue.

"We want to provide video and audio, the best s__t out there, and try to bring it to people with the same vibe as being there," Shapiro says. He says that these "pay per view" events would take place not only in Chicago but potentially across the country.

Thank you to all of the Deadheads for the amazing support that you have shown for the Fare Thee Well shows in Chicago! This morning you broke Ticketmaster’s on-sale record when nearly half a million of you queued up to buy tickets online. If you do not have tickets, please know that we are working on various ways to help everyone experience these shows in a way that will help you share this special moment with us. Stay tuned, and thank you for showing your love, we feel it!

02/23/15 - Jambands.com: Bob Weir Talks Fare Thee Well, Trey Anastasio and More

02/23/15 - JamBase: Bob Weir Talks Grateful Dead 50 Fare Thee Well On CNBC

02/17/15 - JamBase: San Francisco Giants To Honor 50 Years Of Grateful Dead

02/17/15 - Rolling Stone: Trey Anastasio on Dead Reunion Shows: 'I Don't Want to Just Copy Jerry'

02/13/15 - From the Wall Street Journal:

For those who don’t get tickets, the producer of the Chicago shows is looking into how fans around the world can experience the Grateful Dead without being there. “We’re hoping to do cool things for people who can’t get a ticket [and] enable people to experience it in their own way,” said music impresario Peter Shapiro, who is producing the concerts.

02/13/15 - JamBase: Mickey Hart, Bob Weir & Steve Kimock In Studio

02/12/15 - From Facebook.com/MickeyHart:

Mickey Hart
Men at work, searching for the grail.
With Bob Weir & Steve Kimock.

Bill Kreutzmann
Save me a seat, Mick!

02/12/15 - JamBase: Trey Anastasio Talks Grateful Dead Fare Thee Well

02/11/15 - From Rolling Stone:

Anastasio notes that Lesh, in his message, "talked about the healthy relationships between the band members," that the reunion "was going to be a real positive experience. And Phil said, 'This is the last time I'm doing this.' He seemed pretty definitive about that."

• • • •

The demand for tickets ensures that "not everyone is going to get in," Shapiro warns. So he is working on simulcasting the shows around the country; Shapiro is already holding the dates at his venues, including the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, and the Brooklyn Bowl.

• • • •

Anastasio and Weir have traded lists of Dead songs — 60 apiece — that each would like to play. They will meet "in a couple of weeks," Anastasio says, to "play a few things together and connect." The full band will "rehearse in June a little bit." Anastasio expects the singing to be largely shared by Weir, Hornsby, himself and the audience.

John Oates
@JohnOates
I'll be playing at @SweetwaterMV Sunday, Feb 8th. @BobWeir from the Grateful Dead will be sitting in!

02/04/15 - From Billboard:

What [John Mayer] really wants for the next three nights is to bring back a vibe of classic TV, with great musicians performing earnest songs for a music-loving audience. He has those great musicians in spades, with John Legend (Wednesday), the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir (Thursday) and Ed Sheeran (Friday) all hitting the Late Late Show stage under his watch. Mayer even plans to jam with all three during the show.

With the Grammys coming up this weekend -- where Legend and Sheeran are both set to perform -- Mayer asked the artists to come up with songs other than their biggest current hits to play. Expect a "beautiful cover song" from Legend, who appears on tonight's show alongside Bravo's Andy Cohen and actress Alison Becker as guests. Other guests include Stephen Merchant and Jillian Bell on Friday, while Thursday's show will be dedicated solely to a conversation and performance from Weir.

Mayer has become "initiated" as a Grateful Dead fan lately, listening to the band's SiriusXM station for hours every day in the car and promising to "make the pilgrimage in my RV" to see the Chicago reunion shows in July.

01/28/15 - From the Hampton Roads Daily Press:

"I'm really looking forward to these show," Hornsby said in a phone interview from Miami, where he is preparing to perform two shows this weekend with the New World Symphony. "The days surrounding the shows will be rehearsals - trying to in three days sort of put a band together again. That'll be quite a challenge

"Mostly I'll look forward to the amazing scene that will be Soldier Field during those three days. There was never anything like a Grateful Dead concert, and there probably still isn't. That was the archetype of the jam artist. That was the paradigm. This is probably the best party you can go to on the Fourth of July in America."

01/21/15 - JamBase: Bruce Hornsby To Talk Grateful Dead 50 On SiriusXM

01/21/15 - There will be a "Move Me Brightly" Screening + Q&A with Bob Weir, Trixie Garcia & Justin Kreutzmann at Mill Valley, CA’s Sweetwater Music Hall on February 10.

01/20/15 - The Disco Biscuits featuring Bill Kreutzmann & Mickey Hart will play at Red Rocks on April 17.

01/18/15 - On today's Tales From The Golden Road broadcast Gary Lambert said, "I can tell you with some authority, from management, that these will be the only shows. There's no tour involved; there are no one-offs or festivals in other markets. These will be the only shows, and these will be the final formal planned shows by those four guys, those four founding members of the Grateful Dead playing together as a unit."

01/17/15 - From the San Francisco Chronicle:

There are no plans for other dates at this time, but Hart, for one, is leaving the door at least slightly ajar.

“We talked a bit about it but we’re just focusing on these three shows for now,” Hart said. “It’s a miracle we’re doing this to begin with. But you never can tell. We can walk in a room tomorrow and we might change our minds. With the Grateful Dead, you never can tell.”

01/16/15 - From Dead.net:

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Grateful Dead, the four original members — Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir — will reunite at Chicago's Soldier Field, nearly 20 years to the day of the last Grateful Dead concert, which took place at the same venue. “Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead" will occur over three nights on July 3, 4, and 5, 2015, marking the original members' last-ever performance together. The band will be joined by Trey Anastasio (guitar), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards), and Bruce Hornsby (piano). The group will perform two sets of music each night.

01/16/15 - Billboard.com: Grateful Dead to Reunite, Jam With Trey Anastasio for Final Shows

01/16/15 - JamBase: Voodoo Dead | Kreutzmann To Lead Jazz Fest One-Off

01/11/15 - TRI Studios posted a new photo of Bob Weir, Wavy Gravy, Mickey Hart and Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Garcia seated at a conference room table talking to Bill Kreutzmann via speakerphone; also, on Wednesday Trixie Garcia was at TRI.

01/07/15 - From Facebook.com/TRIstudios:

TRI Studios
Bobby [Weir in the studio with Jason Crosby, Dave Schools and Jay Lane] taping a piece for The Life and Songs of Emmylou Harris. If you're in the DC area this weekend, beg borrow or steal a ticket for [the 01/10/15] DAR Constitution Hall show.

01/01/15 - From Dead.net:

If you've been patiently watching our countdown clock, you surely know that 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead. Stay tuned to this space in the coming the weeks as we kick off a yearlong celebration of the music and magic of the band that continues to inspire and impact our lives and yours. We'll have breaking news on special events, commemorative works, and general fanfare and merriment. Dig!

Home