The Grateful Dead played the last of their “Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead” shows at Chicago’s Soldier Field on July 5th. The tour was billed as the last time core members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, & Bill Kreutzmann would perform together on the same stage, and despite the band’s announcement that “the three Chicago shows will still be our final stand….this is it,” 3 of the 4 members are coming back from the dead in a new supergroup with John Mayer. Weir was the musical guest when Mayer guest-hosted The Late Late Show on CBS in February and the pair performed The Dead’s song, “Althea”.
According to Mayer, he put the recording of a new solo album on hold when the prospect of working with The Dead came around.
Weir, Kreutzmann, Hart, Mayer, Ratdog keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, and Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers & Aquarium Rescue Unit will make their debut as Dead & Company with a concert at Madison Square Garden on October 31st, with more live dates TBA.
