Grateful Dead back from the grave
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As they were … members of band Grateful Dead, left to right, Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia, Brent Mydland, Bill Kreutzmann and Bob Weir.
Source: AP
SURVIVING members of the Grateful Dead, the legendary US rockers who built a countercultural movement through their legions of travelling fans, will reunite for the first time in 20 years.
The Grateful Dead, who emerged from the hippie movement in California in the 1960s, will celebrate the band’s 50th anniversary with shows on July 3, 4 and 5 at Soldier Field in Chicago.
The stadium — the oldest US football stadium still in use and home to the Chicago Bears — was the site of the Grateful Dead’s last show after decades of touring in July 1995.
Jerry Garcia, the band’s singer, guitarist and songwriter, died one month after the concert, signalling an end to a cultural era in which free-spirited “Deadheads” followed the band from show to show and swapped bootleg recordings.
The reunion will feature the band’s surviving members — Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir — with three guests to fill in for Garcia.
Music icon … singer musician Jerry Garcia died in 1995.
Source: AP
“The great thing about this show happening at Soldier Field in Chicago on the Fourth of July is because this is an amazing American rock band being celebrated on America’s birthday,” the late frontman’s daughter, Trixie Garcia, said in a video announcing the concerts.
She described Chicago, home to many summer concerts, as a central location for “Deadheads to come together.”
“Being able to get everyone together — the fans and the band members — for a special weekend is a really big deal,” she said.
Among the musicians who will play on stage in Chicago will be Trey Anastasio, the singer and guitarist for Phish — a band often considered the spiritual successor to the Grateful Dead in their improvisational musical style and base of passionate but convivial fans.
Nearing retirement … Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, Bob Weir and Mickey Hart perform during a reunion concert in East Troy, Wisconsin. Picture: AP
Source: AP
Also joining the band will be Bruce Hornsby, a genre-merging pianist and singer who frequently collaborated with the Grateful Dead in the past, and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, who has also played with Grateful Dead members since Garcia’s death.
The Soldier Field concerts will mark the first time surviving members all perform together since Garcia’s death, although Weir and Lesh have kept working together under various band names including The Other Ones, The Dead and Further.
The Chicago concerts could serve as a finale for the Grateful Dead as band members have increasingly spoken about retirement. Weir is 67 and Lesh turns 75 in March.
