Post by Edith Grove on Jan 16th, 2015 at 10:44am
Surviving members to resurrect Grateful Dead for three 50th anniversary farewell shows in Chicago
The poster for the newly announced Grateful Dead 50th anniversary concerts in Chicago over the July 4th, 2015 weekend.
Keith Spera, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
January 16, 2015
The four surviving original members of the Grateful Dead plan to reunite for three concerts at Chicago's Soldier Field on July 3, 4 and 5, 2015 to mark the 50th anniversary of the original jam band's founding. Percussionists Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, bassist Phil Lesh and guitarist/vocalist Bob Weir will be joined by guitarist Trey Anastasio of Phish, pianist Bruce Hornsby and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti.
Trixie Garcia, daughter of the Grateful Dead's late leader, Jerry Garcia, announced the concerts, dubbed "Fare Thee Well - Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead," on the band's Dead50.net web site. These concerts coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Grateful Dead's final performance, which was also at Soldier Field. According to the announcement, these three shows will be the final time the four remaining members of the Grateful Dead – several of whom have wrestled with their own health issues -- perform together.
Jerry Garcia's drug-related death marked the formal end of the Grateful Dead, the iconic 1960s-era ensemble that, over the decades, spawned an entire lifestyle and culture of fans who followed the band from city to city. After Garcia's passing, his surviving bandmates eventually regrouped for a time as the Dead, even as they lead their own individual projects.
The three auxiliary musicians who will join them in Chicago all have extensive connections to Team Dead. Anastasio's Phish essentially assumed the mantle of the Grateful Dead, playing highly improvisational music for a devoted audience, many of whose members tend to follow the band around, Deadhead-style. Hornsby first sat in with the Grateful Dead in 1988, then replaced the band's late keyboardist, Brent Mydland, for tours from 1990 to 1992. Chimenti – like the Grateful Dead, a product of the Bay Area – has played with Weir's Rat Dog and various Dead-descended bands, including the Other Ones, the Dead, and Further, since 1997.
On Oct. 14, 2014, Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir, left, joined San Francisco Giants manager Tim Flannery to sing the national anthem before Game 3 of the National League baseball championship series in San Francisco. Lesh and Weir will reunite with the other surviving members of the Grateful Dead at Chicago's Soldier Field in July 2015.
David J. Phillip
Some New Orleans fans had held out hope that the TBA on the final Sunday of this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell would be a Grateful Dead show. But today's announcement confirms that the temporarily resurrected band will only perform those three shows in Chicago.
However, Kreutzmann is scheduled to join locals Anders Osborne and Billy Iuso, plus Little Feat guitarists Fred Tackett and Paul Barrere, as a band called Dead Feat at the Howlin' Wolf on April 25-26, 2015, during the first weekend of Jazz Fest. They'll play songs from the Grateful Dead, Little Feat and Osborne catalogs.
In keeping with Grateful Dead tradition, tickets for the Chicago shows will be made available on a first-come, first-serve mail order system. Reserved seat tickets are $59.50 to $199.50. Tickets for a general admission area in front of the stage are $99.50. Go to Dead50.net for more info.
http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2015/01/surviving_members_to_resurrect.html#incart_river
The poster for the newly announced Grateful Dead 50th anniversary concerts in Chicago over the July 4th, 2015 weekend.
Keith Spera, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
January 16, 2015
The four surviving original members of the Grateful Dead plan to reunite for three concerts at Chicago's Soldier Field on July 3, 4 and 5, 2015 to mark the 50th anniversary of the original jam band's founding. Percussionists Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, bassist Phil Lesh and guitarist/vocalist Bob Weir will be joined by guitarist Trey Anastasio of Phish, pianist Bruce Hornsby and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti.
Trixie Garcia, daughter of the Grateful Dead's late leader, Jerry Garcia, announced the concerts, dubbed "Fare Thee Well - Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead," on the band's Dead50.net web site. These concerts coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Grateful Dead's final performance, which was also at Soldier Field. According to the announcement, these three shows will be the final time the four remaining members of the Grateful Dead – several of whom have wrestled with their own health issues -- perform together.
Jerry Garcia's drug-related death marked the formal end of the Grateful Dead, the iconic 1960s-era ensemble that, over the decades, spawned an entire lifestyle and culture of fans who followed the band from city to city. After Garcia's passing, his surviving bandmates eventually regrouped for a time as the Dead, even as they lead their own individual projects.
The three auxiliary musicians who will join them in Chicago all have extensive connections to Team Dead. Anastasio's Phish essentially assumed the mantle of the Grateful Dead, playing highly improvisational music for a devoted audience, many of whose members tend to follow the band around, Deadhead-style. Hornsby first sat in with the Grateful Dead in 1988, then replaced the band's late keyboardist, Brent Mydland, for tours from 1990 to 1992. Chimenti – like the Grateful Dead, a product of the Bay Area – has played with Weir's Rat Dog and various Dead-descended bands, including the Other Ones, the Dead, and Further, since 1997.
On Oct. 14, 2014, Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir, left, joined San Francisco Giants manager Tim Flannery to sing the national anthem before Game 3 of the National League baseball championship series in San Francisco. Lesh and Weir will reunite with the other surviving members of the Grateful Dead at Chicago's Soldier Field in July 2015.
David J. Phillip
Some New Orleans fans had held out hope that the TBA on the final Sunday of this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell would be a Grateful Dead show. But today's announcement confirms that the temporarily resurrected band will only perform those three shows in Chicago.
However, Kreutzmann is scheduled to join locals Anders Osborne and Billy Iuso, plus Little Feat guitarists Fred Tackett and Paul Barrere, as a band called Dead Feat at the Howlin' Wolf on April 25-26, 2015, during the first weekend of Jazz Fest. They'll play songs from the Grateful Dead, Little Feat and Osborne catalogs.
In keeping with Grateful Dead tradition, tickets for the Chicago shows will be made available on a first-come, first-serve mail order system. Reserved seat tickets are $59.50 to $199.50. Tickets for a general admission area in front of the stage are $99.50. Go to Dead50.net for more info.
http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2015/01/surviving_members_to_resurrect.html#incart_river