Grateful Dead Alum To Tour

LOS ANGELES — It looks like the old Dead are gettin' on.

Surviving members of the Grateful Dead say they'll regroup for a 19-city tour, their first since 2004, beginning April 12 in Greensboro, N.C.

The group, which now just calls itself The Dead, announced its plans Thursday.

Original band members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann have toured sporadically since the 1995 death of guitarist Jerry Garcia, but struggled to get along personally and artistically. They told Rolling Stone in November that they've worked out their differences, aided by a successful October benefit concert in Pennsylvania for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Warren Haynes joins the Dead on lead guitar, and Jeff Chimenti will play keyboards.

Comments

[Fulcanelli]

There were many times this old Deadhead tried (in vain) to explain the band's appeal, our devotion, and most importantly, why what they accomplished was so important to those who hated them down through the years. I stopped long ago. Tickets are hard enough to get as it is.
Once a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right...

[Durango]

I gave up trying to proselytize years ago.

You either get it, or you don't.

And if you do get it there is nothing finer in this world than Jerry Garcia's guitar.

Nothing.

[RobinLandseadel]

On the other hand, if you "get" music, then things fall into place. Hopkinson Smith is pretty much the world's greatest living player of strummed/plucked string instruments. But as you don't know him, I doubt you'll "get" him either:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb_1BxVse9Y

FWIW, I've been to 17 "Dead" concerts, all of variable levels of inspiration and all in 1985. There's something like 40 hours of The Dead & Jerry on CD's/LPs and the occasional 'bootleg' cassette in this household---my wife regularly saw then at the Fillmore 'back in the day.' When Jerry was good, he was very, very good, and when Bobby was bad, he was awful.

As much as I "get" Jerry's oft-times beautiful playing, I could easily mention others who are:

A: Better &
B: Much more consistent.

[lip11]

To Durango: Bingo!

I was fortunate enough to have been to hundreds of Dead and JGB shows over the years, and the world really isn't the same without Jerry Garcia in it. And the more I listen to his playing, the more genius I hear. Most great musicians are copied and redone. No one successfully tries to play like him.

Happy trails!

[dac253]

Wasn't it Jerry that said the Grateful Dead was like black licorice?

Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who do like licorice, REALLY like it...

Something like that.

[TakLoufer]

Oh please. The Edge, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Clapton, Bootsy Collins, Les Paul, Jimi Hendrix, Django Reinhardt, Lucky Dube -- the list is virtually endless for better guitar players than Jerry Garcia.

[preemptivelove]

jerry described it well himself. he said that deadhead are like people who like licorice. not everyone like's licorice, but people who do REALLY like it.

[tryharder2think]

They were at times magical for me in many different venues across these united states...

I miss the highs those shows produced. (and I don't mean the chemicals)

[lallen]

Lookin forward to getting my dead fix. I have many fond, and not so fond memories of following the Dead from the early 80's till Jerry's death in 95. Over the years I've gone to a few Phil & Friends, and Ratdog shows. I also saw them on their last tour. It will be nice to see the boys again, and old friends. Lookin forward to the Hartford, and Worcester shows.

[TJCole]

"What a long strange trip it's bein..!"

[Palemoon]

I didn't see anywhere in the article about who the singer is going to be. I'm guessing one of the existing, older member? I never really got into the Grateful Dead til the 80's and in all the videos and music I heard, it was Jerry doing the singing from what I was told or saw.

Also, interesting note. I lived in Oklahoma City for a while in the 1990's. Both Wolfman Jack and Jerry Garcia passed through and did interviews on the rock station there. Turned out, both died a short time after. The radio station was in a bizarre situation having interviewed 2 legends, which apparently turned out to be their last. It was as if suddenly stars were scared to do interviews with the station after that because of the macabre coincidence.

[dac253]

That is a strange coincidence,... Jack and Jerry were actually friends taboot.

Warren Haynes sings most of Jerry Garcia's songs when these guys play together, but Phil Lesh and Bob Weir will sing certain ones.

[Palemoon]

Thanks for the information. I'm familiar with Haynes living in the south and being somewhat familiar still with the southern rock and blues scene. Back in the day, bands like the Allmans, White Witch, Wet Willie, Outlaws, 38 Special, Doc Holliday, Stillwater, etc, all were making the Macon, Georgia area a hotbed music scene in the 70's and into the 80's before it died along with Capricorn Records. Shame.

Anyways, I'm rambling, lol. Haynes seems pretty good, both as a singer and guitarist. I don't know a great deal about him other than the little bit of stuff I've herad of Govt Mule and his work with the Allmans. I have one of their cd's with him on it now that I think about it, lol.

[repugnicansfearme]

I think I will save $200 and just throw some pots and pans around the kitchen, the sound being comparable to the noise generated by this "band".

[Pastprologue]

Your wrong on ticket prices.

Everyone says they don't need the money, so tickets will be only $15.00.

[RobinLandseadel]

You probably should listen to Workingman's Dead & American Beauty, two of the best folk/rock records of the early 70's.

If it's pots and pans you want, try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9mg4KHqRPw

[rukiddingmerightnow]

You'll be missed - not

[Jeff1958]

You're wrong on ticket prices, but I'm not surprised. Back in the day, the Dead played many FREE concerts. They were also well known for not only keeping ticket prices down, but also for allowing fans to tape their live performances.

[YeahDonkey]

it works because they aren't record label whores, they play what they want when the want to the WAY they want to. You will never hear the same dead song twice, because they are actual musicians, not f***ing robots.

Actual live music, with nothing prerecorded, with musicians who can take the music anywhere they want, and make it sound great because they are masters of their instruments.

now name someone else who can give you that show besides someone who has already opened up for the dead?

[dac253]

Gogol Bordello

[RobinLandseadel]

Ensemble Alcatraz, Project Ars Nova, William Parker---and they're all more likely to be playing in tune at any given moment.

[dac253]

I've got about 2,000 recordings of the Grateful Dead and I can't remember ever hearing any of their instruments out of tune.

"Only cowboys play in tune, anyway." J. Hendrix

[Changeling]

I've never been a fan, but I know the band just isn't the band w/o Garcia.

I don't know who would be truly excited by this. It's like the Jimi Hendrix Experience without Hendrix.

I just don't see how it's supposed to work.

[Adjuster]

"I've never been a fan..."

You're either on the bus or off the bus!

[ltyr2002]

Pary hard for Jeff Chimenti!
Piano players in this group don't last long...

[RobinLandseadel]

. . .they're the moral equivalent of the drummer's seat in Spinal Tap.

[drumz]

LOL

[chinacatsunflower]

only two west coast dates? bummer....

[3dtrix]

For all you pop culture mavens and judges from on high - let me explain it in the simplest terms I can: the Grateful Dead are a joke - sort of a cosmic, left-handed musical/cultural joke. Either you get the joke or you don't - no amount of explaining will ever bring you into the fold.

No one who "gets it" gives a fig if you do or don't.

In twenty-five years I saw 200+ plus shows inside, outside, in the sun, in the rain, in the dark. Shows that stank so bad it made me question why I kept coming back and shows so great that question was an irrelevance.

I saw the audience grow young and huge around me and met people from around the world - drooling idiots and the cleverest people I ever encountered. Once I sat next to a east-coast State Supreme Court Justice who had called a recess so he could attend a show. I met almost every band member over the years.

Long strange trip indeed - if you missed the train, I'm so sorry - nothing's gonna bring it back...

[InnocentBystander]

I haveta agree with your comments. I started seeing the Dead in the early 70's through the 90's. There were shows that were awful, but then there were those shows that left you shaking all over.

Thing is, you'd have to know the state of music in the early/mid-60's to know how incredibly different these guys were. In the early 70's, there was no finer rock-and -roll band playing music. Here's a link to some good old grateful dead with pigpen doing Easy Wind:

http://www.archive.org/details/gd_nrps70-06-24.aud.pcrp5.23062.sbeok.flacf

Some vintage NRPS on this show, too.

[captainigor]

Me too!!! I've seen some great shows, and I've seen their absolute worst. . .had a great time either way. . .

Toward the end, they got too popular for their (our) own good, and shows were filled with kids who weren't even born when the band grew from its Bay Area roots to become what it was. . .they just wanted to come to a BIG party where they could get as trashed as they wanted; they never really got into the music, and the music is REALLY what it was all about.

[chinacatsunflower]

exactly why i left the scene - when it became more of a thing to do than a way to be. oh well, i had a good run from "78 -90, best years of my life!

[theblueAmerican]

I'm glad the Dead are touring again. For those of us that were on the bus the band sure brought a lot of magic together (even the bad shows). For all of you who dis Jerry go listen to "Old and In the Way". One of the best and most accessible bluegrass albums ever. My favorite shows were the ones in Vegas and with Bruce Hornsby. Anyway America needs more Deadheads, not less and please pass the veggie burritos. C ya all there!

[McJeff]

These guys hold a unique place in American music. As such, they are exposed to both extreme criticism and obsessive support. Both those positions, and the "this is boring" point of view tend to miss the point. But that's OK!
The scene operates on a lot of different levels, so people pretty much find whatever they want, be it fun, drugs, boredom, transcendence, community, silliness and irrelevance.
The band itself is an ongoing 40+ year experiment, and there have been rousing successes along with pretty darn lame failures.
Grateful Dead music is primarily a vehicle for achieving an extraordinary state of consciousness, and the same material serves as a tried and true stepping stone to that state.
It's true they do not have the creative output they had in the 70's, but for long-time, clued-in fans that doesn't matter.
If you want new exciting music, there are tons of bands out there. I go see new bands all the time! Kings of Leon, Raconteurs, Decembrists, Paolo Nutini, there's tons!
For quality nostalgia with a little new stuff, you have the Stones, the Who and the Eagles.
For community, and a shot at an "out of head" (T Leary) experience, along with some cool costumes, the Dead.

[iDonkey]

They're coming

to Wilkes Barre Pa

can't wait!!!!!!!!

heh...

[odyssey58]

Hope to see you there! I'll be the one with the long hair and the tie dye shirt. You can't miss me:)
Did I see you in State College last October? And don't forget about the Bear's Picnic with Donna Jean and NRPS.

[rukiddingmerightnow]

LOL - wow I haven't heard that phrase in a long time

[RedWhiteandBrooklyn]

The Dead without Jerry? Sounds as "authentic" as The Doors without Jim Morrison... and we all remember what a snoozefest THAT was.

[ZenCrusader]

or like Jefferson anything with Mickey instead of Grace or Marty. I miss Grace Slick.

[chinacatsunflower]

JORMA!!!!!

[InnocentBystander]

I'm happy to hear this. While they may not be the band they were in the late 60's/early 70's, their tour will spark some new interest in a new generation of fans who want more than crappy metal overamped or a bunch of bands playing derivatives.

For you Deadheads who may not know or curious folks who might want to hear these guys when they were on top of their game, you should check out the archives.org. There are literally hundreds of shows that are available for online streaming and/or downloading. Here's a link to a great show at Fillmore East in 1970...enjoy:

http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-02-11.early-late.sbd.sacks.90.sbefail.shnf

[captainigor]

thank you, thank you, thank you. . .wow, what a show!!!

[InnocentBystander]

Happy to oblige! It's a veritable feast there....there must be close to 5000 shows online there. For me the 69-73 era was their absolute peak. I was playing that show today and my daughter's interest was definitely piqued. She's going to school in Boston, so I played a great 69 show from the old Boston Tea Party. "Dad, that really sounds good!" She asked me to send her the site link. I think the Dead just gained another fan. :-)