The four surviving members of The Grateful Dead haven't played together in nearly 20 years, but that will change this July. The "Core Four" -- Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir -- just announced a special three-show reunion at Chicago's Soldier Field, with Phish singer Trey Anastasio filling in for departed frontman Jerry Garcia.
The shows, which run from July 3-5, will also feature keyboardists Bruce Hornsby (a former Dead touring member) and Jeff Chimenti, who plays with Weir in RatDog.
Billboard first reported the news Friday morning.
"We had to sort through a number of options," Weir said. "Were we going to do a festival-style event or go back to our classic mode of an evening with the band? We narrowed it down to: Let's just do it simple and clean."
Soldier Field is of special importance to the group; it's where they played their final gig on July 9, 1995. Now, almost two decades to the day later, they will return the venue.
Anastasio didn't waste much time mulling his invitation to substitute for the legendary Garcia, who passed away after a heart attack in '95.
"I got a really heart-warming letter from Phil saying that he and the other three guys had talked about it and hoped I would do it," Anastasio said. "I didn't hesitate for a second to say yes. It's an absolute honor to be part of this final chapter."
Well-known for his work with Phish, Anastasio said he attended his first Dead concert at Hartford Civic Center in 1980 -- when he was just 16 years old.
"This is a band, born right at the beginning of electric rock, that took the American tradition and moved it forward," Anastasio said. "They really embodied the American concept of freedom, rolling around the country with a ginormous gang of people and the mindset that 'you can come if you want, you can leave if you want. We don't know what's going to happen. All we know is we're not looking back.' What could be more American?"
Billboard reports that a few other sites tried to make the concert happen. Indio, Calif. -- the site of Coachella -- and Manchester, Tenn. -- the site of Bonnaroo -- both made major plays to bring back the Dead, with the latter group offering a reported $3 million.
But the boys will be saying farewell in Chicago.
"These will be the last shows with the four of us together," Weir said.
Check out video from their 1995 goodbye below:
