Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, three of the remaining members of the Grateful Dead, announced a pair of concerts at Madison Square Garden with John Mayer and The Allman Brothers' Oteil Burbridge. Now, the group dubbed Dead & Company has announced a tour culminating in a blowout New Year's Eve show in Los Angeles.
Phil Lesh and Bruce Hornsby, the other two living members of the Grateful Dead, will not join the group on the tour, according to Consequence of Sound. All the remaining members of the iconic jam group performed for the Fare Thee Well reunion concerts in Chicago's Solider Field for the last time back in July. However, the individual members are not done playing yet.
The first stop for Dead & Company will be at Times Union Center in Albany, New York, on Oct. 29, followed by the two previously announced Halloween shows at Madison Square Garden.
Mayer was rumored to join the group several months back and has been rehearsing with them to prepare for the tour. No one could replace the visionary Jerry Garcia, but Weir, Hart and Kreutzmann apparently think Mayer has the chops and the voice to fill that void.
Mayer and Weir played together previously on CBS' The Late Show back in February jamming to the Dead tune "Althea" and "Truckin." Mayer proved once again his guitar virtuosity playing more in the choppy, minimalist style of Garcia, which really brought the tune back to life. If they can make all the songs like that, there will be some magic happening at those concerts.
Still, Mayer has suffered from vocal chord injuries in recent years, as he's not quite able to hit the high notes he once soared to. Thankfully, Grateful Dead songs tend to be a little lower in register.
Check out the full list of dates below and watch Weir and Mayer perform on The Late Show.
Grateful Dead 2015 Tour Dates:
10/29 – Albany, NY @ Times Union Center
10/31 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
11/01 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
11/05 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
11/06 – Washington, DC @ Verizon Center
11/10 – Worcester, MA @ DCU Center
12/27 – San Francisco, CA @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
12/28 – San Francisco, CA @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
12/30 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Forum
12/31 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Forum
