Founding members Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, of Grateful Dead fame, playing as a duo without a backing band for the first time together, ended their “Bobby and Phil Tour” with two, consecutive nights at the Chicago Theatre, after selling out New York’s Radio City Music Hall and Boston’s Wang Center.

Dead & Company had to postpone the originally scheduled Fall Tour 2017 South Florida show Dec 8, 2017, when John Mayer needed an emergency appendectomy.  Monday, February 26, 2018, was the rescheduled show. They say timing is everything.  The show came on the heels of the Parkland school shooting tragedy. Coincidence for sure but Dead & Company brought their kindness and love to a community in need of healing through the universal language of music.

“Some things don’t change.  People die.  Others get born to take their place.  Storms cover the land with trouble.  And then, always, the sun breaks through again.”  John Barlow

Robert Hunter recalls, “Enter, John Barlow, in Pecos Bill getup, silk kerchief, and Stetson hat, as befit a Wyoming ranch boss and author of the lyrics to ‘Mexicali Blues.’  Billy goats together, only he knew Weir well enough to butt horns with him, part friends, and do it again.”

Three cities and six dates Phil Lesh and Bob Weir reunite for a rare set of concerts as a duo. Having never played out together without a band, this is a first. The dates: March 2nd and 3rd at Radio City Music Hall, Wang Theatre Boston, March 7th and 8th and wrapping up at Chicago Theatre March 10th and 11th.
 

DEAD & COMPANY announces its 2018 tour, kicking off on Wednesday, May 30th in Mansfield, Massachusetts at the Xfinity Center and returning for two-night stands at iconic venues such as Citi Field in New York; Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin; Shoreline Amphitheatre in San Francisco, California; and Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado, while also adding new venues, including Los Angeles’ historic Dodger Stadium and Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon, to the tour.

Did I say one? Better make it two. While Dead & Company trounced Dallas this past Friday with a meaty rocker of a show, Saturday night in Austin received a more deliberate performance befitting the band’s early era of improvised exploration. Which was better? Well, that depends on the opinion of the most opinionated fans in music. But we can all agree that for one weekend there was a seventh flag flying over Texas: the Freak Flag.

A few thousand music-loving adventure-seekers on September 9 received quite the idyllic sun-splashed reward when they witnessed this year’s Sound Summit, headlined by Phil Lesh and some extra special “friends.” The eight-hour festival-like show, chock full of five performers plus an avant-garde dance ensemble, took place at a perch high above Marin County, California’s Mill Valley, at a hundred-year-old stone amphitheater near the top of the area’s famed Mt. Tamalpais.

Acclaimed artist Josh Ritter’s new track, “When Will I Be Changed,” featuring guest vocals from fellow collaborator and legendary musician Bob Weir premiered yesterday via Rolling Stone Country. Of the song, Rolling Stone Country proclaims, “The song pitches its tent midway between the country, gospel and soul camps, with thickly stacked harmonies that evoke the Dead’s own folk-rock classic American Beauty.” You can listen/share the track here: http://bit.ly/2gOaCk9

Clouds rolled into the final day of Lockn’ cooling the summer sun and creating a pleasant last day for the festival. Collaborations abounded on the last day much to the delight of music fans who stuck it out for the nearly none stop four-day musical jam. This year Lockn’s audience was nothing other than exuberant, cheerful and respectful. The multigenerational crowd seemed almost like a giant extended family on a huge holiday picnic.

I had the treat to head to Chicago from my northern Indiana home and catch the good ol’ Grateful Dead at Wrigley Field on July 1, 2017. I shouldn't say it was the Grateful Dead, though, as this entity, called Dead and Company, is a very different animal, containing three original members of the Dead (Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart) along with three other, quite accomplished musicians (John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti).