Grateful Dead plan new resurrection

A month after the Grateful Dead signed off with farewell shows, members of the legendary US rock band on Wednesday announced a new concert in New York.

With the Grateful Dead retired as a name for now, the newly christened "Dead and Company" will play on October 31 at Madison Square Garden.

The Halloween show, announced in an advertisement printed Wednesday in The Village Voice weekly, will feature three of the core Dead members -- guitarist Bob Weir and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann.

Bassist Phil Lesh will not join his former bandmates, who will play with 37-year-old guitarist John Mayer.

The Grateful Dead were one of the defining bands of the counterculture born in the 1960s and developed a uniquely devoted fan base of "Deadheads" who followed them from show to show.

The five "Fare Thee Well" shows from June 27 to July 5, meant to cap the band's legacy on its 50th anniversary, generated more than $50 million, according to an estimate by music industry journal Billboard.

The shows -- some of the most coveted tickets ever on resale sites -- took place near the Grateful Dead's native San Francisco and in Chicago, the venue of the band's final concerts with guitarist and vocalist Jerry Garcia, who died in 1995 and was generally seen as the face of the band.

The surviving members performed the Fare Thee Well shows with guitarist Trey Anastasio of Phish, a younger band that has taken on the Grateful Dead's mantle as a jam band known for long, improvisational sets.

Weir told Billboard that band members felt an urge to keep playing after the final concert in Chicago.

"Those songs weren't done with us," Weir was quoted as saying.

Mayer -- known for his acoustic guitar hits and more recently blues influences -- told Billboard that he discovered the Grateful Dead in earnest only in 2011 after hearing a track on Internet radio provider Pandora.

He said he attended all five "Fare Thee Well" shows and became eager to join the band on stage.

"They're too good still, they're too great to roll this back in the shop and call it a day," he said.
Source: AFP