Fifty years after the Grateful Dead first formed, and 20 years after Jerry Garcia died, the band’s original surviving members—Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzman, and Mickey Hart—will reunite for farewell shows in Chicago this July, Billboard reports. Those four will be joined by Bruce Hornsby, Jeff Chimenti of Weir’s band RatDog, and Trey Anastasio of Phish.
The “Fare Thee Well” concerts will take place July 3, 4, and 5, in Chicago, which is the last city the band played with Garcia. Lesh told Billboard that they were reconvening the band “one last time to celebrate—not merely the band’s legacy, but also the community that we’ve been playing to, and with, for 50 years.” But Billboard says only that it is “unlikely” that the band will play additional shows after the Chicago dates, and quotes Weir as saying, “I know we’ll all continue playing this music forever in our ways. I’ve got some miles left in me.”
The band has set up a website, dead50.net, with more information. Tickets will go on sale in February.
