Bob Weir Refutes Report Dead and Company Will Stop Touring
UPDATE: Bob Weir has refuted an earlier report which alleged that Dead and Company would retire from touring after 2022. “News to me…” the musician tweeted, along with a link to the Rolling Stone article that originally broke the news.
That report did not cite any band members or representatives of the group’s management. In an updated post, Rolling Stone said: "After Bob Weir tweeted his surprise about Dead & Co. suspending touring, sources changed their tune and say discussions continue about the fate of the band. The band itself said in a statement: 'Dead & Company has made no official decision as to this being their final tour.'”
UCR’s original story regarding Dead and Company’s reported plans to retire from the road can be found below.
Dead & Company will reportedly no longer tour together after 2022, according to Rolling Stone.
Formed in 2015, Dead & Company include three original members of the Grateful Dead: Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, plus guitarist John Mayer, bassist Oteil Burbridge and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti. The news arrives just as tickets for the band's upcoming summer tour went on sale.
Neither the band's management nor any of the group members have commented on the report, which Rolling Stone attributes to sources.
Dead & Company's recent tour schedule has had its share of obstacles. In January, they canceled an appearance at the Playing in the Sand music festival in Cancun, Mexico, due to an outbreak of COVID-19. Before that, Kreutzmann had announced he would be sitting out the January shows while he dealt with a cardiac condition.
The announcement doesn't necessarily spell the end of the Dead members' live careers. Weir, who noted in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal that retiring is "not an option,” continues to perform with his other band, Bobby Weir and the Wolf Bros. (One upcoming Weir concert even lists Hart as a guest performer.) Mayer is also currently on the road promoting his recent solo album, Sob Rock.
“It was awfully cozy to play in Dead & Company, because I’m not in the center of the stage,” Mayer said in a recent interview with the Winston-Salem Journal. “I have really grown to love that vantage point to musically make those contributions from that place."
A complete list of 2022 concert dates can be found on the band's website.