Rock band Dead and Company will reunite for more performances later this year, despite completing its “final tour” in 2023.
The group will be the latest music act to take over the Las Vegas Sphere, with a lineup of 18 shows starting in May. The residency news came down in a joint Instagram announcement shared by Dead and Company and Sphere.
“In 2023, Dead & Company played their final tour,” reads white text against a black, speckled background. “But there are other ways to make sure the music never stops.”
In the Instagram clip, audio of Dead and Company delivering the opening lines of Grateful Dead’s take on “Not Fade Away” scores video of the band’s technicolor logo filling the Sphere’s exterior LED screens. The band and Sphere announced the dates for the upcoming residency in a second Instagram post Thursday morning.
“Picture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free. Dizzy with eternity,” read the caption, a nod to Grateful Dead’s “Throwing Stones.”
The band — singer John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, Jeff Chimenti and the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir and Mickey Hart — will kick off a string of Sphere shows on May 16. They follow Phish, which last year announced four April shows.
Presale registration for the Dead and Company shows is now available. General ticket sales begin Feb. 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific.
The Sphere, located behind the Venetian resort and casino, made its debut as a flashy music and arts venue in September, coinciding with the start of U2’s equally flashy residency. The arena cost $2.3 billion to build and seats nearly 18,000 people.
Mayer announced in September 2022 that Dead and Company would set off on its final tour in the summer of 2023. Before the group started touring with a pair of shows in Los Angeles, Dead and Company revealed in April 2023 that founding member and Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann would not join the tour.
“After many long discussions and some good old-fashioned soul searching, we are letting you know that our brother Bill Kreutzmann will not be joining us on our final summer tour,” the group said in a Facebook statement. “Bill wants you to know that he is in good spirits, good health and he is not retiring.”
Dead and Company clarified that it would carry out its final tour “with Bill’s full endorsement and support.” The band’s tour ended in July with several shows in San Francisco. It’s unclear whether Kreutzmann will reunite with the group for this year’s residency.
A representative for Dead and Company did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for confirmation.
With three months left before taking over Sphere, Dead and Company promised good times ahead for its audience: “It’s gonna be a ball.”
This story originally appeared on LA Times
