Dead & Company was formed in 2015 by Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann, together with guitarist and singer John Mayer, bassist Oteil Burbridge, and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti. The group emerged from the continuing musical relationships among the surviving members of the Grateful Dead and quickly established itself as a major touring act dedicated to performing the band’s music. Mayer brought a different generation and musical background to the group while developing a distinctive role within the Dead’s improvisational tradition.
Dead & Company toured extensively from 2015 through 2023, building a substantial following of its own while keeping the Grateful Dead’s catalog at the center of its performances. Their shows retained the open-ended improvisation, changing setlists, and extended instrumental passages that characterized the original band, while allowing the musicians to reinterpret familiar material in a new ensemble. Kreutzmann’s departure from the touring lineup in 2023 marked the end of the band’s original six-member configuration, and Dead & Company concluded its regular touring career that year.
In 2024, Dead & Company began a new chapter with Dead Forever, a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas. The immersive production combined the band’s live performances with Sphere’s enormous wraparound LED display and elaborate visual presentation, creating a new setting for the Grateful Dead repertoire. The residency continued the group’s role as one of the principal contemporary vehicles for the Dead’s music while introducing it to audiences who had never experienced the original band.
In August 2025, Dead & Company returned to San Francisco for three sold-out concerts at Golden Gate Park’s Polo Field, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Grateful Dead. The weekend carried an added poignancy following the death of original bassist Phil Lesh in October 2024. Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, and Lesh had already been discussing a 60th-anniversary reunion and had planned to get together to rehearse before Lesh’s death brought those plans to an end.
Phil’s son, Grahame Lesh, joined Dead & Company onstage for all three concerts, playing bass and singing on several songs associated with his father, including “St. Stephen” and “Cumberland Blues,” which Phil co-wrote. For “Box of Rain,” Grahame played Phil’s iconic bass, Big Brown, while using his father’s custom Irwin bass for the other songs. His participation provided a direct connection between the original Grateful Dead and its next generation at a celebration of the band’s six-decade history.
The performances also became unexpectedly significant as Bob Weir’s final concerts. Weir had been diagnosed with cancer only weeks earlier but returned to the stage for the three-night celebration. He died on January 10, 2026, at age 78, making the Golden Gate Park shows the final performances of one of the Grateful Dead’s founding members.
