"it's official" the dead will reunite for a tour this spring!

wow, it's official - a new year's day press release confirmed that the dead will do a 19 show tour this spring (the first since 2004)!!

ever since the 4 surviving members of the grateful dead performed an october “change rocks” concert rally for obama, there has been rampant speculation of a 2009 tour.

video teasers to that effect were even posted on jambase. here is one from last month:



and here is a snippet of the "mind-meld" back and forth by the band members quoted in the press release:

“We’ve got some unfinished business,” says guitarist/singer Bob Weir. “Everybody has a whole new bag of tricks; we have the body of material we worked up over the years and we have a mind meld going on here and it would be a sin to let that just wither and die.” Drummer Mickey Hart adds, “A mind meld is a terrible thing to waste.” Bassist Phil Lesh says, “For me, it’s the question mark that’s really pulling me in…what’s gonna happen? When you walk out on the stage the possibilities are infinite every time. The musical possibilities are infinite: there is no end to it, there’s no back wall and there’s no ceiling, there’s no floor. It’s infinite and therefore you can still explore it till the day that you die.” Drummer Bill Kreutzmann says, “I get goose bumps just thinking about the possibilities.”

good stuff!

this fall, robert plant nixed plans for a 2009 led zeppelin reunion, but now we have a dead reunion to look forward to instead - sweet!

woo hoo!!