The Dead was an American
rock band composed of some of the former members of the
Grateful Dead along with other musicians that were involved in some capacity to the "Dead Ethos". Throughout "The Dead's" career they had a revolving list of members leaving and joining the band including the former members of the Grateful Dead.
In addition to Weir, Lesh, Hart and Kreutzmann, the 2003 lineup of the band included
Jimmy Herring,
Jeff Chimenti,
Rob Barraco, and
Joan Osborne. The band was first officially billed as The Dead on February 14, 2003 at
the Warfield in
San Francisco. Later that year, the band opened up their summer tour (titled as "Summer Getaway") on June 15 at the
Bonnaroo Music Festival. They ended 2003 with two New Year's dates at the
Oakland Arena on December 30 and 31.
In 2004, Herring and Chimenti remained in the lineup, and were joined by
Warren Haynes. The band played a brief winter jam and a three-month summer tour called the Wave That Flag Tour. In 2006, guitarist
Jimmy Herring joined the group
Widespread Panic after
George McConnell's departure from the group.
On February 4, 2008, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and Mickey Hart, along with several other musicians, performed a concert called "
Deadheads for Obama", at
the Warfield in San Francisco. On October 13, 2008, Weir, Lesh, Hart and Kreutzmann, joined by Warren Haynes and Jeff Chimenti, played a second show for the Obama campaign, called "
Change Rocks", at
Penn State University. On January 20, 2009,
the same lineup played at one of the ten official balls for the inauguration of President Obama.[2]
The band toured the United States in the spring of 2009, playing 23 concerts in April and May, with a lineup of Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, Warren Haynes, and Jeff Chimenti.[3][4] During the second night of the Spring 2009 tour, they were joined on stage by
Tipper Gore who sat in on drums during the closing song, "
Sugar Magnolia".[5] Over a two night run in New Jersey in April 2009 they reunited with former
Grateful Dead collaborator
Branford Marsalis on saxophone.[6] They also headlined the second annual
Rothbury Music Festival in
Rothbury, Michigan on July 4, 2009.
After the 2009 Dead tour, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh performed together for the next five years with their new band
Furthur.