Grateful Dead Threesome Plans Festival-Style Tour

There will be life after the Dead, after all. The Grateful Dead’s name was just retired by surviving band members, but three of those members - guitarist/singer Bob Weir, percussionist Mickey Hart and keyboardist Vince Welnick - will carry on the tradition by booking a festival-style tour featuring their own groups and special guests.

The title of the festival - aiming to play amphitheaters this summer - could be “Deadapalooza” or “Ship of Fools,” said Dead spokesman Dennis McNally.

The tour will include Weir’s band, Ratdog (with Welnick on keyboards), and a new group featuring Hart, who plans to release an R&B-flavored record on Rykodisc that differs from the more arcane, world-music solo discs for which he’s known. The special guests on the tour are not yet ready to be announced, but names being discussed in private include Bob Dylan and Bruce Hornsby.

The tour will attempt to ease the sense of loss left by Jerry Garcia’s sudden death in August. “We are very conscious of the fact there are millions of disappointed fans out there,” McNally explained. “So we’re doing this because: 1) these guys are too young to retire and still want to play; and 2) this is a way to share an experience with the Deadheads, but not as the Grateful Dead.”