THE DEAD ANNOUNCE ARENA TOUR FOR 2009

The surviving members of The Grateful Dead will hit the road in 2009 as The Dead, which will be their first tour together since 2004

The Dead have officially announced U.S. Tour dates for 2009 and it will be the bands first tour together since 2004. Original Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart will once again be joined by Ratdog keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and Allman Brothers Band/Gov’t Mule guitarist Warren Haynes for their 19 show Arena tour. Recently The Dead reunited for a “Change Rocks” concert/rally for Barack Obama in State College, Pennsylvania and ever since that night, rumors have been swirling the band has plans to tour together in 2009. Bob Weir was recently quoted saying “We’ve got some unfinished business. 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.”

Warren Haynes, who was originally approached by Phil Lesh to be a part of Phil Lesh and Friends just a few years after the death of legendary founding member of The Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia, will be the lead guitarist opposite Bob Weir on rhythm guitar. For the 2004 tour Widespread Panic guitarist Jimmy Herring joined Haynes and Weir, so this two guitar lineup returns The Grateful Dead to the most successful six piece lineup.

“I got a call from Phil Lesh in the late 90’s when The Dead was disbanded saying that he had made a list of musicians he would like to work with and I was included on that list and would I be interested in coming out to California and doing some playing and rehearsing and of course I said ‘Absolutely, I would love to do that!’ And it turned into a great experience which eventually led me into being in The Dead.”

Artisan News caught up with guitarist Warren Haynes to get his thoughts on being approached by Phil Lesh to be a part of Phil Lesh and Friends and how that led him to The Dead.

“You know Phil’s a very open minded musician, very open minded listener, very open minded player and it’s fun to kind of see other peoples perspectives and how they compare to or differ from your own. In a band leader situation, just onstage in general, I learned a lot from what his approach to music is.”

Warren Haynes also talked about learning to be a band leader from Phil Lesh.

The Dead 2009 tour kicks off April 12 in Greensboro, NC and extends until May 10 at Shoreline Amphitheater in San Francisco. Pre-sale tickets go on sale Tuesday, January 13 and nationwide beginning Friday, January 23. All the concerts are set for indoor arenas except for the final show which will be a the venue Bill Graham built specifically for The Grateful Dead, Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA.