Reunited Dead Ready to Tour

Tue., Aug. 6, 2002 11:00 AM PDT by Josh Grossberg

It looks like the Grateful Dead will be truckin' again.

Following last weekend's successful Terrapin Station: A Grateful Dead Family Reunion concerts, which attracted more than 30,000 of the group's most ardent followers to the Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconsin, reps for the legendary jam band have announced that surviving members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart are ready to hit the road together.

"All I can say is that the fall tour was set and approved contingent on a good weekend, and since it was a far better than good weekend, I am certainly confident the shows will go," Grateful Dead publicist and biographer Dennis McNally tells the Associated Press.

But it won't necessarily be a long, strange trip. The band, officially billed as the Other Ones, will play only 15 dates, kicking off November 14 in Roanoke, Virginia.

The trek will ramble along the East Coast before winding down December 2 in Chicago, the last city the Dead played with lead singer Jerry Garcia before his 1995 heart-attack death.

No word yet when tickets will go on sale, but if last weekend's reunion shows were any indication, Deadheads will be tripping over themselves to make the shows.

Speaking of the weekend shows, the event went down without major incident.

East Troy officials had feared a tie-dye invasion would sweep through the pastoral community of East Troy in the rolling hills of southern Wisconsin. The last time the Dead came to town, more than 200,000 Hacky Sack-equipped Deadheads descended on the town, wreaking all kinds of havoc. (Local officials originally balked at granting the band a permit, but reconsidered after promoter Clear Channel Entertainment and Grateful Dead Productions came up with a revised security plan.)

When the surviving members took the stage on Saturday, the rowdies stayed away, and the 35,000 in attendance remained on their best behavior.

Walworth County police arrested 141 people over the weekend, mostly for drug possession. That's a number typical for that outdoor venue.

The band opened Saturday's set with "He's Gone"--a wistful tribute to Garcia two days before what would have been his 60th birthday.

The sold-out crowd, who paid $60 a head to attend what was essentially a revival meeting, twirled and sang along to the music just like old times. They even cheered as Weir & Co. performed a polka at the end of Sunday's encore, leading McNally to declare the weekend an "amazing, stunning success."

"I was watching them hop up and down for half a minute--it was one of the most striking things I ever seen," McNally said. "I can confidently say they had a good time."