Trey Anastasio on the band's historic reunion shows this summer.
On January 5th, just after his band Phish ended a four-night run of shows in Miami, singer-guitarist Trey Anastasio received an e-mail from Phil Lesh, the former bassist of the Grateful Dead. Lesh asked Anastasio to join him and the other surviving members of his band — guitarist Bob Weir and drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart — onstage for reunion concerts this summer marking the Dead's 50th birthday and the 20th anniversary of the passing of founding guitarist Jerry Garcia. Anastasio recalls his immediate reaction: "It was a thrill and an honor." Still, he adds, "I thought about it for a minute, tried to think about the implications." Then he said yes.
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theelevan
This is more of a reunion for fans. Most people I know who are going have low expectations for the music but are mainly going to have a good time. The Other Ones, The Dead and Further have been OK. But Jerry was the catalyst for the band. Some of Phil's bands have been better than music from these post GD shows and to be honest, the decision to use a gd cover band guitarist to fill in Jerry's role was a huge letdown. Trey's shows with Phil 15 years ago were great. These concerts have some potential to be decent, but without Jerry it has never been the same experience.
Chip
The Grateful Dead were/are and always will be a juggernaut rock'n'roll band. They were/are and always will be so much bigger than can be described. They were/are even bigger than Jerry Garcia. Those who feel they can't get into the scene now because Jerry is gone are really kind of disrespecting Jerry and his legacy They are self-righteously holding onto some orthodox opinion of what they felt the band was/is.
