The Dead Have Risen and Plan to Tour Again

Some would say that since the late Jerry Garcia's death in 1995, that the Grateful Dead has not been the same. The band would probably tend to agree with them. Since Garcia's death, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead have only toured sporadically at best and have let many differences come between them. Where's the love, man? That is all going to change as the Dead have risen and put their differences aside and are planning their first tour together in nearly five years (source: news.yahoo.com).

Original Grateful Dead members, also known as the Core Four, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann have announced their intentions to tour some 19 cities across the country starting in Greensboro, North Carolina on April 12 of this year. Details of the tour as a whole are still coming together but the tour represents the first time the former band mates have set out together since they last saw touring action in 2004 (source: news.yahoo.com). So why the sudden change of heart?

Back in October the four surviving members of the Grateful Dead, now known as just "The Dead" did a benefit concert for President-Elect Barack Obama. The gig went so well the Core Four decided to bury the hatchet with one and other and begin to tour again. "It broke the ice," Mickey Hart told Rolling Stone Magazine in November. "We were able to let some of these skeletons in our closet just fall away." The original four will be joined by Warren Hayes on lead guitar as well as Jeff Chimenti on the keyboards (source: eonline.com).

More information can be found at the official website of The Dead (www.dead.net). On the site itself The Dead is said to be constantly updating the information on the tour as it becomes available and will even have special ticket pre-sales on the site. So keep checking all you Dead-Heads as tickets are sure to go fast when they are available (it is the Grateful Dead after all).

Somewhere out there Jerry Garcia is all smiles knowing that his former band mates are putting their personal differences aside and gearing themselves up for yet another round of touring. After all, the band was always about being laid back and preached love, piece, harmony and little colored teddy bears. So break out your tie-dye shirts, hop in the old VW Bus and bring all the ingredients for grill cheese sandwiches because the Grateful Dead (The Dead) have risen from the ashes and will again tour after five long years.