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The Mayor of San Francisco is ready to welcome Deadheads to the Grateful Dead‘s birthplace: the Bay Area.
On Monday, Mayor Daniel Lurie posted a video of himself in front of Golden Gate Park, announcing that Dead & Company will be performing there for three consecutive shows in August to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Grateful Dead.
“We have some really big news,” Lurie said in the short video. “Dead & Co. Three shows. August 1, 2 and 3. Right here in the city that is the home of the Grateful Dead.”
“What better way to celebrate?” he continued. “We’ll see you out here in August.”
Lurie’s post teased that the band will be announcing the shows “soon,” although local outlet San Francisco Standard reports that the band’s events will still need to be approved by the Recreation and Park Commission at a meeting on Thursday.
According to the Standard, the band is expected to draw up to 60,000 fans for each show. While it’s Dead & Company’s first show there, Grateful Dead played at least 14 times at the San Francisco park, including in 1967 for the Summer of Love, and in 1991 to honor the late Bill Graham.
A rep for Dead & Company did not provide comment.
“Celebrating their 60th anniversary with a Dead & Company performance in the very place where the Summer of Love took root is a powerful tribute to their legacy,” Recreation and Park Department General Manager Phil Ginsburg told the Standard. “These concerts not only honor their cultural impact but also shine a light on the park’s surrounding neighborhood — its restaurants, local businesses, and vibrant community.”
Rolling Stone spoke with Bobby Weir about the band potentially reuniting for the 60th anniversary, which Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart discussed before Lesh died.
“I think when Phil checked out, so did that notion, because we don’t have a bass player who’s been playing with us for 60 years now. And that was the intriguing prospect.… I think you need somebody holding down the bottom. Phil had all kinds of ideas that were pretty much unique to him. I grew up with Phil holding down the bottom in his unique way,” Weir said.
He added: “I suppose I could go back out. I wouldn’t put anybody in his place, so it would be a trio at this point. It’d be me and two drummers. I’d have to think about that. I haven’t thought about it — it’s just now occurring to me that it’s a possibility that we could do that, since you asked.… I guess we’ll just see what the three of us can pull together.”
