MUSIC NEWS - The DEAD, original members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, along with Warren Haynes and Jeff Chimenti, wrapped up three special rare club gigs in Manhattan this past Monday (March 30), all for free ! The group off with an acoustic set at ANGEL ORENSANZ and featured Weir, Lesh, and Haynes, followed by back-to-back electric sets at THE GRAMERCY THEATRE and ROSELAND BALLROOM for a total of 4,100 thrilled fans. The band only announced the shows three days in advance via a local radio station and to fans via text message and email where fans received free tickets through an online lottery. The group was in NYC to prepare for their upcoming spring '09 tour (full itinerary below) and decided to do what they love most; playing live in front of an audience. As you know, Weir and Lesh sat in with theAllman Brothers Band for the last night ofABB's15-show Beacon Theatre annual run, where they played “Sugaree,” “I Know You Rider” and “Franklin’s Tower.”
The DEAD started their marathon one-day NYC Tour on Monday with a performance on ABC-TV’s “The View,” where Weir, Lesh and Haynes performed “Friend of the Devil” and talked about their music and the upcoming tour with two of the show’s hosts, Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar.
At 5pm, the first of three stops began at the Angel Orensanz Center for the Arts with the trio performing a rare acoustic set highlighted by “a largely instrumental, 20-minute version of ‘Bird Song,’ the three men weaving guitar lines in and around each other,” according to reports. After a full band electric set at the Gramercy Theatre, the band’s cab tour through NYC had them at the largest of the three venues, the historic, Roseland Ballroom, for an “expansive, energetic set…[that] began with two up-tempo ballads before moving into renditions of some of the band’s most renowned improvisational vehicles” said Seth Schiesel, of NYTimes.com. (full song list of the three shows below)
For the upcoming tour; their first in five years, which starts up April 12 in North Carolina, all the headlining DEAD gigs will be performed as “An Evening With:” marathon, two-set shows, with no opening act, except for the Gorge. In other news, as MNN reported, the Grammy-winning Rock & Roll Hall of Fame group recently confirmed that they’ll make their only summer appearance, headlining the Rothbury Festival, taking place over July 4 weekend in Michigan.
THE DEAD 2009 Tour -
| DATE: |
CITY: |
VENUE: | |
| Sun | 4/12 | Greensboro, NC | Greensboro Coliseum |
| Tue | 4/14 | Washington, DC | Verizon Center |
| Wed | 4/15 | Charlottesville, VA | John Paul Jones Arena |
| Fri | 4/17 | Albany, NY | Times Union Center |
| Sat | 4/18 | Worcester, MA | DCU Center |
| Sun | 4/19 | Worcester, MA | DCU Center |
| Tue | 4/21 | Buffalo, NY | HSBC Arena |
| Wed | 4/22 | Wilkes-Barre, PA | Wachovia Arena @ Casey Plaza |
| Fri | 4/24 | Uniondale, NY | Nassau Coliseum |
| Sat | 4/25 | New York, NY | Madison Square Garden |
| Sun | 4/26 | Hartford, CT | XL Center |
| Tue | 4/28 | E. Rutherford, NJ | IZOD Center (w/special guest Marsalis |
| Wed | 4/29 | E. Rutherford, NJ | IZOD Center (w/special guest Marsalis |
| Fri | 5/1 | Philadelphia, PA | The Wachovia Spectrum |
| Sat | 5/2 | Philadelphia, PA | The Wachovia Spectrum |
| Mon | 5/4 | Chicago, IL | Allstate Arena |
| Tue | 5/5 | Chicago, IL | Allstate Arena |
| Thu | 5/7 | Denver, CO | Pepsi Center |
| Sat | 5/9 | Los Angeles, CA | The Forum |
| Sun | 5/10 | Mountain View, CA | Shoreline Amphitheatre |
| Thu | 5/14 | Mountain View, CA | Shoreline Amphitheatre |
| Sat | 5/16 | George, WA |
The Gorge (w/ Allman Brothers) |
The group’s 3-set NYC shows Monday night featured the following songs:
Angel Orensanz Set List: (capacity: 500)
Dire Wolf
Birdsong
Cumberland Blues
Pride of Cucamonga
High Time
Lazy River Road
Casey Jones
Encore: Ripple
Gramercy Theatre Set List: (capacity: 600)
Playin in the Band
Good Lovin’
The Wheel
Franklin's Tower
Encore: Touch of Gray
Roseland Ballroom Set List: (capacity: 3000)
Althea
Cassidy
Uncle John's Band
Eyes of the World
St. Stephen
Dark Star
Sugar Magnolia
Encore: Not Fade Away
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