Mayer’s love for the Grateful Dead went back several years before he joined Dead and Company, telling in 2013: “This free expressive sort of spirit — I listen and I want to find a mix of that openness. I kind of want to go to [a show like a Dead] show, if it still existed,” Mayer said at the time. “But I wish that there were tunes that I was more familiar with. I wish that I could be the singer. I wish I could have harmonies.
While Deadheads have often speculated how many more tours the band would embark on, rumors had been circling among fans recently that this tour would be the last. The band’s management declined to comment on the end of live touring. Dead and Company’s most recent tour last fall had some shakeups as Kreutzmann missed several dates over non-Covid-related health concerns. At the start of 2021, he had to