The Vegas Sphere Has Lined Up Its Next Artist Residency With Iconic Jam Band Dead & Company
U2 is a tough act to follow, but the Las Vegas Sphere is reportedly days away from announcing its next high-profile artist residency.
Dead & Company will perform 18 shows this spring at the 18,600 seat venue, which was confirmed on Instagram Wednesday with a post showing the Grateful Dead’s classic "Steal Your Face" logo generated on the massive LED "exosphere" display. The spin-off jam band, which was formed in 2015 from former Grateful Dead members, will kick off the six-week residency starting May 16–18 and run through June 13–15, shortly after U2 wraps its own 40-show run in March.
"In 2023, Dead & Company played their final tour," the band said in a statement. "But there are other ways to make sure the music never stops. And it’s gonna be a ball."
Each weekend will consist of three performances that are promised to feature unique setlists. Tickets will be available for presale starting Monday, Feb. 1, with a general sales to begin on Friday, Feb. 5.
The current Dead & Company lineup includes founding members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, as well as singer and guitarist John Mayer. The deal is being hammered out after Dead & Company wrapped up its farewell tour last summer, which concluded with a three-show run in San Francisco, the birthplace of the Grateful Dead, in front of more than 120,000 hometown fans.
Though the tour was billed as being the band's final, they left the door open for possible reunions.
"Something magical happened on this tour, and I don’t think any of us saw it coming," Mayer posted to social media at the time. "Dead & Company is still a band—we just don’t know what the next show will be. I speak for us all when I say that I look forward to being shown the next shaft of light… I know we will all move towards it together."
Related: Las Vegas Sphere Reveals How Much Money It Has Made Since Opening
A source previously told The New York Post that the band was considering the Sphere because it didn't involve travel, as the original members are now in their 70s and 80s. "They don’t consider that [a residency in one venue] a tour," the source said. "It’s cutting a fine line, but that was the final tour."
The news comes on the heels of the psychedelic band Phish locking in a four-show run at the Sphere set for April. Both the Dead & Company and Phish shows will undoubtedly benefit from being able to leverage the venue's 160,000-square-foot, 16K wraparound screen to project trippy imagery to accompany the music. In other words, you won't want to leave your edibles at home.
