Eventually formed in 2015 following a meeting between John and Bob Weir, a founding member of the Grateful Dead, Dead & Company has been touring every year since and they’ve had no problem packing large-capacity venues as was the case on Aug. Now featuring the at-one-point unthinkable presence of guitarist John Mayer, this version of the Dead needs to be appreciated for much more than just the song selection and execution - it’s so much more than that. What’s not to be appreciated about a musical act - more so a community and now essentially a culture - that has stood the test of more than 55 years? Nearly six decades after a band calling itself The Warlocks randomly switched its name to Grateful Dead, the most current amalgamation of some of the group’s original members and carefully chosen friends can still draw thousands of people together for a kaleidoscopic celebration of music.ĭead & Company rolled into Bristow, Virginia, last week for a show at Jiffy Lube Live, their second stop of the current tour, and created two robust sets of songs that not only paid tribute to the large family of musicians and songwriters that is the Grateful Dead, but gave many of the band’s songs a refreshing new twist that brought out the best in the group gathered on stage.
Dead & Company performs at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Virginia, on Aug.