Dead & Company is currently on what they’re calling The Final Tour, but drummer Mickey Hart doesn’t seem so sure how “final” it is.
“Who knows what the next page is, we’re just turning the page,” he tells ABC Audio. “It’s not final anything. We never said we’ll never play again, but we’ll never tour again.” Not that he sees the end of this iteration of the Grateful Dead ending as bad: “Some things, good things, they come to an end and it’s really good to put a period on it and then move on.”
After almost 60 years of touring, Mickey says one of his favorite things about being a member of the Dead has been “raising [the] consciousness of millions of people, and helping them enjoy life and themselves and their families.” When it comes to his job, he says he’s “the luckiest guy in the world.”
As for why Dead music has had such a lasting appeal over generations of music fans, Mickey says it’s because “it’s a kind music. It’s a happy music,” adding it has “deep meaning for many people but it’s packaged in a rock ‘n’ roll band.” But, he shares, “This thing transcends rock ‘n’ roll. It stands for something wholly other than a rock ‘n’ roll band.”
Dead & Company will play the second of two nights at New York’s Citi Field on June 22 before moving to Boston’s Fenway Park on June 24 and 25. The tour wraps with a two-night stand in San Francisco, July 15 and 16. A complete list of dates can be found at deadandcompany.com.
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