THIS YEAR MARKS a decade since John Mayer teamed up with Grateful Dead singer and guitarist Bob Weir and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann to breathe new life into the band’s iconic catalog under the Dead & Company moniker. At the time, it felt like a curious, if intriguing combination — a guitar prodigy with pop chops pairing with the legendary Dead members. But what has unfolded over the past 10 years is nothing short of remarkable. The band, rounded out by bassist Oteil Burbridge, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and, more recently, drummer Jay Lane (who stepped in full time for Kreutzmann in 2023), has transcended its incongruous origins and become a genuine force in its own right, establishing itself as a must-see summer stadium draw — one that’s kept the Grateful Dead’s exploratory, improvisatory and highly musical spirit alive while forging a path forward with an energy all its own. In 2023, Dead & Company embarked on what was billed as the “Final Tour,” capping a years-long run that saw the group play to an estimated four million-plus fans since those first 2015 shows. But while it seemed like the ’23 outing was it for this other one, Dead & Company soon set out to explore a new frontier: a residency at Sphere, the cutting-edge Las Vegas venue known for its state-ofthe-art technology. Among its many innovations is a massive 160,000-square-foot LED screen that encircles both the audience and the band, along with an unparalleled sound system — the largest concert-grade audio setup in the world — featuring spatial audio, haptic technology and more than 167,000 individual speaker drivers. At first glance, this ultra-modern setting might seem a mismatch for a legacy band with deep roots in traditional music. But it’s actually a perfect pairing. “We were doing liquid projections on screens and stuff like that, where the visuals could move in time with the music, back in the ‘Acid Test’ days,”
Weir points out. Those days, it’s worth noting, were more than a half-century ago.
The Sphere residency, titled “Dead Forever,” spanned 30 shows from May to August in 2024. Mayer was the driving creative force behind the production, and the singer and guitarist skillfully balanced tradition and innovation, staying true to the band’s roots while embracing the futuristic nature of Sphere’s immersive visuals and sonics. As he puts it to Guitar World, the goal was to find a sweet spot “between ‘Monster Mash’ and 2001: A Space Odyssey.” It’s a fine line, but one he and the band navigated expertly. Sphere’s technology allowed Dead & Company to create breathtaking, dynamic visuals that amplified their performances, but Mayer and the band ensured the feeling stayed grounded — warm, human and connected to the core of their music.