The reason why Dead & Company decided to stop touring

Formed back in 2015, the supergroup Dead & Company had in it’s line-up the classic members of the Grateful Dead: Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann alongside John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti.

After more than 8 years of existence touring almost every year, because they only didn’t played live in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they decided now to stop for good.

In an interview with Pollstar, the band’s manager Irving Azoff revealed that the main reason for the decision was the health of the older musicians.

The reason why Dead & Company decided to stop touring

“Touring is physically hard and nobody wants anybody to get really sick out there,” Azoff explained to Pollstar. “Billy (Kreutzmann) got really sick last year, and I think that freaked [fellow Dead & Company co-managers] Steve (Moir) and I and Bernie (Cahill) out.”

“Mickey is a wonderful soul and a lovely guy and he can say, ‘I can go forever,’ and Bob would say the same thing,” Azoff noted, “but the rigors of 30-some nights with trucks and buses and airplanes and all the moving around, probably for both the quality of the music and the health/safety it was time to at least put an end to the touring,” Irving Azoff said.

Although the band made their farewell tour this year, they didn’t rule out the possibility of playing together a few shows in the future again. Because the problem really is the long tours that demand a lot of energy.

Their final show

Their final concert happened at the Oracle Park in San Francisco, California last JUly 16. The setlist had 22 songs and had of course many Grateful Dead songs, but also were performed covers from Beatles, Jerry Garcia, The Rascals, Traffic and The Crickets.

1. Bertha (Grateful Dead cover)
2. Good Lovin’ (The Rascals cover)
3. Loser (Jerry Garcia cover)
4. High Time (Grateful Dead cover)
5. Samson and Delilah (Traditional song)
6. Althea (Grateful Dead cover)
7. Dear Mr. Fantasy (Traffic cover)
8. Hey Jude (The Beatles cover)
9. Bird Song (Jerry Garcia cover)
10. Help on the Way (Grateful Dead cover)
11. Slipknot! (Grateful Dead cover)
12. Franklin’s Tower (Grateful Dead cover)
13. Estimated Prophet (Grateful Dead cover)
14. Eyes of the World (Grateful Dead cover)
15. Drums (Grateful Dead cover)
16. Space (Grateful Dead cover)
17. Days Between (Grateful Dead cover)
18. Cumberland Blues (Grateful Dead cover)
19. Sugar Magnolia (Grateful Dead cover)
20. Truckin’ (Grateful Dead cover)
21. Brokedown Palace (Grateful Dead cover)
22. Not Fade Away (The Crickets cover)