Bob Weir Hints At ‘New Wrinkle’ For Dead & Company 2017 Tour

Later this month Dead & Company will regroup for a month-long tour, the band’s third extensive outing since forming in 2015. Guitarist Bob Weir, who is joined in the group by Grateful Dead band mates Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart as well as guitarist John Mayer, bassist Oteil Burbridge and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti hinted at a “new wrinkle” for Dead & Company in a just-published interview with Rolling Stone.

Weir spoke with Rolling Stone’s Jesse Jarnow about a variety of topics including Dead & Company Tour, whether he listens to old recordings, the Grateful Dead’s famed Spring 1977 Tour and more. Bobby mentioned “a mysterious ‘new wrinkle we want to iron out'” as part of the chat. Here’s how the guitarist previewed what seems to be some sort of production element that is in the works:

This new wrinkle, which I’m not at liberty to try to attempt to describe because I really won’t know what we’re looking at until a few days into it at least … that’s what’s got me going right now. The premise that we’re working with is that when most people go to a show, they’re not really watching what’s going on onstage. They may be watching what’s on the screen. But when the songs are playing in their mind’s eye, they’re actually watching a movie. They’re watching the movie the song the character in the song is delivering. They’re watching a movie on the big screen in their head. We’re going to try to play to that.

Dead & Company begins the tour in Las Vegas on May 27. One song the band has done particularly well with is “Althea.” Weir discussed Mayer’s love for the tune, “Now, we had a good time with ‘Althea’ back when Jerry was around, but [Mayer’s] fascination for the song exceeds mine. But, standing right next to him when we’re playing it, I’m getting a bit more a shower of sparks when we play the song that takes it to another level.”

John Mayer and Oteil Burbridge had previously talked about listening to later era Dead recordings when learning the material. Weir confirmed the “reference point” to Jarnow, “My model for how to work this material is for everybody to be fluent with the most recent iteration of the tune that we did until 1995 [when Jerry Garcia died]. ‘Eyes of the World,’ for instance. I think that people should go back and listen to earlier versions, but we like people to hear where it was when we left it when we were playing with Jerry.”

Head to Rolling Stone for more including Weir on the Dead’s 1977.