John Mayer Discusses Dead & Company’s Post-Sphere Future
“I’m sensitive to calling things ‘the last.’” – John Mayer
By Nate Todd Jun 26, 2024 • 9:37 am PDT

Photo credit: Rich Fury/Sphere Entertainment
John Mayer recently spoke with GQ about Dead & Company‘s Dead Forever Las Vegas Sphere residency. The guitarist, who ran point on the visual design, offered some insight into the show and also what it means for the future of Dead & Company.
2023 saw D&C embarking on their Final Tour. But just a few months after the curtain came down at San Francisco’s Oracle Park, the idea for doing the Sphere hit Mayer’s radar.
“I remember the idea being there, probably, [at the] end of last year,” he said. “I think I was on tour, the solo tour—probably November-ish, I think was where the conversation got real. And then it was up in the air as to whether we’d get the slot. And we got the slot, which was sort of dependent on the promise that this could be done with the budget we had, which was smaller than the budget that preceded our show at the Sphere, and in a period of time that was very, very condensed. And I looked at it and I said, I think we can do it. I think this is not a Hail Mary play, I think this is doable.”
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Mayer went on to talk about the inspiration behind the visuals, including James Cameron’s 1997 film Titanic, Disneyland’s Star Tours ride and more. He also recalled Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir coming to see how the visual project was coming along.
“Bob came and watched the very first rough showing of content probably back in February, right after the Super Bowl. And it was great because he would look at something, for instance [the “Dead Forever” segment recreating the Dead’s 1978 performance at the foot of the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt], and it would unlock all these memories. He was very effusively explaining what he remembers from Egypt, and we added it into the show. He remembers bats were flying everywhere, so there’s bats [in the Sphere segment], and the Bedouins who would come on horseback to listen to the music, they’re in there. So the more the show could be a living, breathing embodiment of Bob’s memories and Mickey’s memories—that was just like, I couldn’t write fast enough, the stuff that he was mentioning. Then you have to keep rendering these things and designing them even further and further and further.”
As for the future of Dead & Company, Weir said in an interview with Variety that the band is “only scratching the surface” with Sphere. Mayer elaborated in GQ.
“The endpoint is the last show listed on Ticketmaster right now. There are no more shows getting added in August. That’s a very good question and a very kind one to ask me, because the answer is the shows that are up and announced, that’s it. That’s it for at least this year. And the only reason I’m saying that is because I’m sensitive to calling things ‘the last.’ So I don’t know—but [August] would be the last time this year, for sure.
I can tell you this, and I’m not being coy—the show is designed to be modular. We can go anywhere at any time in between taking off from Earth and setting back down. And that openness is exciting. I’m excited by—what’s the word? Future-proof? The show is future-proof. We can go any number of different ways. I would be honored to make it a part of a stop along the way in the future in certain periods of time, I don’t know, years or what. But the thing about being in this band and the Grateful Dead universe at large is you just don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring. Just don’t know.
I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to anyone and known something that was happening in the future and gave a little wink and went, I don’t know. I truly do not know if we’ll come back. Last I heard, bands could only play once at the Sphere. Then I heard chatter of that no longer being a rule. That’s the most I know. But I’ll tell you this: If someone asked me to do more, I would absolutely do more. But if we did that, it wouldn’t be this year.”
Dead & Company have a break in the Sphere residency this weekend, with the shows resuming on the 4th of July. Check out the itinerary below with ticket info.
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