Dead & Company Summer Tour Canceled, Refunds Offered

– Dead & Company

Dead & Company became the latest artist Tuesday to cancel its summer tour. For the first time since its fall 2015 formation, the band, comprised of Grateful Dead founding members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, along with John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti, won’t play American sheds and stadiums this summer.

“Due to the global coronavirus outbreak, and in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, we sadly have no choice but to cancel the upcoming Dead & Company Summer 2020 Tour,” the band wrote in a statement.

“The well-being and safety of the Deadhead community, venue workers and our touring family is of the utmost importance to us,” the statement continued. “We also want to provide you, the fans who’ve been hit hard financially during this difficult time with your money back. All tickets will be fully refunded at point of purchase.”

As postponements and cancellations of upcoming concerts has become commonplace, some fans have expressed disappointment about existing refund policies. Dead & Company’s immediate refund policy is similar to the one Bon Jovi announced Monday when it canceled its own summer tour.

Dead & Company’s tour was scheduled to begin with two dates at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colo., on July 10 and 11 and to conclude with two dates at Boston’s Fenway Park on August 7 and 8. Other scheduled stops included Chicago’s Wrigley Field (July 24-25) and MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on August 1.

Additionally, the band was among the announced headliners for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which was postponed in March from its previously planned April 23 to May 3 dates.

“We are thankful for your love, your understanding and we look forward to the day when we can all be reunited,” Dead & Company’s statement concluded. “In the meantime, keep the faith and believe in the power of music. We will return. We will get by. We will survive.”

Dead & Company’s summer tours have been some of the industry’s strongest box office showings in recent years. The 2019 iteration grossed $40.8 million, continuing an upward gross trajectory that went from $29.3 million in 2016 to $33.4 million in 2017 to $35.1 million in 2018.

Dead & Company most recently performed in January, at the third annual and most lucrative installment of its “Playing In The Sand” Mexican destination event, which grossed $18.7 million.

The coronavirus crisis hasn’t yielded solely bad news for Deadheads, however. The band launched a free archival streaming series in conjunction with nugs.net last month titled “One More Saturday Night” that rebroadcasts previous Dead & Company shows. The series most recently featured the band’s performance at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wis., on June 22, 2018.