Dead & Company Confirm Sphere Residency Dates

You know what they say: If you put vast amounts of capital and human effort into building an awe-inspiringly huge geometric temple that looms above the desert landscape radiating an eerie yet majestic mystical aura, sooner or later someone’s going to show up there and play “Truckin’.”

The Egyptian pharaoh Khufu must in some way have known this way back in the early 26th century, when he built the Great Pyramid at Giza, a structure the Grateful Dead performed in front of (but proved unable to levitate) at a series of shows in September 1978. And as soon as Earth’s largest spherical building, the 875,000-square-foot MSG Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada, opened for business as a live concert venue in late September of last year, the notion of “Weir at the Sphere” seemed like a matter of when, not if.

We now know when: On Tuesday afternoon, in a video that depicted the Sphere's exterior taken over by a giant Stealie on a tie-dye background, Dead & Company—the band original Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart formed in 2015 to play the Dead's music with John Mayer on guitar and vocals—announced a residency inside Earth's largest LED screen.

Per a press release, Dead & Company will play twenty-four Sphere shows, each of which “will feature never-before-seen visual storytelling," over the course of eight three-night weekends in May, June and July.

Even the most casual of ‘heads will recall that Dead & Company’s most recent tour, which grossed more than $115 million and wrapped up with three dates at San Francisco’s Oracle Park in July, was supposedly its last. But technically, no member of the band has ever ruled out getting back together to stay in one place and let the party come to them.

"We will play shows — I have to believe that we love this music so much we're gonna play the shows," John Mayer said during an appearance on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live last fall. "We just are trying to figure out what that looks like for the future. But everyone has it in their hearts to keep playing."

At which point Andy Cohen, soothsayerishly, chimed in, "Two weeks at the Sphere. Call [Dead & Company co-manager] Irving Azoff right now."

Dead & Company’s Sphere dates have now been confirmed. (see below.) The only remaining questions are philosophical: Will seeing Dead & Company at the Sphere be weirder from, y'know, a set-and-setting standpoint, than seeing the Dead with Jerry Garcia in the big room at Wayne Newton’s Aladdin Hotel and Casino in 1981 and then walking out onto the casino floor? Are RL and Mary still together? Anyone who catches Phish's more-immediately-impending April 18-21 run at the Sphere—and yes, that means there's a Phish show at the Sphere on 4/20, do with that information what you will—please report back.

Dead & Company: Dead Forever—Live at Sphere dates:

Thursday, May 16; Friday, May 17; Saturday, May 18

Friday, May 24; Saturday, May 25; Sunday, May 26

Thursday, May 30; Friday, May 31; Saturday, June 1

Thursday, June 6; Friday, June 7; Saturday, June 8

Thursday, June 13; Friday, June 14; Saturday, June 15

Thursday, June 20; Friday, June 21; Saturday, June 22

Thursday, July 4; Friday, July 5; Saturday, July 6

Thursday, July 11; Friday, July 12; Saturday, July 13

Originally Appeared on GQ