The Furthur Festival, which was first assembled in 1996 by surviving members of the Grateful Dead, will return to the road for a month-long jaunt that begins on Aug. 23 near San Diego, according to Grateful Dead Productions. Headlining band the Other Ones will be joined by Ziggy Marley [ tickets ] and the Melody Makers on all dates.

The shows will play in amphitheaters and arenas, and sets by the Other Ones are expected clock in at more than two hours. Guest acts are expected in certain markets.

This year's version of the Other Ones--a band that first emerged in 1998--will include Mickey Hart [ tickets ] (percussion, vocals), Bruce Hornsby (keyboards, vocals), Bob Weir [ tickets ] (rhythm guitar, vocals), Alphonso Johnson (bass), Mark Karan (lead guitar, vocals) and Steve Kimock (lead guitar).

"Our aim is not to pick up where we left off but to exceed that," Weir said in a statement. "We know what we're doing, and we know where we've been, and it'll be fun to see where this all takes us."

Absent from this year's tour will be Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh [ tickets ], who has distanced himself from his former bandmates Bob Weir and Mickey Hart after a dispute late last year over how to go about digitizing the band's vault. Lesh will instead tour with Bob Dylan. Ironically, the official explanation for the lack of a Furthur Festival in 1999 was the absence of Lesh, who was recovering from a 1998 liver transplant.

Ticket on-sale information hasn't been released. Further information is available on the official Grateful Dead website.

Sometime prior to the tour's launch, the Hybrid Recordings label will release "Furthurmost," the latest in a series of Furthur compilation CDs featuring material from each artist on the tour.

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