Joan Osborne joins the Dead for summer tour

The Dead --a group that features the four surviving members of the Grateful Dead--are firming up plans for a summer tour on which singer-songwriter Joan Osborne will handle some vocals.

The tour, dubbed "Summer Getaway 2003," is scheduled to get underway at Tennessee's Bonnaroo Festival on June 15. The first leg runs through July 8, and includes a July 4 stop at Willie Nelson 's annual "picnic" show in Austin, Texas.

Ten shows were listed on the Dead's official website at press time, with more to be confirmed. According to the site, a second leg will run from July 29 through Aug. 10.

Steve Winwood will be on the bill from June 17 through June 25, and Willie Nelson supports from June 27 through July 2. The band's mail-order ticketing is already underway (see its in-house ticketing site for details), and tickets are scheduled to go on sale to the general public on April 12.

The Dead's line-up includes Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann (both on percussion), Phil Lesh (on bass) and Bob Weir (vocals and guitar).

It falls to guitarist Jimmy Herring--who paid his jam-band dues over the last dozen years by playing in Col. Bruce Hampton's Aquarium Rescue Unit, Jazz is Dead and the Allman Brothers Band--to fill the void left by late Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia.

Rounding out the group are Jeff Chimenti (from Weir's Ratdog) on keyboards and Rob Barraco (from Phil Lesh and Friends) on keyboards and vocals.

In August of 2002, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead performed together for the first time since the death of Jerry Garcia during an event at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wis. Earlier this year, they changed their name from the Other Ones to the Dead.

The Grateful Dead performed their last show in Chicago on July 9, 1995. Singer-guitarist Garcia died a month later in California after he suffered a heart attack at a substance-abuse treatment facility.

[Note: The following tour dates have been provided by artist and/or tour sources, who verify its accuracy as of the publication time of this story. Changes may occur before tickets go on sale. Check with official artist websites, ticketing sources and venues for late updates.]
 tour dates and tickets
June 2003
15 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Music Festival
20 - Saratoga Springs, NY - Saratoga Performing Arts Center
21 - Hartford, CT - Meadows Music Center
22 - Mansfield, MA - Tweeter Center
24, 25 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center
27, 28 - Camden, NJ - Tweeter Waterfront
29 - Vernon, NY - Vernon Downs Raceway

July 2003
1 - Milwaukee, WI - Summerfest
2 - Maryland Heights, MO - UMB Bank Pavilion
4 - Austin, TX - Willie Nelson Picnic

 tour dates and tickets
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