Four months after Jerry Garcia's death in August 1995, the Grateful Dead officially disbanded.[2] However, band members continued to perform over the subsequent years in other bands such as RatDog, Phil Lesh and Friends, the Rhythm Devils, the Other Ones, and the Dead. After a four-year hiatus following their "Wave That Flag" summer tour in 2004, the Dead performed two 2008 shows supporting the Obama campaign, billed as "Deadheads for Obama" and "Change Rocks", as well at one of the Obama inaugural balls in 2009, ultimately giving rise to a 2009 spring tour. During this reunion, Weir and Lesh, who admitted having great fun playing together again, decided to form a new band. In August 2009, the musicians announced that they had formed a new band, Furthur, with Kadlecik, Chimenti, Lane, and Russo.[1][3]
The band was named after the 1939 International Harvester psychedelic multicolored bus used by novelist Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters to tour America in 1964 when they attended the New York World's Fair for the debut of Kesey's second novel, Sometimes A Great Notion. "Furthur" was the inscription on the destination placard of the bus and was also the name given to the multicolored bus. "In many ways, the 'Furthur' destination of the bus—piloted by Neal Cassady, inspiration for the character Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac's On the Road, represented the mind-set of the transition from Beat Generation culture to the more heavily drug-infused hippie culture and the LSD-based psychedelic culture, with Ken Kesey, Neal Cassady, the Merry Pranksters, and the Grateful Dead—all alumni of the Acid Tests—as ambassadors and guides on that cognitive and conceptual journey". The Grateful Dead performed as the house band for many of the Acid Tests, which ran from 1965 to 1966.[4]
Furthur retained much of the characteristic style and texture of the Dead. In addition to performing many of the songs regularly played in concert by the Dead, Furthur tried to "keep it fresh" by routinely adding new material to their setlists. This included many songs resurrected from the Grateful Dead's extensive songbook, including several rarely or never performed live, like "Alice D. Millionaire", as well as several cover songs from bands including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Band, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Ryan Adams, Van Morrison, and the Clash. They also regularly performed some new, original material.
Performances
2009
Furthur performing their debut show at the Fox Theatre in Oakland, California, on September 18, 2009
The band debuted with performances on September 18, 19, and 20, 2009, at the Fox Theatre in Oakland, California. The band Vice (now known as Maiden Lane), featuring Phil's son, Grahame Lesh, opened for Furthur on September 19.[5] They then performed for a single night on November 20 at the 200-person-capacity 19 Broadway in Fairfax, California, advertised only by a last-minute announcement, and with tickets available only at the door on a first come, first served basis.[6] The Oakland debut shows were followed by five additional concerts in the Northeast (New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey) in December,[7] as well as live rehearsal sessions[8] and two New Year's shows in Mill Valley, California, and San Francisco, respectively. During the New Year's Eve performances, the band introduced backing vocalists Sunshine Becker and Zoe Ellis,[9] who remained in the lineup for the remainder of the winter tour.[10][11]
2010
Additional live rehearsal sessions continued for the first half of January 2010 in Mill Valley. The band then toured the US, primarily on the East Coast, including a few shows in Miami, Chicago, Broomfield, Colorado, and Portland, Oregon) from February 2 through March 8, and performed in San Francisco on March 12 to celebrate Phil Lesh's upcoming 70th birthday.[12] On March 18, Lesh posted on popular fansite PhilZone.com an announcement that drummer Jay Lane had left Furthur to rejoin his prior group, Primus.[13] Zoe Ellis also left the group at this time to focus on her a cappella ensemble, SoVoSó. Backup vocalist Jeff Pehrson subsequently joined Furthur, debuting on May 24.[14]
Following a performance on August 14 in Golden Gate Park at the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, Furthur initiated their first West Coast tour, commencing September 16 in Eugene, Oregon, and ending September 26 in Morrison, Colorado, at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. A short Midwest/East Coast tour followed, beginning on November 8 in Minneapolis and ending on November 21 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Two New Year's shows concluded the year, with Furthur having performed a total of 77 shows and 18 live rehearsal sessions since their September 2009 inception.[5]
Furthur began touring in 2013 with four surprise shows at the tiny Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, California on January 16, 17, 18, and 19. They later booked a winter tour, on which they played at only two venues: the Ogden Theatre in Denver on February 21, and the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado on the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. In April Furthur began a spring tour with ten nights at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York between April 15 and 25, a show at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on the 27th, originally planned to culminate in an appearance at the BottleRock Napa Valley Festival on May 9. The band withdrew from Bottlerock due to injuries Weir sustained after a fall on the final night of the Capitol Theatre run. Furthur also announced a summer/autumn tour, starting at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on July 11 and ending at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on October 6. During this tour Furthur played at All Good music festival in Thornville, Ohio, on July 20 and 21. Furthur also began their early fall tour by headlining three nights at the first Lockn' Music Festival in Arrington Virginia on September 6, 7 and 8. Furthur then played four nights at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado, starting on September 19 and concluding on September 22 with guest Branford Marsalis.
2014
Furthur performed four consecutive concerts at the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya, Mexico between January 20 and 23, 2014.[24][25] The band then began a previously announced hiatus so that Weir and Lesh could work on some solo projects.[25][26]
On April 30, it was announced that Furthur would be playing a set at the Lockn' Festival in Virginia. This performance was to feature the original lineup consisting of Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Jeff Chimenti, John Kadlecik, Jay Lane, and Joe Russo.[27] However, the performance was later cancelled.
On November 4, 2014, it was announced via their website that Furthur had broken up.
On June 7, 2011, Furthur performed live at Tamalpais Research Institute (a.k.a. TRI Studios) in San Rafael, California. TRI is a virtual music venue created by Bob Weir.[34][35][36] The event, billed as "Furthur Experiments at TRI", was broadcast in real time over the internet in HD video with stereo sound and was available to those who ordered the pay-per-view event for $19.95. The performance included 13 songs (counting Terrapin Suite as one song), had no break, and lasted about two-and-a-half hours. On December 23, 2011, TRI rebroadcast, without charge, the June 7, 2011 Furthur event, rebilled as "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas".[37] On December 25, 2011, TRI announced that RatDog will reunite for a free webcast on January 25, 2011.[38]
On March 29, 2011, Phil Lesh posted a statement on the Furthur.net site community message board that he was planning to open a new live music venue in Marin County, California, in the near future. Said Lesh, "We're taking the first steps to make a long time dream—a permanent musical home—come true. We are purchasing a building in Marin, and plan on remodeling it to feel like an old barn; we're calling it Terrapin Landing. We will continue with Furthur while making music at Terrapin Landing when we are at home."[39][40][41] On January 2, 2012 Lesh announced that the venue, now known as Terrapin Crossroads, would be located at the current location of the Seafood Peddler in San Rafael. Furthur had done some rehearsal shows in their Palm Ballroom.
Members
Furthur
Bob Weir—rhythm guitar, lead vocals (9/18/2009–1/23/2014)
Phil Lesh—bass guitar, lead vocals (9/18/2009–1/23/2014)
John Kadlecik—lead guitar, lead vocals (9/18/2009–1/23/2014)
Jeff Chimenti—keyboards, backing vocals (9/18/2009–1/23/2014)
^Dougan, Michael; Seligman, Katherine; Marine, Craig (December 9, 1995). "Members Vote to Disband". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
^Budnick, Dean (March 2011). "Dead Behind, Furthur Ahead". Relix. pp. 54–59.; republished as Budnick, Dean (November 4, 2011). "Dead Behind, Furthur Ahead". Relix.com. Archived from the original on 2011-11-07.
^Schweibert, Jay (November 9, 2011). "Taking it Furthur". Atlantic City Weekly. Archived from the original on November 17, 2011. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
