The reason why Dead & Company‘s touring days ended Sunday in The Grateful Dead‘s hometown of San Francisco came down to one thing … their well-being.
Their co-manager Irving Azoff tells Pollstar, the concert industry publication, “Touring is physically hard and nobody wants anybody to get really sick out there.
“[Drummer] Billy (Kreutzmann — who sat out the tour) got really sick last year, and I think that freaked [us] out. If it would have been this year, rather than last, you’d look at it and say, ‘Hey, maybe this shouldn’t be over, but look, Mickey (Hart) is a wonderful soul and a lovely guy and he can say, ‘I can go forever,’ and Bob (Weir) would say the same thing, but the rigors of 30-some nights with trucks and buses and airplanes and all the moving around, probably for both the quality of the music and the health/safety it was time to at least put an end to the touring.”
As for what’s next, Azoff says, “The touring parts are over, but there are still special events I’m sure will get offered to them, and you never say never. I’ve learned from managing the Eagles all these years that you never ask that question while the tour is going on. You’ve got to let them finish it, get some rest and get back to their lives and the future will bring what it brings.”
The Final Tour was the most successful of the 10 tours they did over their eight-year history, drawing over 840,000 fans and grossing nearly $115 million.
The tour raised over $2 million for various charities, including the voting rights non-profit Headcount and the environmental organization Reverb.
They performed 112 songs, and over their eight years they did 145 songs across 235 shows.
REUTERS PHOTO
