Dead & Company fans can relive the band’s touring heyday with a new Jay Blakesberg photo book, Rainbow Full of Sound. The 352-page hardcover coffee table book documents the Grateful Dead offshoot’s touring run from 2015 through The Final Tour in 2023.
Longtime Deadhead photographer Jay Blakesberg compiled over 400 photos from his time as Dead & Company’s official shutterbug, including photos of the band, the scene, and the Deadheads who make it all possible. Rainbow Full of Sound includes a foreword from Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart and a closing essay from Blakesberg himself.
“To be honest, I always thought the Grateful Dead was forever and I realize now that in many ways, it will be,” Hart wrote in the foreword. “Through the dance of light within Jay’s lens, we are given the ability to return to those special and often highly meaningful moments. We are given the gift of preservation and the gift of connecting with ourselves and others through those memories. While a good photographer captures the moment, a great photographer captures the ethos.”
Dead & Company: Rainbow Full of Sound – 2015-2023, The Touring Years is available for pre-order now through Blakesberg’s website. There are also 175 limited edition, numbered copies signed by Hart and Blakesberg which include an 8×10 print of the book cover, also signed.
Formed by the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, and Hart alongside John Mayer, Jeff Chimenti, and Oteil Burbrdige in the aftermath of 2015’s Fare Thee Well concerts, Dead & Company brought the Grateful Dead’s music back to arenas and stadiums. With an extensive songbook highlighting the band’s most celebrated eras, Dead & Company introduced a new generation of fans to the Band Beyond Description, thanks in no small part to the Jerry Garcia stand-in’s star power. After Kreutzmann was beleaguered by lingering health issues in the post-pandemic years, the Dead’s original drummer parted ways with Dead & Co and was replaced full-time by Jay Lane ahead of The Final Tour last summer. Though the band pledged that its touring days were over, that didn’t stop Dead & Company from taking up residence at Las Vegas’ groundbreaking Sphere, staging a 30-show Dead Forever residency over the summer.
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