“Dead Forever — Live at Sphere” won’t actually last forever, but the residency is getting an extension on life, as Dead & Company announced Tuesday that its run at Sphere in Las Vegas will be held over into August.
Two more weeks’ worth of shows are being put on sale for the engagement in the massive venue. The additional dates are two additional Thursday-through-Saturday blocs, scheduled for August 1-3 and 8-10.
The residency was previously scheduled to wrap up July 13 after eight weekends and 24 shows. Now, the group will be taking two weekends off before returning for the additional concerts in the first half of August.
An artist presale for the added shows goes on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. PT, followed by a general on-sale Friday at the same time. Tickets can be found at the band’s website here.
As before, pricing for the Dead & Company residency is “all-in,” meaning fees and taxes are included as part of the originally stated sales price. Ticket prices range from $145 for the fourth and highest level in Sphere to $395 for general admission on the floor and the front of the first seated level.
The dates that have already been on sale are not completely sold out, but a scan of Ticketmaster seating charts for some of those shows indicates that more than 90% of the available tickets have sold through for most of them.
Reviews for the nearly four-hour Dead & Company shows at Sphere have been highly enthusiastic. Variety‘s critic’s take on the opening night said the show “joins U2’s first night (at Sphere) in a tie for the most visually spectacular gig I’ve seen in untold decades of concertgoing” and counts as “a stone-cold-sober knockout.”
Dead & Company wrapped up what was billed as a final tour in July of last year, but the band is not counting a residency against that promise.
Beyond the nightly concerts themselves, fans are being invited to attend a free exhibition, the “Dead Forever Experience,” at the Venetian Resort, adjacent to Sphere. The expo is open for free five days a week and includes an exhibit of Mickey Hart’s artwork, a museum-style photo history of the Grateful Dead, a SiriusXM live broadcast setup, a merch store, a bar with themed cocktails and other attractions.
