Mayor Lurie made a big ripple with a Monday morning announcement that Dead & Co. will be playing a three-show weekend in Golden Gate Park August 1-3, which will now be the main event of the Grateful Dead 60th anniversary celebrations.
It’s well known among Deadheads that this summer will be the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary, and there have been a few celebrations lined up. There’s the annual Jerry Day concert in McLaren Park, the official honorary renaming ceremony of Jerry Garcia Street in Garcia’s boyhood neighborhood is likely to coincide with that, and SF Travel is lining up a slew of Grateful Dead-themed events and activities throughout the summer.
But the eyes of the world will be on the just-announced centerpiece event of the Dead’s 60th anniversary celebrations. Mayor Daniel Lurie announced Monday morning that he’s got Dead and Company lined up to play in Golden Gate Park for three shows August 1, 2, and 3 (which are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday).
San Francisco is planning to welcome @deadandcompany to Golden Gate Park for three days in August, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Grateful Dead. Stay tuned for more details from the band coming soon! pic.twitter.com/W0EUzTxUF1
— Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉 (@DanielLurie) May 12, 2025
Is this for real and not fade-away? It seems definitely true, as Lurie’s press release name-drops Another Planet Entertainment and Live Nation as organizers. Though Lurie is clearly not much of a Deadhead, as he pronounces the band’s name as “Dead and Coe” rather than “Dead and Company,” in his announcement filmed at Golden Gate Park.
“We have some really big news,” Lurie says in the announcement. “Dead & Co. Three shows. August 1, 2, and 3. Right here in the city that is the home of the home of the Grateful Dead. What better way to celebrate? We’ll see you out here.”
The text in Lurie’s Instagram post says “Stay tuned for more details from the band coming soon!” But as the Bay Area News Group points out, that text has been edited, and the original version said “Stay tuned for more details from the band 5/16!”
In other words, further announcements are on the way, and Lurie also has a press event scheduled for this afternoon at the SF Nightlife and Entertainment Summit. As of right now, the only shows displaying on the Dead and Company website are Las Vegas Sphere residency shows this coming weekend.
It does seem that not all i’s are dotted and t’s crossed here, as Lurie’s press release calls this a “proposed weekend of music,” and adds that “The proposal will go before the Recreation and Park Commission on May 15.” But it's hard to imagine that commission would put the shakedown on this.
As a reminder, Dead and Company features longtime Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, and John Mayer often fills in the Jerry Garcia role. Bassist Phil Lesh passed away in October.
Lurie’s press release says the shows are “expected to draw up to 60,000 attendees per day,” so it's a fair guess that they’ll be selling 60,000 tickets for each show (And yes, the release calls these events “ticketed concerts” so these will not be free shows). Of course all three shows will sell out. And does this crowd now skew so old there will be no chance of people gate-crashing? We’re going to find out!
Given that Dead and Company’s 2023 concerts here pumped $31 million into the local economy, it will surely be a gangbusters tourism weekend. Will the shows be livestreamed for $20 or $25, or have an amazing drone display like those 2023 shows at Oracle Park? Time will tell on all of that.
We do wonder if this will put a damper on the already planned Jerry Day concert in McLaren Park. Though it may not, because Jerry Day is a free show, while the Dead and Company shows will surely be rather pricey.
The bigger issue may be how this affects the condition of Golden Gate Park's Polo Field, considering that Outside Lands is happening there the very next weekend, and the “Golden Gate Concerts” the Friday after Outside Lands the weekend after that. So obviously, there may be some wear and tear from people doing the New Speedway Boogie on Old Speedway Meadow.
Related: SF Street Jerry Garcia Grew Up On Will Be Renamed ‘Jerry Garcia Street’ [SFist]
Image: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 31: (FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY) (L-R) John Mayer and Jay Lane of Dead & Company, and Honorees Bob Weir and Mickey Hart of Dead & Company and of the Grateful Dead perform onstage at 2025 MusiCares Person Of The Year Honoring The Grateful Dead at Los Angeles Convention Center on January 31, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
