BOB WEIR & RATDOG CONFIRM SUMMER TOUR DATES; TREK BEGINS 7/5 AFTER PERFORMANCE WITH THE DEAD 7/4 AT ROTHBURY MUSIC FESTIVAL

Press Release Content:
DATE:        JUNE 5, 2009

FROM:    TODD BRODGINSKI/BARI LIEBERMAN

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and Grateful Dead co-founder BOB WEIR and his band RatDog have confirmed their 2009 summer tour dates, beginning July 5, with shows booked into September.  Weir formed the band in 1995 and has toured every year since, releasing two albums, Evening Moods in 2000 and Live At Roseland in 2001.  The band will make all shows available on high fidelity 3-CD sets immediately following each performance, so fans can “Weir Hear” the shows they attend.

Weir and the Dead performed 22 shows on a hugely successful headlining tour this spring, and will perform at the Rothbury Music Festival in Michigan July 4, with the RatDog tour kicking off the next day.  “My heart is on the road,” says Weir, who toured with the Dead relentlessly since they formed in 1965 through guitarist Jerry Garcia’s passing in 1995.  “When I was a kid, like 8 or 9 years old, my brother taught me how to tune a radio and that was it for me. I knew I wasn't going to be a fireman or an Indian chief…I was going to be a musician.”

RatDog–Weir on guitar and vocals, saxophonist Kenny Brooks, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, guitarist Mark Karan, drummer Jay Lane and bassist Robin Sylvester–pulls from a diverse repertoire of music, including Grateful Dead songs and Weir originals from solo albums including Ace (1972), Kingfish (1976), Heaven Help The Fool (1978) and Bobby & the Midnites (1981).  The group also performs select cover songs from artists like Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and The Band as well as songs by great blues and jazz artists.
Of Weir’s playing on the Dead’s 2009 tour dates, Jeff Miers of the Buffalo News said, “[Weir’s] tone was crisp and gloriously compressed. His rhythm figures leapt out of the mix and lent an intricate polyrhythmic quality to the proceedings. As ever, Weir's choice of chord voicings avoided the obvious and lent harmonic density to the music (4/23/09)” with Jambase’s Garrin Benfield adding, “In fact, Bob seemed confident all over, playing as instinctively as ever with a startling inventiveness (5/10/09).”

Check out www.rat-dog.com or www.myspace.com/theofficialratdogpage for official news.

DATE			CITY		VENUE
Sun	7/5		Columbus, OH		LC Pavilion
Wed	7/8		Glen Allen VA		Innsbrook Pavilion
Fri	7/10		Mastontown, WV		Allgood Music Festival
Sat	7/11		Atlantic City, NJ		Taj Mahal – Mark Etess Arena
Sun	7/12		Rochester, NY		Highland Bowl
Tue	7/14		Jim Thorpe, PA		Penn’s Peak
Wed	7/15		Jim Thorpe, PA		Penn’s Peak
Fri	7/17		Atlanta, GA		Masquerade Music Park
Sat	7/18		Atlanta, GA		Masquerade Music Park
Sun	7/19		St. Augustine, FL		St. Augustine Amphitheater
Tue	7/21		Wilmington, NC		Greenfield Amphitheater
Thu	7/23		Hampton Beach, NH		Hampton Beach Casino
Fri	7/24		Hampton Beach, NH		Hampton Beach Casino
Sat	7/25		Bridgeport, CT		Gathering of the Vibes
Fri	8/21		Jacksonville, OR		Britt Pavilion
Sat	8/22		Eugene, OR		Cuthbert Amphitheater
Sun	8/23		Seattle, WA		The Paramount Theater
Tue	8/25		Spokane, WA		Martin Woldson Theater @ The Fox
Wed	8/26		Missoula, MT		The Wilma Theater
Thu	8/27		Boise, ID		Knitting Factory
Sat	8/29		Salt Lake City, UT		The Depot
Sun	8/30		Boulder, CO		Chautauqua Auditorium
Mon	8/31		Denver, CO		Denver Botanical Gardens
Wed	9/2		Las Vegas, NV		House of Blues
Fri	9/4		San Diego, CA		Humphrey’s Concerts-By-the-Bay
Sat	9/5		Los Angeles, CA		The Greek Theatre
Sun	9/6		Santa Margarita, CA		Pozo Saloon

 

Press Release Teaser:
BOB WEIR & RATDOG CONFIRM SUMMER TOUR DATES; TREK BEGINS JULY 5 AFTER PERFORMANCE WITH THE DEAD JULY 4 AT ROTHBURY MUSIC FESTIVAL; “WEIR HEAR” LIVE CDs AVAILABLE AFTER EVERY SHOW