Grateful Dead Were Planning Reunion Before Phil Lesh’s Death

The Grateful Dead will be among the honorees at next month’s Kennedy Center Honors, but they’ll do so without bassist Phil Lesh, who died last month at age 84.

The surviving members of the band — Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart, all of whom still play together in Dead & Company — sat down with Anthony Mason for a CBS This Morning interview five days after Lesh’s death. The interview had been on the books for a while, and Lesh was supposed to be there too. During the chat, which aired today, they revealed that they had intended to play together again before Lesh passed away. The idea was for the four original members to take the stage together next year to mark the 60th anniversary of the band. “We were going to see where it goes,” Weir said. “But we were just going to play the four of us. And now there’s only three of us.”

Watch the segment below.

The Kennedy Center Honors take place 12/8 and will air 12/23 on CBS and Paramount+. Others to be honored this year include Bonnie Raitt, Arturo Sandoval, Francis Ford Coppola, and Harlem’s Apollo Theater.