At the age of 73, former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh sought new means to channel his passion for music. Over a month ago, Lesh, along with Grateful Dead band-mate Bob Weir, announced that their band, Furthur, would be going on hiatus after their 2013 tour. In an interview given last week with XM radio host Gary Lambert, Lesh commented that he would be focusing on residencies in 2014.

Now, Lesh has finalized a yearlong commitment with Peter Shapiro, manager of the Brooklyn Bowl and owner of the newly-renovated Capitol Theatre. Starting in April 2014, the bassist will perform over 30 shows at the Cap, appear at Shapiro’s Lockn’ Festival, and give an April 20th performance at the soon-to-open Las Vegas expansion of the Brooklyn Bowl. (http://vegas.brooklynbowl.com/). In fact, Phil’s only non-Shapiro-affiliated concerts will be the ones performed Terrapin Crossroads, a venue owned by Lesh himself, in San Rafael, CA.

In celebration of the arrangements, Lesh, who currently tours with his solo band Phil Lesh & Friends, will be performing at the Brooklyn Bowl on November 14th.

The Capitol Theatre hosted eighteen storied Grateful Dead concerts between 1970 and 1971, including a four-night run in November 1970 promoting the then-newly-released American Beauty album. Since acquiring the venue, promoter Peter Shapiro has invested over 2 million dollars in renovations, including a complete overhaul of the sound and lighting equipment.

Between the Cap’s storied history, and Phil Lesh’s desire to focus on residencies, this arrangement seems to be mutually beneficial. Lesh has praised Shapiro’s work in restoring the classic venue, emphasized by the highly successful four-night Phil Lesh & Friends run that ended yesterday. The band will be performing at the Best Buy Theater from 11/5-9, and at the Tower Theater, near Philadelphia, from 11/11-13.

Commenting about his plans, Phil said, “I’m not retiring, and I’m not slowing down. I’m pretty sure I want to make music till I can’t breathe anymore. I just want to do it within the most focused possible way. The future looks really exciting.”

It sure does, Phil, it sure does.

–David Melamed (@DMelamz)

[via The New York Times]