Earlier in the month, Dead & Company announced a number of tour dates for the first half of 2018. The Grateful Dead continuation will embark on their summer tour on May 30th at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, MA, touring across the country before eventually landing in Boulder, CO for their annual mecca to Folsom Field to close out their new dates. As the year winds on, many fans have begun to speculate about who will make it on the lineup for the beloved LOCKN’ festival (scheduled for August 23rd through 26th at Infinity Downs & Oak Ridge Farm in Arrington, Virginia).
Each year, LOCKN’ consistently draws some of the most impressive lineups of the summer. The festival has made itself a home to many of the original members of the Grateful Dead, with last year seeing the event host Phil Lesh and Bob Weir’s highly anticipated performance of the iconic album Terrapin Station in honor of its 40th anniversary. However, while various members of the original Grateful Dead lineup have made their way on to the bill, since LOCKN’s inception in 2013, Dead & Company has still never performed at the festival.
It seems as though the festival has plans to change that, however, given the clues that it’s dropped recently. As noted on Reddit, for the 2018 edition of LOCKN’, the festival has updated its logo to reflect the red-and-blue color scheme of a Grateful Dead stealie and made its festival promo code “Grateful.” Today, LOCKN’ dropped its biggest and most overt hint with a new Instagram post featuring the now-iconic photo of Dead & Company bassist Oteil Burbridge’s head shaved with a thirteen-point lightning bolt. You can check out the post below, and let’s keep our fingers crossed we’ll be seeing Dead & Company at LOCKN’ this year!