[UPDATE 7/20/23]: Billy & The Kids have announced guitarist and Cosmic Country bandleader Daniel Donato will join the group for its upcoming Dead on the Water run in New York City and Baltimore.
The band shared a silly video announcing Donato’s addition to the lineup, which also features Tom Hamilton (Joe Russo’s Almost Dead), Aron Magner (The Disco Biscuits), Reed Mathis (Electric Beethoven), James Casey (Trey Anastasio Band), Jeff Franca (Thievery Corporation), and “more.” Donato recently welcomed Bill Kreutzmann to sit in with him and Cosmic Country in New Orleans the day after Billy & the Kids performed at Saenger Theatre, which was their only show so far this year.
Check out the video announcement below, and scroll down for more information.
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6/22/23: Billy & The Kids will reassemble for a two-night run dubbed Dead on the Water, making stops in New York City and Baltimore in August. This pair of pier shows will mark the familial Grateful Dead supergroup’s second and third shows of 2023, following a one-off in New Orleans during Jazz Fest.
Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann and his Kids Tom Hamilton (Joe Russo’s Almost Dead), Aron Magner (The Disco Biscuits), Reed Mathis (Electric Beethoven), James Casey (Trey Anastasio Band), Jeff Franca (Thievery Corporation), and “a friend or two” begin Dead on the Water on Wednesday, August 16th at Pier Six Pavilion in Baltimore. The family then travels up to New York City for a show Friday, August 18th at The Rooftop at Pier 17.
“I had such a great time playing in New Orleans during Jazz Fest, that I just knew I had to get Billy & the Kids back together this summer for more fun,” Kreutzmann wrote on social media. “I wanted to be by the water but I wanted to play on land – so I thought, ‘Let’s just go from pier to pier, drop our anchor and throw down’. I know we can take these two nights far out there while never leaving port.”
Tickets for the Billy & The Kids Dead on the Water run go on sale on Friday, June 23rd at 10 a.m. ET. A pre-sale for NYC tickets begins today, June 22nd, at 10 a.m. ET.
These days, Billy & The Kids shows are as rare as they are highly anticipated. The ensemble (then only the original core of Bill, Aron, Tom, and Reed) was due to reactivate the project at 2020’s The Peach Music Festival. COVID thwarted the comeback, with the band not signing on for the rescheduled 2021 edition.
Instead, Billy & The Kids staged a run of fan-less livestreams from Kreutzmann’s Hawaii home with special guests Casey, Carlos Santana, Bill Nershi, and Billy Strings (who will wrap a Europe tour days before Dead on the Water). Later that same summer, the band staged some of the most celebrated concerts of the COVID comeback season when Strings and Franca joined Billy & The Kids for two nights at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
As Kreutzmann was dogged by health issues in 2022 keeping him off his drum riser for much of Dead & Company‘s summer tour, Billy & The Kids sat on the shelf. Kreutzmann has since parted ways with the Grateful Dead offshoot as it makes its final run of stadium concerts. The New Orleans show, which further expanded the band’s genealogy with sit-ins from George Porter Jr. and Molly Tuttle, marked the group’s first show since the 2021 Red Rocks run.
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