Surviving Members Of The Grateful Dead Tour Separately

Fans of the Grateful Dead will be able to see musicians from the prototypical jam band on their own U.S. tours this spring and summer. Meanwhile, the Furthur Festival, founded in 1996 by the band's surviving members, will be resurrected this summer after a yearlong hiatus.

Guitarist-vocalist Bob Weir's Ratdog has lined up a string of spring festival dates beginning May 5 in Atlanta, with a pair of House of Blues gigs sprinkled in.

Drummer Mickey Hart has 21 dates with his new Mickey Hart Band before the start of the Furthur Festival, including the WOMAD festival on July 29 in Seattle.

Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh is currently finishing up a solo outing of his own and will appear on the amphitheater circuit with Bob Dylan this summer.

The Furthur Festival will be headlined by the Other Ones, a band that includes Weir, Hart and Bruce Hornsby. Reggae stars Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers will also appear on the tour, which is set to run from late August through September.

Lesh distanced himself from Weir and Hart after a dispute late last year over how to go about digitizing the band's vault. Ironically, the official explanation for the lack of a Furthur Festival in 1999 was the absence of Lesh, who was recovering from a 1998 liver transplant.

An itinerary for the Furthur Festival couldn't be confirmed at press time, but it is expected to focus mainly on the amphitheater circuit.