 In what will be a bittersweet announcement for Deadheads, the four surviving and original members of the Grateful Dead revealed that they will reunite to celebrate their 50th anniversary with three gigs at Chicago's Soldier Field July 3rd to 5th. Grateful Dead Q&A;: Bob Weir & Trey Anastasio on How It All Came Together 
 
 The sense of closure is no ­accident: These shows are likely to be the finale for the "core four," as the ­surviving members are now known: Bob Weir, 67; Phil Lesh, 74; Mickey Hart, 71; and Bill Kreutzmann, 68. Related PHOTOS: Love and Haight: Jim Marshall's Iconic Sixties San Francisco Photos See stunning images of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jefferson Airplane as a scene transformed into a movement 
 
 For "Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead" shows – which will take place nearly two decades after the Grateful Dead last performed together with Jerry Garcia – the band will be joined by Phish's Trey Anastasio along with pianist Bruce Hornsby (who toured with the Dead in 1992) and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti. We narrowed it down to: Let's just do it simple and clean." The original Grateful Dead Ticketing Service will have first crack at tickets for the three concerts, with a general public onsale through Ticketmaster starting February 14th. "Wave that flag, wave it wide and high..." 
 
 "Jerry Garcia was a great American master and the Grateful Dead are not just a genuine piece of musical history, but also an important part of American history," Anastasio said. "This is a band, born right at the beginning of electric rock, that took the American tradition and moved it forward. They really embodied the American concept of freedom, rolling around the country with a ginormous gang of people and the mindset that 'you can come if you want, you can leave if you want. We don't know what's going to happen. All we know is we’re not looking back.’ What could be more American?" “It is with respect and gratitude that we reconvene the Dead one last time to celebrate - not merely the band's legacy, but also the community that we’ve been playing to, and with, for fifty years," Lesh said in a statement.
– "Bittersweet" is how Rolling Stone describes it: The four surviving members of the original Grateful Dead are getting together to play three shows in Chicago this summer, but there's a catch: "These will be the last shows with the four of us together," Bob Weir tells Billboard. Weir himself is 67, Phil Lesh is 74, Mickey Hart is 71, and Bill Kreutzmann is 68. The Dead will play July 3-5 at Soldier Field, site of the last performance with Jerry Garcia before his death in 1995. The four originals, marking 50 years as a band, will be joined by Trey Anastasio of Phish, Bruce Hornsby, and Jeff Chimenti of Ratdog. Anastasio reflects to Billboard: "I've realized that it's no coincidence that they named their best album ever American Beauty," he says. "They really embodied the American concept of freedom, rolling around the country with a ginormous gang of people and the mindset that 'you can come if you want, you can leave if you want. We don't know what's going to happen. All we know is we're not looking back.' What could be more American?" (The mystery of a Deadhead who went missing in 1995 may be solved.)