Bands

Asbury Park, NJ · since 2023

Mark Diomede's cosmic dance band — Dead, rock classics, and originals from the 5th dimension.

Boston, MA · since 2015

Boston's touring Dead tribute since 2015, with a 250-song book and no two nights alike.

Pleasantville, NJ · since 2023

Pleasantville, NJ Dead tribute built from Chinacat Jubilee players, with a rotating lead guitarist.

Providence, RI · since 2024

Providence jam band on Dead, JGB and deep funk, with a first-Friday residency at Prudence in Bristol.

Raleigh, NC · since 2019

Raleigh outfit formed in 2019 that recreates whole Grateful Dead concerts, not hit sets.

Portland, OR

A Portland band drawn from four generations of Deadheads, in steady rotation at McMenamins rooms.

St. Cloud, MN · since 2015

St. Cloud five-piece named for the Dead's most famous segue, onstage since 2016.

Athens, GA · since 1999

Athens, Georgia veterans who walk onstage with no setlist and take the Dead wherever it goes.

Los Angeles, CA · since 1987

LA's oldest Dead tribute: born 1987, 4,000-plus shows, every era, a different setlist every night.

Easthampton, MA · since 2014

Western Mass Dead and JGB band since 2014, danceable tunes plus jazzy improv, with rotating bassists.

Fort Collins, CO · since 2009

Fort Collins veterans who braid the Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd catalogs into one unpredictable set.

Nyack, NY

Nyack's high-energy Dead tribute, famous for three-hour marathon blocks of music.

Boulder, CO · since 2025

A Boulder County crew splitting the difference between Dead improvisation and Widespread Panic grit.

Bozeman, MT · since 2019

A Bozeman six-piece built on three-part harmonies, born from a one-off Dead night at the Filling Station.

Milwaukee, WI

Five Milwaukee players who treat Dead tunes as launch vehicles rather than a set of covers.

Allentown, PA

Allentown, PA Grateful Dead tribute working Lehigh Valley breweries and North Jersey taprooms.

Cleveland, OH

A six-piece Cleveland mainstay playing the Dead somewhere in Northeast Ohio nearly every week.

San Diego, CA · since 1989

Grateful Dead every Monday at Winstons in Ocean Beach since 1992 — San Diego's longest club residency.

White Plains, NY

The Dead-set alter ego of White Plains' Blue Roadhouse Orchestra, built on feel rather than note-for-note.

Los Angeles, CA · since 2016

LA six-piece that plays the Dead loose and harmony-heavy; now a national touring act.

Lynbrook, NY · since 2004

Long Island's Grateful Dead tribute since 2004, from Brooklyn Bowl to the Westbury stage.

since 2015

Tri-state five-piece working the high-energy end of the Dead book in small NJ and NY rooms since 2015.

St. Louis, MO · since 1976

St. Louis institution and, at fifty years running, the longest-lived Dead tribute in the country.

Brooklyn, NY · since 2013

Brooklyn's muscular reinterpretation of the songbook — not a recreation.

Kansas City, MO · since 2019

Kansas City's improv-first Dead band, more interested in reinterpreting the catalog than copying it.

Philadelphia, PA

A Philadelphia-area Jerry Garcia Band tribute chasing classic JGB grooves and deep cuts.

since 2018

Inland Empire Dead band since 2018, two drummers, a fixture up the hill at Mt. Baldy Lodge.

Traverse City, MI

A big northern Michigan outfit with dual lead guitars and twin bassists on the Dead's catalog.

St. Petersburg, FL · since 2024

Tampa Bay all-star Dead band formed in 2024 from Uncle John's Band and Dead Set Florida.

Chicago, IL · since 1991

Chicago's veteran jam band, writing originals with John Perry Barlow and weaving Dead songs throughout.

Palo Alto, CA · since 2020

Palo Alto band born in a park in 2020: two guitars, two drummers, the Dead as ultimate bar band.

Marlborough, MA · since 2004

Former Dark Star Orchestra members' marathon two-set Dead shows, every Wednesday in Pembroke.

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco collective behind Grateful First Fridays on Haight Street.

Prescott, AZ

A Prescott quartet that runs the Dead catalog through a Joe Russo's Almost Dead lens.

Arcata, CA · since 2015

Humboldt County Dead band since 2015 that throws its own three-day Camp Rosewater festival.

Pittsburgh, PA · since 2021

Pittsburgh jam collective welding Dead repertoire to an '80s DIY punk ethos.

Bay Area Dead cover band working pub and brewery stages from Hayward to Grass Valley.

Queens, NY · since 2023

Born in the Citi Field parking lot in 2023; dream setlists and heady improvisation.

Denver, CO · since 1987

Colorado's longest-running Dead tribute, playing the catalog continuously since February 1987.

Kansas City, MO

A Kansas City acoustic trio of jazz players running the Dead songbook through fiddle, guitar and bass.

Philadelphia, PA

Philadelphia-area five-piece, 20-plus years on Dead and Dylan, touring upstate NY as an acoustic duo.

New York, NY · since 2009

Tri-state Dead tribute since 2009 and the band behind Free Dead in the Park.

San Rafael, CA

The Bay Area's house band for the Dead — deep jams and a fresh setlist every night.

Chicago, IL · since 1999

Chicago's premier Dead act, with a long history of touring alongside Melvin Seals and Tom Constanten.

Melrose, FL

Melrose, FL quartet (sometimes a trio) playing Jerry- and Dead-inspired '60s and '70s rock.

Frederick, MD

An all-star Mid-Atlantic band splitting sets between the Dead, the Allmans and The Band.

Cleveland, OH · since 1988

Cleveland jamband since 1988, mixing originals with Dead and Allman Brothers improvisation.

Nashville, TN · since 2014

Nashville's Dead institution, holding down Grateful Monday at Acme Feed & Seed since 2014.

Albany, NY

The Capital Region's Grateful Dead band, from Lark Hall to the Glove Theatre.

Nashville, TN · since 2022

Nashville's high-energy Dead tribute, built by three players who spent two years learning the book.

Five North Jersey players who met answering a Deadhead call at Montclair's Meat Locker.

Fort Collins, CO · since 2019

Fort Collins five-piece that improvises the Dead's catalog rather than recreating specific shows.

Miami, FL · since 2012

Miami's jazz-and-funk-leaning Dead band, monthly at Guanabanas.

Caldwell, NJ

Caldwell, NJ jam band playing Grateful Dead at the Orange Lantern's Grateful Tuesday night.

Brooklyn, NY · since 2023

Chris Mackin's rotating collective of New York jam players, resident at Brooklyn Bowl.

Philadelphia, PA

A six-piece Philadelphia-area Dead tribute working the suburban brewery and tavern circuit.

Brooklyn, NY

Brooklyn jam collective playing Dead-leaning sets in Central Park and around the city, announced on Instagram.

Six-piece Dead tribute working the NJ/NY border, built on vocal harmonies and jazzy jams.

Worcester, MA · since 2017

Worcester five-piece digging through the whole Garcia solo book - JGB, Legion of Mary, Garcia & Saunders.

Hoboken, NJ

Hoboken Dead band with folk-bluegrass roots; first act to play inside the Liberty Science Center planetarium.