It’s amazing to think of any band that can actually carry a legacy all the way to 50 years, and the Grateful Dead‘s legacy remains strong today and looks to be carrying well past that if the surviving members keep as busy as they have been. Next year is the official 50 Year Anniversary for the band, having laid down their first sets together as a band back in 1965, and next year the band will be doing some serious commemoration and celebration to honor those 50 years together as a unit*.
As part of that, Deadline Hollywood is reporting that the band has gotten a stellar crew together to create a feature documentary, including Martin Scorsese as executive producer. SYKKKKK! Amir Bar-Lev (The Tillman Story) will direct, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Andrew Heller, Sanford Heller, and Rick Yorn will all assist Scorsese with the executive producer duties. David Lemieux will be the music supervisor.
Here’s a statement the band put out as part of the story:
“Millions of stories have been told about the Grateful Dead over the years. With our 50th Anniversary coming up, we thought it might just be time to tell one ourselves and Amir is the perfect guy to help us do it. Needless to say, we are humbled to be collaborating with Martin Scorsese. From The Last Waltz to George Harrison: Living In The Material World, from Bob Dylan to the Rolling Stones, he has made some of the greatest music documentaries ever with some of our favorite artists and we are honored to have him involved. The 50th will be another monumental milestone to celebrate with our fans and we cannot wait to share this film with them,” said surviving members Hart, Kreutzmann, Lesh, and Weir.
They also got a quote on the record from Scorsese himself:
“The Grateful Dead were more than just a band. They were their own planet, populated by millions of devoted fans. I’m very happy that this picture is being made and proud to be involved.”
This is going to be awesome. Huge hat tip to JamBase for reporting on this also.
* – obviously up for plenty of debate there.
