Good morning. We're saying goodbye, again, to the band that was once the Grateful Dead. |
 | | Dead & Company fans in New York in June.Peter Fisher for The New York Times |
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Fans of the Grateful Dead are saying goodbye to the band this weekend. It's not the first time. |
Since the band lost its frontman Jerry Garcia nearly three decades ago, it has re-formed several times, touring continuously and winning over new generations. Along the way, it has given each new set of fans its own chance to mourn, my colleague Marc Tracy writes. |
The day Garcia died in 1995, the Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir gave a concert near Boston. One fan, Albie Cullen, recalled that the encore felt like an emotional send-off for Garcia and the band. "Everybody kind of knew that was the end," Cullen said. But it wasn't. |
In 2015, the surviving members held a series of goodbye concerts. It was another emotional send-off, but it wasn't the end, either. Within months, a new iteration had formed, Dead & Company. It features the singer-songwriter John Mayer, who was born more than a decade after the original band formed. |
During Dead & Company's eight-year run, the band once again became a cultural touchstone. Longtime fans came to embrace Mayer, a skilled guitar player. Many young fans discovered the group on streaming services or through its deep online archive of live concerts, and the band recently had its best week of record sales in 35 years. When I saw the band perform at Citi Field in New York last month, the stadium's upper deck was packed with Gen Z fans dressed in tie-dye. |
Tonight, Dead & Company is in San Francisco to play the final show of what it says will be its final tour. Even if that turns out not to be true, once again, fans have embraced the ritual. |
"We like to say goodbye. We find a usefulness to saying goodbye. It's almost like practice," Marc told me. "People genuinely like the bittersweetness of it. You're not supposed to like sad things, but people go see sad movies all the time." |
 | | Antitank mines.David Guttenfelder for The New York Times |
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- The brutal temperatures across the southern and western states are expected to peak this weekend, The Washington Post reports.
- More than 100 million people have been under excessive heat warnings and advisories.
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- Ron DeSantis's campaign has let go of staff as he struggles in polling against Donald Trump.
- Wealthy Democrats have thrown money behind President Biden's re-election, but so far, small donors aren't contributing as much as they did in the 2020 campaign.
- Recruits who quit Florida's State Guard, which was billed as an emergency relief organization, said the group was too militarized.
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 | | By The New York Times |
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- A coming demographic shift will remake the global balance of power, experts say. These graphics show how.
- Aging populations will strain developed countries' welfare systems, while a young labor force will benefit developing countries.
- Britain's public health service, flooded by older patients, is in the deepest crisis of its history.
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- John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy, arrived in China today for three days of talks between the world's two biggest polluters. Here's what to expect.
- Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, spent a night in the hospital after feeling dizzy. He was released after tests today.
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 | | Marketa VondrousovaGlyn Kirk/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
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A poem by Amanda Gorman on a recent migrant boat disaster honors the many who drowned. |
The Sunday question: Should Ukraine join NATO? |
To bring Ukraine into NATO would "draw a bright line that Russia dare not cross," Marc Thiessen and Stephen Biegun write for The Washington Post. But the support Ukraine needs after the war can be achieved "without admitting Ukraine to NATO," The Los Angeles Times's editorial board writes. |
 | | Fans cheer on the Texas Super Kings.Meridith Kohut for The New York Times |
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Lives Lived: Everett Mendelsohn, a longtime Harvard professor, became known for lecturing on diverse topics — genetic engineering and the making of the atomic bomb — and encouraging students to examine the impact of science. He died at 91. |
| THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE |
 | | The University of Virginia.Ciara Quilty-Harper |
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"Onlookers": Ann Beattie's new story collection, her "best in more than two decades," examines the forces shaping America by looking at Charlottesville, Va. |
- Novak Djokovic, seeking his third Grand Slam title of the year, faces Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon men's final today.
- Jurors in the trial of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting will begin considering on Monday whether to recommend that the judge sentence the gunman to death or life in prison.
- The Senate is scheduled to begin considering an annual defense bill Tuesday. House Republicans loaded their chamber's version with social policy provisions.
- Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, will meet with President Biden at the White House on Tuesday.
- The Women's World Cup begins Thursday in Australia and New Zealand.
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 | | Joe Lingeman for The New York Times |
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Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. |
 | Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Amy Fiscus News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Lyna Bentahar, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Claire Moses, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lauren Hard Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch |
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