Tragedy came to New York’s Citi Field on Friday night when a Dead & Company fan fell to his death during the jam-rock behemoth’s set break. The man, reported to be in his 40s, fell 30 to 50 feet, landing on concrete after trying to do a flip, according to reports.
“He attempted a body flip, fell, and landed on the balcony below,” police told the New York Daily News. “His brother was with him. He was crying,” a driver outside the stadium told the New York Post.
Friday night was Dead & Company’s seventh show at the New York Mets’ home stadium Citi Field since the group was formed in late 2015. (I’ve been to five of them, including Friday’s show.) The successful touring act consists of three members of the Grateful Dead: Bob Weir on rhythm guitar and vocals, Bill Kreutzmann on drums, and Mickey Hart on drums and Pythagorean monochord. The septuagenarian jam-rockers were joined by John Mayer, who plays lead guitar and sings (some) of the songs that were once voiced by the old group’s leader, Jerry Garcia. (Dead & Company is also rounded out by Oteil Burbridge on bass and Jeff Chimenti on keyboards, both of whom have played in other notable groups in the jam universe.)
John Mayer famously became a Deadhead in 2011, when a Pandora station called up the band’s 1980 tune “Althea.” So the legend goes, the singer-songwriter was in his pool and ran into the house dripping wet to find out who was playing.
While there have been other post-Grateful Dead touring bands (and original bassist Phil Lesh has his own outfit, Phil and Friends), linking up with Mayer has proven tremendously successful for Dead & Company. Their first six Citi Field concerts grossed $18.4 million, with an average of 29,395 tickets sold to each show.
Mayer sang and played “Althea” at Citi Field on Friday night during the band’s second set.
Though the circumstances are very different, the tragic incident on Friday calls to mind the notorious death of Adam Katz, a 19-year-old who was mysteriously killed at a Grateful Dead concert at the nearby Meadowlands in New Jersey in 1989.
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