Alex Bleeker playing a guest-filled Grateful Dead tribute in Chicago with Lee Ranaldo, mems of Yo La Tengo, and more
As you probably know, surviving Grateful Dead members are celebrating the band's 50th anniversary with some shows this year, including three in Chicago from July 3-5 at Soldier Field. That won't be the only Dead celebration in Chicago that weekend though. Real Estate's Alex Bleeker and his band The Freaks, who have been doing Dead tributes lately, will do another one at City Winery Chicago on July 3. And they'll be bringing along some pretty exciting guests.
They've got indie rock royalty Dead fans Ira Kaplan and James McNew of Yo La Tengo and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth (who's on The National's upcoming Dead tribute), as well as Darkside's Dave Harrington and collaborator Will Epstein, Alex's Real Estate bandmate Matt Kallman, folk singer Ryley Walker, experimentalist M. Geddes Gengras, Kyle Field of long-running indie folk band Little Wings, and his past collaborator Lee Baggett.
It's a late show (11:30 PM doors) after the venue hosts a live stream of the Dead's Soldier Field show. Tickets are on sale.