John Mayer Equates Playing With Dead & Company To Acting With Al Pacino
By Amanda Wicks
(RADIO.COM) – John Mayer along with Bob Weir and other Grateful Dead members will sit down with CBS Sunday Morning on June 12 to discuss the project that ended up surprising them all. What was meant to be a special series of fall 2015 shows has blossomed into a full summer 2016 tour.
The project initially attracted Mayer because he saw the potential to grow when playing with the other members onstage. "The reason I wanted to be in this band was to be able to interact with it live," Mayer said, according to a press release. "It would be what I imagine an actor saying, 'I really want to be in a scene with Pacino.'"
He continued, expressing how participating in Dead & Company had stretched him, "Oh man, I have so much more connection with my guitar now than I ever think I had. This solidifies musician over celebrity."
Mayer may now exhibit a certain level of confidence after the band's successful fall tour, but that's a far cry from how he first felt performing with Weir on The Late Late Show, when they first collaborated. "It was the only time I ever got nauseous with excitement," he admitted.
As for Weir, touring with Mayer has kept his fire burning for touring. "Christ, I'm nowhere done playing," he said. "And you know, there were some folks who were expecting, okay, after the Chicago [2015] shows, I was going to work on my golf game or something."
Golf doesn't seem to be on the schedule. Dead & Company kick off their summer tour today (June 10) in Charlotte.
Dead & Company will appear on CBS Sunday Morning June 12th at 9:00am PST on KPIX 5/CBS.
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