Dead & Co. and John Mayer are in talks to perform a residency at James Dolan’s Sphere in Las Vegas — a string of lucrative shows that could kick off next summer after the arena’s inaugural U2 residency ends this spring, The Post has learned.
The $2.3 billion Sphere — which the owner of the Knicks and Rangers spun off from Madison Square Garden in April — opened in September, but has yet to book another residency after U2’s 40-show run ends in March.
Sources cautioned that talks for a residency for Dead & Co. — an offshoot of the Grateful Dead that’s led by Bob Weir — are still in the works and not 100%.
It’s unclear when the residency would happen, but it would likely be “next summer,” an insider said.
Sphere spokespeople declined to comment, as did a rep for Dead & Co.
Guitarist Mayer is wrapping up a 19-show solo tour this March.
Phish, a psychedelic 80s band whose extended jams have long been inspired by the Dead, is slated to appear at the Sphere for a week of concerts in April.
Dolan pal and advisor Irving Azoff — the music mogul who founded entertainment giant Live Nation — represents both Dead & Co. and U2.
As The Post reported, the Sphere also has been in talks with Beyoncé.
Her manager-mom, Tina Knowles, as well as husband, Jay-Z, have taken separate tours of the Sphere, sources said.
Insiders said the Sphere’s high-tech amenities, which include a massive, wraparound LCD screen, have been a hurdle for booking acts because of the steep cost to produce shows.
The Sphere handed over the equivalent of $10 million to produce the U2 residency — a deal it is reluctant to repeat, sources said.
Dolan meanwhile is in serious talks with developers in Abu Dhabi to open a second Sphere in the Persian Gulf metropolis, The Post reported exclusively last week.
That’s after getting turned down on a proposal to build one of the massive, orb-shaped venues in East London by London’s mayor, who called it “bulky, unduly dominant and incongruous.”
A summer Sphere residency for Dead & Co. would come after a July 16 date at San Francisco’s Oracle Park that was billed as the final stop on its farewell tour that had stretched for eight years, three sources close to the situation said.
The band’s encore ended with the hits “Truckin’,” “Brokedown Palace,” and “Not Fade Away”.
“What the band said was they were done touring. What a tour for them meant was 15 to 18 cities, four days a week,” a music source said, also arguing that a Sphere residency wouldn’t count as a tour.
“They don’t consider that [a residency in one venue] a tour,” the source said. “It’s cutting a fine line, but that was the final tour.”
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