Photo credit: Michael Weintrob

Today, May 7, marks Bill Kreutzmann’s 79th birthday. In his many laps around the sun and years on stage, the legendary Grateful Dead drummer pioneered new frontiers for percussion that laid the foundation for the Dead’s unprecedented sonic innovations, influenced countless performers and earned his station as one of the most esteemed performers to ever sit behind the kit. And yet, the rhythm devil us celebrating the occasion with a gift to his fans, unveiling the long-awaited livestream of his Mahalo Dead performances.

From Nov. 22-24 of last year, Kreutzmann stepped into the spotlight at Kilauea, Hawaii’s Porter Pavilion for three shows with a star-studded band of guitarists Daniel Donato and Jake Brownstein, vocalist Kanika Moore, keyboardist Adam MacDougall, bassist Reed Mathis and co-percussionist Jason Hann. Though iconic backbeat’s landmark return to The Aloha State was documented with multi-camera pro-shot videography, all that surfaced from the event was an enticing clip of “Shining Star”–until now.

On May 18, Kreutzmann will partner with nugs.net to release the tapes as an exclusive for all-access subscribers. He announced the livestream today with a clip of “Just a Little Light,” the second-set opener from Nov. 23, accompanied by a personal reflection on the series. “Aloha friends,” he wrote:

“For my birthday four years ago, I flew my band Billy & the Kids along with Billy Strings to my island to jam with me in the midst of the pandemic and we livestreamed it and called it Grateful Mahalo. That’s not to be confused with Mahalo Dead, which is the band I put together to jam with me for Thanksgiving last year, as my way of giving thanks to my community. We played three sold-out nights at the Porter Pavilion, mere minutes from my home, and we spent a few days before that just having fun jamming, going to goat yoga, bonding by boating, eating delicious food, and celebrating the gift of simply being together. And in those moments, we got to experience life to the fullest.

“So for my birthday this year, I’d like to extend that celebration to all of you. This is our community. This is our music. These are our songs. And they sound best when we can share them with each other.

“Tune in to Nugs.net on May 18th for the premiere livestream of Mahalo Dead, recorded on 11/23/24 at Anainu Hou’s Porter Pavilion in Hawaii. I’ll be couch touring it right there with you! 

“I’m done blowing out the candles (there were a lot of them!), and I put up this YouTube video of the second set opener: ‘Just a Little Light.’ Because we could all use some these days.

“NFA, Billy”

Watch “Just a Little Light” below, and find the livestream when it launches at nugs.net.