Some people are beginning to call this the year of the reunion. A lot of artists are talking reformation and reunion tours. Among those reuniting is the legendary Grateful Dead which set 2009 Tour Dates for a 19-City Concert Tour. The Grateful Dead's first tour in five years will take the seminal jam band to the Times Union Center on Friday, April 17.

The 19-date tour in April and May comes on the heels of last year's one-off benefit show for Barack Obama at Penn State on Oct. 13. That show's lineup, which featured the four remaining band members Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzman, augmented by guitarist Warren Haynes and RatDog keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, are returning for the tour.

President Elect Barack Obama is partially responsible for bringing back The Dead.

The rest of the Grateful Dead, that is. Jerry Garcia, unfortunately, is still dead, but the four remaining members of the band have reformed and announced some tour dates.

To many, the Grateful Dead was one of the greatest touring bands ever. Known for their laid back style, the Dead were on constant tour for four decades, a traveling caravan of tour buses and Deadheads, their thousands of loyal disciples that followed them from venue to venue. Grateful Dead shows became events, a moving gypsy homage to the Summer of Love, sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll. Going to see The Dead became an experience, not just a time and place to listen to them play their music. And even though they rarely charted, the band sold millions of albums and produced legions of loyal fans.

The death of Jerry Garcia, frontman guitarist and unapologetic hippie, took the momentum out of the Grateful Dead in 1995. Band members drifted off into other projects and reunited for an extensive tour in 2004.

The band, now calling itself simply The Dead, announced New Year's Day, according to Chattahbox.com, that they would be embarking on a 19-city tour, jamming to all the old Grateful Dead classics. Joining the original four members -- Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart - will be Warren Haynes of the Allman Brothers Band/Govt. Mule on guitar and Jeff Chimenti on keyboards. This line-up reunites the band that played the "Change Rocks" Barack Obama benefit concert in Pennsylvania last October.

This will be the first official Dead tour since 2004. Ticket presales are set to begin on January 13. Nationwide ticket sales begin on January 23.

The Dead at the Forum Tickets