Dead & Co Co-Manager Bernie Cahill On Sphere Takeaways, ‘Drums/Space’ Pillows & Grateful Dead 60

Dead & Company’s 30-show residency at the Las Vegas Sphere closed Aug. 10, but not before drawing close to half a million fans, raising $2.2 million to support nonprofit organizations and performing 115 unique songs over the course of the residency. Pollstar reached out to Bernie Cahill, founding partner of Activist Artists Management, which co-manages Dead & Company (with Full Stop Management/Moir Entertainment Inc.) to conduct an exit interview of sorts on the massive undertaking that is putting on a Sphere run at this technological marvel. Sphere has changed and enhanced the art of managing, performing and fandom in ways never before seen as the building itself could be considered an instrument itself with its massive, constantly-changing and immersive production. Here, Cahill explains how the group approached the continuous creative process, best strategies for fans, how he came up with the pillows during “Drums/Space,” and what lies (Dead) ahead, with the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary quickly approaching in 2025

Pollstar: Congratulations. How does it feel coming out of Dead & Company’s Sphere run?
Bernie Cahill: I’m very happy. It’s rare that you’re able to tick so many boxes on the creative side, on the business side and for the fans. This whole thing worked first and foremost for Bob (Weir), Mickey (Hart) and John (Mayer). I think they’re very happy with the music performances they delivered and the entirety of the show. They feel very good about it and they should, it was epic.

What’s the first step for anybody bringing an artist to Sphere? How do you get the creative and production going? I guess you had, what, a year to prepare?
We didn’t even come close to a year, it was closer to like five-and-a-half months before we were confirmed to do it and then we were off and running. The first thing you have to figure out is what kind of story you want tell and how you’re going to do that and how the communication with the band is going to look. We had Bob (Weir) touring, John (Mayer) touring and there’s a lot going on. Among the biggest and most important things is to consolidate communication to an essential group. That included John, Bob, Mickey (Hart), Derek Featherstone and Sam Pattinson at Treatment Studio, who was key, and to have a small enough group where you start to wrestle to the ground what the creative is going to be. John did a great job of driving and interpreting what Bob and Mickey wanted and bringing it forward. Additionally, he liaised with Sam and the creative team at Treatment. That’s probably the most important foundational piece and we were lucky we got it and were able to move forward.

We were super lucky that the U2 team was incredibly generous and shared a lot of institutional knowledge with us.  We’re able to use Treatment Studio who did their show. We were very fortunate to follow them. Of course, their show was incredible and they obviously learned a lot along the way. We still learned a lot, made some mistakes, but that foundational piece was getting the communication between John, Mickey and Bob right.  That was one of the most important things we did that helped guarantee the success of the show.

Irving Azoff co-manages John and Dead & Co and has been down the Sphere road with U2 and has Eagles coming up, was he part of the brain trust?
100%. Irving was crucial to the whole process, obviously. Both in that he’s incredibly close with James and he had just been through this with U2.  And of course because it’s Irving, so we had really, truly the best of all worlds and were positioned to do something special with all of his knowledge, both Sphere knowledge and otherwise, he was huge for us.

So that’s a best practice: Get Irving?
Exactly. And that would be if you can, you should get Irving. If Irving’s not available, get me…(laughs).

Sphere seems like an instrument itself that you get better playing as you go along. And you did a lot of seemingly spontaneous things like putting the live full moon on the inside and unique visuals for Jerry’s anniversary. How steep is the learning curve and what’s your advice for others coming after you?
It’s steep in the beginning, even with the benefit of what we learned from U2. Of course, we’re trying to innovate and put our own spin on things. It’s a new canvas. There’s the mini Sphere in Burbank which is incredible and you can model everything there. So we were there working on content. It’s awesome, but it’s still not Sphere and there’s a knowledge gap between Burbank and Vegas. Until you see it all in an 18,000 cap room, you just can’t really understand the macro of this undertaking.

James Dolan’s vision and what he’s pulled off here is  incredible he’s created an amazing technological marvel and assembled an incredible team. Jojo (Josephine Vaccarello ), who’s incredible, was quite important to this whole process. Erin Calhoun came over from MGM and we knew her from when we played MGM and they were just incredible. So they really helped when there was a problem and we needed answers or whatever, having people like that on site who are problem solvers is huge.

So when you put up these lyrics from Jerry, did someone call Burbank, then someone creates it and somebody signs off on it?  
So then Treatment Studio basically makes what that’s gonna look like and John actually led the charge on those quotes, it was all very intentional. For this whole thing, for not having a lot of time, there wasn’t any piece of the experience that wasn’t highly curated and super intentional.

I remember getting a call on lyrics and going, “Oh, we need to clear this. You can’t just put them up.”  So then it’s a conversation with our partners and the Garcia Estate and Jason Karlov at Ice Nine publishing  Everybody who got those calls was super helpful and they really partnered with us above and beyond. They were excited when they understood a little more about the narrative and how this was going to be a celebration of the songbook and really all things Grateful Dead. We had a lot of support Jon Blaufarb who represents the Garcia Estate. We had him on speed dial and he would navigate with the Garcia Estate and they were super supportive and incredibly collaborative.

And Dead & Co, much like the Grateful Dead, they’re ethos is based around improvisation, they’re kind of built for this and can seemingly roll with anything and everything—new graphics, tributes, full moon, any situation, right?
Yes. You saw them do it when somebody showed up. It’s like, “Yeah, sit in.” They’re able to be spontaneous and still execute music at the highest level. And there’s no fear. In the end, what an exercise like this is about is being fearless, taking chances and leading with your art. That’s what’s happened here. On the management side, there were worrying things, but in the end, it turns out, we didn’t need to worry, it was an impeccable residency.

What are best practices for caring for your artists doing a Sphere residency? Should they stay in Vegas or go back to their homes and commute? 
One, stay current with your hydration. I mean that because once you fall behind, it’s a bit, difficult especially if you’re a vocalist. It’s hard to catch up even with IVs and the rest of it, so be very intentional about that. Bob stayed in Vegas and it was one of the best decisions we made for this residency. He was able to be with his family and have his routine and have everything he needed right there to be healthy and to get family time. He was able to host his family and I think they found it to be very meaningful, so that was that was great. And that’s what most of the band did.

The more I go to Vegas, the better I get at. Like the Arts District is a great area to get a vegan taco or something and vinyl or thrift store shopping.
When you stay in Vegas, just make sure when you’re done with your work at the Sphere you don’t have to walk through a casino to get to your room. There are plenty of examples like The Wynn, for instance, or The Mansion at the MGM where you can easily get to your room without walking through the middle of a casino. That makes for a much more pleasant, livable situation.

What about the fan experience. I’ve been there three times and learned that being higher up can actually be better for the immersive experience; but on the floor you can see the band better, dance and commune —they’re very different experiences.
They really are. If you can have both experiences, because so many in the Dead world go to multiple shows, they were able to have those experiences. We know people who bought tickets in the 100s, 200s, 300s, 400s, they literally saw the show from every different level, including the floor. And you talk to them, and they’re like, “It’s hard to pick a favorite.” What’s interesting is that way high up they said was an incredible experience and kind of magical. Of course, on the floor, you can get closer to the band than you can in other formats because of the way the rail is set up and the proximity to the stage. It’s still that analog emotional connection to the performers on stage, it’s impeccable.

I wonder if they could ever do GA for the whole building and let people move around safely, between the floor and seating, it’s nice to have the option for both.
It’s a cool idea in theory, you could never do it because of security and fire code for these sections. As soon as you get the capacity, you can’t let any more people in. So the GA thing, in theory, would be amazing, do it like a festival, but it may not be possible.

In terms of some of the technologies, like the haptics and the beam forming sound that can be directed, were you adjusting those technologies as the run continued?
For sure and tweaking. Derek Featherstone, again, talk about best practice, have a Derek Featherstone. Somebody who is not just a great tour director and front of house engineer, but somebody who’s really thinking about the show in its entirety, including the haptics. He built a mini audio profile of Sphere at UltraSound. He was mixing shows using Sphere audio technology back then. And again, the detail and the intentionality of everything and what we wanted. We knew we weren’t going to have a lot of time to rehearse at Sphere so we had to really do what we could to have game conditions while not necessarily being at Sphere.

We built everything to spec at Henson Studios, so that was our actual stage with the robo cameras we used at Sphere, all of the hardware, all of the everything. So the stage fellt familiar once they walked on at Sphere. Henson was a great place for us to do that. Derek had built the audio at UltraSound by end of February and it was a steep learning curve. He wasn’t sleeping, working night and day on this, and the results show. The audio, as good as that system is there, it’s one of one, We got it even more dialed in for our residency.

Was the band rehearsing at Sphere on off days?
No. We had a couple of days to rehearse going into it. Usually, you do a tour and sound checks are kind of optional. These guys sound checked every single show religiously. They all showed up. It was an important time for the band to be together and to continue to work on the show. In particular, we were debuting new songs every night. Sound checks became those rehearsals and that’s probably another best practice.

Especially if you’re changing the production as you go.
It’s crucial. Remember at Sphere, they also were showing the Aronofsky film (“Postcard From Earth”) and doing other things. So you don’t have the luxury of an empty building while you’re dark. So there’s the complications of the change-outs and when the stage is ready for you to sound check or rehearse

And there’s no monitors on stage, right, it’s all just around you?
One of the coolest things, I think both John and Bob posted about this, is that the guitar amps are mic’d on the loading docks. So you’d be walking back of house from point A to point B and you’d walk past these isolated guitar amps and all you hear is John playing “Sugaree” and nothing else, it was so epic. This was part of how we innovated and how we dealt with some of the technological challenges of being in a room like this.

So the amps are backstage and they have in-ear monitors, were there amps on stage?
No. There were a couple of amps on stage for set dressing, but there was nothing operational up there. And to Bob’s credit, he never used in-ears until Sphere. So think about 55 years into your career and you’re asked to do something very different because in-ears are incredibly isolating—they give you what you want to hear, but they also isolate you from the band and sort of from the audience and some of the feedback you would get otherwise. Bob, to his credit, was walking around his home in San Francisco with in-ears and trying to get used to it months before going in there. The level of dedication from him to make this all work was incredible.

In terms of marketing, do Dead & Co even need marketing? Their fanbase is so rabid and geared-up.
Yes, every act needs marketing because partly people need to know when, where and all of these things. And then in particular, we added shows in August. Luckily for us, another best practice is hire Michele Bernstein (of Michi B Inc) if you can. She’s a world-class marketer and we think the best in the business. She’s been with us for the last 10 years. In the end, we blew those shows out.

What about the Dead community and that strong connection between fans that’s been around for decades, how powerful is that?
It’s incredible.  The community is so engaged, but here’s the thing that people don’t realize. For us on the management side and working with Michele, the good news and bad news is all the same. The good news is we have three generations of fans now. The bad news is that means you have to market to fans where they live and three generations each consume media in different ways. So we’re running three different marketing campaigns to be able to have a big tent. We want to include everybody. We don’t want to leave anybody behind. So that’s key. And the folks at Live Nation understand this on a granular level. They get it. They’re the other big partner here, who were willing to roll the dice and take chances. Ryan McElrath over there, these guys have been our tour partners from the beginning and they’re incredible. When we need help, they are there. It’s really great to see how the partnership works and how easy things are with them.

How were merch sales?
Insane. The pop-up my partner Red envisioned along with Vibee executed the pop-up and the numbers were massive. The pop-up was so immersive and a unique entertainment offering for the fans where we sold merch. And it was huge. In the end, what was really interesting is it didn’t cannibalize any of the merch sales we did at the venue because of the way we curated it. In particular, Bruce Fingeret at Merch Traffic has been with us for ten years and not only knows the band so well, but also knows what our fans like. We didn’t see a single dollar cannibalized from our venue sales.

Was the pop-up ticketed?
No, no, no. That was the beauty of it. Free to the fans. It was at the Venetian and it was two floors with artifacts and photographs. We had everything from Mickey Hart’s one-of-one art works to Chloe Weir and Jay Blakesberg photos. We had a mini wall of sound. We had all of our nonprofits, what we called Participation Row and everything was in there. So the exchange of ideas and information and art was all there for free. Then if you wanted to buy a poster and the merch, that was there too, along with some of our key licenses like Teton Gravity Research and James Perse. It was a huge success. They were moving 4,000 or 5,000 people a day through the pop-up.

That’s a great model for any band, anywhere and any venue if you can pull it off.
It’s expensive, obviously, to take up two floors in the Venetian. But for us, it was huge. And it was a big success on every level. My partner, Red Tanner, was involved in executing this and envisioning it and dealing with on every level. We filmed the Cornell show on the final tour and we created a cinema and showed that movie at this cinema in the pop-up.

I’ve been wanting to talk to you about the pillows your team gave out at “Drums/Space” on the floor platform, that blew me away.
Why? I’m curious, because so many people were touched by that. And for Red and Liz, it was just something we did. It wasn’t meant to be a big thing. Why do you think that resonated?

Because it was analog and very human. You’re in a big technological marvel and here is Liz, a partner at Activist, handing out pillows to people and saying, “enjoy this part of the show.” It is sort of the antithesis of the technological experience. It was very human and very kind and genunie, how did you come up with that?  
Basically, Liz, Red and I were standing at the platform, it was probably weekend two and there were some people laying down on the platform during “Drums/Space,” and as I’m watching this, I’m like, “Oh, well, we should get some pillows.” It was that simple. And then, of course, Red jumped into it and literally a weekend later we had pillows and we’re handing them out. And to your point about the human connection, and really his whole Sphere run, is about those two things happening at once. When you get it right, it’s pretty magical.

So is there going to be a Sphere film?
At this point, I can’t say anything.

So Dead & Co at Sphere proof of concept and amazing. There’s rumors they’re playing next March on the Grateful Dead boards and it’s the 60th anniversary for the Dead next year? What lies dead ahead? 
The band loved playing the Sphere, I can tell you that. And they love the residency. I know they would definitely be interested in going back. In terms of next year and what GD60 holds, it’s all a conversation, we’ll see. There’s a lot to celebrate.