Grateful Dead Original Members Reunite to Celebrate 50th Anniversary
“Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead" at Chicago’s Soldier Field on July 3rd, 4th, and 5th, 2015
Marks the Grateful Dead Members' Final Performance Together
Event information available at Dead50.net
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Grateful Dead, the four original members — Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir — will reunite at Chicago's Soldier Field, nearly 20 years to the day of the last Grateful Dead concert, which took place at the same venue. “Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead" will occur over three nights on July 3, 4, and 5, 2015, marking the original members' last-ever performance together. The band will be joined by Trey Anastasio (guitar), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards), and Bruce Hornsby (piano). The group will perform two sets of music each night.
Jerry Garcia's daughter Trixie Garcia announced the shows in an exclusive interview. You can check out her announcement here.
Joining the original members of Grateful Dead are three musicians who have embodied the band’s spirit of musical innovation throughout their eclectic careers. Guitarist Trey Anastasio is best known for his work as the principal songwriter and lead guitarist for touring juggernaut Phish, but he has also found time to score and arrange music for orchestras and Broadway productions such as “Best Musical” TONY nominee ‘Hands on a Hardbody.’ Pianist Bruce Hornsby had already won the first of his three Grammy Awards when he first guested with Grateful Dead in 1988. Following the death of the band’s keyboard player Brent Mydland in 1990, Hornsby toured with the group into 1992, and he has maintained a collaborative relationship with its members ever since. Bay Area native and jazz keyboardist Jeff Chimenti joined Bob Weir’s Rat Dog in 1997, and has since worked on projects such as Phil Lesh & Friends, The Other Ones, The Dead, and Furthur.
In the tradition of the original Grateful Dead Ticketing Mail Order, tickets will first be made available via a first-come, first-served mail order system. All additional ticketing information is available at Dead50.net.
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Grateful Swindle
All,
Like most of you, I am so disgusted with the ticket sales process for the shows in Chicago. Not only were mail orders a mess, the TicketMaster/Stubhub fiasco simply stinks to put it mildly! How can the scalpers and brokers get a majority of the tickets before they go on sale? How did the producer, Peter Shapiro, allow Chicago Bears season ticket holders to get the tickets? What do members of the Dead know about this?
I don't know ANYONE who got tickets for the shows via the online mess at TicketMaster, yet Stubhub had seats listed for THOUSANDS and TENS OF THOUSANDS! This is WRONG.
SOMEONE has the ability to make this right. Please, for the fans, not the greedy. I really wanted to celebrate the legacy of the Dead, not the dismal failure of the production system.
I feel you
Yeah - things have been pretty messed up. If you read any of my (many) rambling posts from yesterday, you can more or less track my grief of getting shut out...one dude whom I am pretty sure is going bat-shit crazy started having a three way conversation with himself on here.
Personally I am really disheartened and have seriously contemplated selling all of my Dead stuff and be done with it, but I also know that will solve nothing since I will eventually come back and start listening again as I have done so many times in the past. Too many great shows, too many great times...I am at a loss. Hell I even thought about selling my limited edition Steal Your Face watch (1 of 1500 made...) that the dead issued in like 93 or 94 in Rolling Stone. Meh I will preserver and deal with this - and keep hoping that a true head will come forth and say "man my friends and I have a ticket left over, our buddy dropped out cuz he had to work...you pay a little over face? You know for the effort?" Dream land I know - so who is certifiable? The guy having three conversations with himself or me for dreaming this? I know what my wife will say...
GDTSTOO??
OK GDTS, I played the rolling ball game and lost. So you are my only hope. (I will not go to Chi-town without tickets, and I will not pay scalper pricing.) But if you do not have tickets for me, can you please return my money orders? Pretty please? Just a guess here, but I would think that there might be some "profit" being made from this situation, that can be used for the needed labor to finish off the mail order situation. And while I thought I had followed directions and added my email address to the 3x5, if for some reason I didn't, can you please let me (and others) know what is the next step? I sure hope that it is not that we just wait until sometime in June without further communication.
Thank you so much.
gdtstoo
Hate to throw them under the bus but they took on this task and showed real incompetence, in this day of almost instant messaging they couldn't do a better job of updates?, I guess they are done sending emails but who knows. I had hoped somehow they would remember us idiots who mail ordered ratdog tickets last summer only to have whole deal canceled, on the bus since 1970,62 year old head at least I got memories of some great 70's shows, hope its great but no chi town for me.
Major event in Music Business history
What has transpired in the last few days might be considered a major turning point in the history of music and concerts.
It really seems like major change needs to happen in terms of how tickets are sold to fans.
It is quite obvious that what transpired this weekend shows how there are many problems with the way things are done these days.
We create the world we live in, and we don't need to have our system be structured in a way where profit is everything, no matter what. We are a smarter, and more ethical and moral species than that.
It would be nice to see some positive change come from this experience.
Don't you let that deal go down, no, no
Don't think I can add anything in the way of suggestions on how this should have gone down. Many excellent ideas already in the comments.
I too had no success with Ticketmaster (as well as every Head I've heard from in the local community). A good friend of mine who has been doing mail order since the 80s got his pink slip. Thankfully, another old friend was successful with mail order and is going to get us tix for one night.
But even if I am one of the supremely lucky ones that does make it to even one show, I can't help but feel sadness at how this all went down. Things could have been done differently (what happened to good old Grateful Dead ingenuity?) Very sad to see the long, strange trip end this way, with so many vultures feasting on the corpse of the Grateful Dead.
I hope the band is able to rectify this situation in some way, but to see so many greedheads so cynically use this situation to their material advantage is sickening. We Deadheads have always been known for our sense of community and camaraderie, and to see the scene twisted and deranged in such a way is heartbreaking. Not the note they should have gone out on.
My sincere sympathy to all you Heads out there that won't be able to make the shows.
Feel like we need Hunter to chime in on this with a bit of wisdom.
So, HOW did this happen?
Okay, so most of here whiffed on the mail order, CID and the TIcketmaster fiasco of Saturday.
But how does it happen that all of the rest of the seats end up in the secondary market?
What do they do to get the seats rather than us who try to play by the only rules we have offered?
Naive question I guess but I'd love to know...thanks all.
Internet speed and Technical Tactics I think
The STUB HUBs and other scalping companies either have deals with the primary ticket dealer (Ticketmaster), and/or they have super sophisticated technology to beat the regular Joes to the punch.
So super high speed internet and high Tech equipment gets them past all the fans like us who are just regular people with regular computers and regular internet speed.
That is why I feel like what happened over the weekend might be a turning point in how things are done in the future. I hope at least.
Altamont in 69' is a considered a turning point in history.
This might be one too.
We will see.
fare thee well ( to your savings account) tour
Wow the Grateful Dead, a band who made its way singing about the wrongs of the world, greed, and out of control capitalism, is now allowing its own tickets to be controlled by supply and demand. See my fellow heads…capitalism isn’t a bad thing when you’re on the receiving end. The last time I saw the real Grateful dead, in the summer of ’95, or the last time I saw them when they were good, summer of ’89 I paid $28.00 - $ 32.00. Well worth it to see the greatest show on earth. Now, if I want to see my favorite band on their 50th year good bye tour, I will have to sell a kidney and sacrifice my kid’s college fund. Have to wonder how many true heads are going to be there, or if this thing is going to be like the super bowl. Where only celebrities and the wealthy are able to attend? Well at least you won’t have to worry about gate crashers.
Going to take Jerry’s advice on these one…and not lend my hand (or savings account)to this ship of fools.
Estimated Profit
Am I alone in feeling that the Dead should make a statement on the scalping? If they're not part of the problem, I'd hope they are incensed at being used in such a cynical way. Wasn't this supposed to be about the music, and honoring the tradition of Grateful Dead music? Have Deadheads succumbed to the multi-tier society?
It'd be interesting if some of our more academically-minded Heads did a study on how this is very much a microcosm of a societal trend. Some sort of Polanyi-ian study of capitalism's degradation of community and society.
Here's how it happened
Everybody's favorite band of merry Hippies, are actually greedy capitalist in disguise. Wake up and smell the patchouli. Look, I’m not sure how old you are, and I’m not trying to be sarcastic. But the true spirit of this band died 20 years ago. And ever since then the surviving members have been gallivanting around the country in one form or another, not for music, but for cash. This reunion tour is just another way for them to pull in their biggest haul yet. If they wanted to do this thing right and fair, they would have added more dates, or held it at the old Buckeye Lake or somewhere like that. It’s about money. Not peace, not love, not music…..Money.
re Grateful Swindle
to your point on Bears fans and club seats, I'm not sure it had anything to do with the promoter. I have 2 club seats with seat license fees to an NFL team, I got first crack at N Sync, Dave Matthews, Billy Joel/Elton John and the first outdoor NHL game, plus many more events....the only one I bought and used was the NHL game...The seat license agreement which ain't cheap gives me first choice to use or I guess scalp my seats before the public to any event at the complex cuz I guess I'm a shareholder so to speak, but thats at a $5000/year expense for 2 seats...I do agree with the rest of your post however. The system blows..it needs to be changed for the betterment of everyone.
Any orders filled or rejections after Saturday? Still no word
I am just trying to figure out where my money might be. I still have no pink slip and no email as of 12:43pm on 3/2. I was just wondering if anyone has received rejections or tickets lately?
Hey Jhawk...
I agree, the last great Dead show I saw was in 1990....but stayed on the bus till July 2014 in San Diego to see Bobby....some people tend to live in the past, god knows I do...its all about money now, whether it be Phish SCI DMB or the good ol Grateful Dead. I am not expecting a single cosmic moment in Chicago....but like any funeral or memorial service, I NEED closure. After the July run, I am done, no Phil, Further or Ratdog or any other fucking incarnation that they conceive for me....been on the bus too long to get off just yet, but MY final destination is Chicago.
R.I.P.
Road Trips
1973 - 2015 (at least for me)
and stillI'm sad....
Watching Furthur '13
I am watching Furthur at Red Rocks 09/21/13...first day of autumn...absolutely stunning. A shame that they have called it a night. Absolutely amazing show. I suspect that this is what they will sound like in July - as long as Trey doesn't sing!
Guess I will keep going to the various permutations of the band since this is the last time they are going to perform together - this means either killer guitars or magnificent space...not both together!
I hear you
rgergelis –
I hear what you’re saying. And I hope the old magic does make an appearance for you in Chicago…You never can tell. But how great this could have been, it they took up to High gate, or any other location where heads old and young, who wanted to see it could have. Have a good one.
James
1981 – 2004 (Best time I ever had)
If you say Phils music is all
If you say Phils music is all about the money you are way off base! He continues to play small venues with skilled musicians and puts out an extremely high end product that is true to spirit of the Grateful Dead.
Stop hating
Peace
@doulbleb
not singling out Phil, Bobby or the rest...face it, it ain't like it was, never will be...He is a great musician and fine human being, PhilRAD kicked ass, and he didn't have to do that run...met him in early 90's with the old liver on east coast spring runs when I was along for the ride...The music business has become, just that, a business....TXR is a business the Cap is a business...but I still love the music, in the end that's what matters most.
Nobody hating
Nobody hating - but this whole discussion wouldn’t be taking place if the Boys would have thought this thing through. They could have started in late June, done a small 3 city tour and ending the whole thing with 3 nights in Chicago. Anyone who wanted to see them would have had a better chance and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I would have like to have seen one of these shows but I’m not going to lose too much sleep over it. I just don’t see Trey stepping back into the shadow of this amps, adjusting the volume on this guitar, pushing his glasses up, and then lighting the place on fire….and that’s what the Grateful dead was all about. For all you real heads who got tickets, I wish you an epic show. As epic as 5/8/77. Let all the millionaires who are just there to see the freak show know what it’s all about.
Terrible
This whole ticket experience has been a fiasco. First they were "overwhelmed" with the requests for tickets, Really what did you think was going to happen?!? You do have like 2 million likes on Facebook! We all had 4 short days to get cash together, not something every fan has laying around. Can you imagine if they gave us a week or 10 days heads up on mail order. They would have needed their own freakin' zip code. Well like a lot of you we scraped up enough for 2 tickets for 2 nights and received the dreaded sorry in mid February. Then the bands pre-sale was scrapped. Then Bears season ticket holders got a pre-sale, you've got to be kidding , I'd venture to say 90% of those are going to be resold for top money on auction sights or other places. Then we get the news that no box office or outlet sales. Why? Because the people working those outlets didn't want to tell the first people in line that either tickets were sold out or all we have are single tickets behind the stage. It should of been the other way with no internet sales, (think that spinning thing would still be going on my computer if I didn't quit) you want tickets get to an outlet in person and buy them. That way Ticketmaster couldn't give the excuse that resellers were hacking their system for large quantities of tickets. To bad for the majority of us that either can't or won't pay maybe a hundred times what we paid years ago, so so sad :(
GDTSTOO
I appreciate that GDTSTOO was overwhelmed with the volume of mail they received for the 50th anniversary event. And I'm sure they work very hard. But the communication job they did was poor. And they didn't even have to do very much in that regard - just every so often post their rough estimate of where they were in the process. One or two sentences. If they were really and truly done sending out the congratulatory emails, they needed to say that and put out a statement to the effect of "Don't worry - if you haven't gotten your money orders back, we are not through processing all the envelopes. But we expect to finish by XXX date." Why is there still a message up there dated 2-23-15 as of 3-2-15 saying they are 75% finished processing orders? A lot of people are wondering where their money is or if there is still a sliver of hope. And they were really wondering what was going on at the time of the online sale when their hundreds of dollars of money orders weren't returned, with GDTSTOO glibly telling them if they haven't heard anything to buy tickets online just in case. How rich did they think people are? There was no way to gauge if you should even have hope at that point or not. A little bit of communication would have done a lot to prevent massive resentment, which is what I am hearing on my Facebook group that has a membership of thousands of Deadheads.
Biting my lip until now
Jhawk, you do sound bitter. So many sound like they are somehow entitled to be at these shows. Not so. This is a celebration, a party, put on your wig hat on your head baby. This will be fun, one way or another. The webcast will happen. Yeah, yeah, another money grab. Why is everyone so friggin feeling so entitled to everything? You think this is about cash? It's about the Grateful Dead, me, friends, us, the road, and the years of a wild ride we had with this band of pranksters from city to city. If these guys weren't seeking fame and fortune in their 20's, believe me, they aren't seeking it at 70 years old either. Where in the world do you "heads" come from? Good grief Charlie Brown. The Dr. is in "IN".
Limbo *%#@&
Re-cue Angry Hitler video, and add something about limbo and money orders
"Figure it out as you go along" kindof blew up in the face
So I get it that the Dead have been all about the "Figure it out as you go along" attitude in management for years.
But this day in age, and with the huge demand and corporate structures so embedded in society these days, it really doesn't work anymore. And this whole ticket fiasco kindof showed that in a sad way.
I must say it is really sad to see so many sad fans out there. The Deadhead community is most the time such a happy, care-free place. I hate seeing so many people so disappointed by all this. But people have the right to be upset.
Hey Graceful...
That Hitler video was like fucking Armegeddon... Funny in January, released during the MO frenzy, now like PTSD even for those of us that scored MO....somebody knew something way back when....
It's ok, At least Donna isn't supposed to be there.
Not entitled, just expected better.
I have never felt entitled to get into any of the shows I attended and I didn't feel entitled to this one. My experience with mail order and getting tickets was always a good one and whether it was mail order Ticketmaster or a miracle, I always felt lucky to be there. That being said, the folks that put this together should have recognized the enormity of it and taken steps to avoid the scalping and lack of communication. Folks should have gotten word of whether their mail order came through before Ticketmaster sale day, not because of entitlement, but the expectation that this all would have been handled better.
Thank you GDTSTOO!!!
I have no idea if the rumors that GDTSTOO handled the bulk of the "good" seats is true or not but whatever the case there were never going to be enough tickets for everyone who wanted to go - it's a physical reality. Yes, I got lucky and scored some mail order tickets - not sure where but we are happy wherever they turn out to be.
I think the folks at GDTSTOO and the entire organization should be commended for being willing to change the seating arrangement to allow them to fill as many orders as possible. Remember that half a million tickets were request4ed through mail order so there were never going to be enough tickets no matter how it was handled.
The huge effort put forth to notify as many people as possible by either returning their money orders or by notifying via email is way beyond the amount of money they will make on these tickets (that's GDTSTOO, not the band, GDTSTOO gets a small amount of money for each ticket they distribute - they get zero on the unfilled orders). Basically these people worked for sub-minimum pay to deal with the flood of ticket requests.
I thank them for their efforts. Yes, I'm sad that so many of my friends will not be able to join us in Chicago and I am unbelievably grateful that I will be able to attend.
Basically I think we should be thanking the folks at GDTSTOO for doing this last service for us - if all the tickets had gone through TM many more of us would have come up empty.
Please get a little perspective. No matter how tickets were handled most people would not have gotten any and I believe even more tickets would have ended up on the secondary market. I believe that all of the tickets distributed by GDTSTOO will be used by the deadheads who bought them so there's a small victory there. Nothing is ever perfect but I, for one, think care was taken to try to get as many tickets to real deadheads as possible.
Now go listen to a great Uncle John's and try to get the spirit back even if you didn't manage to get tickets to this one.
Update would be great...
Amen Totem...
I read that about 100,000 tickets were sold on Ticketbastard and about 200,000 total...
I assume mail order is not over...did they get all the emails out?
How many of the mail orders filled had a successful email sent?
Am I getting nothing or am I getting 12 tickets worth more than my home?
Another thought...Who the hell is going to pay even close to the outrageous current resale prices...I know some wealthy heads myself and none of them will pay even close to the current prices.
You are right. I’m not entitled
Totem –
You are right. I’m not entitled. Thats why I cannot pay $1000.00 plus dollars to see a show and if it’s about “the Grateful Dead, me, friends, us, the road, and the years of a wild ride” how do you fit all that into 3 nights? It could have been handled better. And I’m afraid you’re mistaken my friend. This is a mad dash for cash.
Just remember, it may say Grateful Dead on the marque. But He’s Gone!!!!!!!!!!
660 or 6,600?
Are they sending emails in batches of 100? 10% of 66,000 would be 6,600 orders filled?
@truckineric
I've seen lots of complaints from people with tickets & quite a few like me who still don't know period.
gdtstoo
If they had not filled multiple day orders there would have been a lot less anger, just stupid should have said 1 show to order NO ONE should have got multiple days, soon as they saw the amt of requests they should have filled as many as possible without multiples, many more would be going. They took this job on, would it have been a bitch you bet, but as said many times it takes almost no time at all to post an update. I to want my fucking money back.
Mail Order
it was a joke and i saw this coming i cant believe we are still dealing with lags due to people trying to buy tix at this point..its 2015 there is no excuse....people are making mad $$$$$ buy that extra server already...my window was open said 3mins left (dont refresh or youll lose your spot in line) so didnt and 3 hours later still 3mins left....people have a right to be pissed..."you wouldnt be mad if you got tickets" well no shit McFly thats not the point the system is a joke no matter what hot ticket you are trying to buy...id rather sit outside of a box office all night then try to buy tickets online again..but it will happen again...now i paid $6 to the post office to track my MO they were quick to take our money but not a clue where it is no wonder the post office is going under WOW
Golden Tickets Still Coming?
I was listening to Tales from the Golden Road yesterday and they said a lot of golden e-mails should be going out soon. If you did not get a rejection letter that chances are better than not!
I sure hope so. No pinky, no
I sure hope so. No pinky, no e-mail, and Western Union MO's still not cashed. If your MO has been cashed I think your golden!
gloden tickets new emails
please keep us posted if new emails come in please!!! no pinky, no email, no clue
truckineric
The process can be legitimately criticized whether one has tickets or not, and many people with tickets or with the ability to get tickets through less-than-savory means have identified the shortcomings of the process. I think your premise is wrong and you aren't understanding many of the complaints. My experience with fellow Heads is that they are far too sophisticated to just be mollified when they are fortunate enough to get a ticket. Most people are also interested in doing the right thing.
I am hoping the pizza guy
I am hoping the pizza guy still hasn't cashed mine. LOL
Feeling Bad
Been a lot great ideas how all this could of been done a lot better. Ticketmaster "says" 200,000 were sold however how many actually got into hands of the fans? With so many resellers/scalpers advertising tickets it would be impossible to tell. Yes should of been a 2 ticket per night limit per person, nobody needs more than that. Recent post says these people handling the mail are getting less than minimum wage. Nobody working for this is getting underpaid.
Scalper seat shakedown
If you look at Stubhub and Vivid seats...almost all of the sections for sale match. We know all of the GApit are mail order. From the stadium maps on the 2 sites, looks like there are many other sections with no tickets for sale, they must be mostly mail order.
Maybe....just maybe...the plan was, hold out on too many emails, get as many heads to compete on TM with scalpers as possible, then start releasing emails after the public sale...genius!
They could not come out and say this, but with all the corporate contracts, I am sure they could not nix TM all together. Also note a huge chunk of the TM sales are the obstructed view seats...
What do you think???
it’s not about who got tickets
Okay look dipshit, it’s not about who got tickets and who didn’t. It’s about the process use to distribute the tickets. A lot of mail orders were not fulfilled, but there’s ticket available. Unfortunately they are online for astronomical prices. To be honest with you, I didn’t even try to get tickets because I knew what a fiasco it was going to be when they only announced 3 dates. So sit there and tell me that the Band didn’t thing something like this would happen…come on!!!And as for this being a celebrations of the last time they played with Jerry, anyone who remembers that last tour in ’95, knows that that was nothing to celebrate. So why have it in Chicago in the first place? I can think of a million other places that would have been better and a lot more folks would have had a chance.
But instead we are expected to shell out thousands of dollars for a maybe 3 hour cookie cutter show with Trey (whatever his name is) trying to fill the big man’s shoes,, listen to Phil bring everyone down when he starts begging for your organs, and have to deal with all the Phish Kids that will be there strung-out on heroin…no I’ll save the money and find a reasonably price bluegrass festival that weekend.
Of all the great things this band has done through the years, this is sad black mark. Guess they need the money for retirement.
A shameful money-grubbing fiasco.
What band member thought that this WOULDN'T happen when they decided to exit with a whimper in the form of 3 scant shows in that psychedelic music mecca, Chicago(?). I find it hard to fathom why Phil Lesh, who has likely toured more than any of the other members, (or any band member for that matter) would nix the idea of doing, a couple of shows in NYC, Chicago, Red Rocks and SF? Instead we get this truncated, half-hearted "event" that is now stained by the utterly ludicrous price war that ticket demand has created. This is hardly the legacy Mr Garcia would have envisioned and I am almost glad he isn't around to watch this ugly, mutated money-grubbing fiasco passing as a farewell.
cue Hitler
cue the Hitler finds out that there are only 3 shows and no tour video...:) I mean we have seen Warren Haynes a million times, but Trey?!?!
Chicago ticket mess
So sad about being shut out of tickets both MO and TM. Really hard not to be totally negative.I can't even listen to the music without being overcome with sadness. But I do know no true dead Head will buy a ticket from scalper scum.so other than a lucky few the band will be saying Fare The Well to mostly a bunch of strangers they never met before.I plan to get together with real friends that truely love the music and celebrate 50 that way