Grateful Dead

I wonder if the idea of broadcasting the shows to a pay per view audience is being considered and shot down because of the DVR factor. I know they never minded us taping live at the shows but I get a funny feeling they are worried in the long run of making all these shows into a video package someday. Hence , we using DVR wouldn't but the videos further down the road.

I was very lucky to get 4 great seats to Sunday's Santa Clara show (Sec 101, Row 18, $199.50/ea)but would very much prefer to go to any Chicago show. I'm not looking to sell tix. If I can't find trade, I will be going to SC show. Trade doesn't have to be exactly equal but Chicago seats have to be decent.e-mail anpmull@verizon.net

The simulcast in theaters idea is a very bad one. I hope there are some logistical issues with this decision. Perhaps limited bandwidth would make it difficult to seamlessly stream the shows into hundreds of thousands of households at the same time. Just tossing it out there, I have no idea-- but 5 hours in a theater isn't going to cut it for most. Everyone has a right to their opinions, but the severe negativity is difficult to take. What would the opinions of our naysayers be if they had gotten tickets? Still calling the shows a "cash-grab, no potential fun scene that will feature poorly played music by aging hippies." (paraphrasing from many here) Were Bill, Mickey, Bob and Phil supposed to hand select those who would receive tickets and somehow magically limit demand to the available number of tickets? Of course scalpers were going to get some tickets-- always have for any and every show and game in the country. The original Chicago mail-order was an ill-conceived idea in this era of information. But the rest of the decisions-- don't know what else they could have done. To play in any venue, they were going to have to work with Ticketmaster and the venue's ticket policies. Is it great that scalpers have tickets and non-DeadHead Bears and 49ers fans have tickets they are selling? Nope, but last I checked we were not in Utopia. Re: the music, if you have been paying attention for the last 20 years, the boys have all put together decent bands over the years and found the old magic at times. The first Furthur show I saw at the Chicago Auditorium Theater in 2010 and the Ratdog show at the Chicago Theater in 2014 were better than the Grateful Dead I saw 1994 and 1995-- by a bunch. The boys still bring it with their bands and I expect them to find the groove when they get together in SC and Chicago. I had my doubts about Trey, but it sounds like he is taking these shows very seriously. Should be a fun time. Not getting into the debate about Chicago vs. Santa Clara scenes. Needless to say, there will be lots of Deadheads in both places. I am curious about how the scene will be-- the world has changed so much since the last time these guys played in stadiums. In this context, I mean security, technology, and society. Should be interesting. Small Shakedown Streets have been at all Dead-related shows I have attended since 1995, but this will be on a different scale. This Deadhead is looking forward to 3 super-fun nights in Chicago! One last time to get the big tribe together and salute our favorite band.