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.
Display on homepage featured list
Off
Feature type
dead comment
Can you tell me where you
Can you tell me where you even see from axs that they are doing a presale. I registered for axs but don't see that anywhere on their website
DEAD50.net reports mail order is over
Did I put a stamp on my 10 SASE ?
Dong worry. I put an extra
Dong worry. I put an extra book of stamps in my order, and wrote on the back, "for any heads that forgot stamps". Hopefully they don't disqualify mine for extra stuff/not following the rules
Did I put a stamp on my SASE?
Heck I put three stamps on my SASE and paid the extra for USPS priority return just to cover my rear. Sometimes it pays to be paranoid. ;)
Special guests for Chicago, please.
While it would be cool for Donna Jean and TC to appear, how about a three day blow out ala The Last Waltz. High on my wish list of special guests would be Carlos Santana, Buddy Guy (only a short cab ride from his club) or Joan Osborne. How about Bob Dylan. Could there be anything cooler Bobby D. joining in on Masterpiece or Desolation Row. How about Robert Hunter, he is every bit a member of the band as everyone else. He deserves a day in the sun/gesture of gratitude as much as everyone else. The run would not be complete without some word jazz from Ken Nordine. Anyone else you can think of or I have left out.
Where to Stay!!
At least for now forget about camping in the lot. The Chicago park district is going for three days of parking revenue. Yes the traffic will be hellish but at least I will be able to sleep in my own bed.
AXS jacked up web site
That site is all jacked up, I just hope I get my mail order. AXS said they aren't handling presale in response a e mail i i sent them
ASCII fail
...... .,;;##########::,.
.;##'' ,/| ``##;.
.;#' ,/##|__ `#;.
.;#' /######/' `#;.
;#' ,/##/__ `#;
;#' ,/######/' `#;
;#' /######/' `#;
;#' ,/##/___ `#;
;# ,/#######/' #;
;# /#######/' #;
;# ,/##/__ #;
`#; ,/######/' ;#'
`#;. /######/' ,;#'
`#;. ,/##/__ ,;#'
`#;. /######/' ,;#'
##;_ |##/' _;##
:#`-;#;...|/' ...;#;-'#:
:`__ `-#### __ __ ####-' __':
: ``------.. `' ..------'' :
`.. `--------`..'--------' ..'
: :
`:.. /: :\ ..:'
`. :: :: .'
#. .#
`'##;##;##;##;##`'
`' `' `' `' `'
Tickets to the July reunion shows
My wife and I saw many shows back in the 80's, I spent 10 years singing and playing in a Dead cover band after Jerry died. We are kinda torn up about seeing a reunion, Giddy and afraid at the same time, we want to bring our son who was born in 94 (and who we wanted to bring with us to see the band last century...but...), the problem is we are not as young as we once were and general admission is out of the question (a couple of health issues, nothing too serious). We missed the mail out (which was how all our tickets were purchased back in the day). How do we get good tickets without the disappointment of being shut out by scalpers or more talented/experienced online ticket purchasers?Help!
My wife is emotionally conflicted by the whole effort, just getting her to agree to try and go has been a major ordeal, she tied so much of her youth to the Dead, she often starts crying when she hears me listening to the music. If anyone can help us to get good seats to the Saturday (and possibly Sunday if I can talk her into it) shows, I would greatly appreciate it, we don't need charity, just some good advice.
Hope to see you all there!
After 42 years of following the band I'm hoping to get to Chicago. Living in the US Virgin Islands, I am a bit out of the loop and missed mail order. Will try my best to get tix in Feb, but if I don't make it, Enjoy the show!!
One Last Time
First off, don't think I'll be going,as much as the boys were a huge part of my life(touring from 81- till They ran Jerry into the ground) The multi-million $ machine had to keep rollin'- the man needed a rest!!! Now they want to play Chicago cause it was the last place he played( no diss to Chicago cause it is truly one of the greatest cities in this country), but I was thinking why not Colorado, I mean with their new law,seems like a perfect match, hasn't anyone else considered this???? Why not Mile High Stadium or Red Rocks @ $500 a pop,just a thought. Not to mention them dissing The Bay Area,as well as NYC.How bout a free show in Golden Gate Park? Myself, I saw many a monumental show(within my years-would trade them all for the chance to see Pigpen era),84 & 85 Greeks, Mt.aire w/ Santana, Nassau Col w/ Brandford, Love & Laughter( Uncle Bobo tribute), 90 Euro tour, The Walocks(Hampton) Jerry solo(Passiac) Lunt Fontaine (5 inc. Halloween), but only saw 5 post Jerry shows, just wasn't the same(OBVIOUSLY ), not to say I wouldn't love to take that ride one more time! Just don't feel the huge stadium,the cost,the heat of Summer would be ideal.
Still love the music!!! always will. Would be good to see old friends, & I have no problem with the line-up, although special guests(Dylan,Santana,Jorma,Neil& others who been part of their scene over the years) ala Dylan's 30th Ann. @ MSG But then again ,that's the Band choice & who knows how's it going to play out?
I wish all you well & hope everyone has a blast & it's hoping it's going to be one helluv a show to go out on!!! Just wish $ flowed like rain, & I would or could be there one last time. Fare Thee Well !!!!
Some advice
I would not be too concerned about missing the mail order. During the hour I spent in the post office next to Grand Central Station while filling in money orders, there were a ton of people doing exactly the same thing. I would be surprised if the chances of getting mail order tickets were better than 1 in 10. That said, your best best for getting tickets is just to be at your computer for each of the online sales (dead.net 2/12 and ticketmaster 2/14) right when the tickets drop (10am central time). The demand for these tickets is huge, and I think there is a good chance that demand crashes dead.net on 2/12, so keep trying if you get error messages. If travel packages or VIP packages are in your budget, definitely try for those. Assuming you get shut out of online tickets (as most people will be), go ahead and sign yourself up for a free account at cashortrade.org, which is an online ticket trading website where fans buy, sell, and trade tickets for face value. There is no guarantee that you will get tickets through cashortrade, but I refuse to pay (or sell) over face, and I get great seats to almost every show I want on cashortrade. Good luck!
Don't be old and in the way
I got on the bus in 1973. In the past few years I have scratched the itch for a show by seeing Furthur and Phish. Of course it's not the same with Jerry gone - but Trey clearly plays to the same muse as Jerry - and Phish puts out an eerily similar sound (it's actually incredible the music they pump out with just 4 men). Reading so many negative comments about Trey/Phish made me feel like so many of my fellow heads had maybe gotten old and set in their ways. Nothing is as good as when I was young - right? Kinda like my Dad once telling me that rock sucks compared to big band swing! Snap out of it friends! Channel your inner Peter Pan and listen and dance with gratefulness. Phil and Trey and the rest of the boys will take you where you want to go, if you let them. Sure we all will miss Jerry's soulfulness. But he above all would want us to let the music take us out there, if but for a few hours! And for goodness sakes - when this 50th tour is over and now that Furthur is done - do yourselves a favor: check out a Phish show and listen for the similarities (there are many) rather than what's missing! You might be pleasantly surprised.
i remember
2009 Dead in Chicago. Manager of hotel allowed k9 cops&dogs thru hallway during show. Manager told us it was common there. Just passing this on. My friend and I were quite surprised. Ended up with a ticket which we paid on the way out of town. Imagine our surprise when cops knocked on our hotel door! Dogs smelled us :) now I cannot remember which hotel, but as I said the mgr said many do this.
50 shows
Seems to be some hate out there for the 5-0 shows. I wanted to weigh in and say I think it's great .... Regardless of who is playing with the boys. I won't be going but encourage all others to go. I bet it will be a blast!
I think it would be cool if band had shows be free or minimal charge to be donated to charity as a way of giving back to possibly the most devoted fans ever. But this is not the case. I will say the dead have always been good to their fans so no hard feelings on this.
I would also liked to have seen more shows on the coasts. I'm in Boston and could probably swing going to Chicago financially but have wife and little kids and it's too tough to break away. However shooting down to NYC would have been doable. So, if the powers that be want to add some shows ... I know there would be interest.
Anyways all who decide to go .... enjoy!
re "I remember"....
Quoted from a post by Sisterearth:"i remember
2009 Dead in Chicago. Manager of hotel allowed k9 cops&dogs thru hallway during show. Manager told us it was common there. Just passing this on. My friend and I were quite surprised. Ended up with a ticket which we paid on the way out of town. Imagine our surprise when cops knocked on our hotel door! Dogs smelled us :) now I cannot remember which hotel, but as I said the mgr said many do this."
What was the name of this hotel if you recall?
I want to know how.....
...... these people can already have tickets to sell for megabucks. I think Jerry would roll over in his grave if he had one at the thought of this.
https://seatgeek.com/phil-lesh-with-trey-anastasio-and-bob-weir-and-bru…
I want to know how.....
if anyone knows the answer to this please send me an email at misujry@yahoo.com
i cant remember
but the manager said it was common practice in hotels there
SeatGeek Tickets
All beware of SeatGeek Tickets. Appears that there has been issues in the past. See the link below for reviews!
http://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.seatgeek.com
well . . .
. . . if I had an old judgmental dude bemoaning Trey all night, I'd complain too
Gonna call BS but no offense to you......
I think you may have heard some BS regarding K9 units going through hotel halls in Chicago. Think of this for a minute and ask yourself how many hotels near Soldier Field are there vs how many K9 teams there are on CPD. Lets now take into consideration this is summer in Chicago and how much REAL crime (murders/shootings) take place on a weekend. Basically I'm saying they have more pressing issues than a bunch of folks relaxing before or after a concert in their rooms. Common sense goes a long way like burning incense or placing towels as door runners and opening windows.
Well this just happened...
Looks like us deadheads beat the internet :)
Via FB...Grateful Dead Reunion 2015
Wow! We’re excited (and humbled) to discover that your excitement for Fare Thee Well matches our own! We received an overwhelming number of mail order ticket requests. In an effort to honor the history and spirit of the Grateful Dead, we are going to try to fill as many of these orders as possible. This means there will be no other pre sales. In order to give the good folks at GDTS TOO time to sort through the large pile of envelopes they have received, the new public on sale is Feb 28th @ 10 a.m. CST via Ticketmaster.
Public on sale is Feb 28th @ 10 a.m. CST via Ticketmaster.
AWESOME!!! Good for them and
AWESOME!!! Good for them and may the music prevail!!!!
Announcement
They've now updated the info here on Dead.net with the same announcement. It's legit.
me
All I know is two cops and two dogs knocked on our door and another's and I left chicago with a ticket and that is what the manager told me. I have no reason to lie nor do I know anything but my own experience. Peace o and windows didn't open incense was burned this was what was waiting for us after the show we were not burning at the time they hit on our room while we were at the show then came back. My thoughts exactly they should have has better things to do. O well just a ticket Michigan would be jail. And I was very surprised as I have seen a lot of shows in Chicago. First time that happened. Was just passing along dont need to call me a b.s.'r. Was looking out for folks sharing my experience in 09
Where is this posted? - Answer
http://www.dead.net/features/bill-kreutzmann/grateful-dead-original-mem…
(you get to that page from the main dead.net page)
Then when you click on All Additional Ticketing Information .... which you will see in the middle of that page it takes you to the official Dead50.net page:
http://www.dead50.net/
which is where you will see the announcement.
doin' the math
the dead50 site says they have thus far, received 60,000 plus envelopes for mail-order, and because of this overwhelming amount of orders, they have decided to cancel all other pre-sale, move the public release to the 28th of february, in order to fulfill as many of the mail-order requests as possible....hmmm...60,000+ envelopes. how many seats at soldier field...61,500, people on the field, what 5-10,000 and i think thats stretching it pretty far....the tickets to this weekend, may already be spoken for. this is crazy!!! i really hope that there is a large number of tickets already reserved for public sale, but now thats all thats left, and from ticketmaster??? you know thats going to be all bought up, by those with their hooks in that whole game. if you didnt do an envelope, it may very well be a reality, that getting your hands on a ticket, will only be through a second hand source, at whatever price they want!!!! not fair!!! i say, three nights at shoreline, i shout, three nights at shoreline, a couple weekends after chicago!!!!!
Re: doin' the math
The Relix website says there were 350K tickets requested in the 60K envelopes that were received. I'm hoping that there were a certain number of tickets reserved for mail-order and a certain number reserved for Ticketron and other outlets. Also, sad to see they are ditching the online pre-sale that would have, in theory, given the loyal heads a leg-up on the masses. Perhaps there will still be some inside opportunity for registered users of dead.net or something. I know, all this is wishful thinking, but just praying I still get a chance to snag some tickets when the next window opens. Until then, I wish best of luck to everyone that sent in to the mail order. Here's hoping that your order gets filled!
Amen buddy, I hope so too. My
Amen buddy, I hope so too. My dad, the jewel and rock of my life lost his beloved brother a couple years ago. Both deadhead who spread the beautiful music and peaceful vibe to me. I hope I can take him this one last time and bring him back to those happier days and bring him. Positive vibes to all of you.
Your no BS'er Sisterearth........
No offense was intended. I just know how incidents are embellished buy the story tellers. Not meaning you but perhaps the source of the info.
Fate is set
Wow is right!!
So it's been told they have received over 60,000 envelopes!!
So for 61,500 seating obviously a bunch of folks will not be getting tickets from all available options!! If that's the case why bogart the online pre-sale tickets that you stated would be done?! I didn't see any stipulation you would cancel this part from overwhelming demand and since you're obligated to still do Ticketdisaster I'm really not happy you decided to cut out loyal fans from the online pre-sale process?! Why not still keep it as planned for us who couldn't do mail order yet you offered to still offer us a window which you now have abruptly closed! Folks now have no choice but to deal with Ticketmaster and scalpers, both bad choices!!
So my fate, along with a bunch of other loyal heads, are now sealed and I'm really not happy about it! Sadly, it looks like I will not be going! But I'm grateful for all the real good years that taught me many a life lesson!
DoDa Man
no worries
Yea the more I think about the lie of the presale for those who didn't have all that cash so quickly the more turned off I am by the whole deal. Word is word and it has been broken. O well.
DEAD streaming
It would be great if they would offer live streaming of these shows.....for a "reasonable" fee, of course.
Madness & Mayhem
I knew when the announcement was made that there was going to be an influx for mail order, presale, etc.... Looks like A LOT of true heads are going to miss out. Even all the mail order cant possibly be filled with those numbers. The anticipation and excitement has turned into worry and dread. Hope this 3-day weekend doesn't turn into a repeat of summer tour 95'. good luck to all those trying to go and godspeed to those who do!
Respect GDTS
Respect to GDTS...
Some quick numbers,
They said 60k+ envelopes arrived so lets round to 65k.
Jan 20th - Feb 28th processing time = 29 business days to process requests.
An average of 2241 envelopes are processed each day
Considering most mail orders didn't arrive until the 22nd or so and their goal is to notify folks before online ticket sales, subtract 5 days business days.
To process 65k requests in a little over 3 weeks, they would have to average 2708 envelopes PER DAY! No wonder they wanted a self addressed envelopes.
Not sure of the size of their staff but a wild guess... 20 folks??
If 20 folks are working 8 hour shifts, they would have to average 17 envelopes per hour or 135 per day.
Now if they're taking a 30 minute lunch break and two 15min smoke breaks, they would have to process 19 env/hr.
That breaks down to one envelope PER 30 seconds.
Of course, if they have a staff of 100, please disregard this post :)
Y'all are doing great
Hey all,
I see a lot of vitriol on the internet as people realize they likely won't get tickets. We did the mail order, so I figure maybe we are 50/50 chances of getting tickets.
Just wanted to say you guys are doing great. People are mad that the show basically sold out in two days... and they want to blame it on you, which is silly.
As for you heads out there, I am seriously confident that about a third of those requests are scalpers. The market will be flooded, and they will be below face value by June. That is my educated guess.
My first two Dead shows were 4th of july shows (including the show that was released as 'truckin up to Buffalo'
See y'all in Chicago.
* it is a bit ironic that we have to do the capcha thing to post out comments. That is what ticketbastard uses, and the scalpers and bots found ways around it years ago. England has totally given up on the technology
tickets
I have usually not liked to complain, except for the shows or runs or tours that I was stupid and missed on, about anything the band has given us. I am hoping and praying for some sort of miracle as mail order happened just a few days before I had any money. Though I doubt they still exist maybe I should've "knocked over my local savings and loan" for tix money. I dread not getting into these shows. I don't make the plans but boy do I wish there was something resembling a tour. Maybe just a handful of stops but with atleast 3 shows per stop maybe 5,6,7,9....whatever to cut back on the wear and tear and none of these one nighters that Phil has retired from. God knows I hope everyone is healthy. I am happy for the interest but even if each person only saw 1 show apiece that is only 180k folks to witness these last shows. Do what I can through that ticket company,not like I haven't gone through before, I do feel a double sting 1st from just missing mail order then from cancelled pre-order. But with untold hordes of heads, faithful fans, newer fans, "the I don't care much for the music but I want to party then pee on your feet"people, and the slimy scalpers....I will always regret missing these if we can not get tix. These last 20 years both seem to have gone by in a flash and also make me think "mama mama many worlds I've come since I first left home". I think that's right but Hunter's book isn't handy. I'll sweep the floors or guinea pig myself if there are any tickets available. I don't need to be upfront anymore, just hear and feel the music one last time by the musicians who fostered the scene and tunes that saved me from the dark road I was stumbling on. Thanks guys and gals too.
Wish everyone a smoooooooth trip for the shows...
Have a scheduling conflict that weekend. Otherwise, would like to attend at least one the shows, but not the last. The last one should be very emotional...
Innoportune and too far
Though it's their choice, I too feel home shows make more sense...where it started, full circle, not where it came to a screeching halt. Having to care for an elderly parent makes it virtually impossible for me. With shows at Shoreline, say...there would at least be a glimmer of hope and considering the fact that the eastern part of the country has been inundated show wise for several years, west coast shows seem more than fair...