Grateful Dead reuniting for 3 shows in Chicago in July

[troutman]

John K is the DSO guy, right? I saw him with Phil last summer (first Phil show in years for me). He did a great job.

 

I saw that Hitler vid a few weeks ago. Funny stuff.

 

Gotta admit that I've been getting a kick out of reading the Rush and GD ticket failure woes. Not that people are missing out, but just how similar the sentiments are. So many people taking ticket prices, etc. personally and seemingly willing to toss out 20, 30, 40+ years of history with either band over this.

 

While on the topic of GD and Rush, i can't help but think back to Spring 1992. I was following the GD up the east coast...and so was Rush! Every venue the Dead played, Rush followed them within days. In retrospect, I should have tried to catch one of the Rush shows on an off day, but I was too wound up in the travelling circus at that time and had already caught that tour. Ahhhh...good times.

 

Haha...I saw Rush in Dayton, OH on 6/23/92 and the Grateful Dead at Buckeye Lake eight days later. But that was the last Dead show for about five months, as Jerry was...ummm..."exhausted". ;)

 

Yep...i was at that Buckeye Lake show. Spent a couple days in jail after the first of 2 Deer Creek shows just before that, which is a whole other story, but got out that morning and beelined right for good ol Hebron Ohio.

 

I was at the comeback shows in Denver later that year too....and those were right after doing about a week and a half with Phish on the east coast.

 

Those were the days!! :codger: Wish I could still do stuff like that today!!

 

What were you in jail for? :D

 

 

Being young and naive...associating with the wrong people...

 

Yeah,

 

Never been in jail but I was lucky and smart enough to stop hanging with people like that.

[Justin Case]

Ever check out Jazzfest in NOLA?

 

I haven't. I had plans to go to Jazzfest three different times in that same time frame, mid to late '90s, and they always just blew up in my face. Something always seemed to come up that prevented me from going.

 

 

I've been several times. Not for the faint of heart, that's fer sure!! So much music going on it's insane. It's pretty easy to go 72-96 hours with very, very little sleep. Matter of fact, it's one of the few things for me where sleeping actually gets in the way!!

[Justin Case]

Grateful Dead Members, More Booked for Jerry Garcia Tribute Show

Eric Church, Bruce Hornsby, Widespread Panic among guests slated for "Dear Jerry" gig at Merriweather Post Pavilion

Before the Grateful Dead reunite for their three-night farewell stand in Chicago this July, its four surviving members — Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh — and a number of special guests will pay tribute to Jerry Garcia at a special gig at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland on May 14th.

Dubbed "Dear Jerry: Celebrating The Music of Jerry Garcia," the show will feature performances from Lesh's outfit Communion, Kreutzmann's Billy and the Kids, Bruce Hornsby, Eric Church, Buddy Miller, David Grisman, Greensky Bluegrass, Moe., Los Lobos, O.A.R., Railroad Earth, Widespread Panic, the Disco Biscuits, Yonder Mountain String Band, Trampled By Turtles, Jimmy Cliff, Jorma Kaukonen, Stu Allen, Grahame Lesh, Ross James, Alex Koford and Jason Crosby. Additional performers will be announced in the coming weeks.

Famed musician Don Was will serve as the show's music director and lead the official backing band. The "Dear Jerry" concert will also be filmed, with plans to release a movie digitally and through traditional outlets in the future.

"Jerry gave his heart, soul, and music to his band mates, fellow musicians, and to millions of fans around the world," Keith Wortman, the show's creator and executive producer, said in a statement. "Whether playing in the Grateful Dead, his acoustic and bluegrass bands or his beloved Jerry Garcia Band, his songs made us happy just to be alive."

Tickets go on sale Monday, March 9th at 10 a.m. ET via Ticketfly. Tickets can also be purchased in person at the Merriweather Post Pavilion box office or at the 9:30 Club box office in Washington D.C.

A few months after "Dear Jerry," the Dead will celebrate their 50th anniversary by playing their final three shows together at Chicago's Soldier Field from July 3rd to 5th. For these "Fare Thee Well" shows, Lesh, Weir, Kreutzmann and Hart will be joined by Hornsby on piano, Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti.

 

http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/2015/media/188032/_original/1425566783/1035x1035-dear_jerry_tile_500x500.jpg

Edited March 5, 2015 by Justin Case

[apetersvt]

Thanks for the heads-up on the Jerry show.

[coventry]

Hmm. AS a former Columbia, MD, resident, I lived within walking distance of MPP. But that's the same date as the Rush show here in St. Louis.

 

As if I have to think about it....

[Blue J]

Ever check out Jazzfest in NOLA?

 

I haven't. I had plans to go to Jazzfest three different times in that same time frame, mid to late '90s, and they always just blew up in my face. Something always seemed to come up that prevented me from going.

 

 

I've been several times. Not for the faint of heart, that's fer sure!! So much music going on it's insane. It's pretty easy to go 72-96 hours with very, very little sleep. Matter of fact, it's one of the few things for me where sleeping actually gets in the way!!

 

You have no idea how many times other people have told me exactly the same thing about New Orleans!

 

Seriously, did you and I know each other about 18-20 years ago?

 

:P

[Blue J]

Hmm. AS a former Columbia, MD, resident, I lived within walking distance of MPP. But that's the same date as the Rush show here in St. Louis.

 

As if I have to think about it....

 

Ahhh, Merriweather Post- the site of several excellent and memorable Grateful Dead shows in the '80s...the festival of lightning and thunder on 6/20/83, in the middle of a great second set...and the monster version of Shakedown Street, kicking off another fantastic set II, 6/30/85...great stuff.

[Justin Case]

Really moving interview with Robert Hunter.

 

 

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/grateful-deads-robert-hunter-on-jerrys-final-days-we-were-brothers-20150311

[Mr. JD]

Good for the band and good for the fans. Personally, The GD is not the GD without Jerry. I saw them after Jerry died when they did the "Futher Festival" tour. Just wasn't the same

[apetersvt]

Happy birthday to Phil Lesh. 75 today. Still touring and doing 3 hour shows. Wow.

[Justin Case]

Been reading what seems to be a pretty strong rumor of a few Cali shows about a week before Chicago. No idea if it's true, but it would make sense.

[apetersvt]

Been reading what seems to be a pretty strong rumor of a few Cali shows about a week before Chicago. No idea if it's true, but it would make sense.

 

I'll be seeing Rush in Newark a week before Chicago. They have said many times that Chicago would be the only three shows. But, I think they clearly underestimated the demand. It would certainly be the right thing to do to add shows for the hundreds of thousands shut out by mail order/ticketbastard. I just hope to be at the last show(s) and prefer any added shows be before Chicago and not after.

[Justin Case]

Late June are the dates I've heard. Around the 28th.

[Justin Case]

And...now it's official...

 

http://www.dead50.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/GratefulDead-SantaClara-ADMAT-v2-480.jpg

 

Dear Heads,

 

Although none of us knew it when we walked off the stage at Soldier Field on July 9, 1995, the Grateful Dead's long strange trip ended in Chicago that night. As you are aware, twenty years later, we’re returning to Chicago to properly say Fare Thee Well.

 

But every good ending must start with a beginning. For us, it all began fifty years ago when we grabbed a bunch of instruments off the walls of a music store in Palo Alto California and began banging away on them in the back room, at night after the store had closed for the day.

 

Since we made the decision to go back to Chicago to say our final goodbye, it has become clear to us that we first need to return to our beginnings, where we first said hello — to each other and to all of you.

 

And so it is that we have decided to plug in for two additional shows on June 27 and 28 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California — just a dozen miles south of where Dana Morgan’s Music Store once stood. At Levi’s — as at Soldier Field — we will have the pleasure of being joined by Trey Anastasio, Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti.

 

Ours wasn’t just a long, strange trip — it was a VERY long, VERY strange trip. We weren’t sure what it was going to be like to put a punctuation mark on the end of it. None of us anticipated the overwhelming outpouring of love and interest following our initial announcement of the shows at Soldier Field, and we were blown away by the response.

 

We have tried to do the right thing wherever we could for the Chicago shows by honoring the roots of where we came from, while dealing with the realities of the current times. But that’s hardly comforting when you’re shit outta luck for tickets and your only option is inflated prices on secondary ticketing websites. That would piss us off too.

 

From the moment these shows were first talked about, we have been thinking about what we could do to honor the roots of our Deadhead experience, even in the face of changing technologies. (Remember: Ticketmaster didn’t even go online until we got out of the game.) These shows were always intended as an expression of our gratitude, to both the music and the fans, so it’s important that we get things as right as we can.

We have always been proud of our in-house mail order ticketing process, and the phenomenal way our fans have built a tradition out of turning a standard envelope into a frame-worthy piece of art. Some 60,000 mail order tickets were issued for the Soldier Field shows by the good folks at Grateful Dead Ticket Sales — yet we were still crushed to see how many of your beautifully designed envelopes did not get tickets.

For shows of this magnitude, it’s impossible to eliminate every scalper. However, we offer you this: Working with our partners, we are using an online ticketing platform for the Levi’s shows that will help ensure that the tickets for these shows will get into the right hands, the hands of our true fans. We believe that this process is the best way to give each of you an equal opportunity to obtain tickets at the most affordable possible prices. We are are proud to announce that 65,000 tickets per night will be available via the "online mail order" for the Levi’s shows. For the nuts and bolts, go to Dead50.net.

 

We will not be adding any more Fare Thee Well shows. The three Chicago shows will still be our final stand. We decided to add these two Santa Clara shows to enable more of our fans to celebrate with us one more time. But this is it.

 

We love you guys more than words can tell, and hope to see you in the Bay Area or Chicago. If you can’t make it to the shows, we are working on ways for you to still experience our Fare Thee Well, from wherever you might be. Stay tuned for those details.

 

 

Gratefully yours,

 

Billy, Bobby, Mickey & Phil

[Blue J]

It's too bad I'm going to miss these five shows. I would love to see them just one more time.

 

Thanks for posting. I appreciate reading the letter from the guys; I hadn't seen that before.

[Mr. JD]

I like the Grateful Dead. Seen them about 25 times but, the Dead isn't the Dead without Jerry. Sorry.

[apetersvt]

SETLIST rundown - SPOILERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday night:

 

Truckin

Uncle John's Band

Alligator

Cumberland Blues

Born Cross Eyed

Cream Puff War

Viola Lee Blues

 

Cryptical

Dark Star

St Stephen

11

Lovelight

Drums

What's Become Of The Baby

Space

Other One

Morning Dew

e: Casey Jones

 

Sunday

Feel Like A Stranger

Minglewood

Brown Eyed Women

Loose Lucy

Loser

Row Jimmy

Alabama Getaway

Black Peter

Hell In A Bucket

 

Miss. Half Step

Wharf Rat

Eyes

Hes Gone

Drums

Space

Need A Miracle

Death Don't Have No Mercy

Sugar Magnolia

e: Brokedown Palace

[apetersvt]

Listening to the Saturday night show as I type. Not the greatest, but has some good moments.

 

I caught a live feed of last night's show and caught the first set (minus the first two songs as I was just getting back home from a road-trip to see a certain band in Newark Sat. night). Wasn't too impressed with what I saw from the 1st set of Sunday night.

 

Very interesting that all songs from Sat night were from 1970 or earlier. Got nervous that they were going to have 60s and early 70s shows in Cali and then stick Chicago with the 80s and 90s stuff. But feel better now that the Sunday show was all over the place.

 

I listed to Tales From The Golden Road on Sirius on the drive back. Got to hear a lot of comments from the callers into the show. A bunch of typical 'greatest thing ever' comments that you can never believe but the general feel seemed to be that the band was tentative and holding back the first set from Saturday night but rocked out more and got into a groove in the second set.

[third hand grace]

Will be there tomorrow... anyone else?!

[Union 5-3992]

I'll listen on Sirius

[apetersvt]

Will be there tomorrow... anyone else?!

 

I'm there all three nights