Deadheads Snatch Up Tickets

Deadheads had no problem forgoing the modern convenience of online shopping to mail in orders for the Grateful Dead’s 50^th anniversary shows through the band’s original ticketing system. In fact, fans sent in so many requests that it’s affected the presale and general onsale.

Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir are all on board for the July 3-5 event at Chicago’s Soldiers Field that’s being called “Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead.” The dates and location are significant because the shows are scheduled within days of the 20th anniversary of the final Grateful Dead concert, which also took place at the Windy City venue.

The band members will be joined by Phish’s Trey Anastasio on guitar, Jeff Chimenti on keyboard and Bruce Hornsby on piano. Hornsby has played more than 100 shows with the Grateful Dead while Chimenti has been involved with Grateful Dead offshoots Ratdog, The Dead and Furthur. Hornsby and Chimenti were both members of The Other Ones.

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Fans were invited to send in mail orders through Grateful Dead Ticketing Service (GDTS TOO) starting Jan. 20 on a first-come, first-serve basis. An online presale through Dead Online was scheduled Feb. 12, followed by the general onsale Feb. 14.

Well, plans have changed after GDTS TOO received more than 60,000 envelopes filled with more than 350,000 ticket requests.

The ticketing service plans to fill as many orders as possible “in an effort to honor the history and spirit of the Grateful Dead.” To make this happen, the presale has been called off. And to give GDTS TOO time to go sort through the huge stack of mail it’s received, the public onsale will now take place Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. CST.

VIP and travel packages and available through CID Entertainment.

Visit Dead50.net for more information.