Grateful Dead’s Fare Thee Well Tickets Up For Auction

Although all five nights of Grateful Dead’s “Fare Thee Well” shows sold out weeks ago, seats are still available in Santa Clara and Chicago – and we’re not talking about the secondary ticket market. The band is auctioning off 300 tickets via eBay Giving Works to benefit 16 charities.

Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir are marking the Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary and saying goodbye to fans with two gigs at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., June 27-28, and a residency at Chicago’s Soldier Field July 3-5. Levi’s Stadium is located just a dozen miles south of the music store in Palo Alto where the Grateful Dead first began while Soldier Field hosted the band’s last concert at the same venue in July 1995.

The surviving members of the Grateful Dead will be joined on all five shows by Phish frontman Trey Anastasio on guitar, Bruce Hornsby on piano and Jeff Chimenti on keyboards.

Deadheads who didn’t snag one of the 350,000+ “Fare Thee Well” tickets now have the chance to attend one of these historic shows while supporting charities selected by the band. All you have to do is get out your credit card or enter your PayPal info.

With bidding starting at the face value of the tickets, 10 pairs of tickets are currently up for auction. Auctions for these tix close May 30 at 9 a.m. PDT. A new set of tickets will be released every two days through the end of June. As of the time of this post, prices ranged from $455 for the June 27 Santa Clara show with seats in Sec C141 Row 34 to $1,525 for July 5 in Chicago with seats in Section 110 Row 15. Pairs of GA floor seats are also available.

All net proceeds will be split among the charities, which include Rex Foundation, SEVA, The Rainforest Action Network, Conscious Alliance, Hidden Wings, NORML, Surfrider, Oxfam, REVERB, The Owsley Stanley Foundation, Love Hope Strength, Represent.US, M.A.P.S., Rock the Earth, The Unbroken Chain Foundation, and HeadCount.

“We are eager to support these charities – some of whom have been staples of our communities for decades – while also giving fans another opportunity to obtain tickets,” Grateful Dead members said in a statement.

Attendees will have the chance to learn more about the charities at a special area at the Fare Thee Well shows called “Participation Row.”

HeadCount, which works with musicians to promote participation in democracy by registering voters at concerts, is organizing the ticket auction and Participation Row. For more information, click here for the non-partisan organization’s website.

Click here for the auction.