Grateful Dead Streaming ‘Fare Thee Well’ Gigs On Pay-Per-View

Today’s announcement follows last week’s news that Fathom Events would be broadcasting all three nights of the July 3-5 residency at Chicago’s Soldier Field in select movie theaters.

The Windy City shows, along with June 27-28 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., make up the band’s 50th anniversary shindig dubbed “Fare Three Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead.” The surviving members say the Chicago gigs, which take place almost 20 years to the day since the Grateful Dead’s last concert at the same venue, will be the band’s “final stand.”

Chicago’s high-definition Pay-Per-View special will air via Live Alliance and be distributed by MultiVision Media to both satellite and cable providers. You’re all invited to take part in the big farewell, as long as you have access to a screen in some format, whether it’s in your home, on your mobile device or in participating clubs, music venues, bars or movie theaters nationwide. The Chicago shows will air worldwide via an online streaming platform and the Santa Clara performances will be broadcast live through an online webcast.

Pulitzer-Prize and Emmy-award winning CNBC reporter Steve Liesman will host the three-day, 15-hour special along with two-time NBA MVP, Basketball Hall of Fame member, sportscaster and “Big Red Deadhead” Bill Walton. During the intermission, viewers will be treated to taped interviews with special guests, live fan interviews, aerial shots from Soldier Field and a short documentary on the Grateful Dead directed by Justin Kreutzmann.

The special will be available through Video-on-Demand for 45 days. And for super fans, you can purchase the webcast for all five nights for $79.95 during a presale that begins May 1 and runs through May 15.

The “Fare Thee Well” shows features surviving Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir joined by Phish frontman Trey Anastasio on guitar, Bruce Hornsby on piano and Jeff Chimenti on keyboards.

Details about accessing the broadcast will be posted on Dead50.net. Stay tuned for more information.