• https://www.dead.net/features/50th-anniversary/grateful-dead-original-members-add-two-dates-final-concerts
    Grateful Dead Original Members Add Two Dates To Final Concerts

    The original members of Grateful Dead have announced two additional shows at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on June 27th and 28th, as part of their “Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead” run. Along with the three shows at Chicago's Soldier Field on July 3rd, 4th, and 5th, the run will mark the original members' last-ever performances together. The band will be joined by Trey Anastasio (guitar), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards), and Bruce Hornsby (piano) and perform two sets of music each night.

    The band posted a letter to their fans today announcing the shows:

    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 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

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    PaulChum
    8 years 8 months ago
    Santa Clara recordings
    Any plans to offer the two Fare Thee Well Santa Clara shows on CD/DVD/Blue-Ray or digital? I would love to get high quality recordings of the fine memories I have of those shows.
  • jjjbaggins
    8 years 9 months ago
    KaneKoMia
    Please! jjjbaggins@yahoo.com
  • jjjbaggins
    8 years 9 months ago
    Thanks, but what's that mean?
    Could you be more specific?
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The original members of Grateful Dead have announced two additional shows at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on June 27th and 28th, as part of their “Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead” run. Along with the three shows at Chicago's Soldier Field on July 3rd, 4th, and 5th, the run will mark the original members' last-ever performances together. The band will be joined by Trey Anastasio (guitar), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards), and Bruce Hornsby (piano) and perform two sets of music each night.

The band posted a letter to their fans today announcing the shows:

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 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

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The original members of Grateful Dead have announced two additional shows at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on June 27th and 28th, as part of their “Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead” run. Along with the three shows at Chicago's Soldier Field on July 3rd, 4th, and 5th, the run will mark the original members' last-ever performances together. The band will be joined by Trey Anastasio (guitar), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards), and Bruce Hornsby (piano) and perform two sets of music each night.
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The original members of Grateful Dead have announced two additional shows at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on June 27th and 28th, as part of their “Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead” run. Along with the three shows at Chicago's Soldier Field on July 3rd, 4th, and 5th, the run will mark the original members' last-ever performances together. The band will be joined by Trey Anastasio (guitar), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards), and Bruce Hornsby (piano) and perform two sets of music each night.

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14 years 7 months
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This will make CalHeads very happy. Good to see ticket purchases are strictly mail order too.
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15 years 9 months
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Thank you all for your thoughtfulness. And thanks Billy for the show at the Mystic the other night. We were all blown away!
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9 years 2 months
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Beautiful Letter. But instead of addressing it 'Dear Heads' it should have read 'Dear Mike'.
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9 years
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Thanks guys! Hopefully this makes many people as happy as I am!
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9 years 1 month
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I take it all back about Billy w being a 7 ft douche
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16 years 9 months
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Any Others ?Dark Star St. Stephen The Eleven Estimated Prophet Eyes Of The World Playing In The Band Uncle John’s Band China Cat Sunflower I Know You Rider Scarlet Begonias Fire On The Mountain Help On The Way > Slipknot ! Franklin’s Tower That’s It For The Other One Truckin’ Lost Sailor Saint Of Circumstance Stealin’ Can’t Come Down He Was A Friend Of Mine The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion) Viola Lee Blues Morning Dew Alligator Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks) Cosmic Charlie Cumberland Blues New Speedway Boogie The Wheel Bird Song Cassidy Box Of Rain Sugar Magnolia Friend Of The Devil Bertha Wharf Rat Not Fade Away Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad Smokestack Lightnin’ Hard To Handle Here Comes Sunshine Weather Report Suite (Prelude, Part 1, Part 2 (Let It Grow)) US Blues The Music Never Stopped Shakedown Street Stagger Lee Minglewood Blues Alabama Getaway My Brother Esau West LA Fadeaway Throwing Stones Tons Of Steel Blow Away Standing On The Moon Foolish Heart Picasso Moon Corrina Easy Answers Days Between So Many Roads Any Others ?
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13 years 1 month
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Hornsbys there The weight
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9 years 1 month
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Lovin us more than words can tell......
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11 years 11 months
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They gotta play Dancin' In The Streets to open July 3rd, so I can win!!!!!Nice to hear Althea and Cold Rain & Snow.
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9 years 2 months
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Hey Folks: Looking to sell two tickets to Dear Jerry Concert at Merriweather 5/14. Face Value. Can't do show with work:( Drop a line billyv2930@gmail.com Peace out........
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9 years 2 months
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What about NYC???? What the fuck? Remember back in the day The East coast is where you found a successful following outside the Bay Area.
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16 years 9 months
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Taking it's a breeze. You should try formulating the motherfucker. Byrd P.S. Bear with me now: Of course, I guess you already did that. Nicely done, by The Way...
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16 years 8 months
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you covered it pretty well...I need Mexicali Blues..get the crowd bebopping
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13 years 1 month
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everybody loves a polka.....
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13 years 4 months
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Yo, dude. You forgot Althea. How dare you forget Althea!!! ;-)
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I don't see a Loose Lucy on the list....WTF
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16 years 8 months
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polka indeed! it wouldn't be a wedding without one! get me a ham, a half-barrel, a polka and a bride
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15 years 5 months
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I got a nice email from ticketstoday, they charged my card for 8 tix to Levi's Stadium, they're lowest tier, OBSTRUCTED VIEW, behind the stage, but we're in, WOOOHOOO!! After my first show 10/14/77 and 200+ shows later, I guess I had enough 3x5 cards on file... So stoked!! Good luck to all!!
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15 years 9 months
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Rejected my request for 1 per night. I'm starting to think there should have been a two ticket limit since so many people seem to have been awarded their 4 tickets requests. Hope to score some other way now. Never gonna pay scalpers prices. See you all in the lot in Santa Clara for a real good time!
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The bastards sent me my rejection letter... at least I don't have hundreds of dollars worth of postal money orders I have to cash in this time.... I really thought I was going to be in.... Sux. Oh yeah; You left Jack Straw off the list!!! Since I'm not going I hope they play nothing but Phish songs! HA!!! Just kidding... Have fun...
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8 years 11 months
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I think all scalpers got tickets and heads didn't there online all ready for way too much.all iI wanted was one more Saturday night. Thanks lotto
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8 years 11 months
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after an epic fail on ticketmaster i some how managed to be blessed by god and got my santa clara tickets! And there good seats! See you all there family!
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When they first announced Chicago, I was bummed that I wouldn't be able to go, or afford it if I could....when they announced Santa Clara, I signed up, knowing I wouldn't get any, but wow would it be great to see them again after 25 years!!! I requested 1 ticket for each night.....today I checked my email and was excited to see that I got tickets both nights...nosebleeds on Sat, great view of the stage tho, then side stage on Sun....so stoked I'll get to be there one last time after being a devoted fan for 30 years!!! I am so happy I get to go...been a long strange trip...
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I have 2 tix for Saturday night the 27th, Sec 408, Row 9, seats 17-18 and 2 tix on the floor General admission for Sunday the 28th. I can't go to these shows. I am willing to trade for 4 tix (2 per any 2 nights) for any two nights in Chicago for any seats with a view. Let me know via e-mail: joe@touringisrael.com
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Major Happy Camper,the transaction went through tickets on there way,growing up they were in my backyard,I'm origionally from Sunnyvale and check this out,theres this poster when they played in Santa Clara on May 25th,1967 at The Continental Ballroom , well this poster mentioned were you could get tickets at Suzy Creamcheeses Botique in Sunnyvale,So much for your history lesson,I always wished they would do New potato Caboose into Eyes of the world into Wharfrat,that would be the coolest!!,it will also be nice to see all the cool cars and buses with sweet stickers and painted to look like eye candy,my wish is that years from now we could all get together and have like a record/live music swap and have refreshments and cool art made by deadheads, like a deadheads version of a star trek convention only hipper!! p.s if your around Palo Alto Alta Mesa Cemetary you could pay homage to pigpen and my brother Leonard Thomas Smith Be Well Smitty The Deadhead
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Have a great concert. Byrd P.S. Sure will miss watching and hearing you guys play Cassidy and Scarlet Begonias once again. Two of my all-time favorite guitar songs, but most of all, China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider. Thanks, Hunter, Bear, Bobby, Phil, Pigpen, Keith, Mickey, Billy, Brent, Vince, Bruce and a list of Dead Heads longer than I can imagine, and to you too, Jerry, where ever, you are! My door's always open.
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You should be ashamed of yourself! ha ha ha. Just joking sort of. Didn't even get one. All I can say, is that, I was there, directly in front of Jerry, for over 100 shows! Take that, you four ticket bastards! xox
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Also, for anyone who got lucky in the Santa Clara lottery - did any of you ask for the lower tier tickets? I see a lot of comments of people getting lucky if they asked for the most expensive, or if they asked for best anywhere... anyone get lucky on the "lower rungs?" Just curious. I asked for 3 tickets in lower tier for both days. xo
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i have not heard of anyone who put in lower tier only (myself included) that scored in the lotto. it seems that best available was the only way to get lower tier tickets. my buddy scored a few of the cheapest seats via lotto and graciously passed them on to me. i was only looking for the $60.00 seats.
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14 years 6 months
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I remember when the Dead were cool. When the demand to see the greatest garage band in the world was still the greatest secret in rock'n'roll, was more than the amount of deadheads who wanted to see were allowed into the venue. now kids this was a long time ago, But they used to broadcast it for free on the radio. However, this being the age of modern telecommunication. I say IF THE DEAD WERE STILL COOL they Would stream it live for free. But alas the great cash cow Garcia, is no longer among us. So therefore it's gotta be this grab the money and run tactic. The same goes for the "limited edition" Dave's picks. Just cut loose with the music man. They will still sell, We will still buy it.Let The shows be available to those who were shut out of the money grab! Stream it live for free!
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I was talking to a fellow Aiko, and she reminded me that "Jill doesn't do freebees" So I guess my demands will fall on deaf ears in the Dead family.
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16 years
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I only put in for Saturday at the lower tier level. Only put in for 2 tickets. Low and behold I got them! First time I ever won anything in a lottery.
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10 years 3 months
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I did lower teir request, got ticket for both nights, I didn't think I had a chance....
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15 years 9 months
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I particularly love the guy who has an ad on SFBay Craigslist proudly offering 28 tickets, seat designations included, which he is pleased to say he got through his season seat allotment and the lottery. 28 tickets. Not a professional scalper, just a South Bay entrepreneur. Can't wait to see how all this plays out for those 'investors'.
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I requested 2 tickets for each night and got nose bleeders the first night still i decent view of the stage and got really good seats the 2nd night in sec 102 cant be happier i thought i didnt have a chance after how terrible the chicago tickets went for me curse ticketmaster.... thank god for the santa clara shows! Now i can see bob and phil get down one last time
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Put in a request for two Sat. Tix...the $199rs....did not get picked......but it's all good.I'm sure there will be an audio release available for purchase in the future. And my sincere congrats to all my fellow bona-fide 'Bus-Riders' who got lucky! Enjoy the Shows! ** Don't Forget To Have a Deadicated Designated Driver in your group ** Party with class & fellow respect and show the rest of the world we are people who ALWAYS have looked out for each other. APP Always Practice Peace
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Chicago was suppose to be the last of the last, now add some more shows, tell us "that's it" and sell them out superfast. Will there be more shows? the post states 50th anniversary "run". Is there more shows in the cards? Will they let us know soon? They could add more shows, tell us "that's it" and sell them all out, cause you know we are gonna go. Great marketing scheme.
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The letter was pretty emphatic on that point.
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8 years 11 months
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Indeed, Fare Thee Well. The announcement about the Chicago concerts really got my blood pumpin' and to add 2 more just prior in CA, imho, in no way detracts! What a summer it shall be. Congratulations to all of the brothers and sisters who will be in attendance. To be able to attend "virtually" in a movie theatre should not be disparaged, since one's experience is what one decides to make of it, especially real time, as it occurs. "Let there be songs to fill the air." Peace.
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Just a little light ..blow away
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8 years 11 months
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It is beyond my understanding-- NO ONE I know has received tickets--I'm talking Bay Area shows. Something has gone drastically wrong!
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15 years 9 months
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I'd like to advise everyone who's going to read the Levi's Stadium rules very carefully because what you can bring in and what you can bring it in is very limited. Also, read the Yelp reviews, and the reviews on the Levi's Stadium Facebook page, to help get a clue about how things are done there. The GD show will be the second concert ever held there. Kenny Chesney is playing there May 2nd. Checking the reviews after that show may prove helpful. Lots of love to you all.
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My CC got hacked with lots of activity in Freemont (I live 80 miles away in Napa) the day after I tried to get tix. I did not get tix and will get a new card so all is good. I took this as a sign- others are meant to be there but I am not. It has worked favorably the other way for me in past years ..other tours so I am Ok with all this. So enjoy-have fun-be safe and to celebrate the legacy do something unexpectedly nice for someone for no reason the day of the show! Johninnapa
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16 years 5 months
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Ok. I will for sure do something unexpected and nice for somebody day of first SC show. Thanks for the inspiration.
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8 years 11 months
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The shows in Chicago and Santa Clara will be historic. Now that all of the shows are sold-out, is there any likelihood that the Dead will provide alternative viewing options, such as pay per view or 'net viewing of all of the shows? Can we expect that all of the shows will eventually be available on DVD?