Photo: Wenn
The Grateful Dead are said to be "considering" adding more show dates in the lead up to their sold-out final farewell celebration in Chicago.
This July 4 weekend, the Grateful Dead are scheduled to play a series of shows at Chicago's Soldier Field to celebrate their 50th anniversary. All of the shows set to run at the 61,500-capacity location completely sold out almost immediately and are being re-sold by scalpers for outrageous prices.
According to Billboard, a source familiar with the band confirmed that they have been "considering" an additional concert in Santa Clara, CA, to be held the weekend before the Chicago shows.
Reports say that there might be two shows, held on June 27-28, possibly at the 68,500 capacity Levi's Stadium or at San Francisco's AT&T Park.
The reunion shows are to feature the four surviving members of the Grateful Dead, with Phish's frontman Trey Anastasio filling in for Jerry Garcia, who passed away in 1995.
When tickets initially went on sale for the Chicago shows, there was such a high demand that Tickemaster briefly crashed and tickets for the shows reportedly sold out in minutes and hotels in the area booked up just as quickly. Despite more than 11,000 fans signing a petition requesting the City of Chicago to allow overnight parking and camping for those who could not find hotel accommodations, the request was denied due to safety concerns.
The event's promoter Peter Shapiro is working on bringing the concert to those who are unable to attend. While it is still not decided if the concert will be broadcast via pay per view, online streaming or some other format, Shapiro told the Chicago Tribune that they are "exploring all ideas. But this is a way that technology we didn’t have in the '90s can really help make this event as Grateful Dead-fan friendly as possible. They couldn’t beam shows in the '90s into your house, your phone, another place where people gather. And we’ll have that."
Ahead of the Chicago shows, the Grateful Dead are also expected to play a Jerry Garcia tribute show at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.
The Grateful Dead will be playing:
Thursday May 14 - Columbia, Maryland Merriweather Post Pavilion
Friday July 3 - Chicago, IL Soldier Field
Saturday July 4 - Chicago, IL Soldier Field
Sunday July 5 - Chicago, IL Soldier Field
