Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead was a series of concerts that were performed by most of the surviving members of theGrateful Dead:Bob Weir,Phil Lesh,Bill Kreutzmann andMickey Hart, joined byTrey Anastasio,Bruce Hornsby andJeff Chimenti, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead. The performances took place atSanta Clara'sLevi Stadium on June 27 and 28, 2015 andChicago'sSoldier Field on July 3, 4 and 5, 2015. These performances marked the final time Weir, Lesh, Kreutzmann and Hart performed together prior to Lesh's death in 2024. The performances were also the first time that the four played together sincethe Dead's 2009 tour. In the leadup to the shows, they were publicized as the final time the four musicians would perform together.[2]
The three shows in Chicago were initially announced on January 16, 2015 as the only three Fare Thee Well performances. Tickets were first made available through the Grateful Dead's GDSTOO mail order system.Deadheads mailed in more than 60,000 envelopes, requesting a total of more than 360,000 tickets. As a result, only about one in ten requests was fulfilled.[3][4] On February 28, 2015 when tickets became available onTicketmaster, over 500,000 people logged on to purchase tickets, which set a new Ticketmaster record for ticket demand for a concert. Following the initial sellout of these concerts, seats were made available behind the stage, and prices on secondary ticket sites such asStubHub averaged $2,000 each.[5]
Due to the high demand for the Chicago concerts, concert promoterPeter Shapiro announced two more concerts in Santa Clara, California on June 27 and 28, 2015. To help preventscalpers from obtaining tickets for resale to these concerts, tickets were only made available through an online lottery.[6] Tickets to the Santa Clara shows were initially sold at very high prices on StubHub but ended up dropping as low as $19 by the week before the concerts. Prices for the Chicago concerts also fell in the weeks prior to the shows but were still averaging about $200.[7]
The first show in Chicago drew an attendance of 70,764 fans, setting an attendance record atSoldier Field.[8]
Due to the high demand for tickets to these concerts they weresimulcast on large screens at multiple movie theaters and concert venues in the United States as well as made available live, for a fee, onYouTube and variouspay per view services.[10] Satellite radio serviceSirius played the concerts, with a slight delay, on their Grateful Dead channel.[11] The concerts were also simulcasted at movie theaters in the United States.[12] The pay-per-view set a new record for a music event with more than 400,000 subscriptions, surpassing a 1999 simulcast by theBackstreet Boys which drew 160,000 subscriptions.[13]
President Obama acknowledged the band in a special message that appeared in the official program for the event on July 3, 2015.[14]
"Here's to fifty years of the Grateful Dead, an iconic American band that embodies the creativity, passion, and ability to bring people together that makes American music so great. Enjoy this weekend's celebration of your fans and legacy. And as Jerry would say, 'Let there be songs to fill the air.'"[15]
Weir, Lesh, Kreutzmann and Hart (asThe Dead) had previously reunited to perform a concert at Penn State University called Change Rocks on October 12, 2008, in support of Obama's campaign. They later played two sets at the Mid-Atlantic Inaugural ball on January 20, 2009.
Since the initial announcement of these three (and later five) concerts, there has been much debate among fans as to the name of the band playing these concerts. Most media outlets, includingRolling Stone, and Ticketmaster have referred to these concerts as being performed by the Grateful Dead. However, the event's website and band member Bob Weir have only referred to the event as "Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead" (this is also the name printed on the tickets).[16] This means that the band technically had no name, although it could be considered another version of The Dead, which is the name Weir, Lesh, Kreutzmann and Hart had sporadically performed with since the Grateful Dead's 1995 disbandment.[17] It is also referred to as The Dead on the taper's archive site Relisten.[18] The band has also been called simply "Fare Thee Well", e.g. onThe Grateful Dead Channel and music trading siteetree.[19]
The band performing at the June 28, 2015 concert in Santa Clara, CaliforniaThe band playing on July 3, 2015 at Soldier Field, Chicago, IllinoisAnother view of the July 3, 2015 concert in Chicago
Over the course of the five shows 81 different songs were performed, not including "Drums" and "Space," which were played all five nights. Only two other songs, "Truckin'" and "Cumberland Blues," were repeated.
First set: "Feel Like a Stranger", "New Minglewood Blues", "Brown-Eyed Women", "Loose Lucy", "Loser", "Row Jimmy", "Alabama Getaway", "Black Peter", "Hell in a Bucket"
Second set: "Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo" → "Wharf Rat" → "Eyes of the World" → "He's Gone" → "Drums" → "Space" → "I Need a Miracle" → "Death Don't Have No Mercy" → "Sugar Magnolia"
The Chicago "Fare Thee Well" concerts were released as a live album on November 20, 2015. There are three different versions of the recording:[20]
Fare Thee Well: Complete Box Set, a 12-CD and seven-DVD orBlu-raybox set that includes the complete audio and video of all three Chicago concerts. This is a limited edition of 20,000 numbered copies, and includes a bonus disc of behind-the-scenes footage directed by Justin Kreutzmann, the son of drummer Bill Kreutzmann.[21] This set also includes three CDs consisting of the intermission music from each concert, performed by the band Circles Around the Sun, led by guitaristNeal Casal. Known asInterludes for the Dead, this music also was released separately as a two-disc album on November 27, 2015.[22]
Fare Thee Well: July 5, 2015, a three-CD and two-DVD or Blu-ray album of the audio and video of the July 5 concert.[23]
The Best of Fare Thee Well, a two-CD album of audio selections from the three Chicago concerts.[24]
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