For Deadheads around the world who are unable to attend the Grateful Dead's Fare Thee Well concerts, SiriusXM's exclusive Grateful Dead station, Channel 23, will broadcast the 50th anniversary and band's final concerts from Chicago's Soldier Field this Fourth of July weekend.
The shows, spanning July 3, 4 and 5, will be readily available at 9:15 p.m. and will appear on SiriusXM's app and website. The day after each show, they will be re-broadcast on the Grateful Dead Channel and then multiple times through September 5 through 7, Labor Day weekend.
Tales from the Golden Road, SiriusXM's weekly Dead talk show hosted by David Gans and Gary Lambert, will ensue for exclusive shows before and after each concert to discuss the performances. Looking into each gig from a inside perspective, the talk show hosts will gain insight from special guest David Lemieux, archivist and fellow Dead Channel host, notes SiriusXM.
Aside from giving fans a chance to feel connected to the concerts in spirit, SiriusXM is giving its subscribers a chance to win tickets to the three-concert event, equipped with a hotel package and round-trip tickets to Chicago. Interested qualifiers may enter today but must have been a subscriber since May 18. The Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann teamed up with Airbnb for a similar contest which awards VIP passes in exchange for giving fellow Deadheads a place to crash.
The Fare Thee Well gigs will commemorate the American folk rock band's 50th anniversary as well as the 20th anniversary of Jerry Garcia's death. In the absence of the late Garcia, Phish frontman Trey Anastasio will fill in for the unforgettable musician on guitar.
"The thing is, there is a lot more intent in those lines than people might think," Anastasio told Rolling Stone about Garcia's talents. "It was not just noodling. Based on the number of ideas Jerry had in any one-minute period, he was very much a musician first, a guitar player second. The music was coming out, and the guitar was a vehicle, a transparent filter."
A complete schedule of broadcasts can be found on SiriusXM's official site.
