Deadheads protesting high ticket prices

Photo Credit: Julio Enriquez / CC by 2.0

A rift is emerging within the Grateful Dead fan community as ticket prices for the Dead & Company 60th anniversary shows in San Francisco soar to new heights. Some lifelong Deadheads are calling it quits; others say the high prices are counter to Jerry Garcia’s original ethos.

Baseline ticket prices for the three-day run at Golden Gate Park on August 1-3 in San Francisco hover around $635, with single-day general admission clocking in at $245. Those seeking a premium experience while there are facing even steeper costs—basic VIP packages for the event start at $1,725. Meanwhile the ‘Golden Road Super VIP’ experience is available for $6,346. Fans waiting in a queue to check out were agog at the final prices—with many swearing off the event due to high prices.

The problem? True Deadheads are old enough to remember when founding member Jerry Garcia refused to sell a concert ticket for more than $35. “Jerry is rolling in his grave,” remarked one lifelong fan who spoke with The San Francisco Standard. For much of The Grateful Dead’s original run, admission remained within single or low double digits—even those monumental final shows were a fraction of today’s 60th anniversary prices for Dead & Company.

The sticker shock in the Ticketmaster queue has triggered not only petitions online, but a heated debate on fan forums and Reddit. Advocates of the boycott are decrying the ‘corporate overreach’ of live music and say what was once a counter-culture movement has been commercialized to the point of no return.

“The cost is twenty-five times higher than it was during their prime,” said one fan. “I’ve had the chance to see the original band nearly a hundred times, those were great days. It’s certainly not worth the hefty price tag they’re asking for now.”

Other fans counter that rising prices are a function of demand and the modern concert economy, which can no longer be sustained by sub-$35 tickets. Those fans argue that Dead & Company is responding to a new demographic that is eager to pay for the experience, whether that experience mimics the ethos Jerry Garcia sought to set with his shows or not. Legacy acts that can command such a price and still sell out will do so readily—whether hardcore Deadheads are on board or not. “World class band in a world class venue,” one commenter on reddit said about the complaints.