Grateful Dead Original Members Announce YouTube Webcast For Band’s Final Shows This Summer
The webcast will be encoded by MLBAM’s industry-leading live streaming video technology
As part of Live Alliance’s mission to deliver the five historic live broadcasts of "Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Year of Grateful Dead" to as many people as possible - through their exclusive partnership with MLBAM who is encoding the stream - the live video production company, Peter Shapiro and Madison House Presents will enable fans to watch the webcast on YouTube at youtube.com/dead50. The stream will be available to stream on almost any YouTube connected device - including Android, iOS, Chromecast, Apple TV, Samsung and Panasonic Smart TVs, Xbox360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, and WiiU.
Fans can purchase the webcast on YouTube for $19.95/night for the Santa Clara shows on June 27 and 28, and $29.95/night for the Chicago shows on July 3, 4, and 5. The webcast will be encoded by MLBAM’s industry-leading live streaming video technology through an exclusive partnership with Live Alliance.
Here are some of the platforms where fans can watch or listen to the live broadcasts:
• Webcast (including VOD) - For fans looking to access all five live broadcasts of Fare Thee Well, a subscription for online streaming will be available, powered by MLBAM's industry-leading live streaming video technology. Fans can purchase the livestream at www.Dead50.net, which will be available for all-you-can-eat, on-demand viewing for 30 days. For more details click here: http://bit.ly/dead50payperview.
•Webcast on YouTube Connected Devices - For fans looking to access all five live broadcasts of Fare Thee Well on a variety of devices, including mobile, desktop, Chromecast, and Apple TV, click here: youtube.com/dead50
• Satellite TV - Direct TV and Dish subscribers can purchase the live broadcast of the final Chicago shows on-demand (Direct TV: July 4, 5; Dish: July 3, 4, 5). Event premieres at 7pm with a countdown show (depending on the provider/system, the event may not be available until approximately 2 hours before the event start). For details visit Dead50.net/watch-listen
• Cable TV - Cable subscribers in the U.S. and Canada can purchase the live broadcast of the three final Chicago shows - July 3, 4, and 5 - on-demand. Event premieres at 7pm with a countdown show (depending on the provider/system, the event may not be available until approximately 2 hours before the event start). For details visit Dead50.net/watch-listen
• Satellite Radio - SiriusXM subscribers who tune in to the Grateful Dead Channel will have complete access to a live audio stream of the three final Chicago shows - July 3, 4, and 5. For more details click here: www.siriusxm.com/faretheewell
• Movie Theaters - Fathom Events will show the live broadcast of the three final Chicago shows - July 3, 4, and 5 - in select movie theaters across the U.S. For more details about this live three-night cinema event, visit: http://www.fathomevents.com/event/grateful-dead-meet-up-at-the-movies-2015.
• Commercial Stream - Venue owners can purchase the live broadcast of the three final Chicago shows - July 3, 4, and 5 - to screen to the public. For more details contact:general@livealliance.com.
Many of these options are available for purchase now, while others will be made available over the next 10 days. Visit dead50.net for information on how to purchase the broadcast on any of these platforms. Also, to stay up to date on everything related to "Fare Thee Well," subscribe to the newsletter <<here>>, which is currently offering subscribers a chance to win one of 30 five-night webcast packages.
"Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead" - taking place June 27 and 28 in Santa Clara, CA, and July 3, 4, and 5 in Chicago - will feature the four original members of the Grateful Dead, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir, reuniting for their last-ever performances together. The concerts will take place nearly 20 years to the day of the last Grateful Dead concert with Jerry Garcia, and the band will be joined by Trey Anastasio (guitar), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards), and Bruce Hornsby (piano).
About Live Alliance - Live Alliance is a leader in video production, concert films, and live broadcast events. Working in the broadcast and concert film space for 10 years the founders of Live Alliance were the team behind one of the very first companies to stream large scale events over the internet. Live Alliance is a pioneer in the industry and has grown to provide broadcast and technology for hundreds of clients - working with some of the biggest artists and platforms throughout the world.
About Peter Shapiro
Peter Shapiro has played an instrumental role in the jamband and live music world. He began his career by producing two documentaries about Grateful Dead, and he has since served as publisher of Relix Magazine, and owner of Brooklyn Bowl, Wetlands Preserve, and The Capitol Theatre — where he recently partnered with Jerry Garcia’s family to open Garcia’s, a bar and music venue in the late musician's honor.
About Madison House
Madison House Presents — lead by Don Sullivan, Jeremy Stein, and Mike Luba — has focused on the propulsion of the live music experience through the creation of world-class music festivals, collaborating directly with artists on creative events and developing award-winning tours. Sullivan, Stein, and Luba each cite Grateful Dead as a primary influence both personally and professionally.
About Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead were the most important band of the psychedelic era and among the most groundbreaking acts in rock and roll history. They broke all the rules while slowly and steadily building a career that carried them from the ballrooms of San Francisco in the Sixties to arenas and stadiums all over the country in the decades that followed. A leaderless democracy, they were fronted by guitarist Jerry Garcia, whose improvisational tangents made him a pied piper to the largest and most devoted cult following in popular music: a massive network of fans known as “Deadheads.” The Dead and their followers did much to keep the spirit of the Sixties alive in modern times.
Heavily steeped in Americana, the group had its roots in blues and bluegrass. From the jazz world, the Grateful Dead learned to approach music from an improvisational perspective. From the culture of psychedelia – specifically Ken Kesey’s Acid Tests, of which they were a part – the Dead became aware of the infinite possibilities for expression when imagination was given free reign. Led by Garcia’s guitar, the Dead would delve into blues, folk, jazz R&B and avant-garde realms for hours on end.
“They’ll follow me down any dark alley,” Garcia noted in 1987. “Sometimes there’s light at the end of the tunnel, and sometimes there’s a dark hole. The point is, you don’t get adventure in music unless you’re willing to take chances.”
The Dead’s career can be viewed in several stages. During the latter half of the Sixties, they were a psychedelic rock band whose music and lifestyle were synonymous with the San Francisco scene. In the Seventies, they moved toward a rootsier sound and style of songwriting while maintaining the lengthy jamming tangents that remained high points of their concerts. In the Eighties, they became a touring juggernaut, attracting a nomadic following of Deadheads that followed them from show to show. An anomalous commercial peak came in 1987 when “Touch of Grey” became a Top 10 hit, further accelerating the influx of younger fans to the band’s increasingly prosperous touring scene. They would appear on Forbes’ list of top-grossing entertainers and for a few years in the early Nineties were the highest-grossing concert attraction in the U.S. The 1995 death of Jerry Garcia abruptly put an end to the Grateful Dead, though various members subsequently regrouped as the Other Ones, The Dead and Furthur.
Ultimately, the Grateful Dead’s triumph was to create an alternative form of music and alternatives to music-business conventions that succeeded on their own uncompromising terms. Much about the Grateful Dead was improvised or left to chance. Theirs was a laissez-faire anarchy that assumed things would work out as the cosmos intended. This faith in a universal order, gleaned from the start at Kesey’s Acid Tests, freed them to pursue music without the usual constraints. The Grateful Dead illuminated the world with their music, transforming culture and consciousness as well. In so doing, they became an improbably durable and influential institution. As Phil Lesh said at the Grateful Dead’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994: “Sometimes you don’t merely have to endure. You can prevail.”