The Grateful Dead’s Six ‘Fare Thee Well’ Shows Made Over $50 Million

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Grateful Dead’s Fare Thee Well concerts at Levi Stadium in California and Soldier Field in Chicago were easily the biggest concert event of the summer. They shattered attendance records at both massive venues, bringing in hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world. So how much money did the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead gross?

According to Billboard, over $50 million between ticket sales and pay-per-view packages. That’s an eye-ball popping amount. A ludicrous amount. And the overwhelming financial success of the shows is being triumphed as a huge victory for fans of live music. Via:

The Levi Stadium shows June 27-28 grossed $21.5 million from attendance of 151,650, and the Soldier Field shows July 3-5 grossed a whopping $30.7 million from a Soldier Field record attendance of 210,283. The Fare Thee Well total of $52.2 million is close to Billboard‘s prediction back in April of a $50 million event. Fare Thee Well was produced by Peter Shapiro and Madison House.

Additionally, the five-night live broadcast of “Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Year of Grateful Dead” was officially the largest syndication of a live music event in history, according to broadcast producer Live Alliance. FTW set the record for the biggest music pay-per-view event of all time, with more than 400,000 cable/satellite subscriptions and online streams, a number that will continue to grow as the event remains available to both satellite and cable subscribers via Video-On-Demand until August 2.

The financial success of a Grateful Dead reunion shouldn’t be a big surprise to many — Deadheads of all ages tend to be a rather affluent group. Don Henley didn’t see a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac for no reason.

Long live the Grateful Dead.

Brandon Wenerd is BroBible's publisher, writing on this site since 2009. He writes about sports, music, men's fashion, outdoor gear, traveling, skiing, and epic adventures. Based in Los Angeles, he also enjoys interviewing athletes and entertainers. Proud Penn State alum, former New Yorker. Email: brandon@brobible.com