In honor of the Grateful Dead's 50th anniversary, the band is reuniting for three final farewell shows July 3-5 at Soldier Field in Chicago.
The show will be titled "Fare Thee Well," and will mark nearly two decades after the band last performed together with the late Jerry Garcia at the same 55,000-capacity venue.
Grateful Dead Ticketing mail order begins today, January 20th, to continue the band's snail mail ticketing tradition.
Online tickets, which range in price from $59.50-$199.50, will first be made available to members of the Grateful Dead fan club before anyone else, but still on a first-come-first-serve basis from Feb. 9-11.
After that, a local public presale will occur Feb. 12-13, with a general public sale to follow Feb. 14. Ticket information is available at Dead50.net.
The band's devoted fan base, also known as Dead Heads, are already snail-mailing in their ticket requests and in keeping with tradition, are intricately decorating the envelopes in hopes of helping their chances at getting tickets.
Our Grateful Dead ticket order envelope! Thanks to Jakes little bro for decorating it for us! #Dead50#GDTSTOOpic.twitter.com/47NLE3kGec
— Ellen Nied (@AndSheWasN2F) January 20, 2015
Past fan art is even the subject of 2011 book "Dead Letters: The Very Best Grateful Dead Fan Mail," which showcases years of fan art on envelopes.
The book's description explains:
"Dead Heads went to extraordinary, often inspiring, lengths to get their hands on concert tickets by mailing the band and its staff. After all, the only way to get tickets for the Dead was to go directly to the source. Most often, this took the form of letters (and envelopes) with personalized Dead artwork the likes of which the U.S. Postal Service had ever seen."
With the new tour set to release tickets next month, many Dead Heads are uploading photos of their decorative envelopes to social media under the tag #Dead50, in honor of the group's upcoming anniversary.
Check out some of the most detailed artworks below:
Wish us luck on #GDTSTOO cc @rskipnis#Dead50pic.twitter.com/D1tQKOJKgz
— Ikes (@DedFishHed) January 20, 2015
Off we go! I'll be there regardless. #dead50#gratefuldeadpic.twitter.com/CYhgQMkhzA
— Tribe Zero (@TribeZero) January 20, 2015
Things like this make me realize I have no chance. RT @mkdevo: Saw this on the facebooks. Awesome. #Dead50pic.twitter.com/CHdaGaih1i
— Cameron Garrison (@CGarrisonKC) January 20, 2015
In line at the post office. #Dead50 thanks for the color @theBetsyCAT!!! pic.twitter.com/dHuoDtho52
— \mm/ Phil's \mm/ (@PhilthyG) January 20, 2015
American Beauty... #Dead50 Artist: Lisa Stambler Shiroff pic.twitter.com/kYKrPigo9M
— Ikes (@DedFishHed) January 19, 2015
You guys are AMAZING!! I've seen so much creativity with ALL these envelopes. Here are just a few... #Dead50#NFApic.twitter.com/ZXzyVasn9V
— Marigold (@deadgirltoo) January 20, 2015
Fare thee well my little envelope! #Dead50pic.twitter.com/to8z7nRmMh
— Rennie Karnovich (@needsmorechalk) January 20, 2015
SEE ALSO: Here's The Painting That Inspired The Entire Look Of 'Guardians Of The Galaxy'
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