Dead & Company Summer Tour Recap
Dead & Company’s 2018 Summer Tour was comprised of 26 concerts in 20 markets, performing to half a million fans. Two concerts are remaining (August 25 & 26). The initial tour dates wrapped up this past weekend with a two-night stand at Boulder’s Folsom Field, marking the band’s third two-night stand at Folsom in consecutive years. The Saturday, July 14 concert in Boulder was sold out, with a record-setting attendance of more than 36,000 fans.
Dead & Company’s current tour is ranked 12 on Pollstar’s 2018 Mid-Year Top 10 North American Tours chart.
Select milestones of the 2018 Summer Tour
- Two nights at New York’s Citi Field (June 15 & June 16), the fourth and fifth concerts for the band in New York in about a year (Dead & Company performed at Madison Square Garden on November 12 & November 14, 2017 and at Citi Field on June 24, 2017)
- The grand re-opening of the historic Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin with two nights (June 22 & June 23), which were the third and fourth concerts for the band in the Chicago area in a year (Dead & Company broke the concert attendance record at Wrigley Field on June 30, 2017, and July 1, 2017)
- The show on June 20 at the Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio was Dead & Company’s 100th concert, the second time the band played the same venue in less than a year (Dead & Company also played Blossom Music Center on June 28, 2017)
- 30,000 fans braved the record heat in Los Angeles to attend the concert at Dodger Stadium on July 7
- The June 30th concert in Eugene, Oregon was the first time in 21 years that live music returned to Autzen Stadium (the Grateful Dead played the venue 10 times between 1978 and 1994, more than any other music artist)
- 117 songs were performed during the tour, including six songs Dead & Company had never before played: Alabama Getaway, It Hurts Me Too, It’s All Over Now, Jack-A-Roe, Mr. Charlie and The Eleven
Dead & Company again partnered with HeadCount and Reverb, who traveled with the band to present their “Participation Row” village of nonprofit entities, including March For Our Lives, the movement and organization started by high-school students who survived the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida. HeadCount also organized voter registrations at Dead & Company summer shows. Fans who took actions with at least three of the nonprofits at Participation Row were entered to win a signed D’Angelico guitar. For the 2018 Summer Tour, more than 22,000 total actions were taken, with nearly 6,500 fans registering to vote and receive election alerts. More than 4,000 Nalgene water bottles were sold at the concerts, which meant more than 20,000 plastic water bottles were avoided.
Additionally, Dead & Company helped raise more than $1.1 million to benefit Oceana’s mission of protecting and preserving the world’s oceans by performing at a private fundraiser at the home of Keith Addis in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday, July 8th. The evening, dubbed “Rock Under the Stars” drew fans from all over the world.
Drummer Mickey Hart explained to Billboard why the band performed at this backyard fundraiser, “Going from a stadium to a house party is a very interesting dynamic, but the point is a musician is privileged to be a musician and musicians should give back that privilege. In general, you gotta defend the treasures. One of them is the oceans and you have to defend it however you can.”
Dead & Company initially announced only one concert – October 31, 2015 at Madison Square Garden in New York – but announced a full tour shortly afterwards. Since then, the band has toured every year. To date, there have been 112 Dead & Company concerts, with two final 2018 Summer Tour dates remaining – August 25 & August 26 in Arrington, Virginia when they headline the LOCKN’ Festival.
Dead & Company 2018 Tour Dates:
WED 5/30/2018 Mansfield, MA Xfinity Center
FRI 6/1/2018 Camden, NJ BB&T Pavilion
SAT 6/2/2018 Camden, NJ BB&T Pavilion
MON 6/4/2018 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
WED 6/6/2018 Noblesville, IN Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center
FRI 6/8/2018 Atlanta, GA Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood
SAT 6/9/2018 Raleigh, NC Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
MON 6/11/2018 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center
WED 6/13/2018 Hartford, CT XFINITY Theatre
FRI 6/15/2018 New York, NY Citi Field
SAT 6/16/2018 New York, NY Citi Field
TUE 6/19/2018 Darien Center, NY Darien Lake Amphitheater
WED 6/20/2018 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
FRI 6/22/2018 East Troy, WI Alpine Valley Music Theatre
SAT 6/23/2018 East Troy, WI Alpine Valley Music Theatre
FRI 6/29/2018 George, WA Gorge Amphitheatre
SAT 6/30/2018 Eugene, OR Autzen Stadium
MON 7/2/2018 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheater
TUE 7/3/2018 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheater
FRI 7/6/2018 Chula Vista, CA Mattress Firm Amphitheatre
SAT 7/7/2018 Los Angeles, CA Dodger Stadium
WED 7/11/2018 Albuquerque, NM Isleta Amphitheater
FRI 7/13/2018 Boulder, CO Folsom Field
SAT 7/14/2018 Boulder, CO Folsom Field
SAT 8/25/2018 Arrington, VA LOCKN’ Festival
SUN 8/26/2018 Arrington, VA LOCKN’ Festival
