July 11--Deadheads seeking a partial refund on their tickets to last weekend's Grateful Dead 50th anniversary concerts at Soldier Field must fill out a form that needs to be postmarked by July 20, concert promoter Peter Shapiro announced Saturday.
Concert-goers who got tickets to the three sold-out Soldier Field shows through the mail are eligible for a partial refund if they paid more for the ticket than the initial advertised price of the seat.
Ticket-holders can seek refunds for a maximum of four tickets per show. Requests will take four to six weeks to process, and the commemorative tickets can be mailed back, according to the rules posted on dead50.net.
When the final Grateful Dead concerts were announced in January, a seating chart was posted that showed how much tickets cost for each section.
Fans sent in mail-order requests for tickets with corresponding money orders ranging from $79.50 for reserved tickets to $199.50 for reserved tickets and limited tickets for fans with disabilities.
In their requests, Deadheads specified the section they wanted while some wrote that they would be happy in any section. Shapiro said about 70,000 fans sent in more than 500,000 tickets requests. About 70,000 tickets were sold for each night through the mail-order process and Ticketmaster.
Shapiro told the Tribune that when additional space was added to accommodate more fans in Soldier Field after the mail orders were received, some fans were given seats in areas different than the sections they requested.
Some Deadheads complained on social media that they got seats in sections they didn't want and didn't find out until they received their tickets and after they booked airfare and hotel rooms.
After seeing the backlash, Shapiro offered full refunds for mail-order tickets -- fewer than five ticket-holders requested full refunds -- and partial refunds.
Mail orders were used only for the Soldier Field concerts, not the two June anniversary shows in Santa Clara, Calif. The concerts were billed as the final time the four remaining core members of the Dead -- Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir -- would perform together.
Tom Bryant, of Vermont, said he is seeking $1,000 back for the 12 tickets he purchased through the mail for the three concerts.
Bryant said he requested four floor tickets for $199.50 for each night of the concert, with his second choice being general admission pit tickets. He said he received cheaper tickets in the 100 level for the first night of the show; the 200 level for the second night; and the 300 level for the third night.
The promoter "turned this whole thing into a money grab," said Bryant, 52, though he did say he "totally enjoyed the shows. Best three days of my life."
It's unclear how many Deadheads attended the concerts. Soldier Field spokesman Luca Serra said there were a post-renovation record 71,000 tickets sold for the final show Sunday. Serra said no one got into the stadium without a ticket, though some fans reported on social media showing their tickets from previous nights' concerts to gain access.
About 600 counterfeit tickets were confiscated over the three nights, Serra said.
Soldier Field can hold 79,500 people, depending on the field configuration, Serra said.
