July 06--Some Deadheads hoping for a miracle Sunday night thought they got one -- until they found out the ticket they had bought for the Grateful Dead's final 50th anniversary show was fake.
Soldier Field collected 220 counterfeit tickets at Sunday's show, which was billed as the last time the four core remaining members of the Dead -- Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir -- would perform together, according to Soldier Field spokesman Luca Serra.
Serra did not say how many counterfeit tickets were seized at the Friday and Saturday Dead shows at Soldier Field. Chicago police had not been notified of any arrests in connection with the weekend concerts, a police representative said Monday morning.
Seventy-one thousand tickets were sold for Sunday's show -- a record for post-renovation Soldier Field -- up from 70,844 tickets for Saturday's show and 70,764 tickets for Friday's show, Serra said. Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said in an email there weren't concerns from his department that Soldier Field had reached maximum capacity "but it was a heavy crowd."
Serra said no Deadheads were given entry inside Soldier Field without a ticket, despite at least one Facebook post in which a fan described getting free entry into the stadium after he tried to enter the gates with a ticket he didn't realize was counterfeit.
He posted that security let him and two other fans with counterfeit tickets in for free.
Serra said some fans without a ticket were allowed on the Soldier Field grounds outside the stadium, where they could buy concert memorabilia, but not inside the stadium to see the show.
