Hasta La Ideas

A plethora of intriguing information has been put together by online ticket seller Rukkus.com ahead of this weekend’s Grateful Dead performances at Soldier Field. Everything from how the band stacks up in radio play vs. record sales, to the fluctuating prices of show tickets.

They’ve also graphed which decades were most prevalent during the band’s pair of warm-up shows in Santa Clara. On the first night, per the illustration at right, the group’s 1960s catalog accounted for three-quarters of the night’s offerings. On night two, the ’60s were channeled on stage just 13.3% of the time.

And what about the very last song to be played Sunday night at Soldier Field? From Eric Brown’s blog post:

“Not Fade Away” was a beloved Dead encore for years, but since it’s a cover and not an original, it’s unlikely the final show will end with it. The last Soldier Field show [in 1995] ended with “Box of Rain,” but they might want something more special this time around. Our vote? “Brokedown Palace.” Not only is it the encore from the final Santa Clara show, it contains the lyric, “Fare thee well, fare thee well. I love you more than words can tell.” It’s the perfect final note for the Grateful Dead.

Ahead of the band’s big weekend, there are all sorts of other colorful news items. LiveforLiveMusic has a copy of the flyer being distributed to Soldier Field security personnel in case they encounter concertgoers high on LSD, while the Austin Chronicle has an oral history of the band’s local imprint.

And it’s not just in Chicago or on Periscope and Meerkat that people will be bidding fare thee well to the band Sunday night. All sorts of places across the country are simulcasting the show, including a drive-in in Menton, Ma.