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Limited Tailgating To Be Allowed At Grateful Dead Shows

By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 5, 2015 5:45PM

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Will Deadheads bring their tailgating 'A' game like Bears fans? (Photo credit: Mattheux Photo)

Good news and bad news for Grateful Dead fans in the run-up to the band’s final shows at Soldier Field in July. The Chicago Park District will allow Deadheads to tail gate in the Soldier Field parking lots for a limited time before and after the concerts, meaning they can get their fill of grilled cheese sandwiches and nitrous oxide hits while hallucinating an imaginary Lucas Museum in the South Lot between Soldier Field and McCormick Place. Fans’ request for the Park District to allow camping in the lots, however, was rejected. Start listing your apartments on Airbnb now, readers.

Soldier Field spokesman Luca Serra said the lots will open at 1p.m., a solid six hours before the Dead, Trey Anastasio and others will hit the stage. Tailgating will be allowed for another 30-60 minutes the concerts begin. Most important for fans who don’t have tickets or the resources to buy passes on the secondary ticket market: you won’t have to be holding (tickets, that is) to tail gate.

A word of advice to the Horde: Chicago Bears fans are professionals at tailgating and offer some handy tips to do it right and keep Chicago’s finest from harshing your collective mellow. Keep the trip strange but safe a few months from now.

[DNAInfo Chicago]