The Dead

[Drunk Monk]

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Aw shoot. The twitter embed doesn't work anymore. Is there a new trick?

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Damn. The Twitter trick works no more.

Dead & Company’s final S.F. concerts pumped $31 million into local economy

• Aidin Vaziri
   
  
•  8 hours ago
  

John Mayer (left), Jay Lane, Bob Weir and Mickey Hart of Dead & Company perform at Oracle Park on July 16, 2023 in San Francisco.




Dead & Company concluded its Final Tour in San Francisco over the weekend with a fantastic drone show, positive vibes and significant financial gains.
Approximately 120,000 fans over three days attended the band’s grand finale at Oracle Park, where it performed three sold-out concerts at the home of the Giants baseball team and raked in $20.4 million in ticket revenue. According to Destinations International’s Event Impact Calculator, the local Final Tour shows were projected to generate $21 million in direct spending and create a $31 million overall economic impact on the city’s struggling economy, providing a much-needed boost to various businesses and industries. 
“It was an honor for us to host Dead & Company’s final shows and we felt Oracle Park was a natural, authentic fit,” said Stephen Revetria, president of Giants Enterprises. “We were thrilled to see the over 120,000 spirited fans fill the ballpark and our city, and hope we were able to provide the band and their loyal following with a memorable platform to celebrate the historic final act.”   
Throughout its tour, Dead & Company — formed in 2015 by surviving Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann (who sat out the Final Tour) alongside singer-songwriter John Mayer — drew more than 840,000 fans to its shows, boasted a setlist of 112 unique songs and grossed a record-breaking $115 million.
To put that figure into perspective, the annual gross revenue for Dead & Company’s inaugural tour was $20.8 million, and the total for its previous tour in 2019 was $58.3 million — the highest sum recorded at the time. Adding to the tally, the band’s outdoor concerts in Mexico dubbed Playing in the Sand, a four-day event hosted at the Riviera Maya on the Mexican Caribbean coast, brought in a combined $52 million over three consecutive years in 2018, 2019 and 2020. 
“It’s not the money, it’s the money,” Bill Graham, the late rock promoter who is credited with first booking the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore Auditorium in 1966, famously said. 
In the last leg of the Final Tour alone, the band earned $54.4 million from just 10 stadium shows, contributing significantly to their milestone total.
“Dead & Company have a rich history in San Francisco, it only made sense for them to close out their incredible touring run in this magnificent city,” said Jodi Goodman, president of Live Nation in Northern California. “Over 120,000 fans from all over the country, and the world, came to the city to witness this historical closing chapter together – you couldn’t ask for a better ending to the legacy this band leaves behind in SF.”
Along the way, Dead & Company raised more than $13 million for nonprofits and other initiatives, supporting crucial causes ranging from environmental conservation to climate change solutions, on its most recent tour. An additional $2 million was garnered through charity auctions to further their philanthropic endeavors.
Emphasizing their dedication to sustainability, the rock band allocated nearly $1.6 million towards greenhouse gas reduction and climate justice projects. 
Over its eight-year run, Dead & Company toured across North American cities every year except 2020, performing 235 concerts. Ticket sales from 215 of the shows reported to Pollstar, the leading concert industry journal, show overall grosses from these concerts amounting to $434.3 million and approximately 4.1 million tickets sold.
“Well it looks like that’s it for this outfit,” Weir wrote on social media at the time the Final Tour was announced, “but don’t worry we will all be out there in one form or another until we drop …”
Reach Aidin Vaziri: avaziri@sfchronicle.com

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Damn. The Twitter trick works no more.