Grateful Dead fans, the famous "Deadheads," are grateful that the band will be celebrating its 50th anniversary with a special series of shows at Chicago's Soldier Field, however they'd be especially grateful if the venue would allow them to camp in the parking lot between shows. Fans of the jam icons would often follow the group on the road and camp along the way, and the Deadheads want to do things right during their idols' last stand on the road.
"It's something that we've been doing for so long," says Jeremy Davis, a Florida resident and Grateful Dead fan who started a petition to support the effort. "This is almost a no brainer."
It should be clarified that by "camping," Davis is referring to fans parking their RV's in the lots of the stadium and staying there for the night, versus pitching a tent. This has been typical protocol for fans over the years, and frankly Chicago doesn't have many places to park an RV and sleep...unless you want to take the L-train into town every day for the concert...which would kind of go against the idea.
Chicago city officials haven't given a ruling yet but they're far from saying "no." The issue with the request of the Deadheads is that it would require tons of extra hours from city police and fire department staff. A typical event at Soldier Field involves parking lots opening four hours before kickoff (literal sometimes), while the proposal of Davis could require round-the-clock supervision for three days or more. That money would have to come from somewhere, and we wouldn't be surprised to see the city charging those parked in the lot.
Davis makes a good point in his argument however, noting that allowing Deadheads to stay in the lot would prevent the crowding of the streets by thousands of fans every night. Having attended Lollapalooza (which occurs rich next door at Grant Park), we can attest that concert attendees have a bad habit of literally walking in the street and disrupting traffic.
Stay tuned, Grateful Dead fans. The concerts are scheduled for July 3-5, featuring Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio as well.
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