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Ticket Giveaway! Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration

Win Two Tickets to the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration at Tanglewood

On June 30, the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration returns to Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts. Members of the Jerry Garcia Band, including Melvin Seals and Jacklyn LaBranch, will join the Boston Pops for an evening celebrating Jerry’s music and legacy.

And thanks to our friends at Tanglewood, Grateful Dead of the Day is giving away a pair of tickets to the show.

The Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration is an ambitious project curated by the Garcia family that reimagines Garcia’s music through the power of a full orchestra. Joining the Boston Pops will be an all-star cast that includes Jerry Garcia Band veterans Melvin Seals and Jacklyn LaBranch, along with Tom Hamilton, Grahame Lesh, John Morgan Kimock, and Kanika Moore.

The show has a history at Tanglewood. Previous performances there in 2013 and 2016 were highlights of the summer season, and the Symphonic Celebration reunited with the Pops and Lockhart for two sold-out performances in Boston last year. Now the project returns to the Koussevitzky Music Shed as part of Tanglewood’s 2026 season.

If you’ve never attended a concert at Tanglewood, the venue itself is worth the trip. Nestled in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, it remains one of the most beautiful and unique outdoor music venues in the country.

If you don’t want to leave your fate to chance, tickets are available directly through the Tanglewood Box Office.

How to Enter the Giveaway

Leave a comment below telling us your favorite Jerry Garcia song, performance, memory, or why you’d like to attend the show. Be sure to enter a valid email address (which will not be displayed publicly) in the comment form.

One entry per person. Entries open June 22 and close on June 26 at 4:20 PM Eastern.

One winner will be selected at random and contacted via email. The winner must respond within 24 hours or an alternate winner may be selected. Tickets will be held at will call by Tanglewood.

The winner will be announced on Grateful Dead of the Day and in the newsletter after confirmation.

Good luck, and we’ll see you at Tanglewood.

Comments

15 responses to “Win Two Tickets to the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration at Tanglewood”

  1. Gordy Tullen Avatar
    Gordy Tullen

    Oh hell yeah, right across the state from me!

    And so many good Jerry memories. But, since I was just listening to it, the Help> Slip> Franklin’s from today’s Deer Creek Show was something to behold. I was up front and could see a little twinkle in Jerry’s eye as he went off in the Franklin’s. Weren’t so many of those moments in ’93, and I was happy to catch that one.

    Reply
  2. Mark P Avatar
    Mark P

    Love Tanglewood…and Jerry. Get me those tickets! Favorite song is anything but Liberty.

    Reply
  3. Jason Myers Avatar
    Jason Myers

    I have to go with Eyes of the World from Boston on my birthday 9/29/93. Rosie provided me with front row between Vince and Jerry and I was in heaven. Great way to finish off a long round-trip train adventure to see some West coast shows. My jeans and my hair may fade, but the memories won’t!

    Reply
  4. Chris Goguen Avatar
    Chris Goguen

    A favorite Jerry performance for me is 11/5/79. I had a cassette of set 2 Aud that I listened to until my car ate the tape- great great version of eyes, franklin’s, estimated. I love how he took his time and his attitude reflected to the audience. Everyone was right where they wanted to be most. The first set Friend of the Devil is incredible too. Jerry could take on a character and sing through a different voice. In this version he sounds almost cartoonish, its comical and you can feel Jerry winking at you during‘ Ran down to the levee…but the devil caught me there…’. I love Tanglewood!

    Reply
  5. trippin n dreamin Avatar
    trippin n dreamin

    enjoyed any song Jerry played where he reminds of his emotional power. Stella Blue, Morning Dew and So Many Roads come to mind first. It doesnt have to be the whole song it can a word or phrase. His guitar playing is of course the reason we stick around. There are too many to mention.
    I enjoy them all!!

    Reply
  6. Jeffrey Andrade Avatar
    Jeffrey Andrade

    My favorite Garcia song is High Time. The melancholy of the song reminds me of the word Saudade in Portuguese, a bittersweet longing for what was or could have been.
    I’d love to see the show at Tanglewood! I’ve never been to the venue though I’m here in Boston, it would be a true treat!

    Reply
  7. Don Lesser Avatar
    Don Lesser

    My favorite Garcia memory is intermission at kleinhans show 3/17/70. Garcia, less, and weir were noodling around watching the crowd when Garcia popped a string and went into New Speedway Boogie. I truly believed he invented it right then. Of course we were dosed by a young woman with a bunch of pink tabs that “they told me to give out” before the show.

    Reply
  8. C M Vaughn Jr Avatar
    C M Vaughn Jr

    “Standing on the Moon” Giants Stadium, early 90s. I remember the full moon above the Stadium. It was transcendent!

    Reply
  9. Richard “Sammy” Boltax Avatar
    Richard “Sammy” Boltax

    On April 9, 1982, in the Rochester NY War Memorial, the boys encored with “Brokedown Palace.” I had hitchhiked from Buffalo to join my college buds for the show, and after shedding tears of joy following Brokedown, I found myself hitching back to Buffalo in a typical mid April upstate NY snowstorm. It has all gone well eversince. I now live in upstae Vermont, and would appreciate and enjoy a miracle to Tanglewood.

    Reply
  10. Bob Ferly Avatar
    Bob Ferly

    Oh yeah! Jerry out in the sun at the Bill Graham memorial was special…closest I got to seeing him in a classic 60s outdoors gathering.

    Reply
  11. Harvey Hochfeld Avatar
    Harvey Hochfeld

    My favorite memory of Jerry is smoking a J with Jer ! My one and only backstage pass was in Eugene’s McCaurthur Court in August of ’81 ! During the break I spotted him alone talking to his daughters and I walked over to him and fired up a fattie !

    Reply
  12. Francis Burke Avatar
    Francis Burke

    Holding my 1 year old son during Brokedown Palace on the summer solstice overlooking a golden sunset on San Francisco Bay

    Reply
  13. jen bautista Avatar
    jen bautista

    Jerry and his smile! Sweet memories.

    Reply
  14. Dorian marino Avatar
    Dorian marino

    I’ll Take a Melody… as a 90’s kid. Jerry introduction to a different way to think about music was pivotal. Thank you. ANd thank you to all my music companions over the years

    Reply
  15. Keith Lipstein Avatar
    Keith Lipstein

    I’m guessing 1974ish, on Vermont television, the 11:30PM movie lead in was the beginning of Bird Song, also with the commercial breaks. I was just starting to listen to the Dead, and may not have realized it was a Jerry song, but that I thought it had a great sound. A few years later was my first show at the Palladium, NYC, and the rest was history!

    Reply

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