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Further to the 2024 London dates already announced, we have a number of fixtures elsewhere – Birmingham, Guildford, Cirencester, Hebden Bridge and Cambridge. 

The current full list of confirmed shows from now through 2024 reads:

Fri Nov 10 2023          Fiddler’s Elbow, Camden Town, London

Fri Jan 12 2024           Fiddler’s Elbow, Camden Town, London

Fri Mar 8 2024            Fiddler’s Elbow, Camden Town, London

Fri Mar 15 2024          Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham

Fri Apr 12 2024           Fiddler’s Elbow, Camden Town, London

Fri Jun 14 2024           Fiddler’s Elbow, Camden Town, London

Sat Jun 15 2024         The Boiler Room, Guildford, Surrey

Sat Jul 13 2024           Playing on the Farm III, nr Cirencester, Glos

Sat Aug 3 2024         Summer of Love (SoL) Party, near Hawkhurst, Kent

Fri Sep 13 2024          Fiddler’s Elbow, Camden Town, London

Fri Sep 20 2024         Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham

Sat Sep 21 2024        Trades Club, Hebden Bridge, W Yorks

Fri Nov 8 2024            Fiddler’s Elbow, Camden Town, London

Fri Nov 15 2024         Portland Arms, Cambridge, Cambs

Save those dates!  Links for tickets when available are posted on the Shows page.  We regret that, for 2024, we have had to increase the standard online ticket price for the Fiddler’s Elbow gigs from £13 to £15.  However, the price of £13 is maintained for Under 25’s.

Please note that ticket numbers for Playing on the Farm are limited and only available online.  Early bird prices are being offered for the first batch.  No tickets will be available at the gate.

We’re pleased to announce our dates at the Fiddler’s Elbow in Camden Town for 2024.  Note that this is a less regular pattern than in previous years which tended to the 2^nd Friday of every odd month

And it’s confirmed that we will again be headlining Playing on the Farm in Gloucestershire on  Sat July 13 2024

We hope and expect to return to Birmingham and Hebden Bridge, and to find new venues too. Watch this space for further details and dates as they emerge!

Greeting Dudes, heads and assorted friends. Hebden Bridge Trades club date is coming and coming up fast on 14th August. It’s a beautiful town in a beautiful part of the country so well worth making a weekend trip for it. Tickets at https://thetradesclub.com/events/gd or click the poster above As our German friends will know we are playing on 5,6,7 August at the Playing in the Band festival in Saxony ( https://germanheads.de/playing-in-the-band-summer-special-vii-2022/ ) And our next gigs at the Fiddler’s Elbow in Camden Town, London NW5 3HS are on Friday 9 September and Friday 4 November.  Tickets at https://buytickets.at/gratefuldudes We also have a set of new dates for 2023. Tickets available at buyat the box office link above. We will try to make a special carnet style ticket if you’re planning on coming to all the shows so hold off purchasing for next year until closer to the end of this. Friday 13 January 2023 Friday 10 March 2023 Friday 12 May 2023 Friday 14 July 2023 Friday 8 September 2023 Friday 10 November 2023 At a new venue bang in the middle of Soho – The Spice of Life, 6 Moor St, London W1D 5NA – Saturday 3 December 2022 And, following the great success of the event last month, and by popular demand, Playing on the Farm will be back at Abbey Home Farm, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire, 7 – 9 July 2023 with the Dudes headlining Saturday 8 July. Please alert all Deadheads young and old who missed out this year . Save the dates! Meanwhile, a multitrack recording of our sets at Playing on the Farm is available for streaming or downloading at:  www.thegratefuldudes.bandcamp.com Many thanks to Peter Williams for the fantastic posters he does for us. Get well soon Pete.

Saturday/Sunday 2/3 July 2022

A celebration of the music of the Grateful Dead and the 50^th anniversary of their outstanding Europe ’72 tour.

Essential details are:         

Saturday 2/3 July at Abbey Home Farm, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Bands:  The Grateful Dudes; Franklin’s Tower; Texas Tick Fever

All profits to Greenpeace

Bookings and further info at:  https://www.theorganicfarmshop.co.uk/whats-on/grateful-dudes

Ticket numbers are limited and only available in advance. No sales on the gate.

There are few opportunities in Europe to celebrate the Grateful Dead:  the 50^th anniversary of that fabulous tour is about as good a pretext as we’ll get!  The Dudes will play a Bickershaw-size set on Saturday evening.  (In the event of Bickershaw-size weather, there is an indoor option for playing in the barn.)  Hopefully you can come join the party and also help encourage the great many heads who may have inadvertently lost touch with the GD scene to rediscover the vibe and enjoy some great live music.  Ticket numbers are limited:  early booking is advised.   It’s gonna be a great weekend!

While waiting you can also see the multi-cam 32 track mix of our 2016 first gig at the Brooklyn Bowl in London, which has circulated hitherto on DVD and now replaces the house mix version at:  https://youtu.be/4DLKVwSWj64

And don’t forget our next appearance at the Fiddler’s Elbow on Friday 4 March.

There has been a monumental mix-up in the Fiddler’s Elbow booking system which requires that we change all our 2022 dates there.  If you noted them down please delete all 6 previous dates (12 Feb, 9 Apr, 4 Jun, 6 Aug, 1 Oct, 3 Dec).

The new confirmed 2022 dates at the Fiddlers are:

Sat 15 January

Fri 4 March

Fri 6 May

Fri 22 July

Fri 9 September

Fri 4 November

Music starts at 8pm.  Online tickets generally go on sale about 4 weeks before the concert.

Additionally we are booked to play 3 nights Fri 5 – Sun 7 August at the Playing in the Band festival in Saxony, Germany.

And we hope to mount a festival near Cirencester, Gloucestershire, on Sat/Sun 2/3 July in commemoration of the 50^th anniversary of Dead’s Europe ’72 tour (and the imminent 4^th July).  More news in due course.

No doubt other 2022 gigs will pitch up and we’ll keep you informed.  First of course, this year, we’re playing at the Dylan and the Dead convention in Portsmouth on Sat 27 November.  We plan to play a regular GD set but with a few Dylan songs thrown in.  Info and tickets are available at:  www.barkingspider.abelgratis.com

Lastly you may have noticed various changes of personnel in the rhythm guitar and bass slots.  Dave Seppanen, erstwhile bassist, decided to leave the band and was temporarily replaced by Mike Farmer who will be with us again in Portsmouth.  But the intended permanent arrangement is that Richard Hill, formerly in the Weir slot, will now twang’n’rumble his 5 string bass (as he just did on 1 October).  Meanwhile Sean Daly has already established his credentials in the rhythm guitar space.

Hope to see you soon.

The welcome we got from the German heads was far better than we could have imagined it would’ve, with old friendships rekindled and new forged.
With fine support first from Mathais Peter (MP Musik), then a wonderful example of Deutsche Jam from Schluff Jull, and an incredibly high energy bluegrass set from Jawbone for the Saturday night, it was an epic trip that we’ll not forget in a hurry, and we sure would like to come back to the continent again.
The three shows were played deep into the early hours and no repeats were played. We think we could have played a fourth night and still not had to repeat a tune.
Matthias joined us onstage for all three shows for drums to the end of set two all three nights where he added some amazing electronic and Beam effects to enhance the two drum battalion on Paul and Bob, so check out the tapes.
Look out for dates in 2020 when we hope to return!

“ we love this music as much as you & very much appreciate the support . Keep coming to see us and we’ll keep working on these tunes “ – Paul

“You don’t just play the Grateful Dead, You guys celebrate The Grateful Dead” – Arne

A great time was had at the end of May to the 1st of June by us. First up was another great gig at Hebden Bridge Trades Club, fast becoming a fan favourite as well as a band favourite. For the third year we have increased our audience there, so word is spreading with old friends bringing new friends and also new connections being made in the Deadhead communities of folk who don’t usually come out for tribute bands. Hopefully that shows in our playing, bringing not just the songs, but the spirit of improvisation to life in much the same way the Dead did.
Look for a May return in 2020