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 2nd Friday of every odd month
Fiddlers Elbow 2024:
Fri Jan 12
Fri Mar 8
Fri Apr 12
Fri Jun 14
Fri Sep 13
Fri Nov 8
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!
Sat 8 July 2023 Playing on the Farm 2, nr Cirencester, Glos. Those who came to this first GD-dedicated event this year can tell you how great a time they had. Charity benefit again, and slightly bigger set-up for 2023. Tickets are on sale now (including some early birds) at : https://www.theorganicfarmshop.co.uk/whats-on/playing-on-the-farm-23
Sat 5 August 2023 Summer of Love (SoL) Party, nr Hawkhurst, Kent. Great to return to headline the hip festival after 4 years.
YOU CAN NOW PAY YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS TO SoL PARTY BY PAYPAL via J.R’s Barking Spider Promotions website. Go to…. https://webplus.barkingspider.abelgratis.com/ and scroll down until you come to SoL Party. Enter the number of subscriptions required in the boxes to the right of the description. Press ‘tab’ or ‘return’ / ‘enter’ to calculate the total. When you’re satisfied with your selection, click on the yellow ‘Checkout with PayPal’ button (beneath the ‘totals box’ at the bottom of the page) to proceed to PayPal for processing your payment. You will be returned to the website for a final review and confirmation of your order before payment is taken. An email copy of the confirmation page will be displayed at the end of the process and a copy will be sent to your PayPal email address.
PLEASE PRINT THIS OUT YOUR CONFIRMATION E MAIL AND BRING IT TO THE GATE AT SoL PARTY TO GAIN ENTRY! Instructions on SoL Party’s precise location and how to get to there will be sent to you once your payment has been confirmed.
Future calendar Just to recap on remaining 2023 fixtures:
Friday 12 May 2023 – Fiddler’s Elbow, Camden, London Saturday 8 July 2023 – Playing on the Farm 2, nr Cirencester, Glos Friday 14 July 2023 – Fiddler’s Elbow, Camden, London Saturday 5 August – Summer of Love Festival (SoL), nr Hawkhurst, Kent Friday 11 August – Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham Saturday 12 August – Trades Club, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire Friday 8 September 2023 – Fiddler’s Elbow, Camden, London Friday 10 November 2023 – Fiddler’s Elbow, Camden, London
New Videos! We’ve added a video of the second of three performances at the wonderful German Playing in the Band festival in August ’22.
Plus you can catch nearly 4 hours of multi-tracked, multi-cam Dudes live from Playing on the Farm 2022 to give you a flavour of what’s to come this Summer. You can find part one here and part two here.
From our celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Europe 72 tour through a well received show at the Fiddlers Elbow and on to an amazing time playing for friends old and new in Germany finally capped off with a wonderful show for our return to Hebden Bridge last Sunday. It’s been wonderful having so many shows close together and we hope to do more of it next year.
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
The September show might have a small increase in audience as we hear there is great excitement for the DSO show in London the following week and there may be more Deadheads looking to join us. Buy early and I know you’ll make everyone welcome!
We also have a set of new dates for 2023. Tickets available at 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 if you’re planning on catching them all.
Friday 13 January 2023 Friday 10 March 2023 Friday 12 May 2023 Friday 14 July 2023 Friday 8 September 2023 Friday 10 November 2023
We will also be playing at a new venue to us bang in the middle of Soho – The Spice of Life, 6 Moor St, London W1D 5NA – Saturday 3 December 2022
No ticket link yet but soon that will up. Save the date for now for what may well ben our last show of the year. 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. It’s going to be bigger and better with more details to follow as we get closer.
Save all the dates!
Meanwhile, a multitrack recording of our sets at Playing on the Farm along with tapes of Fiddler’s Elbow and Hebden Bridge are available for streaming or downloading at: www.thegratefuldudes.bandcamp.com
The Germany Playing In The Band Summer specials will also be there as soon as possible. We will also have video from Germany available on YouTube soon.
Many thanks to Peter Williams for the art. You can buy prints at the shows. Get fitter soon Pete!
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
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.
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 50th 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 50th anniversary of Dead’s Europe ’72 tour (and the imminent 4th 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.
At long last we’re pleased to confirm a set of dates for future gigs, with ticketing link for our return to the stage on Sat 14 August at the Fiddlers Elbow, 1 New Malden Road, London NW5 3HS. Doors 7pm, Music 8pm. £10 online and on door (but venue has a max capacity). Hope many can seize the occasion to rediscover some good time live music, and help our hosts at the Fiddlers to recover from their long enforced closure.
Many thanks to Peter Williams for the art. You can buy prints at the shows
Looking further ahead we can also announce the following dates for your diaries:
At the Fiddlers Elbow: (see latest post for amendments)
Fri Oct 1 2021 Sat 12 Feb 2022 Sat 9 Apr 2022 Sat 4 Jun 2022 Sat 6 Aug 2022 Sat 1 Oct 2022 Sat 3 Dec 2022
There are also plans afoot to hold a 2 day outdoor event in the Cotswolds (Gloucestershire) on Sat/Sun 2/3 July 2022 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Dead’s historic Europe ‘72 tour and nestle into 4 July celebrations). Save the date!
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
We’re on Songkick now, a great little site that also has an app which lets you know when pretty much any artist in the world is playing.
Find us here and follow us for all the latest show news.
We’ll be updating everything from our mailing list as normal, so you won’t lose out if you don’t sign up.
