Peter Shapiro is the rare concert promoter whose name carries weight with both the jam-band faithful and the broader entertainment industry. The producer of over 10,000 shows — including the Grateful Dead’s historic Fare Thee Well reunion in 2015 — Shapiro has built a network of venues, festivals, and media properties that stretches from Brooklyn to London, with critical anchors in Upstate New York.
Capitol Theatre and Bearsville
Shapiro’s most significant Upstate New York investment is The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, a historic venue he revitalized into one of the premier concert halls in the Northeast. In 2013, he secured a 45-show exclusive contract with Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, who performed 30 shows at the Capitol — a residency that cemented the venue’s status as hallowed ground for the jam community. Garcia’s, an adjacent venue and bar named for Jerry Garcia, extends the Capitol’s ecosystem. Shapiro also took over the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, preserving another piece of Upstate New York’s musical heritage.
The Empire
Beyond Upstate New York, Shapiro’s portfolio includes Brooklyn Bowl locations in New York, Las Vegas, Nashville, and Philadelphia. He purchased the legendary Wetlands Preserve in Manhattan in 1996, cutting his teeth as a venue operator before expanding nationally. He is the publisher of Relix magazine, founder of the FANS online community, and chairman of HeadCount, a voter registration organization that operates at music events nationwide. His film work includes Grateful Dead documentaries and the IMAX concert films All Access and U2 3D. He pitched U2’s Sphere residency in Las Vegas.
Legacy
Shapiro’s Fare Thee Well shows at Chicago’s Soldier Field in 2015 — the Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary concerts — generated record-breaking Ticketmaster demand and became the most talked-about live music event of the decade. He earned spots on Billboard’s Power 100 in 2015 and 2016. But for Upstate New York, his legacy is more personal: he preserved the Capitol Theatre and the Bearsville Theater at a time when historic venues were closing faster than new ones could open. That matters more than any industry list.