After being shut down for 18 months because of the pandemic, live music will soon be heard once again at the legendary Capitol Theatre in Port Chester.

The venue’s owners, staff and fans came together today to celebrate the upcoming reopening with the sign on the marquee saying it all: "The Cap is Back!"

"To say that we're excited is an understatement. After riding the couch for 18 months...it's time to get back in and have some fun,” says Brian Lynch, head usher at Capitol Theatre.

The theater offered a preview of its revamped sound system before the first live show on Saturday.

The Cap also saluted its diehard fans who helped to keep the theater afloat during the pandemic by buying tiles with the name of their favorite bands and shows. More than 400 tiles now adorn the front entrance to the theater.

"That tile program helped us a lot, it gave us the money to keep a bunch of staff on pay the bills and be able to reopen now,” says owner Peter Shapiro.

The Capitol Theatre will reopen after a year and a half on Saturday with a free show featuring a Grateful Dead tribute band. The Cap was the favorite venue for Grateful Dead and its latest incarnation, Dead & Company.

"We felt the right way to reopen after 18 months...would be to do a free show,” says Shapiro. "The Capitol Theatre was really the home of the Grateful Dead, their favorite venue on the East Coast.”

Blythe Rothstein and her husband Paul are Dead Heads who've seen countless performances. Their tile has the name of the band's original bass player Phil Loesch.

"It's nice, this will be my legacy, they won't remember me, but they'll see my tile and that will be good,” says Paul Rothstein.

Fans must be vaccinated to attend shows or show proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test.

Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow and Billy Idol are some big names slated to play the theater this fall.