Grateful Dead - 1980-10-31 - Radio City Music Hall, NY, NY (SBD)

Grateful Dead

1980-10-31

Radio City Music Hall

New York, NY

Soundboard Recording

320 kbps

Artwork Included

Acoustic Set:

01. Banter (Bass Problems)

02. Heaven Help The Fool

03. Sage & Spirit

04. Little Sadie

05. Monkey & The Engineer

06. It Must Have Been The Roses

07. Cassidy

08. Birdsong >

09. Ripple

1st Electric Set:

01. Jack Straw >

02. Cold Rain & Snow

03. Me & My Uncle

04. Mexicali Blues

05. Ramble on Rose >

06. Little Red Rooster

07. Brown Eyed Woman >

08. Looks Like Rain >

09. Deal

2nd Electric Set:

01. Don't Ease Me In >

02. Lost Sailor >

03. Saint Of Circumstance >

04. Franklin's Tower >

05. Drums >

06. Space >

07. Fire On The Mountain >

08. Not Fade Away >

09. Stella Blue >

10. Goin Down The Road Feeling Bad >

11. Good Lovin'

Encore:

01. Uncle John's Band

Grateful Dead - 1980-10-31 - Radio City Music Hall, NY, NY (SBD)

Grateful Dead 1980 - Back To Back - #3:  As promised yesterday, here's the 3rd installment in our Back To Back Set featuring the Grateful Dead at Radio City Music Hall in 1980. And also, as promised, here's a host of background on that run, including how I got to attend this show! For a brief moment in 1979, it looked like Radio City Music Hall, the landmark art deco theater nicknamed the Showplace of the Nation, would be closed and tuned into office space. More enlightened thinking prevailed and the theater was instead renovated and reopened in 1980. In addition to the physical transformation the building underwent, the venue also took a new approach toward booking acts. For the first time ever, rock and roll bands were added to the roster of performers that graced the hallowed theater. In October 1980, the fall of my senior year, I interviewed the concert director at Radio City Music Hall for an article in my school newspaper’s semi-annual “College Student’s Guide To Arts and Entertainment”. We discussed the theater’s change in booking policy, including the fact that the Grateful Dead would play 8 nights at Radio City later that month. Not only did I get a great story, but I also came away with 2 tickets to the last night of the Dead’s upcoming run, on Halloween. The Radio City Shows, along with ones previously performed at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco and the Saenger Performing Arts Center in New Orleans, commemorated the band’s 15th anniversary, and included an acoustic set to open the night. The contrast between the Dead’s audience, in tie dye and costumes on Halloween, and the stately confines of Radio City, was quite a sight to behold. The entire show was broadcast to movie theaters throughout the country via closed circuit television. The Dead rose to the occasion that night, playing a stellar acoustic set that included an instrumental version of Weir’s Heaven Help The Fool; one of the only 2 times they performed Sage and Spirit; and outstanding versions of Monkey & The Engineer, Birdsong and Ripple. Two beautifully played electric sets followed, and the band sent everyone off to trick or treat with a very special Uncle John’s Band for an encore. This soundboard recording captures every note of that October 31, 1980 performance that took place 41 years ago today. By the way, if you like stories like the one shared in this post, then check out my book, Ten Rules Of The Road I Learned At My First Concert, available here!