Definitive Setlists

Here at Grateful Dead, we are putting a definitive list of setlists together. Eventually, this will allow you to search for music and shows in all sorts of different ways.

I started in 1977 and went forward. Compiling the setlists from the 70s, 80s, and 90s were a relative breeze. But as I returned to the early years, especially the 60s, there have been questions about nearly every date. Some shows without recordings have conflicting setlist reports or none at all. And when we do have recordings, they are often incomplete and mislabeled. Advertised concerts that the Dead never actually played, early and late shows on the same date, and countless other things raise questions about what days the Dead even played. Needless to say, creating the early part of this master setlist material is slow going, even when we have a setlist and recording that we are just confirming. 

But there are also tons of pleasures. Listening to primal Dead and growing my appreciation for the evolution of the band’s sound has been the biggest treat. But my respect for the tapers and dedicated collectors, compilers, and historians over the years who have preserved, remastered, and contextualized the Dead’s massive oeuvre has grown greater still through the process of compiling these setlists. After the band and the crew themselves, we owe everything to the time and effort that these die-hard fans have put in.

Anyway, I will be posting occasional things that I find while doing the setlist work. And, hopefully, before too long, you will have access to all the fruits of this labor.