The Grateful Dead's Easter Sunday Shows
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The Grateful Dead didn't do holidays the way anyone else did. No special setlists announced in advance, no holiday merch push, no coordinated theme. They just showed up, plugged in, and played. But Easter Sunday had something going for it — Bobby always brought out Samson & Delilah. Every time. Because of course he did.
Over their thirty-year run, the Dead played four confirmed Easter Sunday shows. Each one is a snapshot of a different era — different band chemistry, different crowd energy, different versions of Jerry. Here's the full story on all four, with links to stream them free on archive.org.
Easter Sunday No. 01
April 11, 1982
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum — Uniondale, NY
Spring 1982. The band had just come off a run of shows in Syracuse and Rochester, and Nassau was next. Fifteen thousand heads packed the Coliseum on Long Island for Easter Sunday. For more than a few of them, it was their first Dead show — one reviewer noted it was the first of 111 shows he'd eventually see. He stuck around.
Bobby opened the second set with Bertha into Samson & Delilah — his annual Easter offering. Jerry's Candyman in the first set was the standout, relaxed and deep. Let It Grow closed the first set with Mickey and Bill locked in hard.
— fan review, dead.net
The honest assessment: it wasn't the hottest show of the spring tour. The night after — April 12 — is the one heads talk about, with a sublime Sugaree and a Satisfaction encore. But the Easter Sunday show has its own warmth to it. Some nights the music isn't the whole point.
Set 1
Mississippi Half Step → Franklin's Tower → El Paso · Candyman → Little Red Rooster · Althea → Beat It On Down The Line · Row Jimmy · Let It Grow
Set 2
Bertha → Samson & Delilah · Good Time Blues · He's Gone → Truckin' → Drums → Not Fade Away → Black Peter → Around & Around → Good Lovin'
Encore: Don't Ease Me In
Easter Sunday No. 02
April 7, 1985
The Spectrum — Philadelphia, PA
This is the one. If you're going to spin one Easter show today, make it this one.
Phil Lesh opened the set — not with music, but with a full-throated "HIYA HIYA HIYA KIDS, HOW YA DOIN'?" into the microphone. The floor at the Spectrum was still general admission in 1985, and the crowd was already pressed up tight. Then he launched into Why Don't We Do It in the Road, which is not a Grateful Dead song, which is exactly the kind of move Phil Lesh makes on Easter Sunday.
The first set was only six songs — short by any Dead standard — but fans who were there will tell you there wasn't a single wasted note. Bird Song went somewhere spacious and strange. Then Shakedown Street opened the second set, followed by Bobby's mandatory Samson & Delilah, and Morning Dew closed it all out.
— first-timer, dead.net
That's the thing about the '85 Easter show. The music was excellent. But the lot stories are what make it. People who were there remember the energy as electric — the kind of Easter Sunday you don't forget.
Set 1
Why Don't We Do It in the Road → Mississippi Half Step → CC Rider · Bird Song · Dancin' in the Streets · Deal
Set 2
Shakedown Street → Samson & Delilah · She Belongs to Me → Women Are Smarter → Drums → Gimme Some Lovin' → Truckin' → Smokestack Lightning → Morning Dew → Sugar Magnolia
Encore: Day Job
Easter Sunday No. 03
April 19, 1987
Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre — Irvine, CA
By 1987, the Dead were playing arenas. This was an outdoor show — afternoon start, California sun, and a daytime crowd in full tie-dye bloom. One fan remembers looking out at the audience during the first set and thinking the color alone was worth the price of admission.
There's also a piece of Dead mythology attached to this show: military jets from a nearby air show flew over during Space, and someone — the band or the crew — routed the jet sounds through the PA system. The planes made sweeping passes through the sound system before pulling up and out. On Easter Sunday. In California. During Space. Only the Dead.
The set list leaned on the emotional side of Jerry's catalog. Wharf Rat was perhaps the best version of the night — raw and fully committed. Black Muddy River came with a heavy guitar solo that didn't let up. And then Brokedown Palace sent everyone home as the Southern California afternoon slid into evening.
— Daily Dose of the Dead
Set 1
Mississippi Half Step → Franklin's Tower · New Minglewood Blues · Ramble on Rose · Tons of Steel · Box of Rain · Cassidy · Alabama Getaway → Promised Land
Set 2
China Cat Sunflower → I Know You Rider · Man Smart/Woman Smarter · Black Muddy River · I Need a Miracle · Cumberland Blues → Drums → The Other One → Wharf Rat → Not Fade Away
Encore: Brokedown Palace
Easter Sunday No. 04
April 3, 1988
Hartford Civic Center — Hartford, CT
Jerry's voice was shot. Not a little rough — genuinely gone. By the time Black Peter came around in the second set, he was so frustrated he threw the mic stand down and stepped back from it. You can hear it on the tapes.
But here's the other part of the Hartford Easter story. Deadheads descended on Bushnell Park in the middle of the city and camped out — hundreds of them, all Easter Sunday — in the shadow of the Connecticut State Capitol. The city wasn't prepared for it. They had to call in police overtime to manage the scene. It put the Dead on what one fan called "Double Secret Probation" with Hartford.
Despite Jerry's voice, the music held up in places. Playin' in the Band into Crazy Fingers into Franklin's Tower was the highlight of the three-night run — a long, searching sequence that went somewhere the voice couldn't have taken it anyway. Box of Rain and Cold Rain & Snow in the first set were solid. The show is what it is: a document of a rough night on a holy one.
Set 1
Promised Land → Greatest Story Ever Told · Althea · Little Red Rooster · Cold Rain & Snow · Stuck Inside of Mobile · Box of Rain · Don't Ease Me In
Set 2
Playin' in the Band → Crazy Fingers → Franklin's Tower → Women Are Smarter → Drums → Gimme Some Lovin' → Black Peter → Turn on Your Love Light
Encore: It's All Over Now Baby Blue
Wear Your Colors
Those Philly heads tie-dyed their shirts the night before the '85 Easter show. We did the work for you. Officially licensed Grateful Dead tees, handmade tie-dyes, sizes up to 6X — ships fast.
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