Good Ol' Grateful Deadcast — BONUS: Dead Behind / Dead Ahead

Podcast: GOOD OL' GRATEFUL DEADCAST
Release Date: October 15, 2020
Hosts: Rich Mahan & Jesse Jarnow
Guests: Al Franken, Richard Loren, Nick Palmgarden, Steve Silverman, Erik Nelson, Len Dellamico, and others
Episode Focus: A behind-the-scenes, wide-ranging account of the Grateful Dead’s iconic 15th Anniversary run in 1980, which yielded the albums Reckoning and Dead Set and culminated with the Dead Ahead video concert simulcast.

Episode Overview

This special bonus episode commemorates two historic milestones:

• The 40th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s Reckoning and Dead Set albums, captured across legendary acoustic and electric performances at San Francisco’s Warfield and New York’s Radio City Music Hall in fall 1980.
• The anniversary of Dead Ahead, the Dead’s first full concert movie simulcast (featuring comedians Al Franken and Tom Davis), highlighting their embrace of media innovation and making history with their Deadhead community.

The episode weaves together firsthand accounts, archival audio, hilarious outtakes, and production deep-dives, exploring how these landmark performances shaped the Dead’s legacy and their ever-evolving relationship with fans.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The 15th Anniversary Shows: Origins and Mythmaking

Timestamps: 04:47–13:57

• The 1980 concerts were billed as the Dead’s “15th Anniversary,” a marketing move by promoters that the band only half-heartedly acknowledged.
  • Quote: “The shows were being advertised as 15th anniversary retrospectives. That's like pure fiction pop culture... The truth of the matter is that as long as we play, we've always played some amount of everything we've ever played.” — (09:22, Bob Weir & Narrator)
• The band was prompted by audience expectations into marking the occasion more thoughtfully after a miscommunication at a Boulder, CO, show led fans to expect a proper celebration.

The Return of the Acoustic Dead

• These shows marked the first regular acoustic sets since 1970, rekindling the rootsy sound of Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, now refined by a decade of musical growth.
  • Quote: “You can hear that they are much better musicians in 1980 than they were in 1970... the Birdsong Outro jam on Reckoning. I mean, that's like rich ensemble acoustic, experimental music.” — (07:37, Jesse Jarnow)

2. Setting the Scene: Warfield & Radio City Music Hall

Timestamps: 13:42–23:56

• Booking Iconic Venues: Bill Graham (SF) and John Scher (NYC) secured the venues. Radio City hosting was unprecedented for a rock band, a decision driven partly by the venue’s financial troubles and public campaigns to save it.
• Warfield Legacy: Bill Graham created an immersive experience, turning the theater into a Grateful Dead museum.
  • Quote: “He installed things like speakers in the lobby so the bands could dance... the whole thing was like a temple of Deadhead dumb.” — (22:55, Steve Silverman)
• Ticket Fandom Madness: Campouts for tickets became a news sensation, signaling the rise of “Deadhead” culture to national awareness.
  • Quote: “2,000 fans waited. They camped out for three days on the sidewalk just to snag the 50,000 tickets for the shows.” — (17:38, Richard Loren)

3. Production, Recording, and Sound Innovations

Timestamps: 27:31–34:39

• Live Recording Philosophy: Bob Matthews and Betty Cantor-Jackson focused on capturing entire performances in the same room for sonic cohesiveness—a shift from previous piecemeal live albums.
  • Quote: “The desire of this project was to be able to work in one or two locations... be able to come up with something really a good five-star performance evening.” — (29:35, Bob Matthews)
• Sound in the Room: The acoustic sets sounded deeply intimate, a result of audio tailored for these smaller venues.
  • Quote: “The sound of those shows really put that Brent sound in the foreground. It was just lovely... the Dead had kind of, you know, put their ship in a bottle a bit and made it a kind of smaller sound for a smaller, more intimate setting.” — (30:13, Steve Silverman)

4. Simulcasting & Dead Ahead: Pioneering the Concert Experience

Timestamps: 35:14–43:18

• Simulcast Breakthrough: The Halloween night Radio City show (Dead Ahead) was simulcast to movie theaters—an industry first for a rock band.
  • Quote: “So again, first time in the history that a rock band simulcast their shows... this way, you know, Deadheads throughout the United States... were able to enjoy.” — (36:23, Richard Loren)
• Behind-the-Scenes Adventures:
  • Len Dellamico’s First Encounter: Colorfully recounts his “bizarre” initiation backstage with Garcia, including massive joints and Hell’s Angels, emphasizing both the chaos and warmth of the Dead’s circle. (38:26–41:05)
  • Simulcast Hosts Franken and Davis: Saturday Night Live’s legendary comedy duo, both devoted Deadheads, were tapped to host and produce original skits, blending countercultural humor with Dead lore.
    • Quote: “I do remember being very high at Winterland once and talking, I thought it was to God, I'm not sure. But I said, if there's any way I can work with these guys, I want to do it... And it came true in 1980...” — (44:04, Tom Davis)

5. The Sketches, Comedy, & Community

Timestamps: 43:18–68:57

• Jerry’s Kids & Comedy Bits: Franken and Davis pushed the envelope, including running gags about Jerry Garcia’s missing finger and a telethon for hapless Deadheads, with Garcia’s full, good-humored participation.
  • Quote: “That was a bit where... I heard, I'm like, I don’t know. Really? You’re going to ask Jerry if we can make comedy out of his fucking missing finger? Yeah, we’re going to do it. He'll love it.” — (54:34, Jesse Jarnow)
• Deadhead Participation: Audience costume contests, trivia, and spontaneous moments—like Tom Davis climbing the lighting scaffolding while genuinely tripping on LSD—underscored the anything-goes, joyously freaky vibe.
  • Quote: “He was completely fearless... he would do anything for comedy. I should not have allowed that to happen. And he was high on acid. If he had told me that, I would definitely... have just said come on. But I didn’t know until it was over. But the audience lost their mind.” — (68:10, Len Dellamico)

6. Album Editing & Legacy

Timestamps: 69:21–75:46

• Production Techniques: Jeffrey Norman described the technical wizardry needed to assemble the live albums from multi-track recordings onto vinyl, while capturing the concert's ambiance digitally—a legacy that shaped future Dead releases.
  • Quote: “Take a listen to those. There’s just... it’s very nicely ambient, but you still have the close mic sound of the instruments. And it was a great technique. Now you could do it easily in the digital world, but back then in the analog world, to move tracks in time separate from other tracks is, well, very difficult to do.” — (69:21, Jeffrey Norman)
• First Almost-Complete Show: With Dead Ahead, the Dead released the first near-complete concert video, presaging the jam band approach to full-set archival releases.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Community:
  “You feel connected to these people, certainly, but also kind of, you just go, oh, I wish humanity could be like this.” — (44:46, Al Franken)
• Bill Graham on Venue as Theater:
  “The Grateful Dead and their audience allow us to be involved in this piece of theater and we have the opportunity to play director of the non musical choreography with 15 shots to make it better and better.” — (24:42, Bill Graham)
• On Defending Their Art: “When you allowed the Grateful Dead to hire the room, did you notice that in the name of the band was the word Dead? Are you unfamiliar with their iconography?” — (57:28, Sue Stevens recounting a conversation with Radio City management)
• On Wild Skits:
  “Jerry’s finger... would go to whoever, you know, does something or wins the lottery or whatever we were going to do. And of course, during the course of the evening, the finger disappears and you see it wiggling around in the background...” — (53:38, Al Franken)

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 04:47 — The origins of the 15th anniversary concerts and the resurrection of the acoustic Dead
• 13:42 — Booking the Warfield and Radio City, setting the stage for the landmark runs
• 17:06 — Deadhead phenomenon: camping out for tickets and the expansion of fan culture
• 23:36 — Bill Graham’s production innovations and the “Dead as Theater” concept
• 27:31 — An inside look at live recording approaches and sound innovations
• 35:14 — Innovating with the first concert simulcast (Dead Ahead)
• 43:18 — Al Franken & Tom Davis: from SNL to Deadhead heroes, comedy sketches, and more
• 54:34 — The "Jerry’s finger" skit and the band’s sense of humor
• 68:10 — Tom Davis, acid, and comedy without boundaries
• 69:21 — Jeffrey Norman on editing and assembling the albums
• 72:56 — The birth of the “Rhythm Devils/Space” segment in Dead tradition

Episode Tone & Takeaway

Richly nostalgic yet irreverent, the episode is equal parts oral history, fan tribute, and comedy showcase. It honors the quirkiness and inventiveness of the Dead and their circle: from technical innovation and musical reinvention to outright communal weirdness.

For newcomers: This episode unpacks why these events represent more than just concerts—they are a microcosm of the Dead’s ethos: experimentation, community, and a refusal to take anything (least of all themselves) too seriously.

For longtime Deadheads: It’s a treasure trove of in-jokes, technical tidbits, and behind-the-scenes lore, offering fresh perspectives on shows you might think you already know.

Summary

The 1980 Warfield and Radio City runs—captured on Reckoning, Dead Set, and Dead Ahead—stand not just as musical milestones, but as vivid examples of the Grateful Dead’s alchemy of art, fandom, theater, and humor. This episode celebrates the lasting magic that happens when you put a band, its fans, and its extended creative family together in a room (or movie theater), switch on the mics, and let the weirdness (and music) flow.