Dead Ahead (video)

Radio City Music Hall - October 1980

This is from the same run of shows as Reckoning and Dead Set. Originally issued on video and now re-issued on DVD with bonus footage.
[Uncle John's Band] ? Oct 1980(note 1)
Bird Song ? Oct 1980
On The Road Again ? Oct 1980
To Lay Me Down ? Oct 1980
Ripple ? Oct 1980
Me And My Uncle 31 Oct 1980
Mexicali Blues 31 Oct 1980
Ramble On Rose 31 Oct 1980
Little Red Rooster 31 Oct 1980
Don't Ease Me In 31 Oct 1980
Lost Sailor 31 Oct 1980
Saint Of Circumstance 31 Oct 1980
Franklin's Tower 31 Oct 1980
Drums/Space 31 Oct 1980
Fire On The Mountain 31 Oct 1980
Not Fade Away 31 Oct 1980
Good Lovin' 31 Oct 1980
 
Bonus footage on DVD: (note 2)
Heaven Help The Fool 30 Oct 1980
He's Gone 30 Oct 1980
Shakedown Street 30 Oct 1980
Truckin' 30 Oct 1980
Samson And Delilah 30 Oct 1980
Notes
(1) audio playing over a montage of photos of the band.
(2) these tracks were also issued on a bonus CD issued with advanced orders for the DVD.

History of the video release
The history of different releases of the "Dead Ahead" video is confused. So far as I can piece it together, the story is this:

In 1981, the Showtime cable channel broadcast "An Evening With The Grateful Dead" from the shows at the Radio city Music Hall the year before. The tracklist was:
On The Road Again
It Must Have Been The Roses
Ripple
Samson and Delilah
Ramble on Rose
Truckin'
Drums (with Billy Cobham)
The Other One
Good Lovin'
U.S. Blues
I believe some bootleg copies circulated.

An official video and laserdisc titled "Dead Ahead" (drawn from the same shows) were released in 1982. Some comments I have seen have implied that the track lists were different from the current "Dead Ahead" and included some songs such as "It Must Have Been The Roses" from the Showtime broadcast. But further research by Ihor Slabicky and me suggests that the track lists were the same - although the VHS video seems to have "Me And My Uncle" placed as the final track rather than after "Ripple."

This version of the video went out of print in the early 1990s.

In 1995, a new video release was prepared. It was first shown in cut-up form as a PBS special (with some new interviews, including one by Bob Weir about the origin of "Saint Of Circumstance"). The track list is the one set out above.

 

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