Warfield Tops Longest Grateful Dead Runs in History

It should come as no surprise that the longest run in Grateful Dead history were the 15 Warfield Theater shows on Market Street in San Francisco from September 25 to October 14, 1980. Ripple was played to end the acoustic set at all 15 shows. (If you add the 2 NOLA shows and the 8 at Radio City, Ripple ended all 25 acoustic shows, FYI)

The three at the [you pick ] was the common approach for most of the middle years touring history, but here is a complete list of all 60+ runs with four or more shows. Please let me know what I missed.

Top-5 Runs Begin and End in 1980 sandwiched by the 1967 Cafe au Go Go shows (maybe) and MSG 1988 and 1991.

15 Warfield, September 25-27, 29-30, October 2-4, 6-7, 9-11, 13-14, 1980

10  Cafe au Go-Go, New York, June 1-10, 1967 (might be longest run in history until 1980 if true)

9 Madison Square Garden, September 14-16, 18-20, 22-24, 1988
9 Madison Square Garden, September 8-10, 12-14,16-18, 1991

8 Radio City Music Hall, October 22-23, 25-27, 29-31, 1980

Borrowed from Long Lost Dead blog

In sixth place is the famous 1972 Academy of Music Show raising funds for the Europe 72 tour and playing some awfully fine music, some of which was only released on SBD in the last few years


7 Academy of Music, NY, March 21-23, 25-2

Tied for 7th to 18th place are the 6 night runs starting perhaps with the SF Whiskey shows in 1967 (maybe, thanks to corry for the poster) to the last MSG run in 1994.  This includes the famous Port Chester run in 1971 and then a five year gap to the 1976 Orpheum shows and then the 1984 BCT benefits, with the first official taping sessions.  After that were all 1990s MSG and Boston Garden runs.

6 Whiskey A Go Go, San Francisco  March 10-15, 1967
6 The Rock Garden, San Francisco  March 16, 28-29, March 31-April 2, 1967 (kind of, maybe)
6 O'Keefe Centre, Toronto, July 31-August 5, 1967
6 Capitol Theater, Port Chester February 18-21, 23-24, 1971
6 Orpheum Theatre, San Francisco, July 12-14, 16-18, 1976
6 Berkeley Community Theater, October 27-28, 30-31, November 2-3, 1984
6 Madison Square Garden, September 14-16, 18-20, 1990
6 Boston Garden, September 20-22, 24-26, 1991
6 Madison Square Garden, September 16-18, 20-22, 1993
6 Boston Garden, September 24-26, 28-30, 1993
6 Boston Garden, September 27-29, October 1-3, 1994
6 Madison Square Garden, October 13-15, 17-19, 1994

There were 14 five night runs,  tied for 19th-32nd in Dead history, the first being the closing of Fillmore East famous April 1971 shows followed by Winterland and the Palladium 1977 shows (I saw 4-30-77) and the Oakland New Year Runs (I saw all the shows 1980-1982!). The last of the 5 night runs were the added Nassau Spring shows that complemented the MSG September shows due to the NYC demand towards the end

5 Fillmore East, April 25-29, 1971
5 Winterland, October 16-20, 1974

5 Palladium (Academy of Music), NY, April 29-May 1, May 4-5, 1977

5 Winterland, October 17-18, 20-22, 1978
5 Oakland Auditorium, December 26-28, 30-31, 1979

5 Oakland Auditorium, December 26-28, 30-31, 1980

5 Oakland Auditorium, December 26-28, 30-31, 1981
5 Oakland Auditorium, December 26-28, 30-31, 1982

5 Henry J. Kaiser, February 8-9, 11-12, 14, 1986

5 Madison Square Garden, September 15-16, 18-20, 1987

5 The Meadowlands, October 12-13, 14-16, 1989

5 Oakland Coliseum, December 11-13, 16-17, 1991
5 Nassau Coliseum, March 31, April 1-2, 4-5, 1993

5 Nassau Coliseum, March 23-25, 27-28, 1994

The more common four night runs occured 30 times by my count starting as Fillmore shows

Chance in front of the Fillmore Auditorium 2018

After a couple of classic 1972 runs in London and Berkeley, the four night runs became common again for 1976 East Coast Tour and were mainly on the west coast for the remainder of the Dead's career.


4 Fillmore Auditorium July 1966
4 Fillmore West, January 2-5, 1968
4 Fillmore West, February 27-March 2, 1969
4 Fillmore West, June 5-June 8, 1969
4 Fillmore West, February 5-8, 1970
4 Fillmore West, April 9-12, 1970
4 Fillmore West, June 4-7, 1970
4 Fillmore East, July 9-12, 1970
4 Fillmore East, September 17-20, 1970
4 Capitol Theater, Port Chester November 5-8, 1970
4 46th Street Rock Palace, Brooklyn, November 11-14, 1970
4 Felt Forum, December 4-7, 1971
4 The Strand, Lyceum, London, May 23-26, 1972
4 Berkeley Community Theatre, August 21-22, 24-25, 1972
4 Boston Music Hall, June 9-12, 1976
4 Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA, June 21-24, 1976
4 Auditorium Theater, Chicago, June 26-29, 1976
4 Winterland, December 27, 29-31, 1977
4 SF Civic, December 27-28, 30-31, 1983
4 Berkeley Community Theater, March 9-10, 12-13, 1985
4 Henry J. Kaiser, December 27-28, 30-31, 1986
4 Oakland Coliseum, December 27-28, 30-31, 1987
4 Henry J Kaiser, February 13-14, 16-17, 1988
4 The Spectrum, September 8-9, 11-12, 1988
4 Oakland Coliseum, December 27-28, 30-31, 1989
4 Oakland Coliseum, December 27-28, 30-31, 1990
4 Oakland Coliseum, October 27-28, 30-31, 1991
4 Oakland Coliseum, December 27-28, 30-31, 1991
4 Oakland Coliseum, December 8-9, 11-12, 1994
4 LA Sports Arena, December 15-16, 18-19, 1994


Sources; Deadbase 50 and Deadlists