The Grateful Dead Madison Square Garden New York, NY 3/9/81

Madison Square Garden, the world-famous New York City arena, was a home away from home for the Grateful Dead, a reliable sanctuary where the band would ultimately play 52 shows, a record at the time.

The venue’s fine acoustics combined with the fans’ unbridled energy consistently brought out the best in the Dead. At the band’s 2015 induction ceremony into Madison Square Garden’s Walk Of Fame, Bobby Weir said “This place was both horrifying and titillating with an audience that was discerning but ravenous. We had to rise to the occasion every time.”  MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK, NY (3/9/81) will be available as a 3-CD set.

“As Jerry Garcia famously said, Madison Square Garden was ‘juiced.’ It had an energy unlike any other venue the Grateful Dead played, particularly of this size, owing to the symbiotic relationship between the Dead, the Dead Heads, and New York City itself, says Grateful Dead legacy manager and archivist David Lemieux. “The Dead didn’t play the Garden until 1979, almost the midpoint of their performing career. but once they got rolling, they made it a home away from home, playing 10 shows in the next 15 years.