Grateful Dead 3/24/86 Set 1 Analysis & Setlist - Grateful Shows

Episode 9

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Published on:

6th May 2026

The Last Sailor | Grateful Dead · The Spectrum · March 24, 1986 | Set 1 · S2E09

🎸 MARCH 1986 EAST COAST · GRATEFUL DEAD · 1986

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📍 YOU ARE HERE: Show — The Last Sailor | Grateful Dead · The Spectrum · March 24, 1986 | Set 1 · S2E09 ·


Grateful Dead · The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA · March 24, 1986 · Set 1

Previous: The Spectrum 3/23/86 Set 2

Next: The Spectrum 3/24/86 Set 2

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🗺 NAVIGATE THIS TOUR

🎯 New to the show? Start at the very beginning!

S1E01 → Baltimore May 4, 1980

📋 Tourbook 1 Index (all 6 shows in order):

Tour Playlist

Grateful Shows covers Grateful Dead touring history - on tour at a time.

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🎸 OFFICIAL SETLIST:

Grateful Dead - The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA, March 24, 1986

Set 1

  1. Alabama Getaway ->
  2. Greatest Story Ever Told
  3. Dire Wolf ->
  4. Little Red Rooster ->
  5. Brown Eyed Women
  6. Brother Esau
  7. Ramble On Rose
  8. El Paso
  9. Box Of Rain

═══🎙 CONCERT ANALYSIS

The Grateful Dead welcome spring with six shows at two of the East Coast’s most renowned venues: the Hampton Coliseum and the Philadelphia Spectrum. Packed with energy and featuring a number of bust-outs, the tour was unforgettable, including the legendary “Box of Rain” in Hampton. However, a closer look suggests this might not have been either the highlight or the best show of the tour. Make sure to check out all six shows!

The second Box of Rain of the tour is the highlight of the set, but one would be remiss into thinking that it was the only well played tune of the set. Night two at The Spectrum and there are still plenty of surprises to come. From the podcast:

"When they see Phil, they know. When they heard about Hampton, they knew. When tickets for all three nights were in hand, they knew. It was just a question of when, not if. And certainly not where. Philly is the place to do it. No one cares about next time, whether it’s Portland, Providence, or Hartford. No one knows how to do it like Philadelphia, and they will be the first ones to let you know. Right now, they are about to let the band, the out-of-towners, and those who will listen to the tape a half-century later know. Now becomes a reality. "

Check it out.

📚 LINKS & RESOURCES

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🔗 Navigate The Series

🗺 NAVIGATE THIS TOUR

🎯 New to the show? Start at the very beginning!

S1E01 → Baltimore May 4, 1980

📋 Tourbook 1 Index (all 6 shows in order):

Tour Playlist

Grateful Shows covers Grateful Dead touring history - on tour at a time.

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🗺 EXPLORE OTHER TOURS

Shall we go - to other tours? Why not. So far here's what we've got:

🎸 Grateful Dead May 1980 East Coast Tour— Complete Playlist:

GRATEFUL DEAD MAY 1980 EAST COAST

Gritty, underrated Grateful Dead. From Baltimore to Maine, heady times in a downtrodden America's election year.

── WATCH THIS SPACE FOR MORE ──────────────

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About the Podcast

Grateful Shows
Poetic Meditations on the Grateful Dead...and Life
Grateful Shows is a tour-by-tour deep dive meditative analysis on selected Grateful Dead live concerts.

Each season covers one tour in depth-six shows, fully experienced, with setlist analysis, historical facts, philosophical and fictional rumblings. Companion ebooks go even deeper.

Season 2: March 1986 -The Grateful Dead welcome spring with six shows at two of the East Coast’s most renowned venues: the Hampton Coliseum and the Philadelphia Spectrum. Packed with energy and featuring a number of bust-outs, the tour was unforgettable, including the legendary “Box of Rain” in Hampton. However, a closer look suggests this might not have been either the highlight or the best show of the tour. Make sure to check out all six shows!

🎸 Grateful Dead live history · concert documentation · music history podcast
🗺 One tour at a time · six shows per season · VW bus not included

About your host

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J.Y. Pod

J.Y. Pod is the author and narrator of Grateful Shows. Let him guide you into a dreamland blending fact, fiction, and the distilled memories of countless deadheads into the world known as Grateful Shows.