Grateful Dead March 1986 Tour Analysis & Recap - Grateful Shows

Episode 13

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Published on:

20th May 2026

March 1986 Tour Recap | Grateful Dead · Hampton to Philadelphia· March 19-25, 1986 | · S2E13

🎸 MARCH 1986 EAST COAST · GRATEFUL DEAD · 1986

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📍 YOU ARE HERE: Show — March 1986 Tour Recap | Grateful Dead · Hampton to Philadelphia· March 19-25, 1986 | · S2E13 ·


Grateful Dead · The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA · March 23, 1983 · Set 1

Previous: The Spectrum March 25, 1986 Set 2

Next:

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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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═══🎙 TOUR ANALYSIS

Final analysis of the six night we spent on the Grateful Dead Spring tour of March 1986

This was a tour that took us from the

Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA

March 19, 1986

March 20, 1986

March 21, 1986

The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA

March 23, 1986

March 24, 1986

March 25, 1986

A short recap of all that went down and a hint of what is to come

Only one show this week,

Next week a new tour begins!

see you next show on Grateful Shows!

Check it out.

📚 LINKS & RESOURCES

🔗 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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🎙 GRATEFUL SHOWS PODCAST

Exploring the world of Grateful Dead live shows- one tour at a time, through history philosophy, fiction and poetic meditations.

Six shows per tour. Countless fun.

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© 2026 Grateful Shows Podcast

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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.