Grateful Dead To Release Massive 80-Disc Box Set
By Andy Kahn Jun 2, 2015 • 9:19 am PDT
A new 80-disc Grateful Dead box-set entitled Thirty Trips Around The Sun will be released by Rhino Records on September 18. As the title implies, the box-set features 30 complete Grateful Dead live concert recordings, one previously unreleased show from each year the band toured. The box set is being sold in celebration of the band’s 50th anniversary and will be limited 6,500 numbered CD sets and 1,000 lightning bolt shaped USB drives. A four-CD compilation of set of one song from each show, entitled Thirty Trips Around the Sun: The Definitive Live Story 1965-1995 will also be issued.
Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux spoke with Rolling Stone about the massive release, “This is, without a doubt, the biggest thing we will ever do .I know we said that with Europe ’72, But this tells the entire narrative of the Grateful Dead live: how they changed from year to year, how they grew. Lots of bands change, but they don’t grow. The Grateful Dead grew, and this set tells that story.”
Listen to “Morning Dew” from Madison Square Garden, New York City, September 18 1987.
The box set will run $699.95 and includes a bonus vinyl 45 with a 1965 version of “Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks)” A-side and “Box of Rain” the final song played on July 9, 1995 at Soldier Field in Chicago as the B-side. The box also comes with a 288-page book that features an extensive, career-spanning essay written by Nick Meriwether, who oversees the Dead archives at the University of California, Santa Cruz, along with special remembrances of the band submitted by fans. Also included is a scroll that offers a visual representation of how the band’s live repertoire has evolved through the years.
Head here to pre-order. Watch Lemieux discuss the release in a “Seaside Chat”:
So far just a few of the shows included in Thirty Trips Around The Sun have been revealed. They include November 10, 1967 from the Shrine Auditorium in L.A.; October 27, 1979 from Cape Cod Coliseum in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts; September 18, 1987 from Madison Square Garden in NYC and October 1, 1994 at Boston Garden. Rolling Stone’s article notes the box set also features recordings of February 22, 1969 from Vallejo, California and October 12, 1984 from Augusta, Maine.
Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux spoke with Rolling Stone about the massive release, “This is, without a doubt, the biggest thing we will ever do .I know we said that with Europe ’72, But this tells the entire narrative of the Grateful Dead live: how they changed from year to year, how they grew. Lots of bands change, but they don’t grow. The Grateful Dead grew, and this set tells that story.”
Listen to “Morning Dew” from Madison Square Garden, New York City, September 18 1987.
The box set will run $699.95 and includes a bonus vinyl 45 with a 1965 version of “Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks)” A-side and “Box of Rain” the final song played on July 9, 1995 at Soldier Field in Chicago as the B-side. The box also comes with a 288-page book that features an extensive, career-spanning essay written by Nick Meriwether, who oversees the Dead archives at the University of California, Santa Cruz, along with special remembrances of the band submitted by fans. Also included is a scroll that offers a visual representation of how the band’s live repertoire has evolved through the years.
Head here to pre-order. Watch Lemieux discuss the release in a “Seaside Chat”:
So far just a few of the shows included in Thirty Trips Around The Sun have been revealed. They include November 10, 1967 from the Shrine Auditorium in L.A.; October 27, 1979 from Cape Cod Coliseum in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts; September 18, 1987 from Madison Square Garden in NYC and October 1, 1994 at Boston Garden. Rolling Stone’s article notes the box set also features recordings of February 22, 1969 from Vallejo, California and October 12, 1984 from Augusta, Maine.
Watch a YouTube playlist of our Grateful Dead 50 tribute, the Songs Of Their Own video series:
