Grateful Dead Performs ‘Bird Song’ In 1987

The Grateful Dead shared a fitting “Bird Song” on Thanksgiving from their 1987 New Year’s Eve concert at the Oakland-Alemeda County Coliseum for this week’s All The Years Live video series release. Jerry Garcia pilots the band — Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Brent Mydland and Phil Lesh — on this winging rendition of the Garcia/Hunter composition.

“From the Dead’s first home video of a complete concert, Ticket To New Year’s, this Bird Song soars to some pretty high heights, typical of the powerful 1987 renditions of this Garcia-Hunter classic from Jerry’s first solo record,” Dead archivist David Lemieux said in a note accompanying the video.

The NYE 1987 “Bird Song” came a little over halfway through the first set and stretches to about 10 minutes. Check it out below: