Grateful Dead Performs Bust Outs At Hampton Coliseum

As Dead & Company prepares to make their debut at Hampton Coliseum this fall on November 8 and 9, this edition of Sunday Cinema takes a look at the Grateful Dead‘s long and storied history with the venue.

The iconic band played the iconic venue, lovingly called The Mothership in part because of its resemblance to a UFO, a total of 21 times between 1979 and 1992. Over the years The Mothership saw a number of bust outs from the Dead. Below is video footage from the Dead’s visits to Hampton in 1986, 1988 and 1989, each of which featured performances that included previously shelved songs making their long-awaited returns.

Box Of Rain (March 20, 1986)

In the spring of 1989, the Grateful Dead dusted off one of their most beloved songs, the Phil Lesh/Robert Hunter collaboration “Box Of Rain” from their 1970 album American Beauty. The ’86 Hampton performance would mark the first time the band had played the song since 1973. Check out the ’86 bust out below.

[Video via BurningShoreProphetOG]

To Lay Me Down (March 27, 1988)

The next spring, the Dead would return to Hampton where they would treat the audience to the first “To Lay Me Down” in nearly five years. Before the Dead brought the song back at Hampton in ’88, the Garcia/Hunter tune was last played on October 17, 1983 in Lake Placid, New York.

[Video via LessThanFaceProductions]

Help On The Way (October 8, 1989)

In the fall of 1989, the Dead would kick off a two-night run at Hampton under the name “Formerly The Warlocks.” On October 8 the band brought back the favorite “Help On The Way” for the first time since 1985 when they performed the song in Oakland. The ‘89 Hampton “Help” was followed by the regularly paired “Slipknot!” and “Franklin’s Tower.” Check out the sequence below.

[Video via LoloLodel]

Dark Star & Attics Of My Life (October 9, 1989)

The Dead would continue the next night with a pair of bust outs in the psychedelic improvisational epic “Dark Star” and the poignant “Attics Of My Life.” “Dark Star” was making its first appearance since Berkley’s Greek Theatre in 1984. But Attics was perhaps the biggest bust out of all, having not been played since Cleveland 1972.

[Video via joshers joshington – Dark Star]

[Video via LoloYodel – Attics Of My Life ]