Grateful Dead Performs ‘Iko Iko’ In 1989

The Grateful Dead’s performance of “Iko Iko” from July 7, 1989 at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia is this week’s installment of the band’s All The Years Live video series. “Iko Iko” was first performed by the band in 1977 and the traditional New Orleans song penned by James “Sugar Boy” Crawford remained in the repertoire through the Dead’s final tour. All of the Dead’s July 7, 1989 show is featured on the 2010 live album/concert film Crimson White & Indigo.

“One of the largest crowds to see the Grateful Dead perform live in the 1980s and 1990s, at the last-ever concert at Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium, the July 7, 1989 audience was treated with one of the best shows of 1989, a year that’s widely considered one of the most consistently great of the Dead’s 30 year touring history,” said GD archivist David Lemieux. “Opening with ‘Hell In A Bucket,’ the band then jumped right into their unofficial party anthem, a song that was always certain to get everyone up and dancing: ‘Iko Iko.’ This staple of the New Orleans sound at which the Dead were adept at playing was always a buoyant, ebullient entry in any Grateful Dead setlist. As you’ll see in the video, the band has much fun playing it on this night as we all had dancing to it.”

Watch the Grateful Dead’s take on “Iko Iko” from July 7, 1989 below: