Article Contributed by Gratefulweb
Published on 2026-07-15
The Grateful Dead will revisit one of the band’s most high-energy anniversary runs with Summer Magic 1985, a new 20-CD boxed set arriving September 18 as a Dead.net exclusive. Limited to 10,000 individually numbered copies, the collection features seven previously unreleased concerts from the band’s “Twenty Years So Far” anniversary tour.
The set includes all three official 20th anniversary shows at the Greek Theatre at the University of California, Berkeley, recorded June 14-16, 1985, along with Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY, on June 27, Hershey Park Stadium in Hershey, PA, on June 28, and two nights at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, on June 30 and July 1.
Recorded by Dan Healy and mastered by GRAMMY Award-winning engineer David Glasser at Airshow Mastering, Summer Magic 1985 captures the Grateful Dead in a period of renewed spark, communal energy, and unpredictable improvisational fire. The release includes a 96-page book with new essays by Nicholas G. Meriweather and David Lemieux, art origination by Marcos Alvarado, and design by Pablo Valdez and Steve Vance.
Across the seven shows, the band delivers a run filled with rare and memorable moments, including “Midnight Hour,” “Dupree’s Diamond Blues,” a first-set “Crazy Fingers,” a “Supplication” jam, the “Crypticals,” “Down In The Bottom” > “I Ain’t Superstitious,” and “Keep On Growing,” along with three double encores.
The box set takes its spirit from the Grateful Dead’s 20th anniversary era, including Robert Hunter’s “The 20th Anniversary Rag,” which captured the mood of the moment:
Just Like Grandma Moses
Just Like Auld Lang Syne
Play The Change, However Strange
And Get It Right This Time!
It's Been A Hard Haul
20 As The Crow Flies,
When Your Back's To The Wall
Got To Play It As It Lies
Let There Be Music, Dance, And The Beating of The Drum
Drop Whatever You're Doing And Come On The Run
Twenty Years Later The Groove Is Just Starting To Click
It's All Variations On Some Impossible Lick
Summer Magic 1985 includes:
Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, CA - 6/14/85
Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, CA - 6/15/85
Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, CA - 6/16/85
Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY - 6/27/85
Hershey Park Stadium, Hershey, PA - 6/28/85
Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD - 6/30/85
Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD - 7/1/85
For fans looking for a smaller entry point, the previously unreleased complete live performance from Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 30, 1985, will also be available on 3CD and 4LP. Sourced from the original Sony F1 tapes and mastered by David Glasser, the Merriweather release was produced for release by David Lemieux and features new art by Marcos Alvarado.
Merriweather 6/30/85 includes favorites like “Sugar Magnolia,” “Cryptical Envelopment,” and what many Deadheads consider one of the greatest versions of “Shakedown Street” ever performed by the Grateful Dead.
To mark the announcement, Dead.net has shared “Dancing In The Street” from the first set of the first show, June 14, 1985, at the Greek Theatre. The performance opened the run and is followed by “Stagger Lee,” played for the first time since 1982.
Summer Magic 1985 arrives September 18 and is available for preorder now at Dead.net.
