Dead Ahead is a concert video by theGrateful Dead. It was recorded atRadio City Music Hall inNew York City on October 30 and October 31, 1980, and released in 1981. An expanded version was released in 2005. In contrast to other Dead concert videos,Dead Ahead containsacoustic as well aselectric song performances.
In September and October 1980, the Grateful Dead did a concert tour of shows with three sets each, one acoustic set followed by two electric sets. The acoustic sets were the first the band had performed since the early 1970s aside from a few one-off acoustic sets in special circumstances. The tour comprised 15 shows atThe Warfield inSan Francisco, two shows at theSaenger Theatre inNew Orleans, and eight shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
The following year, songs from the tour were released as two live albums, the all-acousticReckoning and the all-electricDead Set.
Dead Ahead contains songs from the last two New York concerts, October 30 and October 31, 1980. Although the video was compiled from multiple performances, and is shorter than one of the three-set concerts, it follows the general format of one of the shows, starting with some acoustic material and proceeding to a longer section of amplified music, including a somewhat edited "Drums" and "Space".
The video also includes several sketches by the comedy team ofAl Franken andTom Davis. These are from the final night of the tour, October 31, which was hosted by Franken and Davis, and broadcast on radio and on closed circuit TV.
Dead Ahead was released onVHS video tape and onlaserdisc in 1981. Remastered versions of the video tape and laserdisc were issued in 1995, with a running time of 1 hour 54 minutes. In November 2005, an expanded edition ofDead Ahead was released onDVD, with a running time of 2 hours 44 minutes.
