Aside from Boston, Worcester is the place most-played in Massachusetts in the Grateful Dead’s history, including 12 shows at the Centrum 1983-1988, and a show in both 1969 and 1970 at smaller venues. The show in 1969 took place almost 40 years from the date of these shows by The Dead, on 4/20/69 at Clark University. In 1970 they returned to Worcester, playing the Worcester Polytechnic Institute on 5/9/70, the magnificent tour that included stops at Harpur College (Dick’s Picks Vol. 8) , Alfred, NY and MIT, amongst other great shows. Starting in 1983, the band played the Centrum every year up to 1988, with the exception of 1986.

Loads of great music was played at the Centrum, including the Fall tour shows in 1983, 1984 and 1985, and Spring shows in 1987 and 1988. In 1983 and 1984, the band played excellent Help>Slip>Franklins at both runs of shows, and in 1985, on 11/5/85, the band offered a Happy Birthday wish to Bill Walton, who could be seen hanging out onstage beside the monitor along with several of his Boston Celtic teammates. If you get a chance, check out the version of Let It Grow from 10/9/84 at the Centrum, truly a monster rendition. In 1987 the band had its triumphant return to Worcester after Jerry’s 1986 coma, and in both 1987 and 1988 all three annual concerts were broadcast live on the radio on WCUW. The Centrum was a bit of a smaller venue than the band usually played at the time, so these radio broadcasts certainly brought the music to more people who wanted to hear it than could actually fit into the building.

We'll update this page shortly after the show with the setlist and to recap each performance by The Dead as it relates to the context of the Grateful Dead's history at this venue or city.

Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux will be out on the road with The Dead at selected shows, including this one. He'll be hanging out at the Grateful Dead Productions merchandise booth to answer questions, talk about the archives, or anything else. This booth will have available the brand-new Hartford '77 release, Rocking The Cradle: Egypt 1978, and loads of other great music, and is the only place aside from dead.net where you'll be able to pick up the 9-CD Winterland 1973 boxed set and all of the Road Trips releases including the recent Volume 2 Number 2 from 2/14/68. David will be around before each show, at the set break, and after the show, so feel free to come by and say hi.