Dead Set

Dead Set is a live album by the Grateful Dead. It was released in August 1981 on Arista.
The album contains live material recorded between September and October 1980 at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco and Radio City Music Hall in New York. Original CD pressings omitted the track “Space” so the entire album could fit on one CD. However, “Space” was included when the album was later rereleased as part of the 2004 Beyond Description box set, as well as on one CD in 2006. The 2006 release also included a bonus CD of live material.

Dead Set is essentially a companion release to Reckoning, a 1981 release of songs featuring acoustic instruments: both of the albums were recorded at the same runs of concerts. Due to the length of the Dead’s songs, several tracks from Dead Set were edited for release on vinyl, and the edited versions have been retained on CD reissues.

The album’s cover features an Uncle Sam skeleton perched on the Marin Headlands looking at the view of San Francisco, with a striking twilight sky reflecting off the bay. The back cover of the original gatefold album continues this image, except that it shows a view of Manhattan and Brooklyn.