Great North Special – Details, episodes & analysis

Today is all about the Festival Express, a tour that took the Dead, the Band, Janis Joplin, and others across Canada by train in 1970. We're playing classic performances and hard-to-find jams from this legendary run of shows.

Follow @greatnorthspecial on Instagram to see photos and posters from the tour.

Set 1:

• Uncle John's Band
• Hard to Handle 

Set 2: 

• The Band - The Weight
• Buddy Guy - Money
• Janis Joplin - Cry Baby

Set 3: 

• Rick, Janis, Jerry, Bob - Ain't No More Cane
• Delaney, Jerry, Leslie - Blue Yodel #1 
• Ian, Sylvia, Jerry - CC Rider

Encore: 

• New Speedway Boogie
• China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider

This week we have wintertime Dead, Jack White playing Neil Young, and lots of other good music you'll want to hear, so stop reading and press play. Then come back to read some more. 

Greatful Dead unless noted:

Set 1:

• Terrapin Station 2/26/77
• Rockin' in the Free World, Jack White
• Cold Rain and Snow 2/3/78

Set 2:

• Love Takes Miles, Cameron Winter
• When the Deal Goes Down, Luka Kuplowsky + Holy Oak Family Singers
• Row Jimmy 1/22/78

Set 3: 

• Scarlet Begonias, Pounds of Sin
• Music Never Stopped 1/22/78
• Close Encounters Jam 1/22/78

Links:

• Dylan HOFS playlist
• Pounds of Sin
• Luka Kuplowsky
• Holy Oak Family Singers
• Heavy Metal by Cameron Winter

Thanks for listening I'll get the podcast schedule locked in here soon.

Follow me @greatnorthspecial where I swear I'll start posting good stuff any day now.

By the way, if you're still reading thisI first of all, thank you, second of all, why?, third of all, if the audio mix on any of the songs or spoken parts sounds weird to you, please let me know. If it sounds great I guess you can let me know that too.

Get ready, because today we're exploring the Dead's tour in May 1977 beyond the walls of Barton Hall. We also have new Canadian tracks sung in three different languages. 

Follow @greatnorthspecial and send me your song requests, as a voice memo if you want it played on air.

Grateful Dead unless noted:

Set 1:

• Samson and Delilah 5/17/77
• Theme from Special Delivery, Special Delivery
• Kranke Beyner, Exiliahu

Set 2:

• St. Stephen 5/15/77
• Iko Iko 5/15/77
• Not Fade Away 5/15/77
• Brown Eyed Women 5/26/77

Encore:

• Encore, Mr. Songbird
• Sugaree 5/22/77

Upcoming Dead stuff in Toronto:

• 5/31: Caution Jam @ Grossman's Tavern
• 6/6: Beggar's Waltz @ Drums N Flats
• 6/7: Mark T Band @ Noonan's
• 6/7: Dead Disco with DJ Stew @ Low Bar 
• 6/14: Pounds of Sin @ Monarch Tavern
• 7/26: Cherry Garcia Band @ Toronto Island Marina

See what I did there? This week we're serving up spring-time Dead classics and three flavors of Bob Dylan. 

Follow @greatnorthspecial, where I'm taking requests for an upcoming episode. More info will posted there.

Grateful Dead unless noted:

Set 1:

• Serve Someboday, Bob Dylan, Massey Hall, 1980
• Positively 4th Street, Jerry Garcia Band, 4/18/93
• Love Sick, Blunt Chunks + Holy Oak Family Singers
• Fire on the Mountain, Pounds of Sin

Set 2:

• Bertha 4/23/77
• Althea 3/20/92
• Playin in the Band 4/16/72

Upcoming Dead stuff in Toronto:

• 6/6: Beggar's Waltz @ Drums N Flats
• 6/7: Mark T Band @ Noonan's
• 6/7: Dead Disco with DJ Stew @ Low Bar 
• 6/14: Pounds of Sin @ Monarch Tavern
• 7/26: Cherry Garcia Band @ Toronto Island Marina

Links:

• Dylan HOFS playlist
• Never Miss a Sunday (Spotify)

We're going back to where it all began: Year 0 GD. Also 10 GD because quite frankly there isn't enough from either year to fill an hour. 

This is Part 1 in a series leading up to the GD60 shows. Follow @greatnorthspecial for more. 

Grateful Dead unless noted:

Set 1:

• Mindbender (Confusion's Prince)
• Can't Come Down
• The Only Time Is Now

Set 2:

• Early Mornin' Rain, Gordon Lightfoot
• War Pigs Pt. II, Special Delivery
• Brian Wilson, Commuted

Encore, 3/23/75:

• Blues for Allah >
• King Solomon's Marbles (Stronger Than Dirt or Milkin' the Turkey) >
• Drums >
• King Solomon's Marbles (Stronger Than Dirt or Milkin' the Turkey) >
• Blues for Allah >
• Johnny B. Goode

Upcoming Dead stuff in Toronto:

• 6/27: Mark T Band @ Drums N Flats
• 7/26: Cherry Garcia Band @ Toronto Island Marina
• And follow @nognuisagoodgnu on YouTube for Jerry Church every Sunday and an incredible archive of Dead, Jerry, Toronto shows and more.

Saddle up, because today I've got songs for my new nephew, and you're gonna like 'em too.

Follow @greatnorthspecial and send me your song requests, as a voice memo if you want it played on air.

Grateful Dead unless noted:

Set 1:

• Me & My Uncle, Ratdog, 5/9/02
• Mama Tried, Rose Pedal Band
• Here Comes Sunshine 12/19/73

Set 2:

• Treading Water, Special Delivery
• If I Must Die, Exiliahu
• Book of Love, Gina Davis

Encore:

• Help > Slip! > Franklin's wsg Branford Marsalis 9/10/91*

Upcoming Dead stuff in Toronto:

• 6/14: Pounds of Sin @ Monarch Tavern
• 6/27: Mark T Band @ Drums N Flats
• 7/26: Cherry Garcia Band @ Toronto Island Marina

*please forgive me if I said the wrong date on air :(

Pop a Betty Board in the Teddy Ruxpin and practice your Jerry Bear Shuffle because we're going back to the future and exploring the wild world of 1985, aka GD20.

This is Part 2 in a series leading up to the GD60 shows. Follow @greatnorthspecial for more. 

Grateful Dead unless noted:

Set 1:

• Reel 25, Alanna Jenish
• Shakedown Street, 6/30/85
• Deal, 6/28/85

Set 2:

• Truckin' ->, 4/27/85
• The Other One, 4/27/85
• Morning Dew, 11/2/85

Encore:

• US Blues, 4/27/85
• Turn On Your Lovelight, 11/2/85

Upcoming Dead stuff around Toronto:

• 7/18: Dark Star Orchestra @ Outer Harbor Live, Buffalo, NY
• 7/26: Cherry Garcia Band @ Toronto Island Marina
• 8/1-8/3: GD60 Streaming Party @ Super Wonder Gallery, info
• 8/13-8/17: "The Greatful Dead Movie" @ Cineplex

Too much gold had to be cut last show so here's a mix of the best of the rest. Enjoy the weekend.🌹💀⚡

All Dead, all 1985:

Set 1:

• Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues, 6/28
• Samson and Delilah, 6/30
• Music Never Stopped, 6/28
• Estimated Prophet, 6/28
• My Brother Esau, 9/7

Setbreak:

• Clips from 1985 fan-made documentary, Providence, RI YouTube

Set 2 + Encore:

• Spoonful, 11/1
• Fire on the Mountain, 7/13
• She Belongs to Me, 4/4
• One More Saturday Night, 7/13

We've got highlights from the August Dead and Co. and Grahame Lesh shows honoring this year's Diamond Anniversary.

This is the 4th and final part in a series covering the Dead at each decades. Follow @greatnorthspecial for more. 

All songs performed between 31 July and 3 Aug, 2025

Set 1:

• Friend of the Devil, Grahame Lesh & Friends wsg Bill Nershi
• They Love Each Other, Dead and Company

Set 2:

• Broken Arrow, GL&F wsg Ivan Neville
• Mission in the Rain, Trey Anastasio Band
• Box of Rain, Dead & Co. wsg Grahame Lesh
• Wharf Rat, Dead & Co. wsg Billy Strings

Music bed #1 - Fire on the Mountain, Dead & Co. wsg Trey

Music bed #2 - Morning Dew, Dead & Co. wsg Sturgill Simpson

Upcoming Dead + jam stuff around Toronto:

• 8/20: Greensky Bluegrass @ Mod Club
• 8/27: Lettuce @ Annabel's

Years are combining, Jerry! We're rounding out our tour across the decades, with picks from 1995, 2005, and 2015. But don't be Blue, cuz there's Stella lot more in store to celebrate GD60 (and soon, Billy Sunday 40....)

This is Part 3 in a series leading up to the GD60 shows. Follow @greatnorthspecial for more. 

Grateful Dead unless noted:

Set 1:

• Alabama Getaway, 6/28/15
• In The Midnight Hour, Phil Lesh and Friends, 12/4/05

Set 2:

• Who Do You Love?, Red Jacket
• Cruel, PUP
• Good Buddy, Fontine

Encore:

• Jack-A-Roe, 3/18/95
• Bird Song, 6/2/95
• Standing on the Moon, 6/2/95

Upcoming Dead + jam stuff around Toronto:

• 8/13-8/15: "The Greatful Dead Movie" @ Cineplex
• 8/20: Greensky Bluegrass @ Mod Club