New Grateful Dead Box Set Highlights 1978 Spring Tour Where They ‘Deliver Every Single Moment’

Grateful Dead fans can celebrate the group’s momentous 1978 spring tour with Friend of the Devils, a massive box set out Sept. 20.

Friend of the Devils: April 1978 features eight shows the band played that month, including Pembroke Pines, Florida on April 4 and Atlanta Georgia’s Fox Theatre on April 10 and 11. The shows were originally recorded by Betty Cantor-Jackson and restored and mastered by engineer Jeffrey Norman. The deluxe edition includes 19 CDs, a book with liner notes by Steve Silverman, and photos by James Anderson, Bob Minkin, and others.

“These eight shows tell the story of a band that was engaged, inspired, and focused on bringing their A-game every single night,” Dead archivist David Lemieux said in a statement. “If there was ever a tour on which the Dead deliver every single moment, it’s this one.”

The shows are also significant for including “Fire on the Mountain” prior to its release that fall, as well as the beginnings of their “Drums” and “Space” tradition. “[It] began with Billy thrashing on his kit and using his elbow to change its pitch, making it sound like a talking drum,” Silberman writes in the liner notes. “Mickey, equally engaged, was wearing a Jerry T-shirt. Then the road crew joined the party. What’s that? Steve Parish is playing a cowbell! Finally, the big man himself comes out, strokes his beard, sits down, maybe takes a puff or a toke, and picks up a pair of sticks. Mother of God, Garcia is playing steel drums — and loving it!”

One of the band’s shows — from Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke University (on April 12, 1978) — will also be released separately as Duke ’78. Hear “U.S. Blues” from that night below.

Duke ’78 CD Track List
Disc One
1. “Jack Straw”
2. “Dire Wolf”
3. “Beat It on Down the Line”
4. “Peggy-O”
5. “Mama Tried” >
6. “Mexicali Blues”
7. “Funiculi Funicula”
8. “Row Jimmy”
9. “New Minglewood Blues”
10. “Loser”
11. “Lazy Lightning” >
12. “Supplication”

Disc Two
1. “Bertha” >
2. “Good Lovin’”
3. “It Must Have Been the Roses”

Disc Three
1. “Estimated Prophet” >
2. “Eyes of the World” >
3. “Rhythm Devils” >
4. “Truckin’” >
5. “Wharf Rat” >
6. “Around and Around”
7. “U.S. Blues”

Friend of the Devils: April 1978 Track List
Curtis Hixon Convention Hall, Tampa, FL (4/6/78)
1. “Bertha” >
2. “Good Lovin’”
3. “Dire Wolf”
4. “Me and My Uncle” >
5. “Big River”
6. “Friend of the Devil”
7. “Passenger”
8. “Candyman”
9. “Lazy Lightning” >
10. “Supplication”
11. “Samson and Delilah”
12. “It Must Have Been the Roses”
13. “Estimated Prophet” >
14. “He’s Gone” >
15. “Rhythm Devils” >
16. “The Other One”>
17. “Wharf Rat”>
18. “Around and Around”
19. “U.S. Blues”

Sportatorium, Pembroke Pines, FL (4/7/78)
1. “Promised Land”
2. “Sugaree”
3. “Cassidy”
4. “Tennessee Jed”
5. “Mama Tried”>
6. “Mexicali Blues”
7. “Peggy-O”
8. “New Minglewood Blues”
9. “Loser”
10. “The Music Never Stopped”
11. “Jack Straw”
12. “Ship of Fools”
13. “Good Lovin’”
14. “Terrapin Station” >
15. “Playing in the Band” >
16. “Rhythm Devils”
17. “Not Fade Away” >
18. “Black Peter” >
19. “Playing in the Band”
20. :Johnny B. Goode”

Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, FL (4/8/78)
1. “Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodeloo”
2. “Me and My Uncle” >
3. “Big River”
4. “They Love Each Other”
5. “Looks Like Rain”
6. “Deal”
7. “El Paso”
8. “It Must Have Been The Roses”
9. “Lazy Lightning” >
10. “Supplication”
11. “Samson and Delilah”
12. “Scarlet Begonias” >
13. “Fire On The Mountain”
14. “Estimated Prophet” >
15. “Eyes Of The World”
16. “Rhythm Devils” >
17. “Space” >
18. “Sugar Magnolia”
19. “One More Saturday Night”

Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA (4/10/78)
1. “Promised Land”
2. “Brown-Eyed Women”
3. “It’s All Over Now”
4. “Peggy-O”
5. “Cassidy”
6. “Dire Wolf”
7. “El Paso”
8. “Row Jimmy”
9. “Passenger”
10. “Candyman”
11. “The Music Never Stopped”
12. “Jack Straw”
13. “Ship Of Fools”
14. “Dancing In The Street” >
15. “Rhythm Devils” >
16. “Franklin’s Tower” >
17. “Black Peter” >
18. “Around and Around”
19. “U.S. Blues”

Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA (4/11/78)
1. “Bertha” >
2. “Good Lovin’”
3. “Friend Of The Devil”
4. “Me and My Uncle” >
5. “Big River”
6. “Tennessee Jed”
7. “Looks Like Rain”
8. “Brown-Eyed Women”
9. “New Minglewood Blues”
10. “Deal”
11. “Samson and Delilah”
12. “Scarlet Begonias” >
13. “Fire On The Mountain”
14. “Sunrise”
15. “Terrapin Station” >
16. “Rhythm Devils” >
17. “Space” >
18. “Iko Iko” >
19. “Sugar Magnolia”
20. “Johnny B. Goode”

Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke University, Durham, NC (4/12/78)
1. “Jack Straw”
2. “Dire Wolf”
3. “Beat It On Down The Line”
4. “Peggy-O”
5. “Mama Tried” >
6. “Mexicali Blues”
7. “Funiculi Funicula”
8. “Row Jimmy”
9. “New Minglewood Blues”
10. “Loser”
11. “Lazy Lightning” >
12. “Supplication”
13. “Bertha” >
14. “Good Lovin'”
15. “It Must Have Been The Roses”
16. “Estimated Prophet” >
17. “Eyes Of The World” >
18. “Rhythm Devils”>
19. “Truckin’” >
20. “Wharf Rat” >
21. “Around And Around”
22. “U.S. Blues”

Cassell Coliseum, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA (4/14/78)
1. “Promised Land”
2. “Tennessee Jed”
3. “Me and My Uncle” >
4. “Big River”
5. “Peggy-O”
6. “Looks Like Rain”
7. “Dire Wolf”
8. “It’s All Over Now”
9. “Dupree’s Diamond Blues”
10. “The Music Never Stopped”
11. “Samson and Delilah”
12. “Ship Of Fools”
13. “Dancing In The Street” >
14. “Rhythm Devils” >
15. “Space” >
16. “The Other One” >
17. “Black Peter” >
18. “Sugar Magnolia”
19. “Johnny B. Goode”

Huntington Civic Center, Huntington, WV (4/16/78)
1. “Jack Straw”
2. “Dire Wolf”
3. “Cassidy”
4. “Peggy-O”
5. “Mexicali Blues” >
6. “Mama Tried”
7. “They Love Each Other”
8. “New Minglewood Blues”
9. “Scarlet Begonias” >
10. “Fire On The Mountain”
11. “Samson and Delilah”
12. “Ship Of Fools”
13. “Estimated Prophet” >
14. “Eyes Of The World” >
15. “Rhythm Devils” >
16. “Space” >
17. “Iko Iko” >
18. “Sugar Magnolia”
19. “U.S. Blues”