Now that Turkey Day has come and gone, the air is getting chilly, and it’s somehow dark at 4 p.m., it’s the perfect time of year to curl up by the fireplace—but if you don’t have a fireplace, you can still warm yourself with the glow of the Grateful Dead Yule Log, currently burning on YouTube alongside the sounds of the Dead’s Spring 1990 tour.
This year’s Grateful Dead Yule Log soundtrack comes courtesy of Spring ’90 a box set originally remastered and released in 2012 featuring six complete performances—one from each stop on the Dead’s Spring 1990 tour: 3/16/90 at Capital Centre in Landover, MD, 3/19/90 at Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, CT, 3/22/90 at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, 3/26/90 at Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, NY, 3/30/90 at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY, and 4/2/90 at The Omni in Atlanta, GA.
The spring 1990 tour, one of the last outings to feature keyboardist/vocalist Brent Mydland prior to his death in July 1990, has long been highly regarded among fans and insiders alike. As Bob Weir told Benjy Eisen for Rolling Stone when the Spring ’90 compilation was released, “For my money, this was our hottest era. We couldn’t wait to go on tour; we couldn’t wait to play because it was really working for us and it was keeping us amused.”
As archivist David Lemieux added in the box set’s liner notes, “To my ears this was the last tour that was consistently great, where every show is excellent, not a dud in the bunch.”
Throw on the Grateful Dead Yule Log below and make your 2025 holiday season feel a little more grateful. See below for full Spring ’90 box set tracklist information.
Grateful Dead Yule Log 2025: Spring ’90 Vol. 1
GRATEFUL DEAD – SPRING ’90 – TRACKLIST
March 16, 1990 – Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland
Disc 1
First set:
“Let the Good Times Roll” > (Sam Cooke) – 4:11
“Touch of Grey” (Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter) – 6:28
“New Minglewood Blues” (traditional, arranged by Bob Weir) – 7:44
“Peggy-O” (traditional, arranged by Grateful Dead) – 6:34
“Queen Jane Approximately” (Bob Dylan) – 6:15
“Loser” (Garcia, Hunter) – 7:22
“Black-Throated Wind” (Bob Weir, John Perry Barlow) – 6:03
“Bird Song” (Garcia, Hunter) – 14:23
“Blow Away” (Brent Mydland, Barlow) – 12:02
March 22, 1990 – Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario
Disc 1
First set:
“Feel Like A Stranger” (Weir, Barlow) – 8:12
“West L. A. Fadeaway” (Garcia, Hunter) – 7:41
“Easy to Love You” (Mydland, Barlow) – 6:14
“Beat It On Down the Line” (Jesse Fuller) – 3:34
“It Must Have Been the Roses” (Hunter) – 6:29
“The Last Time” (Jagger, Richards) – 5:40
“Picasso Moon” (Weir, Bralove, Barlow) – 7:07
“Don’t Ease Me In” (traditional, arranged by Grateful Dead) – 3:30
Disc 2
Second set:
“Scarlet Begonias” > (Garcia, Hunter) – 8:30 [a]
“Fire on the Mountain” (Hart, Hunter) – 11:44 [a]
“Samson and Delilah” (traditional, arranged by Bob Weir) – 6:51
“Believe It or Not” (Garcia, Hunter) – 6:32
“Truckin'” > (Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Hunter) – 11:04
“Drums” (Hart, Kreutzmann) – 11:36
Disc 3
“Space” > (Garcia, Lesh, Mydland, Weir) – 8:14
“The Other One” > (Weir, Kreutzmann) – 6:42
“Hey Jude” > (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 4:53
“Dear Mr. Fantasy” > (Steve Winwood, Chris Wood, Jim Capaldi) – 3:58
“Hey Jude” > (Lennon, McCartney) – 4:31
“Sugar Magnolia” (Weir, Hunter) – 8:45
Encore:
“It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” (Dylan) – 7:10 [b]
View Hamilton Tracklist
March 26, 1990 – Knickerbocker Arena, Albany, New York
