The Shakedown Archives

The Observatory

an interactive journey through The Grateful Dead’s performances 34,956 performances · 1,785 nights on tape · 1965–1995
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The Observatory The Shakedown Archives
shakedown.db · build 2026·06·11
The Field

Thirty years, one sky of light.

Every night in the archive, 1965–1995 — 34,956 performances across 1,785 shows on tape, of the 2,314 the band played. Each dot is one song on one night: the years run left to right, the shape of the show runs top to bottom — openers up high, encores at the foot — and the color tells you who held the keys. Scroll to dive in; up close, every night has a name. Click any star to hold it.

ask it
Colored by who held the keys
The keyboard chair, era by era. TC sat in ’68–’70; Pigpen stayed till ’72; Hornsby shared it ’90–’92.
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Song Lifeline

They played it 190 times.
Then it fell silent for five years.

Every Dark Star in the archive·190 nights·first 1/16/68·last 3/30/94

Height means
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streamed from archive.org — the take you clicked

Beta notes

What broke, what confused you, what you loved — anything helps. Your device info rides along automatically.
Lands privately with the operator — not published anywhere.
Got it — thank you. Every note makes the instrument better.