photo: Dean Budnick
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings will return to New York for some additional Acoustic Reckoning dates before the end of the year. The shows which takes their name from the Grateful Dead’s 1981 double live album, Reckoning present the Dead’s repertoire from an acoustic perspective beyond just the songs that appear on Reckoning. The duo had already confirmed a Southern run from October 18-24. They’ve just added shows from December 12-18.
The new dates on the Grateful Dead Acoustic Reckoning Tour will open at the the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY on Saturday, December 12 and Sunday, December 13. Then it’s off to the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, NY on Tuesday, December 15 and Wednesday, December 16. From there Welch and Rawlings will perform at the State Theater of Ithaca on Thursday, December 17 before returning to the Cap on Friday, December 18.
Earlier this year Welch told Relix, "Some singers have a voice like a key that just fits perfectly in your brain and your being. From the very first time I ever heard Jerry, that happened. He just completely clicked, and it was like all access to the complete inside of my head. Then I just couldn't get enough. There were phrases and words and whole songs I knew from growing up listening to all these old time and folk music songs, and here they were alive in this new incarnation right in front of me. It was just extraordinary.
"I felt an instant sense of community and place, and it was so artistically exciting to feel like all this music that I'd grown up with was so alive and being invented in front of me right at that moment. It was very important for me that I was able to see them live and not just experience them on recordings."
Rawlings recalled, "There's this great 1974 Seattle 'Playing in the Band' that's 46 minutes long [5/21/74]. I think it's the longest performance. I caught it on the SiriusXM Dead station one day, and I was so struck by it as this art piece. It starts with this tuneful little song for two and a half or three minutes. Then Jerry solos for a while. Then gradually the chords go away, but you still have the tonality, and then gradually the tonality goes away, but you still have the drums and the pulse and the beat. Then eventually the beat deconstructs into other beats, and then it deconstructs into no beat, and then they’re kind of playing noise. Then gradually they put it back in element by element until 30 minutes later you come back to the song, and you are so happy to be in the land of music again.
"That's such an incredible artistic move, and to be brave enough to do that, knowing that they had an audience who would take it. At the end of the day, a worldwide audience is still listening to it, not just the people in Seattle who happened to be there. That music has been preserved and put on the pedestal it really deserves to be on. It’s as good as anything."
Grateful Dead Acoustic Reckoning Shows
Sun, Oct 18, 2026 Warner Theatre Washington, DC
Mon Oct 19, 2026 The Lyric Baltimore Baltimore, MD
Tue Oct 20, 2026 Carpenter Theatre Richmond, VA
Thu Oct 22, 2026 Berglund Performing Arts Theatre Roanoke, VA
Fri Oct 23, 2026 Thomas Wolfe Auditorium Asheville, NC
Sat Oct 24, 2026 Thomas Wolfe Auditorium Asheville, NC
Sat Dec 12, 2026 The Capitol Theatre Port Chester, NY
Sun Dec 13, 2026 The Capitol Theatre Port Chester, NY
Tue Dec 15, 2026 Bearsville Theater Woodstock, NY
Wed Dec 16, 2026 Bearsville Theater Woodstock, NY
Thu Dec 17, 2026 State Theater of Ithaca Ithaca, NY
Fri Dec 18, 2026 The Capitol Theatre Port Chester, NY
