Jerry Garcia & The Grateful Dead’s 1980 Performance of “Ripple” Still Makes Fans Sentimental to This Day

March 17, 2025 11:00 am

In 1980, Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead performed one of their most iconic shows of all time at New York City’s iconic Radio City Music Hall. And that is saying a lot, given that the Grateful Dead performed over 2,300 concerts during their career together. However, what made this show so iconic was the fact that the Grateful Dead played several acoustic sets. This marked the first time they had done so since the early ’70s, and the song that seemingly took the breath out of audience members was their single, “Ripple”.

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Released in 1970, “Ripple” is one of the Grateful Dead’s more popular tracks. Originally featured on their album American Beauty, “Ripple” is one of the Grateful Dead’s songs that rival their biggest hits “Uncle John’s Band”, “Touch of Grey”, and “Truckin’”. However, surprisingly, it never did reach the charts.

Given the song’s popularity amidst the general public, the band only played the song a total of 40 times. And again, that is quite the statistic given that the Grateful Dead played over 2,300 shows and most of the shows lasted for over three hours. That being so, their acoustic performance of the song at Radio City Music Hall made the history books and is still getting praised to this day.

Why Fans Are Still Reacting to the Grateful Dead’s “Ripple”

“Ripple” getting praise is not just some hunch. Rather, it is a proven fact. One could look at the listening numbers and sales statistics to see that as true, but what else better proves a song’s relevancy other than the emotion it incites? Well, thanks to a recent throwback video posted on TikTok, the general public can see how emotionally relevant and nostalgic the Grateful Dead’s “Ripple” truly is.

In the video posted on TikTok, viewers can see a weathered Jerry Garcia and the rest of the band sing a heartfelt, sentimental, and acoustic version of “Ripple”. We could go on to tell you why this performance is great. Instead, we will let the comments of the video speak for us.

Regarding the song, one viewer commented, “Me? I’m not tearing up. Just got something in my eye.” Another wrote, “This will be my lullaby I sing to my grandkids.” There are a plethora of other comments just like that. Thus, “Ripple” will be and always has been a memorable classic.