WHERE conditions

WHERE is where the language stops being a list operation and starts being a question. Use it inside SHOWS ... WHERE ... to filter shows by what happened during them: which songs were played, in what order, in which set, with which guests, for how long.

Synopsis#

WHERE condition [ AND | OR condition ] ...

Combine any number of conditions with AND, OR, and NOT. Parentheses are not yet supported — AND binds tighter than OR, so write the simpler form when in doubt.

Segues#

The > operator matches songs that appear next to each other in the setlist — it means “the next song”, not necessarily a musical segue. Real segue data (where one song flows into the next without a break) is hard to extract at scale, so GDQL uses setlist position as a proxy. It gets you the right answer for famous pairs like Scarlet > Fire and China Cat > Rider.

The chain form is exact: it requires every transition in order. Help > Slip > Franklin's will only match shows where all three appear in that sequence.

Why not real segues? Extracting which transitions were actual musical segues (no break between songs) vs. just “played next” requires curated data that doesn’t exist at scale. The SETLIST display marks a few well-known pairs, but the > query operator is purely positional. Help us improve the data.

Note: The ~> (tease) operator is part of the GDQL syntax but requires tease data to be imported before it will return results.

Negated adjacency#

Prefix a segue with NOT to find shows where Song A was played but Song B did not immediately follow.

This is different from NOT PLAYED "B" — negated adjacency still allows B to appear elsewhere in the show, just not right after A.

Arrow alias#

-> is treated as > (segue), so "Dark Star" -> "St. Stephen" is the same as "Dark Star" > "St. Stephen".

Set position#

Most Dead shows have two sets and an encore, but some have three sets, and the encore is stored as set 3 in the database. GDQL gives you SET1, SET2, SET3, and ENCORE as first-class concepts. SET3 and ENCORE are aliases — both refer to the third set.

Other conditions#

Combining#

condition1 AND condition2
condition1 OR  condition2
NOT "Song"

AND binds tighter than OR — A AND B OR C is (A AND B) OR C.

Examples#

Segue chains (position adjacency)#

SHOWS WHERE "Scarlet Begonias" > "Fire on the Mountain";
SHOWS WHERE "Help on the Way" > "Slipknot!" > "Franklin's Tower";  -- three-song chain
SHOWS WHERE "China Cat Sunflower" INTO "I Know You Rider";  -- INTO alias

Followed by (with break)#

SHOWS WHERE "Scarlet Begonias" >> "Fire on the Mountain";
SHOWS WHERE "Estimated Prophet" THEN "Eyes of the World";  -- THEN alias

Set position#

SHOWS WHERE SET1 OPENED "Jack Straw";
SHOWS WHERE SET1 OPENED "Bertha";
SHOWS WHERE SET2 CLOSED "Sugar Magnolia";
SHOWS WHERE SET3 OPENED "U.S. Blues";  -- SET3 = encore
SHOWS WHERE SET3 CLOSED "Brokedown Palace";
SHOWS WHERE ENCORE = "U.S. Blues";  -- ENCORE alias for SET3
SHOWS WHERE ENCORE "U.S. Blues";  -- = is optional
SHOWS WHERE OPENER "Bertha";  -- shorthand for SET1 OPENED
SHOWS WHERE CLOSER "Morning Dew";  -- last song of last set

OPENER / CLOSER with segue chains#

SHOWS WHERE OPENER "Help on the Way" > "Slipknot!";
SHOWS WHERE CLOSER "Throwin' Stones" > "Not Fade Away";
SHOWS WHERE OPENER "Help on the Way" > "Slipknot!" AND CLOSER "Brokedown Palace";  -- both ends

Negated adjacency#

SHOWS WHERE "Scarlet Begonias" NOT INTO "Fire on the Mountain" LIMIT 10;  -- Scarlet without the Fire segue
SHOWS WHERE "China Cat Sunflower" NOT > "I Know You Rider" LIMIT 10;

Negated position#

SHOWS WHERE PLAYED "And We Bid You Goodnight" AND NOT CLOSED "And We Bid You Goodnight" LIMIT 10;
SHOWS WHERE NOT ENCORE "U.S. Blues" AND PLAYED "U.S. Blues" LIMIT 10;

Played and not played#

SHOWS WHERE PLAYED "Dark Star";
SHOWS WHERE PLAYED "Scarlet Begonias" AND PLAYED "Fire on the Mountain";  -- both required
SHOWS WHERE PLAYED "Dark Star" AND NOT PLAYED "Saint Stephen";  -- exclusion

Combining with AND, OR, NOT#

SHOWS WHERE "Scarlet Begonias" > "Fire on the Mountain" AND PLAYED "Estimated Prophet";
SHOWS WHERE SET1 OPENED "Jack Straw" OR SET1 OPENED "Bertha";  -- OR example
SHOWS WHERE PLAYED "Dark Star" AND NOT PLAYED "Saint Stephen";  -- NOT example

Tips#

• Start broad, then narrow. A bare SHOWS WHERE PLAYED "X" tells you the universe of shows; add FROM, AT, or another condition to zoom in.
• Use NOT PLAYED for negative space questions — “Scarlet without Fire”, “Dark Star without Saint Stephen”, “Help/Slip/Frank without the encore segue”.
• Set position queries are exact. SET1 OPENED "Jack Straw" only matches shows where Jack Straw was the literal first song of set 1, not just an early one.

Scarlet→Fire · Help→Slip→Franklin's · PLAYED St. Stephen · St. Stephen > The Eleven

For the underlying tokens and comparisons, see Operators.