Music of Grateful Dead and Phish Featured During Super Bowl LIV

Photo of Patrick Mahomes via AP Photo, taken by Charlie Neibergall



If you were watching Super Bowl LIV on Feb. 2, you likely heard short clips of both Grateful Dead and Phish. Both bands were used as “bumper music,” which is the music that plays as the broadcast is going to or coming from a commercial break.

During the first half, fans first heard a clip of Phish’s “Character Zero.” Later in the half, the broadcast opted for a snippet of the Grateful Dead’s “Bertha,” which Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux pointed out on Twitter. In the second half, the music of Phish returned once again, this time a clip of “Free.”

The NFL has used Phish music quite a few times over the course of this season and in years past. Perhaps the most prominent example was the minute-long pump-up video as the Atlanta Falcons took the field during Super Bowl LI (in 2017), which was soundtracked with Phish’s “Tweezer Reprise.”

Watch clips of Phish’s appearances during Super Bowl LIV (via Jambase’s Instagram account) below, as well as “Bertha”‘s appearance (via Lemieux’s Twitter account) and the Super Bowl LI video featuring “Tweeprise” (via YouTube user Icculus The Prophet).