June 15, 2015

Free Shows & Benefits 1965-1975

Once upon a time, you could see the Dead for free… In San Francisco, they became notorious for frequently showing up in Golden Gate Park and playing for anyone who passed by. They also often played in parks when they visited other cities, as a kind of promotion for their regular concerts. But once their reputation spread and people across the country started clamoring for free shows, the Dead had actually largely stopped playing for free; and the carefree park shows of the sixties passed into myth.
But how many free shows did the Dead actually play? I don’t think anyone has ever tried listing them before. It turns out there are less than fifty confirmed free shows on record – some famous, some forgotten. Some of the Dead’s appearances are so obscure, it’s quite likely there are more free shows hidden in the fog of the sixties, barely remembered even by those who were there. But this list should cover what’s currently known.

I also decided to list the benefits the Dead played in their first ten years. While the Dead are remembered as a band that was always playing lots of benefits in their early years, there hasn’t been a list available of what benefits they actually played for. I thought this might be useful. (As it turns out, they only played about forty benefits up to ’75.)

This is an incomplete list, meant to be a starting point – I’m sure I’ve missed some shows and made some mistakes. Additions & corrections are welcome!

FREE SHOWS

All shows in San Francisco unless noted.

5/22/66 Rancho Olompali, Novato CA (Grateful Dead dance - while the Dead held continuous parties at Olompali, there was an invitation on this date.)
Deadlists suggests that there were “numerous unscheduled performances” in Golden Gate Park in the summer of ’66; however this is unlikely, since the Dead did not live in San Francisco until late September.
8/5/66 Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia
9/5/66 Rancho Olompali, Novato, CA (Unconfirmed – I am not certain of this date, since the Dead were no longer living at Olompali, but it's possible.)
10/6/66 Panhandle, Golden Gate Park (Love Pageant Rally, with Big Brother)
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2017/03/october-6-1966-panhandle-san-francisco.html
10/16/66 Panhandle, Golden Gate Park (Artist’s Liberation Front free festival)
11/23/66 Fillmore Auditorium (private Thanksgiving party; admission by invitation; with Quicksilver Messenger Service & Wildflower) 
1/1/67 Panhandle, Golden Gate Park (Hell’s Angels party, with Big Brother)
1/14/67 Polo Fields, Golden Gate Park (Human Be-In)
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2017/03/january-14-1967-golden-gate-park-san.html 
1/22/67 Elysian Park, Los Angeles (with Jefferson Airplane) - This was a misdate for the 9/16/67 show.
3/20/67 Club Fugazi (album release party, sponsored by Warner Brothers - Ralph Gleason wrote that "the power failed and the Dead's set was chopped short." I'm not certain if this show was free.)
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/01/march-20-1967-club-fugazi-678-green.html 
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2013/04/march-20-1967-album-release-party.html
3/26/67 Elysian Park, Los Angeles (Love-In) - The Dead played at the Avalon this evening, and were not at the Elysian Park Love-In.
4/9/67 Panhandle, Golden Gate Park  
4/11/67 San Quentin Prison, Marin County (members of the Dead jam with Country Joe & the Fish)
5/28/67 Panhandle, Golden Gate Park (unconfirmed, but possible – dated in Peter Vincent's "Sixties Diary" & listed on Lost Live Dead)
Deadlists suggests that Golden Gate Park saw “numerous unscheduled performances spring & summer” of ’67, but it’s uncertain how many more there might have been. According to Lost Live Dead, “Free concerts in the Panhandle have been mythologized all out of proportion… There were actually very few Grateful Dead concerts in the Panhandle, and we know about almost all of them… Most assertions for regular Grateful Dead concerts at the Panhandle are simply wishful thinking.” However, there were certainly more Golden Gate Park shows played than we know about.
6/1/67 Tompkins Square Park, New York City (with Group Image)
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2013/05/june-1967-new-york-city.html 
6/8/67 Central Park, New York City (with Group Image)
6/17-18/67 Monterey Peninsula College, Monterey CA (free stage jams by various musicians - members of the Dead participated, but not the full band)
6/21/67 Polo Fields, Golden Gate Park (Summer Solstice Festival)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEejp5_UMyQ&t=50m10s 
https://www.gettyimages.com/videos/grateful-dead-summer-of-love-1967
Late June/early July '67 Golden Gate Park (unknown event seen in photos)
7/2/67 El Camino Park, Palo Alto (Be-In)
7/16/67 Golden Gardens Park, Seattle (Electric Be-In)
8/6/67 Place Ville Marie, Montreal, Quebec (with Jefferson Airplane)
8/6/67 Youth Pavilion, Expo ’67, Montreal, Quebec (with Jefferson Airplane)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkQeOyyyKV8
(Two free shows in one day, in a city they never played again. One attendee wrote an account of the Place Villa Marie show in Deadbase (XI, p.242). Phil Lesh described the Expo '67 show in his book, p.110, relating how Bill Graham stopped the music when the crowd got too excited.) 
8/13/67 West Park, Ann Arbor MI
(From the Ann Arbor Sun: “A huge crowd gathered in the park. It had rained earlier in the day and the Dead asked the people in the audience for some blankets to stand on so the musicians wouldn’t get electrocuted standing barefoot on the wet cement playing electric guitars. Someone handed them a huge Amerikan Flag which they put down and stood on while they played for their cheering fans. This was too much for some old Ann Arbor patriots who had been watching this freeky procedure from the sidelines. During the winter of 1967/68 these people got the City Council to pass a new city ordinance banning amplified music from West Park.”)
8/28/67 Lindley Meadows, Golden Gate Park (Hell’s Angels “Party for Chocolate George,” with Big Brother)
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2018/08/august-28-1967-golden-gate-park-san.html 
9/9/67 Volunteer Park, Seattle WA
9/16/67 Elysian Park, Los Angeles (with Jefferson Airplane)
2/15/68 San Quentin Prison, Marin County (members of the Dead jammed with other groups)
3/3/68 Haight Street
3/18/68 Green Street – KMPX strike – the Dead were stopped by the police before they could play a set. Garcia would play with Traffic in another street fair supporting the strike on 3/24/68.
4/14/68 Greynolds Park, North Miami Beach FL (Love-In, with Blues Image)
5/3/68 Columbia University, New York City (the Dead played for a student strike)
5/5/68 Central Park, New York City (with Jefferson Airplane & Butterfield Blues Band)
6/1/68 Panhandle, Golden Gate Park (with Charlie Musselwhite & Petrus)
6/9/68 Golden Gate Park – cancelled by the police
11/25/68 Memorial Auditorium, Ohio University, Athens OH
(Deadlists: Phil Lesh said that “so many students from Ohio University in Athens came to the show in Columbus on 11/22/68 (a long drive - about 1 1/2 hours or so) that the band decided to go to Athens and put on a free show for them.”)
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2015/08/november-23-1968-memorial-auditorium.html
2/19/69 Fillmore West – Frontiers of Science “Celestial Synapse”
(Rolling Stone: “The Grateful Dead and Bill Graham donated their services for free.” Admission was by invitation, and I think Frontiers of Science sponsored the event, so it seems it was free.)
5/7/69 Polo Fields, Golden Gate Park (with Jefferson Airplane)
6/22/69 Central Park, New York City
7/7/69 Piedmont Park, Atlanta GA (post-Atlanta Pop Festival free show with various bands)
8/20/69 El Roach, Seattle WA (with NRPS & Sanpaku)  
5/3/70 Wesleyan University, Middletown CT (with NRPS)
5/6/70 Kresge Plaza, MIT, Cambridge MA (student strike)
6/27-28/70 Coronation Park, Toronto, Ontario (with various bands)
6/21/71 Chateau d’Herouville, Herouville, France
8/4/71 Terminal Island Correctional Facility, San Pedro CA (show for Owsley)  
5/13/72 Lille Fairgrounds, Lille, France (makeup for cancelled May 5 show)
10/21/72 Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN
9/28/75 Lindley Meadows, Golden Gate Park (with Jefferson Starship) 


Jerry Garcia, 1971: “Our first free things were done sort of in conjunction with the Diggers, who were now working on giving free food to people down in the Panhandle. It seemed like a good idea to go down there and play for them one weekend. We got a truck and a generator with the help of the Diggers…and we just went down there and played. It was just great. It was easy. It was simple, and it was free in the sense that nobody had to do it, it was truly free. We were able to do that pretty comfortably for almost a year…
[But now,] we haven’t had the opportunity to do one that would be a good trip… ‘Free’ means free for us too, so that we’re free to do it or not… The thing that was groovy about the Haight-Ashbury was that we could get up on a Sunday morning and say, ‘Let’s play today down in the park,’ and we’d call a few people and the Diggers would have a truck and someone else would have gotten a generator and we’d be down there playing in an hour. That was free because we were free to decide to do that. The kind of free that people are talking about now is, ‘Will you set up a free concert in Central Park on October 14th’ or something like that. It’s just the same as a gig for us – it’s no different. Where is the free in that? That’s another form that we haven’t been able to get back to really comfortably, although we’re always on the lookout to do something free.” (Signpost to New Space p.41-42)


BENEFITS

All shows in San Francisco unless noted. Other bands not listed. It’s not confirmed whether the Dead actually played some of these shows.

12/10/65 Fillmore Auditorium – SF Mime Troupe benefit
1/14/66 Fillmore Auditorium – SF Mime Troupe benefit
5/19/66 Avalon Ballroom – Straight Theater benefit
5/29/66 California Hall – LEMAR Benefit Ball (Legalize Marijuana - “Aid the end of marijuana prohibition”)
8/7/66 Fillmore Auditorium – Children’s Adventure Day Camp benefit (According to deadbase, the Dead did not perform.)
9/11/66 Fillmore Auditorium – Both/And Jazz Club benefit
10/8/66 Mt Tamalpais Outdoor Theater, Marin County – Peace Benefit (“1st Congressional District Write In Committee for Phil Drath”)
11/13/66 Avalon Ballroom – “Zenefit” Zen Mountain Center benefit
11/20/66 Fillmore Auditorium – SNCC benefit (Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee)
1/29/67 Avalon Ballroom – SF Krishna Temple benefit  
2/5/67 Fillmore Auditorium – US Strike Committee benefit (possible – unconfirmed)
2/12/67 Fillmore Auditorium – Council for Civic Unity benefit
3/5/67 Avalon Ballroom – New Stage & Straight Theater benefit (possible – unconfirmed)
4/9/67 Longshoreman’s Hall – Spring Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam benefit
4/12/67 Fillmore Auditorium- “Busted” SF Mime Troupe benefit
5/30/67 Winterland Arena – HALO benefit (Haight-Ashbury Legal Organization) – unconfirmed
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/11/may-30-1967-winterland-san-francisco.html
6/12/67 Cheetah, New York City - Inter-Tribal Community Benefit
(A benefit with the Group Image for "the Lower East Side community" - proceeds went to the Jade Companions bail fund and the Communications Company.) 
8/10/67 Chelsea Hotel Roof, New York City – Diggers benefit
(McNally p.211: “They played on the roof of the Chelsea Hotel for the Diggers’ Trip Without a Ticket, a party Emmett Grogan had arranged in an effort to hustle some funds from avant-garde New Yorkers.” Also described in Lesh’s book. Per Sherrill Tippins’ book Inside the Dream Palace p.229, “The Dead shut down the performance shortly after the arrival of Andy Warhol, ‘an ambulatory black hole,’ they claimed, whose New York vibe sucked the energy out of the experience and made it impossible for them to play.” More accounts are here.)
9/2/67 Cabrillo College, Santa Cruz CA – benefit for “LMN, SPAR, others” (unknown organizations) - This event was cancelled.
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/06/september-2-1967-cabrillo-college.html 
Unknown ’67 – Canyon School, Canyon CA
(Per WJ Rorabaugh’s book Berkeley at War p.145: “In 1967 Canyon's hippies held a benefit concert to raise money to rebuild their general store. Country Joe McDonald, the Grateful Dead and others came to play.” Country Joe recalls the show taking place in the schoolyard; the school principal also remembers the Dead playing there. However, a Rock Prosopography post suggests that they’re mistakenly remembering a 7/16/67 Canyon benefit at which Country Joe, the Youngbloods and others played – the Dead never played Canyon.)
10/1/67 Greek Theater, U of C, Berkeley – Economic Opportunity Program benefit
10/22/67 Winterland Arena – Marijuana Defense benefit
11/12/67 Winterland Arena – “Benefit for the Bands” – Though listed in deadbase,  there doesn’t appear to be any confirmation that this show happened.
3/20/68 Avalon Ballroom – KMPX Strike benefit
4/3/68 Winterland Arena – KMPX First Birthday benefit (unconfirmed)
6/16/68 Daytop Village, Staten Island NY - Daytop Village benefit (a drug rehab center) - the Dead didn't play.
6/19/68 Carousel Ballroom – Black Man’s Free Store benefit
7/14/68 Marina Green, St. Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco - Jazz Action Movement benefit - the Dead apparently canceled.
"The concert is free, but donations will be accepted to finance JAM programs." 
http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680714.html
9/1/68 Palace of Fine Arts Theater – Haight-Ashbury Medical Clinic benefit (unconfirmed, possibly not played)
9/2/68 Sky River Rock Festival, Sultan WA - benefit for various American Indian & Black American organizations 
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2013/06/september-2-1968-sky-river-rock-festival.html
9/20/68 Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley - Ali Akbar College of Music benefit
11/17/68 Eagle’s Auditorium, Seattle WA – Indian Rights benefit (Survival of American Indians Association) 
3/12/69 Fillmore West – San Francisco State Legal Defense Committee benefit (unconfirmed)
3/15/69 Hilton Hotel, San Francisco – “Black & White Ball” San Francisco Symphony benefit
3/17/69 Winterland Arena – Olompali Chosen Family benefit (unconfirmed)
5/28/69 Winterland Arena – People’s Park Bail Ball benefit
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2015/03/may-1969-three-days-with-dead.html
6/11/69 California Hall, San Francisco - possibly a Church of Scientology benefit; McNally describes it as a "quasi-benefit," the poster doesn't specify. 
11/15/69 Lanai Theater, Crockett CA – Moratorium Day Gathering (Despite the deadbase listing, this was probably not a benefit.)
12/22/69 Napa Valley Sports Camp, Napa CA - possibly a benefit for St Mary's College High School in Berkeley, though it hasn't been confirmed.
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2014/11/december-22-1969-napa-valley-sports.html

2/1/70 Warehouse, New Orleans LA – bust fund benefit
(2/23/70 Winterland Arena – Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Santana, It’s A Beautiful Day, and Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks played a benefit for the Grateful Dead. Ralph Gleason, SF Chronicle: “After expenses (the bands all played free), there was approximately $15,000 for the Grateful Dead defense fund on their New Orleans drug bust.”)
3/17/70 Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo NY – Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra benefit
(Buffalo Evening News: “The Dead are accepting expenses but waiving their usual huge fee to help the Philharmonic benefit and for the ‘privilege and delight,’ as they put it, ‘of working with Lukas Foss.’”)
6/21/70 Pauley Ballroom, U of C, Berkeley – Pit River Indian Legal Defense Fund benefit
11/23/70 Anderson Theater, New York City – Hell’s Angels benefit
12/23/70 Winterland Arena – Montessori School & Bear benefit
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/03/december-23-1970-winterland-grateful.html
1/22/71 Lane Community College, Eugene OR - partial benefit
(LCC Torch: "Approximately 20% of the profits (after expenses) from this dance-concert will go to LCC's student financial aids program, while a larger percentage will go to the Eugene White Bird Clinic.")
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2013/01/january-22-1971-lane-community-college.html  
3/3/71 Fillmore West – Airwaves/People's Radio benefit
3/5/71 Oakland Auditorium Arena, Oakland – Black Panther benefit
3/24/71 Winterland Arena – Sufi Choir benefit
3/5/72 Winterland Arena – American Indian benefit
3/25/72 Academy of Music, NYC – Hell’s Angels benefit
8/27/72 Old Renaissance Faire Grounds, Veneta OR – Springfield Creamery benefit
10/9/72 Winterland Arena – road crew benefit
(SF Chronicle: “The evening raised in the neighborhood of $10,000 for the band’s roadies so that they might buy a house, and what other band jumps to mind for giving benefits so that their roadies might buy a house?”)
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2015/06/october-9-1972-winterland.html
3/23/75 Kezar Stadium – SNACK benefit (Students Need Athletics Culture & Kicks)
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/live-reviews/nine-hours-of-peace-love-and-sports-dylan-brando-and-co-work-for-snack-19750508
6/17/75 Winterland Arena - "Bob Fried Memorial Boogie" benefit (as "Jerry Garcia and Friends")  

A more complete listing of Dead/Garcia benefits can be found here:
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/p/benefits.html

Jerry Garcia, 1972: "I don't do a lot of [benefits], but I do more than the group Grateful Dead do. With the Dead our policy is that if we started doing benefits, how are we going to be able to stop? That is one thing, and the other is that most of the benefits we have done haven't led to much good. When we do do them it's usually for our friends or somebody that we know personally. The benefit for us is to be able to give people music...that's the real benefit that we can provide. Money is just money. The amount of hassle in setting up a Grateful Dead concert is just too enormous and intimidating... We arrive at decisions by the lowest common denominator. If any one person does not want to do a concert, whether it's a benefit or what, we don't do it. We put our energy into our own scenes." (Hayward Daily Review 10/12/72)

39 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Do you know if olompali is the “novato house” blue cheer lived at?

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    2. No, they were in a different place, though I'm not sure of the date.
      Guitarist Leigh Stephens remembers, "One day Blue Cheer decided to move out to Marin. We rented a house in Novato. At that time Novato was semi-rural. We had a long gravel driveway and were fairly isolated. We could rehearse there and not bother anyone... Well, one day after we had been there for several months, the Merry Pranksters came to visit...for a month or so... It was like a Fellini movie on steroids. I moved back to the city."

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  2. What a great list.

    I’m pretty certain you need to add the June 17, 1975 Winterland show, a benefit for the family of the late artist Bob Fried. It wasn’t advertised as a Grateful Dead show, but boy oh boy it was. I was there…

    http://www.classicposters.com/Grateful_Dead/poster/Other_California/WIN.1975.06.17

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  4. Warhol = an energy-sucking "ambulatory black hole"

    That's a truly awesome description. Did anybody ever capture any footage of Warhol dancing?

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  5. A very useful list. No one was charged money to attend to the Aug 4 '71 Terminal Island show, but you did have to be charged with a Federal Crime. Terminal Island was the Federal Prison, and Owsley was doing time. So i guess he paid in a way.

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  6. The Cabrillo College show (Sep 2 '67) didn't happen. The Country Joe show on Labor Day was a confusion of different events that I have sorted out, but none of them turn out to involve the Dead (there was a Summer 67 event in Lafayette, and a Benefit in Canyon, near Berkeley, the next month, both with CJF, and they got conflated. No Dead involvement, just vague memories).

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    1. Your post on the 9/2/67 mystery show does show a Berkeley Barb ad from that week for the event, so it was at least planned; nonetheless it may have been cancelled. The show otherwise seems to have vanished without a trace.

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  7. By the way, the Garcia/Saunders group did a number of benefits as well. I didn't attempt to list those since I don't have a database showing which Garcia shows were benefits. (Or, for that matter, free.)

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  8. Notes on a couple cancelled free shows:

    From the 6/10/68 Hayward Review -

    CUB SCOUTS BEAT 'THE AIRPLANE'

    SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Police argued for three hours Sunday in Golden Gate Park with the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead.
    In the end, the Cub Scouts won out.
    As more than 3,000 people waited for sounds that never came, police stood firm on their demand that the rock musical groups have a concert permit.
    "This is not a concert," said Bill Thompson, the Airplane's manager. "It is a wake for the late Sen. Robert Kennedy, and the Cub Scouts would like the music."
    Finally the people left and turned Speedway Meadows over to the Cub Scouts, who had a permit.

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    1. From the 1/19/67 Stanford Daily:

      CAL STUDENTS PLAN VIGIL OF REAGAN-BOARD MEET

      Students at UC Berkeley are planning a vigil today to coincide with a meeting on the Berkeley campus of the California Board of Regents.
      The vigil is scheduled to begin at about 9:30 this morning across the street from University Hall, where the Regents are expected to discuss Governor Ronald Reagan’s proposals to cut the University’s budget and charge tuition.
      Two rock and roll bands, the Grateful Dead and the Loading Zone, have volunteered to entertain the vigilers while the Regents are meeting.
      The Berkeley Police Department has given unofficial notice that the bands and the vigilers will not be interfered with so long as order is maintained...

      (This performance probably did not happen - most likely it was cancelled or a false Dead rumor - but it's an interesting example of the kind of event they were expected to play at.)

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    2. And a cancelled benefit -

      In summer 1972 the Dead were to go to Alaska to play two shows: a "Trust benefit" at the Palmer State Fairgrounds in Anchorage, June 30, and "a benefit for the Enep'ut Children's Center" at the Tanana Valley Fairgrounds in Fairbanks, July 2. The shows were promoted by Trust (an organization I know nothing about).
      For whatever reason, the Dead didn't go - perhaps these benefits were just too far removed to be worth the trip. They wouldn't make it up to Alaska til June 1980.
      http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1970s/19720630.html

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  9. Do you have any thoughts on the five "Fare Thee Well" shows that just concluded?

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    1. They were fine. But with all the 50th-anniversary interest in the Dead this year, I'm sorry I don't have more new essays ready for people to read.

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  10. I've read many of your essays on this blog and they are great. Your hard work is appreciated. I didn't mean to change the subject or put extra pressure on you. It crossed my mind that the setlist from 6-27-15 reminds me of what you write about.

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    1. Well, that show in particular was pretty bad.... They grouped all the big '60s jams into the first show and proceeded to slaughter them. Not sure why they did it that way. The shows got better from there, playing-wise. But at any rate, I don't cover the "modern" Dead offshoot bands in this blog, just the historical period of the early Dead!

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  11. The Dead may have played a free show in San Francisco on 8/24/69 - at least, one was announced.

    JGMF reports a listing in the 8/21/69 San Francisco Express Times:
    "Hippy Hill: Trans-Cultural Rip-Offs, Inc. presents Steve Gaskin & the Grateful Dead in concert with Shiva Fellowship. Bring dope (the sacrament) and good vibes. noon. free."
    http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2012/05/where-was-grateful-dead-on-sunday.html

    They'd played in St Helens, OR the day before, and there's some doubt as to whether they would have made it back to San Francisco by Sunday afternoon, for a free show. (A lot of music events in SF that month were cancelled or ad-hoc due to the collapse of the Wild West Festival.)
    Since there's no other indication this free show actually happened, my guess is it didn't.

    The Dead are generally listed as playing the Vancouver Pop Festival in Squamish, BC on 8/24/69 - they were supposed to appear and listed on the poster, but I looked into it and found from a couple sources that they didn't actually show up at the festival; so they would most likely have returned to San Francisco on that day.

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  12. Further information on the scheduled 9/2/67 Cabrillo College show suggests that it was cancelled.
    An intrepid researcher found a short article in the 8/29/67 Santa Cruz Sentinel: "No 'Rock' Festival At Cabrillo."
    "Contrary to information being circulated on handbills, the Magic Music Festival will NOT be held at Cabrillo College September 2 and 3. The performances of the rock and roll bands has not been authorized by the college, according to Cabrillo officials."
    http://www.45worlds.com/memorabilia/item/nc490994us

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  13. iwas at 3/20/68 avalon ballroom.. Dead played last .. morning dew/dark star/ love light.. i was on blue cheer lsd...

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  14. blue cheer band played summertime blues/ joints passed thru the crowd...beyond all doubt Dead came on Jerry in his black hat... I have been talking about this gig 4eva... best of times and a true release for this guy who had been dischraged from the military after 2 tours in Nam... peace and love ... I turned my "love light " on and it's never been off since... love to all .. and peace on earth

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  15. also btw I am from a small town 100 miles from S.F. and I only went to one gig, one night. I read in your blog, you thought people may have melded the events of the weekend into something that did not happen. Let me assure you ..it was a night I never forgot. but it would have been cool to see Garcia with Traffic. I never saw Traffic in any of the gigs I attended. But for sure saw the Greatful Dead that night at Avalon Ballroom, it's also the only time I went to that venue. Later many Fillmore and a couple Winterland gigs, but one time to the Avalon... peace/love thanks for the memories..!!!

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  16. Great to hear about this show! Not much is known about which bands played, but the Berkeley Barb reported, "The Grateful Dead, Kaleidoscope, and others played a benefit to a packed house."

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  17. Posted on the Hooterollin' blog:

    There is a photo of the Dead playing a free show at the Spreckels bandshell in Golden Gate Park sometime in summer '67, at one of the SF Examiner-sponsored "summer jazz rock concerts":
    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207157545511666&set=a.1232369884051.2033544.1073269189&type=3&theater
    The precise date hasn't been found yet.

    It's notable that the Dead were playing several free shows in Golden Gate Park in the summer of '67, while cutting down on their other local appearances. In fact, the only paid shows they played in SF all summer were all at the Straight Theater (6/15, 7/23, 9/29-30).
    The Dead didn't play the Fillmore, Avalon, or Winterland between May & October '67, a striking contrast to their frequent appearances in winter/spring '67. There could be a few reasons for this - they were going out of town more often that summer (making local bookings more difficult).
    But I think it was also deliberate. The Dead sang "Burn down the Fillmore, gas the Avalon" in Alligator that summer, which wasn't entirely ironic. Though they still played for Bill Graham & Chet Helms in other cities like Toronto & Denver, they were definitely avoiding those promoters within SF: after May '67 they didn't play at the Fillmore again (til Nov '69) - in fact they didn't play another SF show for Bill Graham until August '68. And they also stayed out of the Avalon from March '67 to October '68 (except for one benefit).
    It hasn't really been remarked, but the band's policy seems to have shifted in mid-'67: they started regularly playing free shows in other cities as extra publicity; they more or less dropped their relationships with the biggest local promoters, playing far fewer local shows; and they discussed leaving the Haight. (Initially they were going to move to New Mexico, but later settled for Marin County.) Already this was a band willing to take a financial loss in order to gain more control of their own success, and seriously trying to live up to their image as a "people's band." Somewhere in the chaos of life at 710 Ashbury, they were starting to form a more independent definition of themselves and their music. This would lead to their attempt to run the Carousel in early '68 in their quest for independence and a more communal theater.

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  18. Made some minor updates to the 1967 free shows - some more film clips are now known for the 6/21 Summer Solstice celebration; a new May '67 Panhandle show has been spotted, as well as a summer '67 show in the Spreckels Bandshell; and a huge June/July '67 Golden Gate Park show continues to be a mystery.
    It's becoming clear that the Dead played in the park a lot more often than we knew about, since photos have been found for these previously unknown park shows we don't even know the dates for, making it even more likely that other dates left no trace at all.

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  19. Cross-posted from the 1967 Show List comments, a couple descriptions of the 8/10/67 Chelsea Hotel rooftop show:

    "They started a few songs and everything was great, it was a beautiful summer night. But all of a sudden, Andy Warhol wandered up with his entourage. He was standing there watching from behind his sunglasses — at night — watching this lovely Californian music. The song falters, it slows down, and finally the musicians just put their instruments down. They say “Sorry, this isn’t working, we can’t play in this atmosphere.” And they blame Andy Warhol; they say he was sucking all the energy out of the experience. He was like “an ambulatory black hole,” is what they called him!"
    https://www.dinnerpartydownload.org/sherill-tippins/

    Lesh called Warhol an "ambulatory black hole" in his book: "We played a few tunes, and even did a little vocal rap... It was kind of cool, playing on a rooftop in New York, but whatever energy we could muster fell flat on the floor, oozing over to Warhol's feet where it disappeared into the singularity. Not a fun night..." (p.112)

    The East Village Other also ran an article by Hugh Romney describing this event:

    "ROOF OF HOTEL CHELSEA
    Bosom buddie on the Breast Board Paul Krassner slips me into a yellow metered balloon uptown to the Hotel Chelsea where Emmett Grogan's raising money on the roof. Everybody was there and everybody was everybody and the roof belonged to Shirley Clarke. so did the hot dogs.
    The Grateful Dead came early played as good as the electricity could bear pulled up some chairs and hung out. See live diggers simon and garfunkle jonas mekas, the group image and a couple millioneers.
    Now this is Grogan's fantasy...give tax deductible bread to the glide foundation to fly or float 200 groovy heads to europe - the trip without a ticket and like all fantasies backed up with raw hustle it may happen.
    This time it didn't. When everybody got loaded there was some talk of tossing the millionaire off the roof. The money formed covey and giggled nervously. [sic] I made a money mantra pitch and somebody passed a bowl.
    Then Grogan took the bowl and gave the money away to anybody who wanted some.
    Emmett you didn't raise much money but you raised a lot of eyebrows. Maybe an eyebrow farm?"
    (Hugh Romney, "Hog Calling," East Village Other 8/19/67, p.10)

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  20. https://twitter.com/gratefulseconds/status/1033081731652321280
    Looks like July 6, 1967 was a free lunchtime concert sponsored by the SF Examiner

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  21. The Grateful Dead may have played a free show in Provo Park, Berkeley, sometime in 1967. One witness recalls:
    "I first saw the Dead at the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park... I saw them again at Speedway Meadows (talked to Jerry on a call-in at KYA the night before the show!). Again at Provo Park in Berkeley, which was cool 'cuz they were almost a part of the crowd, the gig was so informal. And the last free show was when they closed Haight St. and the Dead played on the backs of a couple of flatbed trucks to a huge crowd on the closed-off street."
    https://www.gdao.org/items/show/837860

    This seems like a definite memory of a small, informal park show, but I haven't been able to find much confirmation that the Dead ever appeared in Provo Park. For one thing, unlike the nearby Golden Gate Park, they'd have to head to Berkeley to play for free - not their usual haunts. So perhaps there was some occasion for it.

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  22. Grateful Seconds found an intriguing Dead mention in the Daily Illini (the student newspaper at the U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) on February 1, 1969, in an article on a student protest sit-in at the University of Chicago:

    "Protesting students strengthened their hold on the University of Chicago administrations building Friday. The students, ranging in number [up to] 500, were clearly growing in morale and confidence. Attention Friday was focused on creating a 'liberation school' and 'new student community' inside the six-story building. Seminars...were held in the building along with more informal discussions. The Grateful Dead have indicated they will give a free concert today inside the building."
    https://twitter.com/gratefulseconds/status/1103080431174352898

    The Dead were in Chicago playing at the Kinetic Playground on Jan 31-Feb 1, so they could have popped into the university for an afternoon show. But did they? I doubt it. In those years, rumors frequently flew around benefits and demonstrations that the Dead would show up and play; far more often than they actually did. Also, no evidence has been found yet that the Dead played at the university, an event which would surely have passed into student lore if they'd showed up.
    The U of Chicago student newspaper (the Chicago Maroon) might have more details. But even if the Dead decided not to do it, it's worth mentioning as a possible free show.

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    1. I checked the Maroon issues for the following week (they didn't publish on the weekend), which was full of news about the sit-in. But there was no mention of the Dead. So I'm pretty certain they didn't appear....in person, that is.
      The Feb. 3 Maroon, summarizing how the weekend went in the occupied admin building, wrote: "A film of Columbia demonstration was shown in Cobb Hall, and a blues band dance was held Friday night [Jan. 31]."
      The film was most likely "Columbia Revolt," a film made about the Columbia University protests in 1968 - which had a scene with the Dead playing at Columbia! So the U of Chicago protesters may have gotten a look at a Dead concert after all....

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  23. What about the People's Park Bail Ball at Winterland on May 28, 1969? It wasn't a free show, but it was a benefit. My group, Little Princess 109, did the lights along with Brotherhood of Lights.

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    1. It's in the benefit list. Unfortunately there's no tape, but there was quite a lineup of bands that night!

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  24. Grace Slick was interviewed in the 2/18/68 Los Angeles Times:
    "[Now that the Airplane are successful] the usual peevish complaints have begun. They've gone commercial, they don't give free concerts anymore, and they make commercials... I asked Grace - had they gone commercial?
    'Sure we have - we're making money. How many free concerts do the Beatles give? The Grateful Dead, who are friends of ours, give a lot of free concerts in San Francisco. Believe me, if they were making more money, they'd give less.'
    The moral here would seem to be that if you like a group and want them to give free concerts, don't buy their records.
    'Maybe you figure we ought to be rich,' Grace continued, 'but we support a machine, not just six people. We've got a road manager, a manager manager, publicity people, photographers, artists, girl friends - a whole machine that we've got to put money back into to make it run smoothly.'
    The Jefferson Airplane is a tribe, and anybody who is in any way associated with it can apparently expect to be fed, included and serviced as part of the tribal machine."

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  25. The Dead played at the memorial for Bill Graham at the Polo Fields in 1991. I don't know the date, but there's a Blues Traveler cd with a track recorded from that concert. They also played the Polo Fields at a Ben & Jerrys concert a few weeks prior to that concert. It's probably impossible to list all the free concerts they gave because those concerts weren't documented and advertised, but you are doing a great job.

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    1. The Bill Graham memorial was on 11/3/91. Blues Traveler had played a festival at the Polo Field on 9/29/91, and their "On Tour Forever" EP has a track from that show with Santana. I don't think they played the Graham memorial show, but John Popper did play harmonica in one of the Dead's songs.

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  26. I acquired some Dead memorabilia a few years back at a moving sale. The couple who was moving said their son, who was a huge Dead fan, had committed suicide. Among the things I purcased is a framed ticket from a concert in 1967. Writing on the back of the frame (not the ticket) is by the son and it says, "one of my favorite gifts that my dad got me," alluding to this framed ticket. I didn't ask either parent, that I can recall, where the ticket came from. I've been reading several Dead blogs/web pages, in addition to this one, and a few talk about the same supposed concert that happened in late June/early July of 1967. The framed ticket I have says, "The Grateful Dead w/ Special Guests Jefferson Airplane" and lists the date as June 30, 1967. The weird thing is it says it's "Live at the Golden State Park." Thought that would be the Golden Gate Park? On the back, the son wrote something about the ticket being for an outdoor concert and "they played at Madison Square Garden." Very confusing. Is this ticket real? Is this the concert in question in late June? I have photos if there's any way to post them. Appreciate any guidance on this.

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    1. Interesting backstory on that ticket. One thing I'm sure of, that ticket is a total fake!
      Even if the Dead played somewhere on June 30, 1967, the Jefferson Airplane were in Detroit that day. In any case there would be no ticket for a show in Golden Gate Park. This imaginary ticket was probably fabricated many years later...

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  27. Hey, thanks so much for responding! Had a sneaking suspicion it wasn't the real deal. I hope the father didn't pay much for it. Just glad his son never knew it was fake. It came with a grouping I bought and didn't pay much for it.

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