Grateful Dead

Dosed beyond belief. Yet I still remember so much of this show, particularly when Mickey Hart's drums appeared on stage and the buzz of "Mickey Hart" spread throughout hot, dirty, sweaty, perfect Winterland. What a gift to have been there through so much of those days.

Great Show. I still have my ticket with "The Last One" stamped on it. They handed them out as we left Winterland after the show.

My seventh Dead show. This was my fourth show of the five in this run. I said there were 6 shows in my reviews of 10-16,17,18 but that's wrong. Sorry. This show was going to be the "last one" so I had to attend. I was working in SF at an Engineering firm. I had a key to office and coke machine. I borrowed $26 in change from it and headed over to Winterland. Found a ticket for the $26 after I converted the change into paper near the venue. Not my favorite show I was pretty worn out after a week of partying. The weirdest night of the run was Saturday's show when there were so many people outside who didn't get in. We all partied all night outside. Then I scrounged up $26 by Monday morning to put back the change I'd taken from office machine.

tj crowley was this not the return of mickey hart? did not the 'rowan bros.' open?

I've already written a fairly extensive description of the sights and sounds of this run in my 18 Oct entry, but here's a just little bit more.Once again, a relatively short wait in line for tickets-at-the-door (can you imagine?), then the wait in the other line to go inside with a lot of the same faces, then the cartoons, then the show. Not as "high" as the 18th, but still a gathering of kindred strangers and friends to catch one more show. Mickey dropped by for the later set. Two things stood out for me from this show. First, was Bobby doing Good Lovin', a fitting and poignant last night tribute. However it was Mississippi 1/2 Step that I thought was such a classy farewell tune, and then they bid us Good Night. There were mobs of folks outside. I heard later they'd passed "The Last One" tickets out but I must've walked right by them. I've never lost the memories, though. As I previously explained, the week had been flavored by a news item about a crashed UFO. As I drove back to LA the next day, I was thinking about the great gigs and about how the world was gonna be a different place when Newsweek ran their cover story about the aliens. Of course, it didn't happen, but it was a week of high thoughts and "what if?". Months to come were to include intimate gigs with Legion Of Mary, Kingfish and Keith & Donna, catching up on the Dead's official back catalog as well as all those hi-fi and lo-fi bootlegs, and meeting other Heads during the hiatus in anticipation of The Return Of The Grateful Dead!

Just one more thing...During the years up to these gigs, and at solo gigs up and down the West Coast during the hiatus, I used to see an old Highway Patrol car, probably a Dodge Polara, black with white doors, spotlights, but instead of the big Highway Patrol emblem on the doors, it had the Grateful Dead Skull & Roses, like on the old Monster T-Shirts. Needless to say, it was real "in your face" funny and always cracked me up. Can anyone shed light? Was it a fan's car or part of the GD organization? Much obliged!

In the year/months leading up to these shows I was able to see Old and In the Way at the Boarding House. Garcia Band at the Keystone, etc. And just after these gigs Kingfish and also Garcia/Saunders at various places around SF. We owe a huge debt to Bill Graham for bring so many great artists to SF. I was able to see so many great shows... 10/1/71 Winterland Black Sabbath Edgar Winter/White Trash Sweathog 3/26/72 Winterland Crosby-Nash Elvin Bishop Stoneground Lights: SF Light Works Notes: Sheriff's Benefit. Also: Earth Rise. 4/7/72 Winterland Sha Na Na Malo Sweathog 6/8/72 Winterland Rolling Stones Stevie Wonder Terry Reid 9/22/72 Winterland Jefferson Airplane Commander Cody Muskrat 12/22/72 Winterland Steve Miller Mike Bloomfield Roxy Music 1/25/73 Winterland Traffic Free John Martin 3/17/73 Winterland Steve Miller Doobie Brothers Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show 4/13/73 Winterland Kinks Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks Mason Profitt 6/8/73 Winterland Tower Of Power Chambers Brothers Sons Of Champlin 9/26/73 Winterland Allman Brothers Band Marshall Tucker Band 10/2/73 Winterland New Riders Of The Purple Sage Mike Bloomfield Jerry Garcia & Merle Saunders Notes: Legal Aid Benefit--also: Hot Tuna 10/12/73 Winterland Steve Miller King Crimson Dalton & Dubarri 2/23/74 Winterland Grateful Dead 4/20/74 Winterland Jefferson Starship Zulu Steelwind 5/11/74 Winterland BB King Freddie King 10/19/74 Winterland Grateful Dead 10/20/74 Winterland Grateful Dead 6/17/75 Winterland Jerry Garcia & Friends Kingfish Keith & Donna Notes: "Bob Fried Memorial Boogie" Also: Mirrors 12/7/74 Winterland Dave Mason Poco P.F.M. 10/4/75 Winterland Kingfish Sons Of Champlin Keith & Donna 12/19/75 Winterland Jerry Garcia Band Keith & Donna Clover and more ! Thank you Bill! Winterland is long gone, but The Fillmore lives on.

Woke up early morning in South Lake Tahoe and decided I hadda go to the show!No money, No dope. But I hitched a ride all the way to the show and traded an old Sierra Designs "down-sweater" for a ticket. The hippie scalper (some sleaze from LA) looked at me like I was crazy, but his friend convinced him it was a good trade. Once I got in, I traded some Chicano kids a couple of sparklers for a "pinner" and at least had something to smoke. I remember overhearing a couple of the video crew talkin' shit about how ". . . this ain't no riff-raff, it's the Grateful Dead." And, ". . . why don't we go out on the road with a sheet of acid, a case of booze, and write a book!?" Everybody wanted to be Hunter S. Thomson and Dr. Gonzo! But when Mickey Hart came back that night, now THAT was cool! Later, JiJi

I think he may have been playing with them at my first show in the Fillmore many years before but this was my true introduction to Mickey. I was already a dyed in the wool head by this point in history but when Mickey joined the fray I was completely mesmerized. He WAS the devil and I'd never felt such power. It was one of the most transcendent moments of my life.

5 days and 5 grams of honey oil, wahoo. So the Dead played Mexicali Blues 5 nights in a row and I was thinking for sure it was going to make the movie. Where's that video? There's enough footage I understand they could make another film yet. You all have video of all 5 nights and more. Want more Grateful videos. Where's all the Shorelines and stuff?

Still a teen, living in the South Bay, it was easy to go to all Five Nights! Yow! What a treat. Five nights with different set lists, with the Wall of Sound! Micky shows up on the last night, that was a surprise, I didn't even know who he was. This was the end of the Wall of Sound. What a wonderful sound invention it was, it sounded so sweet, so quiet and then so loud but clear with each instrument so clearly in the mix. People in the audience just stood still and listened because it was so sweet. I loved the Wall of Sound. I feel totally blessed to have heard in many times in my youth. I also remember getting a torn ticket stub leaving Winterland with "The Last One" stamped on the back. Looking back this may be the best five night run I ever attended.

Coming up on 40 years later. Missed the first night in transit from Canadian Rockies,(train) Vancouver,(hitch hiking)to Eugene (hitch hiking) to San Francisco. Made it to my friends place on Waller St. the 17th. Tickets waiting for me. Sat front row balcony on north side of auditorium the 20th with friends, to my left Chez Ray and his friends Joyce and Dave. Jay K. and Amanda to my right. Had that feeling of the North American continent all spread out to the east, south, and north by northwest from that amazing time and space in American history.

The last one was my 6th in a year and a half, still have my ticket stamped "THE LAST ONE" in big green block letters, the Ticketron printout says "THE GREATFUL DEAD".....and a year later they were back on the road! pfft! Didn't see the boys again til 1992 at Shoreline

A KPFA employee left will call tix for my household. Couldn't get anyone to go with me, so I went alone. It was my birthday.

At one point during the first set I ended up in those balcony seats up behind the stage and saw another drum-kit lurking backstage. I thought, “HOLY SHIT!?!”