Grateful Dead

It was a beautiful fall night in Austin and all the Deadheads were there . People were rolling joints in the club house at a huge picnic table and passing them out to all takers , the band was right on that night ,one of the best dead shows that I have seen , Jerry played Austin alot ,he was always at the Armadillo with Merle Saunders or someone else but this was a special night ,the band kicked butt great show ,great night, thank you

The local crew was assembled from various Armadillo World HQ folks and hangers-on. It was warm and windy all day during the load-in and set-up, but it got pretty cold after the sun went down. I think a few campfires may have been built at the back of the audience area. The blue flannel shirt Jerry is wearing in the pics was bummed off of one of the local hands, Gerald McClannahan - he didn't get it back, needless to say. Michael Priest (RIP) headed up the local crew and also did the artwork for the poster: the skull with a cowboy hat and most-importantly, YELLOW roses. Priest reprised that motif in the poster for the 1982 show at Manor Downs. [Edit: why isn't the artwork for the 1977 show here somewhere? It was classic and widely circulated as I recall.] I recall the touring guys being surprised that it was an outdoor venue -- they didn't really have enough gear for an outdoor show, but it came off fine. I don't think there were but about 7-8000 folks -- the infield of the racetrack was not full all the way to the back.