No Tickets, No Problem - The Grateful Dead at Winterland

No Tickets, No Problem - The Grateful Dead at Winterland

The embroidered linen shirt made by Cyndi

In the fall of 1974 the Grateful Dead were going to be doing 5 shows at the Winterland Arena in San Francisco. Cyndi really wanted to go or maybe it was more like Cyndi was going to go even though she had no tickets and, since I had recently become her boyfriend, I was going too. The show was sold out but Cyndi insisted we drive down and get on-line the morning of one of the shows in hopes that additional tickets would be sold for that day's show. After all, Bill Graham was the promoter and had a rep for over packing his shows by admitting additional people into them the day of a concert. The Grateful Dead were planning to take an extended break from touring so this was going to be their last concert for awhile. They did end up playing a couple of shows in '75 but they would not return to touring until the summer of '76. I wasn't too sure about going all the way down to SF just on the chance we could somehow get tickets but Cyndi was determined. So we drove down to SF for one of the weekend shows. My good friend Larry, from the Air Force, lived in San Francisco so we had a place to stay and the day before the concert we drove down to Larry's.

First thing the next morning we headed out to Winterland. There were already about 40 people on-line. We got on the end of the line, took off our day packs which contained some food and drink and of course some pot, and joined the on-line crowd. More people arrived and eventually the line weaved around the block. We were all ticketless with the same hope of getting into the concert. We evolved into a sort of “Waiting for the Grateful Dead” community. Food, drink and pot was all being shared up and down the line. As the crowd expanded we began to draw the interest of the local police who attempted to keep us from blocking the sidewalk and overflowing into the street. They encouraged (I think that's the correct word) us to leave enough space so legitimate pedestrians could get by. By the afternoon the cops were losing the battle. To paraphrase Mr. Morrison, they had the guns but we had the numbers. They eventually started putting pressure on the authorities at Winterland to do something about it. Well there was a bit of discussion and some back and forth but ultimately the solution agreed upon was to open the box office a few hours early and let us in. We all paid the general admission ticket price and they let us in just to get us off the street. We may not have had a ticket per se, but we were in. I don't know if everyone who was waiting got in but we did and so did many others.   

We were now in the arena hours before the doors for the concert had been scheduled to open. Cyndi had that “I knew we'd get in” glow. She's not one to say “I told you so” but I wouldn't have blamed her if she did. General admission was anywhere on the floor. There we no actual seats on the floor so we all crowded around the stage as close and as best we could. Eventually those who bought tickets in advance, which was everyone except those of us who had been outside just a little while ago, started to show up. They and every ticket holder after them had to take places behind all of us non-ticket holders. So not only did we get in, we got the spots closest to the stage! I don't remember an opening band but I do remember being entertained with cartoons, I want to say “Roadrunner”, prior to the show. The Dead eventually came on and played for something like 4 hours in the typical Dead style. Their style is to play songs in a way that one song often runs into another. They don't really break a lot between songs. As they are playing, the music slowly increases its force and bounce until it reaches a frenetic pace causing everyone to dance madly letting it all hang out. The band hangs there for awhile and then the music starts to slowly back off the pace until it becomes quite calm where everyone is just sort of rhythmically swaying back and forth. Then the band starts picking up the pace again repeating the process. This happens throughout the show and everyone moves up and back down together as the music seems to flow through you as you get lost in it. To fully appreciate the experience you need to be moving, dancing with the music. There's a reason that the partaking of drugs for their concerts is popular. It's really a one-of-a-kind experience. They play great music but it's also their concert style that sets them apart and, at least in my opinion, is one of the reasons why they have such a large and loyal following. A Grateful Dead concert is an event. A Dead concert creates a unique bonding of audience and band unlike any other concert that I have been to.

Besides the cartoons, music and the waiting on-line party, I have a memory of some guy who was standing fairly close to us shouting “Play Black Peter!” every chance he got. I don't remember if they played it but I hope for his sake they did. I'm pretty sure we packed up and returned to Eugene the next day. I am glad that Cyndi was so determined to go to the show, it was a memorable experience. I still have the shirt I wore to that concert. It's a plain white linen shirt on which Cyndi had embroidered a flower design. They made a movie of those '74 Winterland concerts cleverly entitled “The Grateful Dead Movie”. It was released in 1977. I have never seen it, but I have been told by a couple of people that they saw me in the audience. Me, I had no tickets, doubted we'd even get in and I ended up making my big screen debut with the Grateful Dead! It's been over 40 years and I've never seen the film. I guess like some of my silver screen friends I never watch my own pictures....

I subsequently saw the Grateful Dead (all with Jerry in the band) four more times but while those shows were all good they never equaled that first one I saw at Winterland in October of '74.