to see a concert featuring the Grateful Dead, The Band and the Allman Brothers Band. They sold 150,000 tickets at $10 each and then let the other 450,000 in for free.

What a time to be alive.

Good podcast story on how it happened

The Dead's 1.5 hr pre show "soundcheck" with really real Jamming

The Dead's 3+hours set

quote:
28th July 1973, The Watkins Glen outdoor summer jam was held outside of Watkins Glen, New York with The Allman Brothers Band, The Grateful Dead and The Band. Over 600,000 rock fans attended. Many historians claimed the event was the largest gathering of people in the history of the United States. 150,000 tickets were sold for $10 each, but for all the other people it was a free concert. The crowd was so huge that a large part of the audience was not able to see the stage.

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Posted by Honest Tune

Louisiana

Member since Dec 2011

19285 posts

Posted on 7/29/23 at 4:17 pm to Crow Pie

Incredible.

Also very packed.

This post was edited on 7/29/23 at 4:19 pm

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Posted by cgrand

HAMMOND

Member since Oct 2009

47698 posts

Posted on 7/29/23 at 4:55 pm to Honest Tune

definitely listen to the deadcast episode on this. Part 1 is online now and part 2 is in a week or so. The stories about the pirate radio station and the helicopter trip to the Macintosh factory are hilarious

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Posted by Got Blaze

Youngsville

Member since Dec 2013

9979 posts

Posted on 7/29/23 at 7:32 pm to cgrand

Even Santa showed up drinking a Bud heavy

Easy Rider

Shortest bathroom line in concert history

Insanity

New York - Got The Ways And Means
But Just Won't Let You Be

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Posted by Crow Pie

Neuro ICU - Tulane Med Center

Member since Feb 2010

27379 posts

Posted on 7/29/23 at 7:54 pm to cgrand

quote:
definitely listen to the deadcast episode on this. Part 1 is online now and part 2 is in a week or so. The stories about the pirate radio station and the helicopter trip to the Macintosh factory are hilarious

Yeah I listed to the Deadcast while driving home from a meeting out of town and wanted to see pics of it.

When I got home I went down the Watkins Glen rabbit hole and then realized that 07/28 was 50 years to the day and decided to post here.

So many great stories on part 1 of the Deadcast. The pirate flag, "Canadian Radio", the journeys there/hitchhikers, the 1.5 hr sound check, Bill Graham, Jerry deciding the Dead would open etc

If I heard correctly, the 4 Macintosh amps bought off the showroom floor from the owner were flown via helicopter to the site and then they rigged one amp to each of Lesh's bass strings and they essentially created the the Wall of Sound*.

Some of the Jam on the soundcheck is simply magic

*

quote:
Though the initial framework and a rudimentary form of the system was unveiled at Stanford University's Maples Pavilion on February 9, 1973 (every tweeter blew as the band began their first number), the Grateful Dead did not begin to tour with the full system until a year later. The completed Wall of Sound made its touring debut on March 23, 1974, at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California.[2] A recording of the performance was released in 2002 as Dick's Picks Volume 24.

This post was edited on 7/29/23 at 8:02 pm

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