This is a story about the time that the Grateful Dead were transformed, for the duration of one song, into a completely different band. It happened at the very last huge free concert in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. One that was attended by over 300,000 people.

Bill Graham was an extraordinary music promoter who made famous the Fillmore and the Winterland Ballroom San Francisco music venues. In October of 1991 he was killed in a helicopter crash in the Bay Area. A free tribute concert, featuring the bands that he had promoted, was organized with lightning speed. Just one week after his untimely death the Laughter Love and Music free concert at the Polo Grounds in Golden Gate Park attracted over 300,000 people. It was a warm, sunny day.

I was living near Sacramento, several hours drive from there. When I heard the official news about this event and I heard who is going to perform at this event I knew I had to go. I told my teenage daughter and her boyfriend that if they wanted to come with me they had to be ready to leave at 3 a.m. I knew there would be a huge crowd coming from all over Northern California, given the lineup of superstar rock bands scheduled to play. I knew there would be horrible, horrible traffic jams due to the bridges in the Bay Area.

I had quite a bit of experience anticipating the movements of large crowds at concerts. I started learning how to make my way through large, densely packed groups of people when my mother and my aunt took me to the Watts Acid Test in early 1966 at age 12. I was there to operate a hand-cranked strobe light while my aunt did some light show things for the Dead. Over the next decade of Dead concerts and Be In’s and Love In’s I had lots of opportunities to practice making a path for myself through groups of densely-packed people. I got very skilled at this.

The polo grounds in Golden Gate Park are ginormous because, you know, galloping horses need a lot of space. I looked at a map before we left and decided where I was going to park so that I could make a quick exit when the event was over. We got there at the crack of dawn. We set up our blanket about 100 feet directly in front of the stage. my daughter and her boyfriend had never been to any event like this before. We only left that spot once, in the middle of the day. We all had to use one of the 30 porta potties that had been set up. I took my daughter’s hand and I told her to grab her boyfriend’s hand and not let go. I dogged and weaved and stepped over people and got us all out still together. I had noted the exact position of our spot relative to the stage. After our one break I was able to get us back exactly to where our blanket was. In the most dense part of the whole crowd of 300,000 people. Back to where we had a perfect view of these really famous performers.

Before I tell you about the transformation of the Grateful Dead that occurred that day I’ll just mention a few of the other highlights. Robin Williams came on. He seemed a little nervous which was strange. When they announced him I expected I would be laughing so hard that my sides hurt. He did tell a few jokes about Bill Graham now being a producer for rock stars like Jimi Hendrix that had passed away. Journey played and they were extraordinary. Joan Baez had everybody sing Amazing Grace with her. That was very moving.

The highlight of the day occurred when John Fogerty joined the Grateful Dead on stage. He said something about having had the privilege of writing a song that went all around the world and then he and the Grateful Dead launched into a rendition of Proud Mary that was perfect. Absolutely note-for-note, beat for beat exactly like I had been hearing it over the radio for years. So I’m hearing the song Proud Mary exactly as it had been recorded by Creedence Clearwater, but I’m looking at the Grateful Dead. It was surreal.

When the last note was sung I was ready and we moved very quick. We got to where my truck was parked and I implemented my escape plan and it worked perfectly. We drove straight south from Golden Gate Park because that was the quickest way to get on a freeway. I knew once I was on the freeway ahead of the crowd I’d be home free. We were tucking ourselves into bed in Sacramento while half of that crowd was still trying to get across the Bay Bridge.

I know I have a couple pictures that my mother and my aunt took that day but all I could find this morning was this one picture of me and my aunt as it had been put into a tribute booklet to my mother after she passed. So I am adding a few stock photos of the crowd that day and I’ll mark one of them up with the spot that we had and held.

Peace, love and may the force be with you.

Storm