User Show Reviews |
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Reviewing User | Review | Rate Review Poor|Neutral|Good |
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ZionLionHead | A beautiful but sad day at the Polo Fields in San Francisco. The performance was great. | |
Mickey | Laughter, Love & Music To Celebrate The Lives of Bill, Steve & Melissa Laminate: http://www.psilo.com/dead/showshow.php?sid=1080 |
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Alec Cooley | An emotional festival. I had just sent in my mail order for new years tickets when Bill Graham was killed. I caught one of the nights at the Colesium . The band set up bouquets of flowers on the stage in the shape of lightning bolts in memory of Bill. The rumor was going around at the Colesium that there was going to be some sort of memorial in Golden Gate park for Bill, but nothing definate was announced. After the Halloween show I headed for home about six hours away. Then Friday I got the word that the memorial was definately happening on that Sunday, but there was no word on what if any music there would be. Back in the car and down the coast, I got to the polo grounds to find something like 300,000 people there. BGP had put on a one day free festival there just the month before with less than 50,000 people. With that frestival as my gauge, I had casually made arrangements to meet friends "behind the soundboard". Needless to say, with nearly ten times as many people there, it was impossible to get anywhere near the soundboard let alone spot familiar faces in the crowd. Even at the festival, it wasn't clear who was playing. The stage was the same one the Dead used for their stadium shows, so that was a hint. We found a spot on the great lawn several hundred yards away from the stage, but fortunately right in front of a set of delay speakers. So even though the people up on the stage were mere specs, the sound was loud, crisp and clear. Journey did their one song reunion, Jackson Browne played a few tunes and the Rebirth Brass Band got people dancing, but these were hardly the kind acts I jump in the car and drive 12 hours round trip for. Then Los Lobos came on with Santana. Carlos played some exquisite music in Bill's memory. Then CSN&Y followed playing a strong set. Neil had done the Bridge Benefit the night before, closing the show w/ Greensleeves. It was a beautiful sunny day, people were flying kites, kids ran around. There were no fences or security. The BGP folks were all very emotional, obviously. Where usually there was the friendly (or not so friendly) tension between BGP blue coats and concertgoers, this dayeveryone had there guard down. Everyone including the BGP'ers wanted it to be a hassle-free day. And it was. Relaxing , but sad. Don't have much to say about the Dead's set. It was long enough ago that I don't remember how inspired or not it was. The tapes sound good. I mainly remember all the non-Deadheads who were seeing them for the first time. Being the Bay Area, even the non heads have a certain degree of familiarity with the Dead. Many seemed to be seeing them for the first time in years or were comparing them to the image they had in their minds. The other recollection I have, as a somewhat compulsive DeadBase statistician, was noting the unusual set they playedWith only one long set to play, they mixed traditionally first and second set songs together, giving us rare combinations such as the Truckin>Other One w/ out drums/space. And of course John Fogerty's mini set with the Dead backing him was alot of fun. The encore with Neil Young joining them for Forever Young was a dud, but who wa going to complain. I thought they should have pulled out a Mission in the Rain. By that time the sun had given away to pea-soup fog and the down, but not out refrain "there's some satisfaction in the San Francisco Rain" would have fit the somber mood perfectly. But what you gonna do? |
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Dan Sewell | How about that Fly By of the Airplane throwing Carnations out to the crowd? Dude on stilts dressed as a ghost left a smoking crater, and, who was that guy with an eyeball on the back of his head?? First time I ever boogied with Hell's Angels (I had a Rolling Stones Altamont vision during show and was freakin out)...They were really cool to a bugged eyed Yippie feelin waaay outta place. |
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Dan | What a wonderful tribute to Bill. Beautiful show!!! | |
OldNeumanntapr | This show was so very emotional, being Bill's tribute concert. I had mail order tickets to both the 10/27 and 10/31 shows, and recorded both of those in the taper section. 10/27/91 was the 1st show after Bill's unfortunate accident, and 10/31/91 was most definitely the most powerful Dead show I've ever witnessed, with Ken Kesey coming out during Drums / Space. We had recorded Neil Young at the Bridge Benefit at Shoreline the night before the memorial show in the park. After the Bridge show I stayed the night in my VW bus parked in front of a friend of a friend's place in Atherton. We got up the next morning and drove up to Golden Gate Park. Even early in the morning the crowds were terrible. This was the last trip that I had made in my restored '67 VW camper bus. I retired it right after and it sat in the garage for a year before I sold it. I always thought that the Bill Graham memorial was a fitting 'last ride'. I recorded the memorial show with my triple set of Nakamichi CM-300s->Sony TC-153SD cassette portable. We were 3/4th of the way back between the stage and the repeaters. I remember thinking that it started of crowded and got progressively more packed with people as the day wore on. I think the Chronicle said something like 300,000 people in the park. I believe it! It reminded me of something that I saw on Sesame Street when I was a little kid in the early 70s. They took a pickle jar and filled it with small stones. 'Is it full? No, we can add more.' And they poured in small ball bearings. 'Is it full? No, we can add more'. Then they added sand, and then water. Finally it was full. The crowd at the Polo Fields that day brought back that memory, with more and more people pushing their way in. I remember all the bands that day and also Robin Williams who did some stand up comedy between sets. I also remember the plane that dropped flowers. John Fogerty played with the Dead and sounded really good. It was only about two years before that he played with Bobby and Jerry at the Oakland Stadium AIDS Benefit. I remember thinking that there had been a lot of historical shows in the park at that spot and this was going to be another one. I'll never forget it. :( |