tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post9033795199680600506..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: September 30, 1972: American University, Washington DCLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-46615521333216285602023-03-20T20:58:57.892-07:002023-03-20T20:58:57.892-07:00And yes, it was played on the same soccer field be...And yes, it was played on the same soccer field behind the women’s dorm ? Am I the only one that was there? Yes, I was H on A as we all were lol but I sure remember it and had T Shirt forever haha Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-23985538383927239282023-03-20T20:55:32.404-07:002023-03-20T20:55:32.404-07:00Well, we thought it was an awesome show. we were ...Well, we thought it was an awesome show. we were students at American, the student fees paid for it to my knowledge. However, we had to supply something for 5000 people the first year in 30,000 the next year.!!!LOL<br />However, how come I can’t find anything about the first concert with the much smaller numbers of people? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-4557305959685095202021-03-28T08:17:42.372-07:002021-03-28T08:17:42.372-07:00That sounds awesome! Ahhh, to be young again.That sounds awesome! Ahhh, to be young again.Fate Musichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05648291938690043423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-73881919609685640072021-03-27T19:33:44.989-07:002021-03-27T19:33:44.989-07:00I was one of the “outsiders.” We heard a rumor tha...I was one of the “outsiders.” We heard a rumor that the Dead would be playing at American University, and based solely on that, drove to Washington from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. When we arrived, we asked the first person we saw what he knew about the concert (nothing),walked about another 100 yards and ran right into it. We had a wonderful evening, despite the chill and damp. Especially memorable was the stripper who performed at intermission, dancing to the Stones’ Can’t You Hear Me Knocking. My all time favorite Dead concert. Thank you, Mr. Goldsmith.Jack Owenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00062408903475997878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-14933565537358775062018-09-14T06:17:15.125-07:002018-09-14T06:17:15.125-07:00How is his note rambling?
I think those of us on ...How is his note rambling?<br /><br />I think those of us on the left understand fiscal responsibility much better than the Clown and his right-wing stooges in Congress do right now.GratefulDawgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-1604601487819813652016-06-15T07:26:21.050-07:002016-06-15T07:26:21.050-07:00Thank you for the rambling, "liberal" vi...Thank you for the rambling, "liberal" viewpoint.<br /><br />Once again, the left proves that fiscal responsibility is a topic they don't believe in and/or understand.<br /><br />Sadly, Jerry paid a serious price over the years, due to the fact that the Dead needed to perform excessive concerts for the sole purpose of compensating for their own, self-admitted fiscal irresponsibility.<br /><br />Signed,<br /><br />Conservative Deadhead since '68.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12270746000667097344noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-83794008417632622742015-06-22T03:52:39.961-07:002015-06-22T03:52:39.961-07:00As for those who attended the concert, they all se...As for those who attended the concert, they all seem to fondly remember the topless dancer who appeared with the Dead. <br /><br />There may have been an actual review in the campus paper, I don't know - there was one in the Washington Post. <br />From the Ghosts of DC site: <br />"[The Dead played] in front of about 10,000. It was sponsored by the student government...and was slated for a 5 p.m. start on Saturday, September 30th, 1972 …<br />The weather that day was bleak, overcast with the threat of rain. Not only that, but electrical difficulties backstage were preventing the band from going on, delaying the show well past the start time...<br />Here’s an excerpt from Bob Galano’s Washington Post review the following week.<br /> 'The Dead, whose names and faces have changed over the years, played nothing that stopped the show and sounded somewhat adversely affected by the cold. Not even 50 speakers and the ensuing volume could mask the sloppy updates and listless tempi.<br /> But the audience was a gracious one, and though otherwise unmoved by the performance they seemed to enjoy the free music and found themselves applauding, ignoring the obvious lack of musical excitement.<br /> Some of them recalled a “fantastic” concert given in the area by the Dead a few years ago and were therefore a bit more disappointed than others by Saturday’s weak performance. However, despite the bad weather and the flawed showing, the majority was glad to have come.'"<br /><br />Interesting that Galano, a 'professional' reviewer, would find the Dead sloppy, listless & unexciting. (The last show the Dead played in the area was 10/23/70, at Georgetown - it's revealing that some people who attended both shows found this one disappointing.)<br />Audience members also remember it being cold and wet in the muddy soccer field, though the sun peeked out mid-show. It was a mellow occasion, with little advance notice, mostly word-of-mouth. Apparently lots of drugs were consumed, since that stands out in many accounts (along with the dancer)... <br /><br />And some memories from the AU website, which presents the show in a more glowing light: <br /><br />"There were thousands of tie-dyed, dancing young people on the AU athletic field on September 30, 1972, but nobody was counting, because there were no tickets and the music was free... <br />Somehow the administration agreed to the influx of rock bands, recalls the student organizer behind many of the shows, Jan Goldsmith, SPA/BA ’73, now a judge and law professor in San Diego...<br />But when the students nabbed an act as big as the Dead for a free show—free to students, that is, since the band’s fee was a then-controversial $20,000—Goldsmith and the Student Union Board got cold feet. Until the last minute, in a nervous effort to staunch off-campus crowds, they denied the band was coming.<br />It didn’t work. “Word quickly spread all over the country that the Dead were doing this outdoor free concert, and kids from all over came to this thing,” says Gary Gurner SOC/BA ’73, who was on the concert committee... <br />Meanwhile, the crowds of Deadheads who followed the band found their way to AU. “We were scared stiff things were going to fall apart, or people were going to riot,” Goldsmith recalls.<br />Then university chaplain R. Bruce Poynter estimated the crowd for “five hours of high-decibel sound” at 12,000 to 14,000. He was anxious, too—but was pleasantly surprised. “It was a good-natured crowd, even a gentle crowd,” he wrote at the time, although “if one looked at the field after the people had gone, one wondered if this is in fact the ecologically sensitive generation or the throwaway culture.”Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-53007248710303223782015-06-22T03:07:14.610-07:002015-06-22T03:07:14.610-07:00As we've sometimes found in college papers, th...As we've sometimes found in college papers, this isn't a review of the show but a nagging conservative editorial about how badly it was managed by the authorities. <br /><br />This was a "free" show, but the Dead were still paid by the Student Union Board ($20,000 directly + another $10,000 in expenses). The writer complains that university students were outnumbered three to one by "outsiders!" <br />I suspect that the secrecy the writer complains about might have been a stipulation of the Dead (along with their "comforts"). They knew well how many people would come swarming if a free show was announced ahead of time.<br />I don't know why the Dead agreed to make this a free show, but it must have been quite a score for Goldsmith, who was a student organizer in the SUB.<br /><br />Nothing is said of the Dead's performance, of course, except that it was "uninspired and boring" (not that you'd expect this writer to say any different). The emphasis is on security, medical services, ODs, misspent funds, who to blame for this fiasco, etc. Behind it all, you can get a sense of why this was one of the last free shows the Dead ever played, if this was the official response. (Garcia mused in interviews about how the authorities always seemed to be afraid of free shows and would try to never allow them.)<br /><br />My copy was blurry and cut-off, so there were a few words I couldn't make out.Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com