Grateful Dead, free concert on Haight Street, SF, March 3 1968, live

[@patrickpeel3374]

In 1967. I worked with the light show at the Straight Theater as shown in this video. We had a 3day concert with the Dead. And the Son’s of Chaplin. First time with Micky as 2nd drummer. Used to sit with Jerry and puff. He got me the job working liquid lights. And using my artistic talents to draw a sign that was projected on a screen in back of the stage. We had to get a permit for the show. Which the city banned. So we got a dance class permit instead. Acid and peyote dreams . Ozly best. Cool aid test. I lived in San Anselmo later. Used to see the boys around all the time. Sleeping Lady cafe. Long strange trips. Peace and 💕 to all that hear the music.

[@paulnolan4971]

Owsley tabs man. Far out.

[@tomk169]

what was the scene in fairfax like?

[@doubled3962]

Wow Man ❤ I always wanted to know the lava light project person , so glad I read this , dude your work is always amazing 🤩

[@ClueSign]

Thank you for sharing your memories, from a fellow Marinite (Sausalito) just a bit too young to have made the Haight scene (I was 12 in '67) but appreciative of its place in the culture.

[@jasonbauer5488]

Dude, what an awesome time you must have had. Liquid dreams and love your way. I'm only 41 but my dad filled me in on those times. It's weird to be nostalgic about things you never actually experienced. But I know I sure am. Peace and love to all the dead heads. And to people who say Phish is just as good. Lol, you will never understand. No hate, just no understanding...

[@kurtzwar729]

I was lucky to catch the early Dead band twice in 1968, at Golden Gate Park and Stanford. Love to hear Jerry and Pigpen trading leads. God Bless the Grateful Dead. RIP Jerry & Pigpen.

[@sentry8535]

You may have passed me and my mom in the park 1968 . We lived a few blocks from the park on 21st street and my mom would drag me in my little red wagon to see the free concerts . I was just a little boy at the time . My mom was fascinated with the hippy scene but was in no way a hippy .

[@tbone1365]

Only 25 and recently discovered them. I love the early years, especially 1969. I couldn't imagine how mindblowing this would be when it happened, cause it blows my mind today

[@williamsnyder1205]

Glad to see ya dig them, In "87" my wife and I took our three years old daughter to an out door dead show I had my daughter on my shoulders down in front of the stage, they hit Jerry with a blue light and he was all blue, my daughter starts clapping and yelling "papa smurf" Jerry starts laughing and points down at us, I remember that like it was yesterday,

[@tonetone7572]

remember when this was live on the Tom Jones show my mom loved him and Janis too like we all did . when they did this duet my whole family was up and dancing jumping up and down in the living room except for my dad who just sat drinking his beer laughing and enjoying the whole scene .those were great times a very special time, i really miss those days.

[@oldrock9]

I woul like to be there in that time

[@imanalien2222]

Man those P90s into cranked JBL loaded Twins is pure thunder from the heavens! Thanks for the post. 12 days before my baby ass arrived in this world…so I had to catch the next one…or fifty. ;)

[@charlesshepherd2004]

Man. You know what you're talking about. I'm a dumb ole drummer..

[@Synthetrix]

Jerry frequently played that 1952 Les Paul gold top from late ‘67 into ‘68. I wonder what became of that one.

[@benw-king3380]

What an amazing document Don, thankyou very much. From a longtime Dead fan/musician in the UK.

[@whathappenedtofreethinking6902]

I would like to take a moment to appreciate and applaud those who documented these great moments in time So those of us not able to be there can now enjoy it. The Dead are a movement unto themselves. This is so cool. Imagine having a life you can look back on moments of because other people filmed you giving them a hell Of a great time. Who needs photo album? The world made your photo album for you. Wild!

[@ScarlettFire341]

Who needs photo album? The world made your photo album for you. Wild!

[@stormaking]

Watching this clip is like going back in time for real! Thank you so much for making this publicly available.

[@susanmartin5617]

I looked so hard for myself in this clip. I was dancing my ass off as i recall. But didn't find. Thanx for posting, and thanx for this pleasant memory of a summer well spent

[@diamonddave16]

Jerry jammin

[@bonnieknight8045]

Gratitude for this historical footage -- at true treasure!! I was a teen in SF when these films were made and the authenticity here brings me into a nostalgic haze! Fantastic music from the brilliant Dead, and a glimpse at the aura of a great almost-end of an a magical-but-short era in 1968.

[@22NL22NL]

Absolutely fascinating many thanks for sharing ❤

[@NebulaStudios1]

The stuff dreams are made of. What a time.

[@johncopeland3826]

In my opinion the two finest Band's i have ever heard are The Band and The Grateful Dead ! Two groups who i would say epitomised the musicianship and understanding of what being a Band was all about . No frontman hogging all the limelight , but if one member did not pull his weight then it affected the whole overall quality of the product . Those two groups were also in it for the enjoyment and also for the music .... Oh , originality is seeping out of their every pore .

[@danamaguire4285]

Throw the Allman Bros in there for the trifecta.

[@granted6209]

Led zep, Pink Floyd. All of the members in both bands hold so much weight and musicianship that make the bands what they are. Those are my two

[@darrellminx5459]

I am 66 and Born in SF and this is how I grew up. Long strange Trip 🎉

[@jackbutler1038]

Thank goodness for the tapers, and folks like this who documented…and the good ‘ol Grateful Dead

[@bruceveary1758]

Studying the action in the street scenes is both fun and insightful. Plus seeing the cable cars using the mid-street turntable, and the late-Sixties-paint-scheme Muni trolley buses, was a gas.

[@josephscionti4680]

Wow! Just shy of a year after their debut self titled album. Awesome rendition of Viola Lee Blues. Lovely footage. I was only 15 and 3000 miles away in New York. Would have loved to experience it in person. Thank you for posting this amazing video! 🌷

[@archstanton_live]

Thank you, Don. Thank you for grabbing your camera, for your friendship with Steve Brown and your symbiosis with Viola Lee.

[@petern.9392]

Great old jams. I only lived a few miles from the Haight at the time. Too bad I was only 6! Didn't see them until 1981.

[@jimkeogh8552]

Talk about community service, the video confirms it. Viola Lee Blues was my indoctrination to my 67 year membership to the Dead community.

[@casst346]

wow! good thing you were able to capture this in film for historical purposes! great job! thanks for sharing!

[@bruceveary1758]

Nice!...captured the feel of the times and the moment...context is always important!

[@romancareca9630]

Going back in time to wonderful 60s

[@donaldgehre5964]

A little less than 3 weeks later the Dead would play on the first day of Spring, the Vernal Equinox, in Golden Gate Park with the Airplane. I had a test at State College and coudn't go. My buddy Bob went and told me the Airplane never showed up, but the Dead played for four hours straight. Many years later I saw photos of that day Jim Coyne took. It was there for the first time Garcia was growing his beard. Those days were magic, but by the Summer of '68 the scene was too big, too many bad actors . For awhile it was like time was standing still there was so much magic in the air.

[@Meme-zc4cw]

'68 was a pivotal but dark year. It seems like things really changed from the optimistic flower child, to the militant revolutionary. It's understandable, after Tet it was clear America was being lied to. Then King assassination, then Bobby, DNC and then of course the harder drugs became more prevalent. You can see the difference between the crowd and performers at Monterey versus Woodstock. By Woodstock everyone looked exhausted and really strung out. At Monterey people were clean, colorful and happy. But through all of it, came some seriously incredible music.

[@donaldgehre5964]

@@Meme-zc4cw Good observations, I mostly agree. The real turning point may have been as early as the Fall of 1966-coincidentally when I first attended the dance concerts at the Avalon Ballroom. The first concerts I attended I saw the place barely filled, the scene was still local, in the City, Palo Alto. Berkeley, here abouts. Then, the Human Being exploded and everybody discovered how many turned on people there really was. And the Chronicle put a nail in the scene with their publicity. While really tribal it was utopian. Like nothing before or since. Like a supernova, the energy has radiated everywhere ever since. It changed the world. And Owsley and Kesey and the Dead-among many others-were revolutionaries in the truest sense. New "researchers" at SF State were pretenders to the thrown, although the Strike starting in the Fall of 1968 would change that. The different energy among people you encountered on the streets in the early days was palpable and incredible. The contact high was real and transformative.

[@jeffreyschmid6920]

Thank you for filming and sharing this piece of history

[@jasonbauer5488]

That was awesome! I've only seen pictures and heard stories about this show. Thank you so much for sharing. And thanks Don for grabbing that camera!

[@haikat4]

Imagine not only being there, but being the center of attention... These guys lived a crazy ass life.

[@darrellminx5459]

I love the Dead They used to play fast it was great. I was a kid but loved every moment.

[@songsfrown5941]

me and my buddy, we all got lifetime there!

[@wantabeu2ify]

Wow! I've only ever seen stills from this event! Unfortunately, I wasn't even born yet, but I got my fair share of the boys in the 80's.

[@homecookinmusicAZ]

Amazing footage!

[@carlrudd1858]

My friend and I were there... it was crowded and windy. We left and went to hippie hill and drank Annie Greensprings.

[@nonoodleno]

Great music, great document. Thx!

[@aeonsbeyond]

I was Born March 1st 1968 in Binghamton New York. conceived in the summer of love but only born in time to for the band leave the Haight wow

[@lonesomeness-w6h]

I was😅 in the crowd was going to school there and working in the library. SDS Mark Rudd smoking the Dean’s cigars . Drank some koolaid and stood there with out moving watching this Black dude dance …without moving. Had no Idea I was tripping

[@effdonahue6595]

😵‍💫🤪🚀

[@eaaivazian]

This is amazing. Thank you sharing this fine historical footage. It looks great...and I'm so glad you made the effort to find the audio to sync to it properly. You have really served music fans and history by keeping and sharing this incredible footage of this amazing band at such a relatively early date in their history.

[@daveandhelenkirkland6898]

The audio is not in sync!

[@kimdelong3429]

People having good clean chemical fun and not killing each other! Imagine that! Good old 20th Century!

[@postshanna]

Absolutely unreal footage. Thanks so much for sharing.

[@johnfoetisch3818]

thank you

[@michaelcasty]

Hey now ! Nice footage of Garcia playing a Gibson Les Paul with P 90 pickups ! Viola Lee Blues can jam for twenty minutes! Great stuff Don, Aloha from Hawaii 🎸☮🤙🏝🏄🏻‍♂🍄🌋🐠🐬🐙🌺🌊🎹🐳

[@williamsnyder1205]

Aloha, peace ✌ out my friend, from Sacramento, California

[@roman61]

Far out! Thanks for sharing.🤩

[@doggonedean5314]

Great video, thank you. I was 15 at time and was playing frisbee at Speedway Meadow when this was going on.✌☮

[@Bonniem191]

Wow,' How cool was this!

[@TK-fk4po]

What’s kind of amazing is that none of those completely high people up on the rooftop and telephone pole didn’t fall down and break their necks.

[@thomasarneson4511]

I was living in an apartment on Frederick and Ashbury at the time. I didn't go to this one, but saw Hendrix in the panhandle.

[@williamsnyder1205]

So many free show at that time we were blessed with such talent

[@stuartzoo]

Thanks a bunch for sharing this!

[@susiefairfield7218]

❤⚡💙💃🕺Music Never Stopped 🐷🎩👌🏼 ✌🏼🙃thank you for sharing this

[@杉本明彦-s3w]

03-03-68 / Haight Street ! ~ Set List... Viola Lee Blues Smokestack Turn On Your Love Light Hurts Me Too Dancin’ In The Streets ⚡️ 1968... Carousel Ballroom ✨Avalon Ballroom ✨Winterland Arena ✨Fillmore West ✨The Matrix Grateful Dead 最高 !👍 From 🇯🇵

[@williamsnyder1205]

You named all my favorite spots , I was at winterland the night the dead closed 🔐 it

[@杉本明彦-s3w]

03-07-68 / San Quentin State Prison (Free Afternoon Concert) 03-11 / Sacramento Memorial Aud. also: Cream ! 03-15~17 / Carousel Ballroom also: Jefferson Airplane !

[@seabertotter4325]

I had one of those 1953 Les Pauls. That trapeze tailpiece was crap! Garcia had a Tune-o-matic put on his. That made it playable.

[@NAPNYC4938]

Incredible

[@rgbeee.1826]

Don, this is so great, thank you for sharing this! ❤

[@savvysmalls]

you're a natural historian! Thank you!

[@FrittenFritzgerald]

man, what would i give to had a chance to be there... i mean probably i was in an earlier life... what would i give to remember? ...

[@jroNC2007]

thanks for sharing this!

[@jameskennedy721]

Whalen , reading at the theatre , was one of the Beat poets from the decade earlier .

[@Bunbeck-pf9iw]

Yes thank u very much for this classic ! ❤️🐰🐇🌹☀️☠️💀🔥🕊️👽🛸🪐🚀☄️💥⚡️🪽🪭love with all of my heart !

[@reverendbarker650]

Wonderful !

[@bigbossman7991]

Please post more if you’ve got it! ❤

[@crustycobs2669]

Amazing

[@Urbexkc]

Amazing!

[@daveguitarnowski4402]

Thanks man. This is pretty damn cool.

[@grahamcarver4527]

A moment in time ☮️🙌

[@edwardgonczy3170]

Yes indeeeeedeeeee. One of those magical days when heaven reached down and touched the earth.

[@alansommer]

I love you, man!

[@jcmartin868]

What a trip. No one works downtown anymore.

[@oortobject77]

All that acid and people dancing on rooftops and nobody tried to fly. Makes you think the propaganda might have been BS.

[@asteverino8569]

Good times they were.

[@peterbroderson6080]

When we had flowers in our hair and thought we could change the world!

[@ipacinema]

You DID change the world - and I am grateful for it!

[@jamesconnolly1201]

R.I.P. PHIL LESH !!! ❤❤❤❤ AND JERRY GARCIA R.I.P. 1995 😭😭😭😭✌✌✌✌✌✌✌ ❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@pualdupvandoff8199]

I looked and looked, but had a hard time finding one person that was overweight. And all the people loading on the street car while it's turning around, and sitting/standing on the edge of the roofs. How did any of us survive, without the uber safety nannies?

[@thegarciaproject]

Wow! Such a gift to the community. Thanks Don.🙏

[@McMillanScottish]

If it happened in the street today, the cops would be beating the shit out of everybody and hauling everybody to jail. Those were the days, man.

[@pualdupvandoff8199]

I doubt it. They wouldn't do anything, their hands are tied. But some people in the crowd would have a beef, and wind up stabbing or shooting each other, that's for sure..

[@ThomasWBaldwin]

thanks man! cool scene.😉

[@BluebirdBridge]

That contrast between the suits and the hippies reminds me that conservatives at the time said the young folks would never amount to anything. It was brutal. I remember having to leave a diner because my hair was long. I guess they say that about all the generations. And, since the new generation always does eventually grow up, conservatives have now decided it's better to dislike the tolerance.

[@pualdupvandoff8199]

That's because when people actually grow up, and realize how things work, they tend to become more conservative in nature

[@diamonddave16]

Awesomeness

[@jongray4828]

Was this before all the smash-n-grabs started in Haight? Looks like a fun time though!

[@VR-jg3sp]

Thanks for uploading this! Never seen this footage (of course). I have about an hour's worth of their set at this event(surprisingly good quality, too). Let me know if you want any of it to try and sync to your footage...

[@johnlarrazabal7494]

I was there in spirit.....i was born in August of '68!!!!!

[@RobotMillionaire]

Pure Americana

[@Mrbeahz1]

The synch make be way off, but hot damn, the video and audio are from long ago and far away!

[@robertkelly6282]

Early dead the best

[@jackstraw0223]

I get nervous watching all those people, some of which I'm sure are tripping, dancing so close to the edge of the rooftops. Then again, I may have been one of them. :)

[@jamesconnolly1201]

Awesome rare clip.....🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌈🌈🌈🌈🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@Tomangel61]

Some got six months, some got one solid.

[@BrianWilcox1976]

wow, compare that area then vs now! The hippies lost, Lebowski!

[@jamesschpeiser4326]

Actually they are in Stinson.

[@davidmanchajr6839]

rite on man

[@eeeMauiii]

da fuse dat ste LIT 🔥

[@racializedkanadian]

OMG.

[@BubbaSimmz]

Nice.

[@touchofdumb]

Strange to see people living it up without the tech barrier. Sure there was a drug barrier, but they seem to be having a better time. This is really something, thanks for putting it up.

[@klinesmith5415]

❤️❤️❤️🐈

[@yarlkymcfirblatherington9879]

A pity the sound couldn't be synced, but i suspect that the filming was random and could only be used as clip sequences. Good to see anyway.

[@stacyblue1980]

🙏🌹

[@tuckerfamily1402]

Who else saw the guy on top the power pole 😂

[@williamsnyder1205]

Right, I did indeed, 😂 lol, from Sacramento, California peace ✌ out my friend

[@tuckerfamily1402]

@@williamsnyder1205 yeah I'm just trying to figure out how he got way tf up there I'd break my damn neck trying to climb a power pole like that he must have drank a red bull and flew up Thier 😂

[@williamsnyder1205]

@@tuckerfamily1402 hahaha, yeah no doubt

[@pbean2]

Dope

[@yourmomma2995]

super cool video, i didn't see bobby at all in the video was he there with them?

[@Don_Douglas]

Yes, he was. If only I had a time machine, I'd go back and fill in the missing parts. A close-up on Ron would have been nice, also.

[@davemathews7890]

Except for the music in the streets, lower Haight doesn't look so different from this today.

[@3replybiz]

Did you have a 400' roll of b&w stock and the same in colour? I have seen of those clockwork Bolex cameras adapted to take more than just 100' rolls. Just wondered. Nice work btw.

[@Don_Douglas]

Thanks and no, just the standared 100' rolls. I sold the Bolex not long after this, deciding I'm a still photographer. Still am after all these decades. I admire movies but tend to think in frozen moments when I'm shooting.

[@ryanw6626]

Maybe get Chris Hazard to look at this and see if he can synch the audio better with the video??

[@Don_Douglas]

The footage has been used in a few productions, and I'm sure they have pros to make the sound work better. I have limited software and even more limited skills in this area.

[@austinmchale7232]

If you aren't sure about how precious this kind of evidence is, I would recommend listening to Traffic @Berkin Altinok, at one of the first free concerts in 1968 (July 28th) in Hyde Park, London, singing 'Blind Man '. I was there at the time, and although the quality of the recording doesn't do justice to the experience on the day, that somebody recorded it is beyond incredible. Slán!