Music Banter - View Single Post - Moss comes Alive at Leeds and gets his Ya-Ya's out

Moss · 12-22-2014, 09:35 AM

Finally getting around to kicking this journal off. Thought I would start with a concert that was memorable less for the music than for the atmosphere and memories.

On November 3, 1991 a free concert was set up in Golden Gate Park San Francisco to honor the life of music promoter Bill Graham who had died on October 25th in a helicopter accident. I had been living in the Bay Area of California at that point for about 6 months and was still pretty new to the vibe of the area so when I heard about the show I knew I had to check it out. I was just out of college, had my first real and semi well-paying job and I just remember it being an amazingly warm and cloudless day. The word was out that this was going to be a huge event so I knew trying to drive was not an option. My wife and I jammed ass to elbows with thousands of other people on BART and public busses and made our way to the golden gate polo grounds. By the time we got there Dirty dozen brass band, Bobby McFerrin and Jackson Browne had already played. We showed up during Joe Satriani who I really liked at the time. After that it was Aaron Neville, Santana, Robin Williams, Journey, Tracy Chapman, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Grateful dead (with and without John Fogerty), and then Joan Baez.

So musically this was not really my dream concert. Not really a fan of these bands at the time other than maybe CSN&Y and Satriani. Now I kick myself because I am a huge Grateful Dead fan but not so much back then. But really the people watching and interacting was what made this memorable. It was such a friendly vibe with people sharing beer and food and other substances. Plenty of hippie dancing, just an overall great atmosphere considering there were 300,000 people jammed into the polo grounds. A few memories:

• A young normal looking guy walking around towards the end of the show collecting discarded cans. The interesting part was he would pick up the can off the ground, drink whatever nasty dregs were left in it, then put it in his bag. Can’t even imagine some of the vial things in those cans.
• An old hippie guy being carried off in a stretcher and I will never forget those eyes. This guy was TRIPPING BALLS. You could practically see the girl with kaleidcope eyes in there. What was funny is how happy he looked being carried off, reaching out to everyone and smiling away.
• Seeing Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young - Sounds like that won’t be an option anymore.
• Wearing shorts and a t-shirt outdoors in November, not something I normally did in Colorado.
• An airplane dropping carnations on the crowd.
• John Fogerty with Grateful Dead, Neil Young with Grateful dead.
• Walking around Haight-Ashbury after the show.

Probably the closest I will ever come to a true hippie experience and one of the reasons I have such great memories of living in the Bay Area.

Won’t bother posting any videos but if you type in Bill Graham memorial concert in Youtube you will see several videos.

12-22-2014, 09:35 AM	#3 (permalink)
Moss Scuttle Buttin' Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Boulder Colorado Posts: 972	Finally getting around to kicking this journal off. Thought I would start with a concert that was memorable less for the music than for the atmosphere and memories. On November 3, 1991 a free concert was set up in Golden Gate Park San Francisco to honor the life of music promoter Bill Graham who had died on October 25th in a helicopter accident. I had been living in the Bay Area of California at that point for about 6 months and was still pretty new to the vibe of the area so when I heard about the show I knew I had to check it out. I was just out of college, had my first real and semi well-paying job and I just remember it being an amazingly warm and cloudless day. The word was out that this was going to be a huge event so I knew trying to drive was not an option. My wife and I jammed ass to elbows with thousands of other people on BART and public busses and made our way to the golden gate polo grounds. By the time we got there Dirty dozen brass band, Bobby McFerrin and Jackson Browne had already played. We showed up during Joe Satriani who I really liked at the time. After that it was Aaron Neville, Santana, Robin Williams, Journey, Tracy Chapman, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Grateful dead (with and without John Fogerty), and then Joan Baez. So musically this was not really my dream concert. Not really a fan of these bands at the time other than maybe CSN&Y and Satriani. Now I kick myself because I am a huge Grateful Dead fan but not so much back then. But really the people watching and interacting was what made this memorable. It was such a friendly vibe with people sharing beer and food and other substances. Plenty of hippie dancing, just an overall great atmosphere considering there were 300,000 people jammed into the polo grounds. A few memories: • A young normal looking guy walking around towards the end of the show collecting discarded cans. The interesting part was he would pick up the can off the ground, drink whatever nasty dregs were left in it, then put it in his bag. Can’t even imagine some of the vial things in those cans. • An old hippie guy being carried off in a stretcher and I will never forget those eyes. This guy was TRIPPING BALLS. You could practically see the girl with kaleidcope eyes in there. What was funny is how happy he looked being carried off, reaching out to everyone and smiling away. • Seeing Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young - Sounds like that won’t be an option anymore. • Wearing shorts and a t-shirt outdoors in November, not something I normally did in Colorado. • An airplane dropping carnations on the crowd. • John Fogerty with Grateful Dead, Neil Young with Grateful dead. • Walking around Haight-Ashbury after the show. Probably the closest I will ever come to a true hippie experience and one of the reasons I have such great memories of living in the Bay Area. Won’t bother posting any videos but if you type in Bill Graham memorial concert in Youtube you will see several videos.