Guest Musicians

Ned Lagin (complete show) - keyboards

Merl Saunders (complete show) - keyboards

Complete Show:

Blues For Allah [1][2] > Stronger Than Dirt [1][2] > Drums [2] > Stronger Than Dirt [2] > Blues For Allah [2]

Encore:

Johnny B. Goode

[1] First known performance

[2] Released

Entire show without Donna

Also Appearing

Doobie Brothers, Graham Central Station, Mimi Farina, Jefferson Starship, The Miracls, Joan Baez, Santana, Tower of Power, Neil Young, and Bob Dylan

Farina was billed but did not perform.

• Weather
• High: 56.9 °F
• Low: 47.0 °F
• Feels Like High: 56.9 °F
• Feels Like Low: 40.9 °F
• Wind Speed: 16.1 mph
• Humidity: 70.1 %
• Moonphase: 0.37 
• Cloudy skies throughout the day.

• Show Certainty Confirmed
• Setlist Certainty Confirmed
• Ticket Price $5.00 / $7.50
• Sellout Yes
• In Attendance 60000

expost: Charles Perry, "Nine Hours of Peace, Love and Sports: Dylan, Brando and Co. Work for SNACK," Rolling Stone no. 186 (May 8, 1975): pp. 11-13, 15: "The reunited Dead came on to enthusiastic cheers. Their set was entirely taken. up with "Space Age," a long, nooding space shuffle written for the event." Graham calls it his own finest hour - raised $200k! See also John L. Wasserman, "They Did It For Graham," San Francisco Chronicle, March 26, 1975, p. 46 and "More on the World of Benefits," San Francisco Chronicle, August 18, 1975, p. 38.

This show at Kezar in front of 60,000 featured the Grateful Dead and Merl Saunders and Ned Lagin Sunday morning at 10 or 11am for a 40+ min explosion of Blues for Allah>Johnny B Goode with a little old big chunk of Stronger than Dirt in the middle.

Note as usual Long Lost Dead wrote the definitive piece,  mine is more of a view from the parking lot, right Corry.   http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/10/march-23-1975-kezar-stadium-san.html

It was the first show since the Winterland retirement shows in October 1974.

David Crosby was supposed to play with the Dead but it got changed (baby born? low down payment too hard to play?).  You can hear the Low Down Payment rehearsals here at archive https://archive.org/details/gd75-03-17.sbd.vernon.10111.sbeok.shnf. You can grab the music here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/k3p0qry7wbgono4/AAD2xzZXjjxq7SNkHupy0n1xa?dl=0

Oh and Dylan played later with Neil Young and many of the Band.  There's a great Knockin on the Dragon's Door (don't ask).

The Grateful Dead had officially retired from performing after their five-night stand at Winterland in October, 1974, so it was quite a surprise when they appeared in concert and on the radio at Kezar Stadium on March 23, 1975. The band played entirely unheard new material, joined by guest keyboardists Merl Saunders and Ned Lagin, suggesting that rumors that they had not in fact broken up were actually true. The day's performance was actually billed as "Jerry Garcia And Friends," but it was generally perceived as a Grateful Dead show, and indeed, as most of it was released as a Grateful Dead bonus disc some time ago, it's fair to call it a Grateful Dead performance. However, the events and circumstances surrounding the event, including the radio broadcast, seem to have largely been overlooked. This post will consider the performance and broadcast of the Jerry Garcia And Friends set within the context of the SNACK Benefit concert on March 23, 1975, at Kezar Stadium in Golden Gate Park.

SF SNACK: San Francisco Students Need Athletics, Culture and Kicks

In early 1975, the San Francisco school district announced that due to an unexpected budget shortfall, programs for the 1975/76 school year would have to be drastically cut throughout the city. The School Board released a plan that pretty much cut all arts and sports in every school. In today's environment, where Public School Teacher's unions are demonized in order to lower taxes for billionaires, it may seem strange that there was public outrage at this turn of events, but such a world existed then. Amidst all the outrage, Bill Graham decided to organize a benefit concert to provide funds to help the San Francisco Public Schools to provide extracurricular activities for its students. Hence the name: SF SNACK--San Francisco Students Need Athletics, Culture and Kicks.

Bill Graham, ahead of his time as always, grasped that large rock concerts were a dramatic instrument for calling attention to problems, and a dramatic instrument that was not only self-funding but could in turn raise meaningful amounts of money. He also recognized that the management of major bands in the area would benefit professionally from the publicity and exposure, and would for their part work for little more than expenses. In that sense, SNACK was very much the forerunner of international fundraisers like Live/Aid and Farm-Aid.

As it happened, while there was an intense glare of publicity about the School District's plight, magnified by the publicity for the concert, the benefit was conceived and directed by Bill Graham, rather than with the direct cooperation of the city or the district. The School District did not appreciate being made to look like chumps--which they pretty much did--and more rational voices pointed out that the six-figure sum that would likely be raised by SNACK was just a fraction of the several million dollars that the schools would have needed. There was some distinct grumbling that the benefit concert was really a publicity grab by Graham and the bands, who were using the crisis as a promotional tool.

In the end, shortly before the SNACK concert took place, the San Francisco School District announced that they did not, in fact, have a budget shortfall. There had essentially been an accounting error, and the projected funds available for the forthcoming year had thus been off by several million dollars. There was no crisis; arts and sports would not be cut. Thus the raison d'etre for the SNACK concert was neutralized about a week before the show. The city was probably pretty relieved, and if I recall the School District pretty much washed their hands of SNACK, at least according to the San Francisco Chronicle. It was too late to turn back, however, so the show went on as scheduled. By that time, it was just a rock promotion, albeit a very successful one. The proceeds of the concert, apparently about $200,000, were apparently donated to unnamed charities. Thus, on Sunday, March 23, 1975, some of the Bay Area's biggest working rock acts--plus a few out-of-town friends--gathered to play at Kezar Stadium in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.