First Time Seeing The Grateful Dead (Band Edition)

Jerry Garcia on stage at Winterland, possibly on December 12, 1972, which was the night I first saw the Grateful Dead (the photo may be from December 10 or 11)

It is a common thread of Grateful Dead fandom and scholarship to formally report the first time you saw the Grateful Dead. The extraordinary detail applied to the history of the band makes that especially easy. Rather than just reflecting on a foggy memory, like "in my college gym in the early 70s," you can say "at SUNY Cortland on April 18, 1971," with certainty that the gig really happened and the date is right. Knowing when and where someone first saw the band gives us insight into their perspective on the group.

Given our level of knowledge about Grateful Dead concerts, this post will note the first time any future member of the Grateful Dead saw the band. Any conclusions you choose to draw from this information are yours to consider.

 

Bob Weir was on the Menlo School football team in the 9th grade, during the 1961-62 school year. By Spring 1965 he was attending the nearby public Menlo-Atherton High School, and played a Spring dance at Menlo School in April 1965. (The photo is from the 1962 Menlo Oak Leaves yearbook [thanks Eric Schwarz {RIP}]. Weir is front row, 5th-L. 8th grader Matthew Kelly is 4th-R, same row)

Modern scholarship has placed the very first performance of the Warlocks at an April, 1965 teenage dance at Menlo School, which had been briefly attended by Bob Weir a few years earlier. At the time, Menlo School was a private boys school, designed as a kind of feeder to nearby Stanford University. The dance would have been a "Menlo Mixer," designed to introduce eligible young Menlo boys to equally eligible young women, from girls' schools such as Castilleja. The dance would not have been open to the general public, nor even likely open to anyone attending a public school. Jerry Garcia, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, Bob Weir and Bill Kreutzmann never saw the Warlocks or the Grateful Dead perform, as they were members of the band from its beginning until they left the band or until July 1995. I am not aware of Pigpen attending a Grateful Dead concert when he was physically unable to perform.

Magoo's Pizza, 639 Santa Cruz Avenue in Menlo Park, September 1968

ROBERT HUNTER
May 1965 Magoo's Pizza, Menlo Park, CA: The Warlocks
The Warlocks first public performances were at Magoo's Pizza, at 639 Santa Cruz Avenue in Menlo Park. Magoo's was in walking distance of Menlo School, and apparently the Wednesday night shows in May were heavily populated by Menlo students. Many Menlo students were boarders, so they would have had little to do in the evening. Menlo School also housed a college, but only for Freshmen and Sophomores (and the school insisted that it was definitely not a junior college, just a Stanford feeder). So any restrictions on the High School boarders’ activities would not have applied to the college students.

The first Magoo's show was May 5, and the Warlocks also played May 12, 19 and 26. Robert Hunter has generally alluded to seeing the Warlocks at Magoo's, but we don't know exactly which show or shows he may have seen. David Nelson and John Dawson also apparently saw the Warlocks at Magoo's. Hunter never performed on stage with the Grateful Dead, of course, but he was a member if anyone was. He did not join formally forces with the band until September, 1967, however.

Magoo's Pizza, circa 1970, 639 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park (Girl Scout Troop 19 in front)

PHIL LESH
May 26, 1965 Magoo's Pizza, Menlo Park, CA: The Warlocks
Famously, Jerry Garcia invited Phil Lesh to see The Warlocks at Magoo's. Phil drove down from Berkeley, and had a great time. Afterwards, Garcia sat down with Lesh and told him that they would be pushing out bassist Dana Morgan Jr, and invited Phil to join the Warlocks. The fact that Phil had never played electric bass, nor even guitar, was not a consideration. Garcia offered to teach him. Lesh promptly moved to Palo Alto, and Garcia, Nelson and Eric Thompson gave him enough guitar tips to get started. Lesh played at the Warlocks next gig, a one-off at Frenchy's in Hayward on June 18, 1965.

A promotional photo (probably by Paul Ryan) of The Warlocks at The In Room in Belmont, CA, September 1965. The lettering on the bass drum was by Garcia roommate Rick Shubb.

TOM CONSTANTEN
September, 1965 The In Room, Belmont, CA: The Warlocks
Tom Constanten had met Phil Lesh at UC Berkeley in the Fall of 1961. Constanten was a formally trained pianist, and both Constanten and Lesh were interested in composing modern music. As we know from Jesse Jarnow's excellent Deadcast episode on TC, Constanten had regularly driven Phil from Berkeley to Palo Alto to visit Jerry Garcia and others. So TC had been part of the underground crowd in Berkeley and Palo Alto, even though he didn't play folk music. Constanten had been a student of composition at Mills College and in Europe, before joining the Air Force to avoid the draft.

By 1965, Constanten had enlisted in the Air Force and was stationed in Las Vegas. He had LSD connections from the Bay Area--remember, it was still legal--and shared it with some of his more adventurous friends out in the desert. One weekend in September, he visited Phil Lesh in the Bay Area. Constanten saw the Warlocks at the In Room in Belmont. At the time, Constanten had never played rock music, so it is unlikely that he anticipated ever becoming part of his friend's ensemble. 

In Fall, 1967, Constanten would join the Grateful Dead in the studio, creating some piano effects. By this time, he had played a few fill-in gigs with a Las Vegas rock group called The Demons, but only as a bassist. Nonetheless TC was invited to join the Dead as their organ player in late 1968, relegating Pigpen to singing and playing congas. After a few guest appearances, Constanten would join the group permanently on November 23, 1968, in Oxford, OH, a few days after finishing his Air Force commitments.

MICKEY HART
September 30, 1967 Straight Theater, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Sons Of Champlin
Mickey Hart had a chance meeting with Bill Kreutzmann at a Count Basie show at the Fillmore Auditorium, likely on August 20 or 21, 1967. The pair, along with Hart pal and student Mike Hinton, played drums and talked percussion around the city that night, and agreed to meet up (I discussed this sequence of events in detail in another post). Hart was invited to drop in on a Dead rehearsal, but couldn't find the location. There were some more crossed wires, but Hart managed to get to the Straight Theater on Saturday, September 30, 1967.

After watching the first set, Hart was invited to sit in with the band for the second set. Hart did so, and was immediately asked to join the Grateful Dead. Mythology aside, Hart did not actually appear again with the group until November (there is a photograph of the band performing on October 1, and there is only one drum kit). Nonetheless, Hart's journey from seeing the band to appearing on stage with them was the shortest, even though Phil Lesh appeared more quickly as an established member of the band.

VINCE WELNICK
March 8, 1970 Star Theater, Phoenix, AZ: Grateful Dead/Roxy
In 1970, Phoenix was not at all the major metropolitan area it has become in this century. The Star Theater, also known as the Travel Lodge Theater in The Round, was a 3000-seat venue with the stage in the center of the hall. The Grateful Dead, in the midst of recording Workingman's Dead, had played Saturday night in Santa Monica and then Sunday night in Phoenix. The opening act in Phoenix was the Elektra Records band Roxy, featuring old pal Bob Segarini from the Family Tree.

At the time, Vince Welnick was in a blues-rock band called The Beans, one of the most popular bands in the Phoenix area. Welnick attended the Star Theater show as a fan. About six months later, The Beans would move to the Bay Area, where they would struggle to get heard in the thriving San Francisco scene. On January 20, 1972, The Beans opened for Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders at the Lion's Share. By March 1972, The Beans would change their name to The Tubes, and go on to great infamy, although they didn't really make any money. Nearly two decades later, after playing with Todd Rundgren and other artists, Welnick was invited to audition with the Grateful Dead, and took over the keyboard chair from the late Brent Mydland. Welnick debuted on September 7, 1990 in Richfield, OH.

KEITH GODCHAUX
August 17, 18 or 19, 1970 Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage
In Jesse Jarnow's exceptional Deadcast episode "Enter Keith Godchaux," Donna Godchaux describes seeing the Grateful Dead with Keith at Winterland on October 5, 1970 (see below). At this time, Donna (then Donna Thatcher) and Keith had mutual friends, but had not met. She said that Keith had already seen the Grateful Dead. Keith lived in Berkeley that Summer, and I am assuming that he saw the Dead at one or more of their Fillmore West shows on August 17, 18 or 19, 1970. It's also possible he saw one of the shows at The Euphoria (aka Pepperland) in San Rafael, on July 14 or 16, 1970. Given that Keith grew up in the Bay Area, it's also possible he could have seen the Grateful Dead even earlier.

Although Donna herself does not know for sure, the implication is that Keith had discovered the Grateful Dead relatively recently. Given that he lived in Berkeley, that points towards having seen the band at Fillmore West in August. Thanks to Donna, by September 1971 Keith would be rehearsing with the Grateful Dead for his October 19, 1971 debut with the band in Minneapolis.

DONNA GODCHAUX
October 5, 1970 Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA: Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service/Hot Tuna/New Riders of The Purple Sage
Donna Thatcher and Keith Godchaux attended a Grateful Dead concert on Monday, October 5, 1970. They fell in love, got married and a year later they would join the Grateful Dead. Donna was invited to join the band at the same time as Keith, but chose to hang back and let him establish himself first. She sang on one song on December 31, 1971, participated in the studio sessions for Ace in Winter 1972, and joined the band on stage full time at the Academy Of Music in Manhattan on March 21, 1972. She would remain in the band until Keith and Donna's final appearance on February 17, 1979 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

The October 4 and 5, 1970 Winterland shows were not Bill Graham Presents events. Graham's chief lieutenant, Paul Barratta, had taken over the lease at Winterland, much to Graham's displeasure. He also paid bands more than Graham would pay them at Fillmore West. Although the Dead personally liked Bill, they were perfectly willing to work with his competitors. Barratta was squeezed out of business by early 1971, and Graham took over booking Winterland again. He wasn't happy with any of the bands, but Graham needed the Grateful Dead as much as they needed him, so the whole episode was largely erased from all future recountings of the Dead/Graham saga.

 

Teenage Bruce Hornsby on the Fender Rhodes, playing in Bobby Octane and The Hi-Test Kids somewhere around Earlysville, VA in the Summer of 74 (also Bobby Hornsby (bass) and his future wife Ann (vocals))

BRUCE HORNSBY
March 26, 1973 Baltimore Civic Center, Baltimore, MD: Grateful Dead
19-year old Williamsburg HS graduate Bruce Hornsby has often recounted how he saw the Grateful Dead at William & Mary University in Virginia on September 11 & 12, 1973. At the time, Hornsby was studying music at the University of Richmond.  The Grateful Dead played two nights at William & Mary. At the end of the show, the band announced from the stage that they would be playing a second night, and that the chairs would be removed so that everyone could dance. To all of the fans there, including Hornsby, this was a magical benediction--a great concert followed by an entire concert as an encore the next evening. Hornsby has told this story in interviews a number of times.

In Jesse Jarnow's Deadcast on "Stella Blue," however, a detailed Hornsby interview revealed an unknown twist. College student Hornsby indeed saw the Dead both nights at William & Mary, and it made him a Deadhead for life (among other things, at least). Yet it turns out it wasn't the first time that Hornsby saw the Dead. While still in High School, Hornsby had gone with his brother to see the Grateful Dead at Capital Center outside of Washington, DC, on March 26, 1973 [update 20241018: A Commenter pointed out that the Dead didn't play Cap Center on Mar 26 '73, but rather Baltimore Civic Center]. They were good enough that he went back the next semester when they played in Williamsburg, near his hometown, and it was the Williamsburg shows where Hornsby "got on the bus."

The Grateful Dead Summer 1973 newsletter listed two dates for William & Mary, even though only one was advertised. The second (General Admission) show was announced from the state after the first night.

As for the William & Mary show, of course, the second night had been planned in advance, but that was not revealed to the fans. Why it was handled in this way remains a mystery, since both dates were included the Deadheads newsletter. Bands will often book two nights and not sell tickets to the second night until the first night is mostly sold out, but it's very odd to not even announce the show until the day before. My suspicion is that the University was anxious about the General Admission requirement, and the Dead were adamant, and the compromise was that the first night had to go off successfully.

In early 1974, Hornsby would join a band run by his older brother Robert, called Bobby Octane and The Hi-Test Kids. The band played fraternity parties in and around the University of Virginia for the next year or two, mainly covering Grateful Dead songs. Hornsby went on to an extensive and largely successful career in Los Angeles, and later a substantial solo career which is still ongoing. 

Hornsby has described seeing the Grateful Dead at William & Mary, but has never mentioned that two horn players (Martin Fierro and Joe Ellis) joined in for some numbers, an unprecedented and essentially unique feature of the September 1973 tour. It's not clear whether he didn't notice or didn't recall. 

After meeting the band in 1987, Hornsby had jammed with the Dead on stage a few times. In August 1990, at a McDonald's in Walnut Creek (likely on N. California Blvd), prior to a Hornsby concert at Concord Pavilion, Jerry Garcia asked him to join the Grateful Dead to replace Brent Mydland. Hornsby turned down the offer. He did agree to help the Dead in any way he could, however, and thus became an adjunct member for the next 18 months or so.

BRENT MYDLAND
December 31, 1978 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Blues Brothers/New Riders of The Purple Sage
Brent Mydland was from Brentwood, CA, near Antioch, although he ended up graduating High School in Concord, having been kicked out of his Brentwood high school (Liberty HS) for having long hair. He played in various local ensembles, before ending up touring with the Batdorf & Rodney duo in 1974 and '75, thanks to his friendship with bassist Rick Carlos. Afterwards, Brent made a forgettable album with the group Silver (which included John Batdorf). In late 1977, Carlos once again invited Brent to audition, this time for the Bob Weir Band, supporting Weir's new album Heaven Help The Fool. Brent toured with Weir in 1978.

The Jerry Garcia Band and The Bob Weir Band made a brief tour of the Pacific Northwest on the last weekend of October 1978. Garcia heard Brent play with Weir, and later said to Bob, "this guy might work." The Dead were unhappy with Keith Godchaux, and Keith and Donna's marriage was struggling, and it was clear, if unspoken, that a replacement would have to be found for both of them. Life would be easier for the Dead if a single performer could cover both the keyboards and the harmony singing. 

Sometime prior to New Year's, Weir had let Brent know that there might be some opportunity for him in the Grateful Dead. Keith and Donna Godchaux were also members of the Jerry Garcia Band, but they had booked no dates after November 3, 1978, clear sign in retrospect that change was afoot. Things were no doubt complicated by the fact that some late November Dead dates were canceled due to Garcia's illness, and had to be made up in January of 1979. Nonetheless, Brent and his girlfriend were invited to see the Grateful Dead at the gigantic party that closed down Winterland for the final time. I was there, too, and in fact the music wasn't that great, and the show wasn't really that well run, but if you were backstage wondering if this was a band you might join, those things probably didn't matter.

We are really in Thoughts On The Dead territory here, and we need Time Sheath technology that is not yet available to us. Yet I cannot help but wonder if some sort of Artificial Intelligence Facial Recognition software cannot be applied to any backstage footage, outtakes and all, to see if we can identify Brent peering into his own future.

 

 

Grateful Dead Performance List July-December 1967

I have been working on this list for my own purposes, so I thought I would post it. Since there is no longer a definitive list of Grateful Dead shows that is easily accessible online, I have decided to post my own lists for brief periods of time. I will include links to where I have information on some dates that are not widely known, but I will be minimizing discussion of individual performances. In Tour Itinerary posts I have talked about even shorter periods of time, with the intent of creating a narrative that describes the Grateful Dead's activity during that window. This post is more of a simple list, however, to use as an anchor for research. My plan is to keep these lists up to date on an ongoing basis. Please suggest any additions, corrections or reservations in the Comments. For other posts listing Grateful Dead performances, see the link here. This post will list Grateful Dead performance dates from July through December of 1967.

The Stanford Daily of July 4, 1974, featured an article about the free Be-In at El Camino Park in Palo Alto on July 2.

July 2, 1967 El Camino Park, Palo Alto, CA: Grateful Dead/Anonymous Artists of America/New Delhi River Band/Solid State/The Good Word Mary Poppins Umbrella Festival and Be-In [free concert]
Using equipment that they "borrowed" from the Monterey Pop Festival, the Dead played a free concert back in Palo Alto. I had thought that this concert was on Saturday, June 24, but an article in the Stanford Daily confirmed the date of Sunday, July 2. The Anonymous Artists Of America included Jerry Garcia's wife Sara (they were now separated), and future New Riders David Nelson and Dave Torbert were in the New Delhi River Band.

July 13, 1967 PNE Agrodome, Vancouver, BC: Grateful Dead/Daily Flash/Love-In
The Agrodome was Vancouver's largest venue. "Love-In" may refer to a title to the event, not a band. The Daily Flash were a popular psychedelic Seattle band.

July 14-15, 1967 Dante's Inferno, Vancouver, BC: Grateful Dead/Collectors/Painted Ship
Dante's Inferno, at 1024 Davie Street, would later become more famous as The Retinal Circus, Vancouver's principal psychedelic ballroom. Both opening acts were British Columbia bands. The Collectors evolved into the 70s group Chilliwack, named after a Vancouver suburb.

July 16, 1967 Golden Gardens Beach, Seattle, WA; Grateful Dead (afternoon free concert)
Golden Gardens Park is in Ballard, a neighborhood of Seattle. I do not know if the Dead actually played on a beach at the park (the park is on Puget Sound). I would expect they played on a grassy field rather than a beach. During 1967, the Dead tried to play outdoor free concerts in as many cities as possible, a strategy that paid massive dividends many years later. Golden Gardens is not far from El Roach, where the Dead played on August 20, 1969, when they were rained out of the Aqua Theater.

July 16, 1967 Eagles Auditorium, Seattle, WA: Grateful Dead/Daily Flash/Magic Fern
The Eagles Auditorium was at 1416 7th Avenue, at Union Street. It had been built in 1924 for The Fraternal Order Of The Eagles. By 1967, it had become Seattle's principal psychedelic ballroom, and The Daily Flash were regular headliners there. The Magic Fern were another Seattle-area band.

The Portland Art Museum today, at 1119 SW Park, now known as The Mark building. It was the site of the Masonic Temple, where the Grateful Dead played on July 18, 1967 (photo M.O. Stevens, from Wikipedia)

July 18, 1967 Masonic Temple, Portland, OR: Grateful Dead/Poverty's People/US Cadenza/Nigells
The Masonic Temple was at 1119 SW Park Avenue. The building was on the same block as the Portland Art Museum. One floor of the Masonic Temple was a ballroom that could be rented, and it was used for rock concerts in the 1960s. The then-small Portland market was useful for weeknight gigs in between California and Seattle. The Masonic Temple show was on a Tuesday night, and the opening acts were all local Portland bands. In 1992, the Portland Art Museum bought the Temple, and ultimately merged the buildings, an the ballroom is now part of the Portland Art Museum.

July 21-22, 1967 Continental Ballroom, Santa Clara, CA: Grateful Dead/Sons Of Champlin/Congress of Wonders/Phoenix
The Continental Ballroom, under various names, was the primary rock venue in the San Jose area in the 1960s. However, since it was never under the aegis of a single promoter, it was far less celebrated than places like the Fillmore or the Avalon. Nonetheless, there were lots of great events at the Continental, and plenty of them involved the Grateful Dead. The arena was a former roller skating rink, and the Warlocks had played there in 1965 when it was called the Continental Roller Bowl. The Continental was at 1600 Martin Avenue in Santa Clara, actually a suburb of San Jose, but generally part of the San Jose downtown.

In the Summer of '67, Quicksilver manager Ron Polte booked the Continental for several weekends that featured all the best San Francisco rock bands. San Jose and its suburbs had a huge indigenous teenage rock market, but all of them must have been happy to see the Fillmore bands nearby. At the time, the Sons Of Champlin, Congress Of Wonders (a comedy group) and Phoenix were all affiliated with Ron Polte's booking agency.

July 23, 1967 Straight Theater, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Big Brother and The Holding Company/Wildflower/Phoenix
The Haight Theater had been an old 1500-seat movie theater in the heart of the Haight Ashbury, at 1702 Haight Street (at Cole). It had been a rehearsal hall for the Grateful Dead and other bands in early 1966, and plans were afoot to turn it into a performance venue. However, the process had been delayed by city officials who refused to approve the new Straight Theater for a "Dance Permit," an antiquated means of city control that stemmed from Prohibition days.

However, the Straight had a debut weekend on July 21-23, with the Dead and Big Brother headlining on Sunday July 23. Quicksilver Messenger Service (Friday July 21) and Country Joe And The Fish (Saturday July 22) headlined the other nights. A tape circulates with Neal Cassady rapping over a "Lovelight" style jam. However, the issue of the Dance Permit was not yet resolved, and any dancers could potentially be subject to arrest (this was not a joke--it would actually have been illegal and dancers would be subject to arrest, no small thing to a hippie with a few joints in his pocket).

An aerial view of the former O"Keefe Center, at 1 Front Street East in downtown Toronto, ON, now known as the Sony Centre (as seen from the CN Tower on Sep 23, 2009). Bill Graham brought the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead to the O'Keefe for eight shows in six days from July 31 through August 5, 1967.

July 31-August 5, 1967 O'Keefe Centre, Toronto, ON: Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead/Luke And The Apostles Bill Graham Presents the San Francisco Scene (matinees Wed Aug 2 and Sat Aug 5)
The ever innovative Bill Graham tried to take San Francisco on the road in the Summer of '67. He took the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead to Canada, with posters that said "Bill Graham Presents The San Francisco Scene." The two bands played the O'Keefe Centre (now the Sony Centre), Toronto's premier downtown performance venue, at 1 Front Street East. It had opened on October 1, 1960, with a capacity of 3,191. The Dead and The Airplane played six nights, from Monday through Saturday, including double-show matinees on two afternoons. Bonnie Dobson, the writer of "Morning Dew," attended one of the shows, but she was too shy to go backstage.

Opening all the shows were the Toronto band Luke And The Apostles, a happening electric blues band from the Yorkville district. Yorkville was the bohemian neighborhood in Toronto, sort of a Canadian Greenwich Village, and the locals over the years had included Neil Young, Joni Anderson (later Mitchell), Ian and Sylvia, The Sparrows (later Steppenwolf, when they went to LA) and Rick James (back when he was still just AWOL from the US Navy).

With his usual acumen, Graham had primed the pump by having the Jefferson Airplane play a free concert the week before, at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto on July 23. Luke And The Apostles and a group called Spring Garden Road were also on hand, but the Dead were still back in San Francisco. However, in classic San Francisco fashion, the Airplane had already given their potential fans a free taste of what to expect, an absolutely unprecedented approach to promoting rock shows.

August 6, 1967 Place Ville Marie, Montreal, QC: Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead (afternoon free concert)
Montreal in the 1960s had a booming rock scene. Bill Graham came through the city with two of the hottest bands from what was the coolest city in rock at the time, and had them play a free concert downtown at lunchtime. This was unprecedented in Montreal, as it was everywhere else, giving it away for free with the implicit assumption that you couldn't resist paying for it. The only flaw in this strategy was that the Dead never played Montreal or Quebec again, and I'm pretty sure that the Airplane didn't either.

August 6, 1967 Youth Pavilion, Expo '67, Montreal, QC Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead (free concert)
The International World's Fair, known as Expo 67, was held in Montreal from April 27-October 29, 1967. By any standard, the fair was hugely successful. The Dead and The Airplane played for free outdoors at the "Youth Pavilion." The bands probably actually got paid, but as far as I know it was free for the fans, except insofar as they had had to pay for admission to the fair itself.

The Dead, being the Dead, inexplicably decided to do a runner on Graham and the Airplane, abandoning the tour. Graham and the Airplane went on to play shows in Rochester (Aug 7) and Springfield, MA (Aug 8), but the Dead had rented cars and driven to Millbrook, NY. Of course, the Dead had no money, but they had hooked up with some wealthy patrons who could finance the trip. Millbrook was the home base of Timothy Leary and his own patrons. The Dead weren't particularly sympathetic to Leary, but they could smell a good party from a few hundred miles away,

August 10, 1967 rooftop, Chelsea Hotel, New York, N:Y Grateful Dead
As part of their New York adventures, the Dead agreed to play a rooftop concert for Emmett Grogan of The Diggers. Grogan, a real character, had helped found The Diggers back in San Francisco. According to McNally (p.211), the concert on the rooftop of the Chelsea Hotel was something called Trip Without A Ticket. I have no idea how many people actually attended this event--probably not very many, but Grogan was very shrewd at creating what would now be called "free media."

August 11, 1967 Grande Ballroom, Detroit, MI: Grateful Dead/Rationals/Gang or /Southbound Freeway/Bishops
August 12, 1967 Grande Ballroom, Detroit, MI: Grateful Dead/Rationals/Gang or /Southbound Freeway/Ashmollyan Quintet/

The Grande Ballroom in Detroit had a lively rock scene that had been inspired by Detroit DJ Russ Gibb's visits to San Francisco. Starting in October 1966, The Grande was a happening underground scene, with posters and light shows rather than traditional industry support. For all it's San Francisco inspiration, however, the Detroit scene was louder and more R&B oriented than the San Francisco ballrooms. Bands like the Grateful Dead and County Joe And The Fish were just too folkie for the locals, who preferred harder rockers like the MC5. Numerous Michigan and Midwest bands made their bones at the Grande from 1966-68, and were popular throughout the region, even though they were not well known elsewhere in the country.

The handbill had Southbound Freeway with Bishops (Friday) and Ashmollyan Quintet (Saturday) opening for the Dead and The Rationals. A newspaper ad, probably produced nearer the concert, just had the Dead, The Rationals and Gang on both nights.

A current photo of the Bandshell at West Park in Ann Arbor, MI, where the Grateful Dead played a free concert on August 13, 1987. The metal sculpture was probably not there back in the day.

August 13, 1967 West Park, Ann Arbor, MI: Grateful Dead (afternoon free concert)
Ann Arbor, MI, home of the University of Michigan, was about 40 miles from Detroit. University of Michigan is always paired with UC Berkeley as the best public universities, and in the 60s they were also amongst the most forward looking and radical as well. There was always a lot of connections between Berkeley and Ann Arbor, in politics, music and other ways. In that respect, Ann Arbor was a far more fruitful pasture for the Dead than Detroit city.

On the Sunday following the Grande Ballroom shows, the Dead played a free concert in West Park in Ann Arbor, at 215 Chapin Street, under the bandshell. This was apparently the first outdoor free concert in Ann Arbor. McNally (p.211) reports that the free show was financed by Warner Brothers, to promote the album. Notorious Michigan radical John Sinclair was involved, so the Dead were right in the thick of the local political ferment, and there are color photos of the shows.

However, while Ann Arbor may have seemed like a perfect place for the Dead to build an audience with a free concert, a few things got in the way. The first was that the Midwestern weather in Ann Arbor is never very favorable to outdoor shows, and the August show was when school was out. Furthermore, most Ann Arbor students caught their rock shows in Detroit, so there was a lot of overlap. Thus, while I'm sure the Dead had many early adherents in Ann Arbor, those fans were more likely to move to Berkeley than build up the audience in Michigan.

The Kings Beach Bowl in North Lake Tahoe opened in the Summer of 1967. The debut concert on July 21, 1967 featured Country Joe And The Fish and The Creators. The Creators were the house band, along with the Simultaneous Avalanche Light Show, who were from the Sacramento area. The Grateful Dead played later in the Summer, along with other San Francisco bands.

August 19, 1967 American Legion Hall, South Lake Tahoe, CA: Grateful Dead
August 25-26, 1967 Kings Beach Bowl, Lake Tahoe North Shore, CA: Grateful Dead/The Creators
The Grateful Dead returned to the Bay Area, and promptly spent a week in Lake Tahoe, bracketing both weekends with shows on the South and North side of the Lake. Lake Tahoe was the winter and summer playground of San Francisco and Northern California, and there was a huge teenage population on any given night from Memorial Day to Labor Day. In the 60s, there was a unique and largely forgotten rock scene in Lake Tahoe that I have explored at length. Most or all of the teenagers at Lake Tahoe would have recognized the Grateful Dead and other bands from Fillmore posters, even if they were too far from (or not allowed to go to) the Fillmore itself.

The Grateful Dead played Saturday night (August 19) playing the Legion Hall on the South Shore for operator Jim Burgett. The next weekend (August 25-26) they played the new Kings Beach Bowl in North Shore, a converted bowling alley. In between, some band members returned to San Francisco, about a five hour drive. Amazingly, Jerry Garcia and Mountain Girl went camping, at least for a few days. Jerry Garcia probably returned to the City to catch Cream at the Fillmore during this week.

There is a reference to a canceled show at Mt. Tamalpais Amphitheater on August 20, where the power was cut and no bands played, and it turned into a "boogiefest" (implying a giant drum circle). However, while the Dead may have been initially scheduled for such an event, after the July 1-2. 1967, "Festival Of Growing Things," there were no more electric rock events scheduled at Mt. Tam for decades. So while some local fans may have heard some rumors, there was no chance the Dead were going to show up.

August 28, 1967 Lindley Meadows, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA: Big Brother And The Holding Company/Grateful Dead Chocolate George's Funeral (free afternoon concert)
After their return to Lake Tahoe, the Dead reappeared in San Francisco for the Monday funeral of a popular Hells Angel known as Chocolate George. Big Brother and The Dead played for free, and a ceremonial funeral was held with George's casket (I do not know where he was actually buried).

It was actually a momentous week for the Grateful Dead. Old pal Robert Hunter returned to California from New Mexico, ready to accept Jerry Garcia's offer to be house lyricist. Hunter made landfall at Karl Moore's house in Palo Alto, and Phil Lesh drove down to pick him up. Meanwhile, Cream was still at the Fillmore, and Garcia found time to see them again.

The history of poster collecting has made it appear that the Dead played a show in Santa Cruz County at Cabrillo Junior College on September 2, 1967. The poster was in the book Art Of Rock, and everyone assumed that the event had occurred. In fact, although rock events had been held at the Cabrillo College football field before, I looked into it, and the show was canceled before it happened, as neither the school nor the county wanted a Monterey Pop Festival on their doorstep.

September 3, 1967 Dance Hall, Rio Nido, CA: Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead do appear to have played a Sunday night gig at the tiny dance hall in Rio Nido, CA, a tiny unincorporated community in Sonoma County. There was a tiny dance hall, with room for a few hundred patrons, that dated back until at least the 1940s. It was an ideal spot for out-of-the-way activities where little scrutiny was desired, and the Grateful Dead had some good times there, before they simply outgrew the place.

It is the stuff of legend that the newly-arrived Robert Hunter was sitting outside the Rio Nido Dance Hall, listening to the Dead rehearse what would become "Dark Star," and started to write down the lyrics. Although the date may in fact be September 4, it would not likely have been an actual show. September 4 was Labor Day, although I suppose it is possible that the Dead did play a show that night. More likely, the Dead had left their equipment in place, and were rehearsing there because they could.

The Grateful Dead returned to Eagles Auditorium on September 8-9, 1967, headlining two shows over local bands Magic Fern and Fat Jack.

September 8-9, 1967 Eagles Auditorium, Seattle, WA: Grateful Dead/Magic Fern/Fat Jack
The Grateful Dead returned to Eagles Auditorium in Seattle for a weekend of shows. This was a consistent pattern with the Grateful Dead, where they would play a show in a city, and stick in a free concert in the afternoon, as they had in Seattle (with a free concert at Golden Gardens Beach on Puget Sound on July 16). When they returned, they had a bigger audience the next time around. I should point out that the Dead are hugely popular in Seattle to this day.

Opening the show along with Magic Fern was another newly-arisen Seattle psychedelic band, Fat Jack. Fat Jack was out of Bellngham, WA, where they had opened for the Jefferson Airplane (on May 27 '67) as The Safety Patrol, with Kathi McDonald as lead singer. One of the band members recalls

Shortly after this we fired Kathi because she wouldn't rehearse!!!! We were too dumb to realize that some people don't need to rehearse…they are born ready.  It was the best thing we could have done for her, because she immediately went to San Francisco and got discovered by Ike Turner.  She was replaced by Ken Cantrell.  We had “conquered” Bellingham, so we drifted into Seattle.  Our manager was in the right place at the right time when the band that was to open for The Grateful Dead at Eagles Auditorium couldn't go on after their drummer broke his leg in a wreck. So within one week of blowing into town we're on the stage with the Grateful Dead (fall of 1967).  A lot of Eagles jobs followed, opening for Country Joe & The Fish, Charles Lloyd, John Fahey, Blue Cheer, etc.

September 9, 1967 Volunteer Park, Seattle, WA: Grateful Dead (afternoon free concert)
Once again, the Dead played for free, this time near downtown Seattle, just a few miles from the University of Washington.

September 15, 1967 Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA: Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead/(Big Brother And The Holding Company) Bill Graham Presents The San Francisco Scene
Bill Graham was still taking the Fillmore bands on the road. He booked a concert at the huge Hollywood Bowl, featuring the Airplane, the Dead and Big Brother, although Big Brother actually canceled. I don't know how many people actually attended. The Hollywood Bowl, at 2301 North Highland, had a capacity of over 17,000.

September 16, 1967 Elysian Park, Los Angeles, CA: Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead (afternoon free concert)
The day after the Hollywood Bowl show, the Dead and the Airplane played a free concert at Elysian Park in Los Angeles. Elysian Park is in Central Los Angeles, near the foot of Sunset Boulevard, and not far from Chavez Ravine and Dodger Stadium. Elysian Park was established in 1886.

September 16 (?), 1967 Convention Center Rotunda, Las Vegas, NV: Grateful Dead
In Tom Constanten's autobiography, he recalls his live debut with the Grateful Dead at the Las Vegas Convention Center around this time (he writes "Sept. 67?"). TC was stationed with the Air Force near Las Vegas at the time. He would hardly have forgotten such a memorable moment, so I am confident that the Dead played Las Vegas Convention Center around this time. However, we cannot date it exactly.

Some time ago, I speculated about it at some length and thought that Saturday, September 16 was a likely date, right after the Friday night Hollywood Bowl show. However, it seems a lot less likely date now, since we know the Dead played a free concert in LA that afternoon. I doubt they played in Las Vegas that night, and I also doubt they played any weeknight. What seems more likely is that they played a weekend gig in Las Vegas in October, perhaps Friday October 13 or a night on the weekend of October 20-21, while they were recording Anthem Of The Sun in Los Angeles. The Convention Center Rotunda, built in 1959 with a capacity of 6,130 seems the most likely venue, if somewhat large for the band. Possibly they shared the bill with another group.

The third weekend for Chet Helms' Family Dog in Denver at 1601 West Evans was held on September 22-23, 1967, featuring the Grateful Dead and Mother Earth.

September 22-23, 1967 The Family Dog, Denver, CO: Grateful Dead/Mother Earth
Chet Helms had plans to expand the Family Dog footprint beyond San Francisco. His idea was that he could compete more effectively with Bill Graham if he could offer touring bands multiple weekend gigs in different cities. Helms' first effort was Denver, which seemed like a great idea. It was a booming town, and it made sense for rock bands to stop in Colorado on their way to and from California. For his venue, Helms leased a building at 1601 West Evans, the former site of a very mysterious franchise of the Whisky-A-Go-Go.

The Denver Dog, as it was known, had opened on September 8, 1967 with Big Brother And The Holding Company. Quicksilver headlined the next weekend, and the Grateful Dead headlined the third weekend. It was a great idea and a good plan, except for one thing: the County Sheriff. The Sheriff hated hippies, and constant harassment of the venue, the bands and the fans rapidly drove the Denver Dog into economic failure. The career of Canned Heat was ruined due to an untimely bust, and no doubt many lesser known patrons had their lives wrecked by pot busts and other problems. Bob Seger's song "Get Out Of Denver" immortalizes the view of hippies held by the Sheriff's Department at the time.

Helms had pulled out of Denver by the end of 1967, although some employees of the Denver Dog continued to put on shows through mid-1968. Their use of the Family Dog logo was tolerated, although from a historical point of view, the '68 shows were not Family Dog. One of the key figures in the 1968 operation was young Barry Fey, who became the biggest promoter in Denver and the Mountain West in general. Opening act Mother Earth was based in San Francisco, even though most of the members were from Texas, and lead singer Tracy Nelson was from Madison, WI.

September 24, 1967 City Park, Denver, CO: Grateful Dead/Captain Beefheart/Tracy Nelson and Mother Earth/Lothar and The Hand People/Crystal Palace Guard
True to their pattern, the Grateful Dead played a free concert at a city park in Denver. I'm not sure exactly which park it was, although there are photos. The photos show a very small and casual event, with not even a raised stage. Now, of course, the remaining band members can play Folsom Field, but it seems to have started with a little fun in the park on a Saturday afternoon.

September 29-30, 1967 The Straight Theater, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Sons Of Champlin
The Grateful Dead returned to the Straight Theater for a weekend of shows. The venue still did not have a Dance Hall Permit, but they discovered that dance lessons did not require a Permit. Thus dancer Anna Halprin began each evening's program with some dance instruction, and the bands provided a few hours of music for everyone to "practice." This charade sufficed to cause the police to leave the Straight alone. Some silent video circulates from this event.

Mickey Hart went to see the Saturday night show (Sep 30), and at the break another drum set was procured so he could sit in. By the end of the show, Hart was in the Grateful Dead.

October 1, 1967 Greek Theatre, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Grateful Dead/Charles Lloyd/Bola Sete
On Sunday, the Grateful Dead debuted at the Greek Theatre in UC Berkeley. "The Greek," as it is known locally, was built in 1903, modeled after theaters in ancient Athens. The funding was provided by William Randolph Hearst. The Greek has a capacity of 8,500, huge by the standards of 60s rock concerts, so it wasn't widely used until the rock market got big enough to absorb crowds of that size. The first performance at The Greek was of Arisophanes "The Birds." Speakers at The Greek have included Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, and shoulda-been President Robert F. Kennedy. Musical performers at The Greek have been too numerous to mention.

Bola Sete was a popular jazz guitarist, and Charles Lloyd was friendly with the Dead. His quartet at the time probably included Keith Jarrett, Ron McClure and Jack DeJohnette. The Grateful Dead would go on to play many memorable shows at The Greek in the 1980s, as would Jerry Garcia. The venue is still going strong, after a recent seismic retrofit.

update: Regular commenter ruppi43 points out that  photos of the Dead at the Greek do not show Mickey Hart performing with the band. Indeed, there are no photos of Mickey when the Dead were busted, and none of him with the band until around November 1967. As ruppi43 points out, while Mickey "passed the audition," it seems to have taken a little while before the Dead took him on permanently. Hart's second show may not have been until The Shrine on November 11, 1967.

The Grateful Dead headlined a Saturday night concert at The Continental Ballroom in Santa Clara (a San Jose suburb) on October 14, 1967. The opening acts were local groups The Powers Of Evil and Om.

October 14, 1967 Continental Ballroom, Santa Clara, CA: Grateful Dead/Powers Of Evil/Om
The Grateful Dead headlined another show at the Continental Ballroom on Saturday, October 14. I don't know who the promoter might have been. The other acts are familiar names from psychedelic San Jose area shows at the time, although I know nothing about them specifically.

The famous "Trip Or Freak" poster was a collaboration of Kelly, Mouse and Rick Griffin. The poster was made particularly famous by Paul Grushkin's book The Art Of Rock. However, I cannot confirm that the concert advertised for Halloween 1967 was actually held, since the same bands had played Winterland just nine days earlier.

October 22, 1967 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Big Brother and The Holding Company/Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service
October 31, 1967 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Big Brother and The Holding Company/Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service
There is something odd and unexamined about these two posters from Winterland. BGP had first call on Winterland, but other promoters could use the hall. Often the San Francisco bands would finance their own shows at Winterland, sometimes hiring some or all of Graham's production staff to do so. Usually those shows were not on Friday and Saturday nights. Certainly, the October 22 show was a Sunday night, and the Halloween show would have been on a Tuesday. The posters advertise the same three bands for both events. There seems to be a vault tape of the Grateful Dead show on October 22, 1967, so it seems likely that all three bands put on a Sunday night Winterland show on that date.

However, Winterland had an official capacity of 5,400, which was huge for the rock market at the time (the Fillmore was about 1,500). Without Jefferson Airplane, there was no way SF bands could fill Winterland, given that they played around the area constantly. There's no reason to think that the bands didn't play on October 22. However, it seems extremely unlikely that the bands would repeat the booking just nine days later, even if it was Halloween. Is there any evidence other than the poster that the 1967 Halloween concert actually took place?

My hypothesis is that the "Trip Or Freak" poster is so memorable that it has become notable in collecting circles, as well it should have. However, many posters were produced for shows that did not occur, and I am waiting for evidence that the Halloween show actually happened. More likely, the bands were considering various dates, and more than one poster got produced.

November 10-11, 1967 Shrine Exposition Hall, Los Angeles, CA: Buffalo Springfield/Grateful Dead/Blue Cheer
The Grateful Dead had headed down to Los Angeles to start work on their second album. Once again, they recorded with Dave Hassinger at RCA Studio A (at 6363 Sunset Blvd), where they had recorded their first album. The sessions weren't that fruitful, as everyone knows, but in between the sessions they found time to play a weekend of shows at The Shrine Exposition Hall in Los Angeles with the Buffalo Springfield and the San Francisco band Blue Cheer.

The Shrine Exposition Hall was Los Angeles' premier concert venue in the 1960s, and there has been very little detailed history of it (I am working on it). Pinnacle was the first big concert promoter at the The Shrine, and they put on many classic shows that were immortalized by great posters. The Shrine was built in 1925 by the Al Malikah Temple of the Masonic Order.  The building is in a Spanish Colonial Style with a Moorish flair.  The main entrance to the Auditorium was at 665 West Jefferson Street.  The stage is huge (186 by 72 feet) and it is a popular home for the Academy Awards.  The Auditorium has 6,489 seats on three levels.  The Exposition Hall, part of the same complex but around the corner at 700 West 32nd (at Figueroa) is a 56,000 square foot open area that was (and is) used for trade shows and conventions as well as rock concerts.  Most rock concert listings that say “Shrine” are typically at the Exposition Hall rather than the Auditorium.

December 8-9, 1967 Psychedelic Supermarket, Boston, MA; Grateful Dead
Unhappy at RCA Studios, the Grateful Dead had trucked their equipment eastwards, and continued recording Anthem Of The Sun with Dave Hassinger at Century Studios in New York. While the band was in New York for most of a month, they presumably needed to play some shows in order to raise some needed cash. The Boston rock market was always booming, and by 1967 there were already competing psychedelic venues. The Dead accepted a weekend booking at a now-obscure place called The Psychedelic Supermarket. The Supermarket was a converted parking garage near Kenmore Square, at 590 Commonwealth Avenue. Actually, the entrance was in an alleyway, but the Commonwealth Avenue address made the place easier to find.

The Psychedelic Supermarket had been rapidly created to accommodate a Cream booking. Promter George Popadopolis had run a nearby folk coffee shop, called The Unicorn (at 815 Boylston), but he saw an opportunity when Cream was available. However, although numerous fantastic acts played the Psychedelic Supermarket, the venue is not remembered fondly by either bands or fans. The promoter was notoriously cheap, the venue unattractive and the sound was terrible. The Supermarket lasted through the end of 1968, briefly changed its name to The Unicorn, but faded away by mid-69. The venue became a movie theater called The Nickelodeon, and was ultimately torn down to provide a new science building for Boston University.

December 9, 1967 Atwood Hall, Clark University, Worcester, MA: Grateful Dead (afternoon show)
Atwood Hall was a relatively tiny auditorium, capacity 658, on the campus of Clark University. Although an April 20, 1969 performance was known, the Archive comment thread indicated that Jerry Garcia apologized for the band's previous appearance 18 months earlier. Thanks to the internet, my post on this subject brought forth the details, including the hitherto unseen poster at the top of the post.

As the Dead were playing Boston for a payday,  an afternoon show at a nearby University was another way to get some funds. Since the show was probably subsidized by Clark U, the band could get their fee even at a tiny place. By the same token, since the venue was small, the booking wouldn't interfere with any agreement with the Psychedelic Supermarket. Clark University, founded in 1887, was a small liberal arts school in Worcester (pronounced, I believe "wooster"), about an hour West of Boston.

Although I am not generally interested in debunking incorrect dates, I should point out that there is no evidence whatsoever, none, that the Grateful Dead played the Shrine Auditorium on December 13, 1967, much less debuted "Dark Star" there. For one thing, the band was on the East Coast, and for another, there were never weekday shows at the Shrine. In any case, there is no other evidence.

An ad for the December 22-24, 1967 Grateful Dead concerts at Palm Gardens on W.52nd Street in Manhattan. The Palm Gardens was an old ballroom from the 1920s, and seemed to be a base for The Group Image, who were a band, a commune and a sort of community organization all at once.

December 22-24 Palm Gardens, New York, NY: Grateful Dead/The Gray Company/Aluminum Dream/Group Image

The Grateful Dead had finished their unsatisfying NYC recording effort by the end of December. With all their equipment and crew in the East, the band must have needed money to get home. The band played a weekend show at The Palm Gardens. It was at 310 W. 52nd Street, right near Midtown and the Broadway theaters. Of course, Its All The Streets You Crossed has the best information. The Palm Gardens seems to have been a ballroom from the 1920s, and was one of the home bases of the NYC hippie rock band The Group Image, who acted sort of as hosts of the Grateful Dead when they were in town. I don't know anything about The Gray Company or Aluminum Dream.

December 26-27 Village Theater, New York, NY: Grateful Dead/Peggy Emerson/Take Five
The Grateful Dead played a weekend in old theater in the East Village, at 2nd Avenue and 6ht Street. The Village Theater would become famous a few months later when Bill Graham and Albert Grossman would refurbish it and open it as the Fillmore East, but in late '67, it was just another old theater. According to numerous sources, on at least one night, the rundown building had holes in the roof, and when it snowed, it was actually snowing on the stage.

December 29-30, 1967 Psychedelic Supermarket, Boston, MA: Grateful Dead
The Dead seemed to have returned to The Psychedelic Supermarket for another weekend, although that has not been entirely confirmed. Maybe they didn't play a second weeekend at all. This suggests that the first weekend must have gone pretty well. I have to assume, by the way, that there were opening acts for both Supermarket weekends, but I don't know who that might have been. The Supermarket just had generic flyers, not posters, and there was no specific information in the MIT student paper (the best source) nor the Harvard Crimson.

>December 31, 1967 Winterland
The Grateful Dead were scheduled to arrive in San Francisco during the day, and expected to go jam with Quicksilver Messenger Service at Winterland that night. Quicksilver was playing that night along with Jefferson Airplane and Big Brother. The story goes, however, that while the band arrived home in time, someone made them some brownies, and they all fell asleep--no doubt due to the delicious chocolatey goodness--and they never got to Winterland to jam. It's possible that Bob Weir and a drummer did turn up on stage later that night, but there wasn't a quorum of band members.

Grateful Dead Performance List January-June 1967

The Gathering Of The Tribes, The Human Be-In, at the Polo Grounds in Golden Gate Park on January 14, 1967

I have been working on this list for my own purposes, so I thought I would post it. Since there is no longer a definitive list of Grateful Dead shows that is easily accessible online, I have decided to post my own list covering brief periods of time. I will include links to where I have information on some dates that are not widely known, but I will be minimizing discussion of individual performances. In Tour Itinerary posts I have talked about even shorter periods of time, with the intent of creating a narrative that describes the Grateful Dead's activity during that window. This post is more of a simple list, however, to use as an anchor for research. My plan is to keep this list up to date on an ongoing basis (for additional entries, check here). Please suggest any additions, corrections or reservations in the Comments.

January 1, 1967 The Panhandle, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Big Brother And The Holding Company New Year's Day Wail [free concert]
Since the Dead had played a New Year's Eve all-nighter at the Fillmore, and Big Brother had done the same at the Avalon, it's unlikely either band had any sleep. Technically, the Panhandle is not part of Golden Gate Park, but only San Francisco residents care about that.

January 6, 1967 Freeborn Hall, UC Davis, Davis, CA: Grateful Dead/Big Mama Thornton
The Grateful Dead had debuted in the Sacramento area just the week before (December 28, 1966) [update: JGMF on the case]

Oakland Tribune jazz critic mentioned the Grateful Dead's appearance as the opening act for the Mamas And The Papas at the Berkeley Community Theater on Friday, January 13, 1967

January 13, 1967 Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley, CA: The Mamas And The Papas/Grateful Dead/Canadian Fuzz (early show)
The hugely popular Mamas And Papas were playing two sold-out shows in Berkeley for Bill Graham Presents, but opening act Jose Feliciano was stuck on a plane for the early show. The Dead filled in for him, and then rushed over to the Fillmore for their own show. Oakland Tribune jazz critic Russ Wilson reviewed the early show, and gave a mixed but positive review for The Mamas And The Papas. He dismissed the Dead in one sentence:

The program was opened with a 30-minute set by The Grateful Dead, a Westbay rock quintet that is memorable because two of its musicians (male) have hair that reaches to their shoulders.

January 13-14-15, 1967 Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/The Doors/Junior Wells/Immediate Family
The Doors may have missed a set on one of these nights. The Immediate Family, featuring guitarist Tim Barnes, probably didn't play Sunday (January 15).

January 14, 1967 Polo Grounds, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA: Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service/Charlatans/The New Age/others Human Be-In [free concert]

January 20, 1967 Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA: Timothy Leary/Grateful Dead

January 22, 1967 uncertain venue, Southern California: Grateful Dead
Another researcher has a line on this. I will fill in the blanks when he can confirm them. There are also reported sightings of the Dead playing at the afternoon's Griffith Park Love-In, along with the Airplane.

January 27-28, 1967 Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service

January 29, 1967 Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Big Brother And The Holding Company/Moby Grape S.F. Krishna Temple Benefit
The Grateful Dead spent the next week at RCA Studios recording their first album. They were booked to play a benefit at the Fillmore on Sunday, February 5, but apparently did not return from Los Angeles in time.

The Sopwith Camel were replaced at the last minute by The Gratful Dead for their show at the Santa Venetia Armory, in the unincorporated outskirts of San Rafael, on Friday February 10 1967.

February 10, 1967 Santa Venetia Armory, Santa Venetia, CA: Grateful Dead/Blue House Basement/Baltimore Steam Packet.
Santa Venetia was an unincorporated suburb of San Rafeal. The Dead substituted for the Sopwith Camel.

February 12, 1967 Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA Grateful Dead/Moby Grape/Sly And The Family Stone/Salvation Army Banned/Notes From The Underground

February 24-25-26, 1967, Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA Grateful Dead/Otis Rush/Canned Heat

March 3, 1967 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Love/Moby Grape/Loading Zone/Blue Crumb Truck Factory
These shows were promoted by a group called The Love Conspiracy Commune. According to Charles Perry, in his 1984 book Haight-Ashbury: A History, the Love Conspiracy was backed by pot dealers from Chapel Hill, NC.

March 5, 1967 Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Moby Grape/Big Brother And The Holding Company/Country Joe And The Fish/The Sparrow/Grateful Dead
This was a benefit for the Straight Theater, so it could be converted from a movie theater to a concert hall. Only in 1967 San Francisco would one business hold a benefit for a future competitor.

A San Francisco Chronicle ad (from March 11, 1967) for the Grateful Dead's weeklong engagement at the long-forgotten San Francisco outpost of the Whisky-A-Go-Go, at 568 Sacramento Street downtown.

March 10-15, 1967 Whisky A-Go-Go, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead
I have changed my mind various times about this. However, I am now certain that the Grateful Dead played this week at the little-remembered San Francisco outpost of the famed Los Angeles nightspot. An eyewitness reports that the shows were thinly attended, and that there were topless dancers on stage. The Love Conspiracy Commune had taken over booking for the SF Whisky from about February 1967 onwards, and the club went out of business by April. Whisky ownership was always suspected of nefarious connections, so the mystery associated with the Love Conspiracy fits in nicely.

March 17-18-19, 1967 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Chuck Berry/Grateful Dead/Johnny Talbot And De Thangs (March 19 show at Fillmore)
Johnny Talbot and De Thangs, an R&B band from Oakland also backed Chuck Berry for his sets.

March 18, 1967 [venue], Napa, CA Napa Junior Chamber of Commerce dance: Grateful Dead
Yellow Shark reports with a listing in the March 3, 1967 Napa Register, where columnist Ross P. Game says

Napa Junior Chamber of Commerce will be sponsoring another teen-age dance--this one March 18. Music will be provided by the Grateful Dead. It must be deadly music, huh?

Now, the Dead were playing Winterland on the night of Saturday, March 18. However, they may have played early at the dance and then gone over to Winterland. We also don't know the venue. A building at the Napa Fairgrounds seems likely.

March 20, 1967 Fugazi Hall, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead
The Dead had an album release party at the tiny Fugazi Hall. The Fugazi housed the show Beach Blanket Babylon for many years.

One night, week of March 17-26, Teenage Fair, Oakland Exposition Center, Oakland, CA
This is something I am working on. I realize the dates would conflict with numerous other dates during the week, but for various reasons that isn't a problem. If the Dead did play the Teenage Fair, they would not have been advertised, per their contracts with Bill Graham and Chet Helms. I have more to say, but this is just here as a teaser (bonus points if you know about the Oakland Exposition Center). What was a Teenage Fair? All will be revealed, sort of, eventually.

March 24-25, 1967 Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Johnny Hammond And His Screaming Nighthawks/Robert Baker

It's not completely impossible that on Sunday (March 26), the Grateful Dead flew to Los Angeles for the Griffith Park Love-In, and flew back to the Avalon for their gig. Tickets on Pacific Southwest Airlines were about $20, not much even then. Various eyewitnesses place the Dead at Griffiths Park.

March 26, 1967 Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service
Eric Burdon and The Animals dropped in and performed a few numbers on the Grateful Dead's equipment.

The Grateful Dead, The Charles Lloyd Quartet and The Mystery Trend played a week at the Rock Garden at 4742 Mission Street, in the Excelsior District in San Francisco, from March 28-April 2, 1967

March 28-April 2, 1967 The Rock Garden, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Charles Lloyd/Mystery Trend
The Rock Garden was out in the Excelsior District, where Jerry Garcia had grown up. His mother, who still lived nearby, came to one of these shows. Charles Lloyd apparently jammed with the Dead during some of the sets. Lloyd's crack band probably included Keith Jarrett, Ron McClure and Jack DeJohnette. Per Russ Wilson's interview in the March 26, 1967 Oakland Tribune, Lloyd's band also played Sunday, March 26, without the Dead, but did not play Thursday, March 30, when they played Berkeley Community Theater. Wilson also had the group The Virginians opening, rather than The Mystery Trend, and his information was later than the poster.

April 9, 1967 Panhandle, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA [free concert]
Charles Perry reported that the Dead played for free this afternoon.

The Panhandle is a strip of grass between Oak and Fell Streets in San Francisco, bordered by Stanyan and Baker (and bisected by Masonic). Although it abuts the Western border of Golden Gate Park, San Franciscans are very firm about the fact that it is not Golden Gate Park proper. The Dead played their first free concert on this tiny strip on October 6, 1966, to mark the fact that LSD was now illegal in the State of California. The October 6 concert was a seminal event for too many reasons to discuss here, not all of them related to the Grateful Dead.

Since the Panhandle was a two-block walk from the Dead's headquarters at 710 Ashbury, free concerts in the Panhandle have been mythologized all out of proportion. I am largely alone in holding the belief that there were actually very few Grateful Dead concerts in the Panhandle and we know about almost all of them. This too is another topic, but I will say that most assertions for regular Grateful Dead concerts at the Panhandle are simply wishful thinking, supported only by the vaguest claims that disintegrate under scrutiny.

April 9, 1967 Longshoreman's Hall, San Francisco, CA: Quicksilver Messenger Service/Country Joe And The Fish/Big Brother and The Holding Company/Sopwith Camel Week Of The Angry Arts
This event was a sort of kickoff to a week of events protesting the Vietnam War. Note that the best known band on the bill outside of the Bay Area would have been Sopwith Camel, who had scored a hit with "Hello Hello." The Dead were not on the poster, but Ralph Gleason said they were scheduled to perform. I don't take that as a guarantee, but this list is about completeness [update: JGMF confirms, with actual video from the performance. Is technology awesome, or what?]

April 11, 1967 [entrance], San Quentin Prison, San Quentin, CA
Members of the Grateful Dead and Country Joe and The Fish played on a flatbed truck outside of San Quentin prison.

April 12, 1967 Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA: Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service/Moby Grape/Andrew Staples/Loading Zone Mime Troupe Benefit
This was a Wednesday night show

April 14-17, 1967 Banana Grove, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, CA

The Kaleidoscope was a venture by Canned Heat's managers (Skip Taylor and John Hartmann) to open a Fillmore-style venue in Los Angeles. This original weekend was supposed to be at a building on 1228 Vine Street, but a last second injunction stopped the show. For the weekend the show was moved to the Embassy Ballroom in the Ambassador Hotel, at 3400 Wilshire, which also housed the legendary Coconut Grove Ballroom.The ballroom was nicknamed "The Banana Grove" for the shows The hotel briefly considered making a regular thing out of such shows, but ultimately demurred. The Monday night event (April 17) appears to have been a sort of LA event for the release of the first Dead album, and that accounts for the hotel picking up the balance of the shows.

April 28, 1967, Stockton Ballroom, Stockton, CA
There has been some ambiguity about these shows because of an issue with possibly fabricated posters, but I found plenty of evidence that the show occurred (including a quote from Garcia). The event was sponsored by the Student Association of the University Of The Pacific, which was based in Stockton.

April 29, 1967 Earl Warren Showgrounds, Santa Barbara, CA: Grateful Dead/The Doors/UFO/Captain Speed

April 30, 1967 The Cheetah, Santa Monica, CA: Grateful Dead/Yellow Balloon/New Generation [two shows]

May 1, 8, 15, 22, 1967 Rendezvous Inn, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/The Wildflower

In May of 1967, The Dead, largely holidaying and rehearsing at the Russian River, had a regular Monday night gig at The Rendezvous Inn. The Rendezvous was a gay bar on Sutter Street, just above Powell, near Union Square. I don't know for certain the exact days, but McNally says they began "a brief series of Monday nights" (p.193) and the dates listed here are the first four Mondays in May. (the band had a gig on May 29 in Napa, so I have assumed they played the first four Mondays in May). There had been gay bars in San Francisco since at least the 1950s, though they kept a much lower profile than they did subsequently. The Wildflower, an Oakland group, played at least some of the gigs, and their manager was Bill Belmont (McNally, p. 288). Belmont worked for the Dead in late 1969.

May 5-6-7, 1967 Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/The Paupers/Collage

May 12, 1967 Marigold Ballroom, Fresno, CA: Grateful Dead/The Roadrunners [two shows]
I found a review of this show, so that confirms that the date was May 12 (not May 11). The Marigold was at 1833 E. Hedges in Fresno.

May 18, 1967 Gym, Awalt High School, Mountain View, CA
Randy Groenke, a former banjo student of Jerry Garcia's, persuaded the Dead to play Awalt High School in Mountain View on a Thursday afteroon, where he was then a Senior. 

The Grateful Dead, The Real Thing and Autumn People played the Continental Ballroom (in Santa Clara, a San Jose suburb), on May 20, 1967

May 20, 1967 Continental Ballroom, Santa Clara, CA: Grateful Dead/The Real Thing/Autumn People
The Continental Ballroom was a former roller skating rink at 1600 Martin Avenue in Santa Clara, a suburb of San Jose. The Dead had played the Continental as the Warlocks in Fall 1965, back when it was known as the Continental Roller Bowl. It may be that the Continental one of the very few venues where they performed as both the Dead and the Warlocks.

May 28, 1967 Panhandle, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead
For all my reservations about Grateful Dead Panhandle shows, I found a now-departed description of the Grateful Dead playing for free in the Panhandle on May 28, 1967, and I find the date quite convincing. Peter Vincent moved to San Francisco in late May 1967 and very thoughtfully (from my perspective) kept a diary.

May 29, 1967 Napa County Fairgrounds, Napa, CA: Grateful Dead/Project Hope
Some Napa high school students (with a little help from parents) organized this show, along with bookings for Country Joe and The Fish and Big Brother. At the time, Napa was a largely agricultural community.

May 30, 1967 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Jefferson Airplane/Big Brother and The Holding Company/Big Brother and The Holding Company/Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service/The Charlatans HALO Benefit
The Haight Ashbury Legal Organization was run out of 715 Ashbury by lawyer Brian Rohan, and mainly defended hippies busted for marijuana. This Tuesday night benefit featuring all the major San Francisco rock bands also featured a tape-delayed broadcast on KMPX-fm, which I believe is the first such event for a rock band. The Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane tapes circulate. I am pretty much alone in believing that the Dead did not actually play the HALO benefit, but so far no one has yet confirmed their presence beyond seeing their name on the poster.

June 1, 1967 Tompkins Square Park, New York, NY: Grateful Dead/Group Image [free concert]
The Grateful Dead surprised their hosts at the Cafe Au Go Go by playing for free the Thrusday afternoon that they hit town. The Au Go Go rapidly found out, however, that the buzz it created was enormous.

June 1-5, 8-11, 1967 Cafe Au Go Go, New York, NY: Grateful Dead/Luke And The Apostles
The Grateful Dead began their assault on Manhattan by playing two weeks in Greenwich Village, at the relatively tiny Cafe Au Go Go on 152 Bleecker Street. Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention had a residency in the same building, upstairs at the Garrick Theater. According to Rock Scully, when Zappa caught his Mothers smoking pot with the Dead, they were punished with more rehearsal.

June 3, 1967 [venue], SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY: Grateful Dead
The band played a sort of stealth gig at SUNY Stony Brook. It couldn't really be advertised except by word-of-mouth, because of their booking at the Au Go Go, but the Dead at this point were a word-of-mouth band anyway.

June 8, 1967 Bandshell On The Mall, Central Park, New York, NY: Grateful Dead/Group Image [free concert]
The Dead expanded their horizons and played for free in midtown as well. I'm not aware of rock bands (who had released actual albums) playing for free in Central Park prior to this.

June 12, 1967 The Cheetah, New York, NY: Grateful Dead/Group Image
The Group Image were a rock band/light show/collective, and they organized this somewhat underground event at The Cheetah. The Cheetah was a popular discoteque, but not exactly undergound.

June 15, 1967 Straight Theater, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/The Wildflower [private party]
The Straight was a movie theater that the locals were trying to convert into a concert venue, but they had not yet obtained a permit. The Dead had rehearsed there in late 1966. The venue would not open for a few more weeks. However, a private party was held there to celebrate the forthcoming Monterey Pop Festival, and the Dead were the headline act. Also apparently present was Jimi Hendrix, who was still unknown, although that would change dramatically by the end of the weekend.

June 16, 1967 The Hullabaloo, Los Angeles, CA; Grateful Dead/Yellow Payges/The Power
The Hullabaloo, later the Kaleidoscope, was a "teen" club sponsored by a radio dj. The Dead probably played two sets, and Phil Lesh got his bass stolen.

June 17-18, 1967, athletic field, Monterey Peninsula College, Monterey, CA [free concert]
The Dead flew into Monterey for the Pop Festival on Saturday morning. Disliking what they considered the "commercial" atmosphere of the event, they set up shop at the college across from the fairgrounds where people were camping. Although events have been somewhat blown out of proportion, the Dead and other musicians definitely performed at the athletic field during the festival itself.

June 18, 1967 Horse Show Arena, Monterey County Fairgrounds, Monterey, CA: The Mamas And The Papas with Scott Mackenzie/Jimi Hendrix Experience/The Grateful Dead/The Who/Buffalo Springrield/The Group With No Name/Big Brother And The Holding Company/Blues Project
The Dead played a short, uneventful set at the Festival, setting in motion the ongoing theme in which they would always blow the big ones.

June 21, 1967 Polo Grounds, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service/Mad River Summer Solstice "Do-In" [free concert]
The Grateful Dead and their crew had "liberated" some of the equipment rented for the Monterey Pop Festival and played a few free concerts. This event, styled as a "Do-In" rather than a "Be-In," took place on the Summer Solstice and featured two stages at opposite ends of the Polo Grounds. I believe the Dead shared a stage with Quicksilver and Mad River, while Big Brother, The Jefferson Airplane and The Phoenix were across the way, but I may have the combinations of bands wrong.

June 28, 1967 Oakland Auditorium Arena, Oakland, CA: Young Rascals/The Grass Roots/Country Joe And The Fish/Grateful Dead/Sons Of Champlin
The Grateful Dead played the very first of a great many shows at the Oakland Auditorium Arena.

July 2, 1967 El Camino Park, Palo Alto, CA: Grateful Dead/Anonymous Artists of America/New Delhi River Band/Solid State/The Good Word Palo Alto Be-In [free concert]
For many years I thought this show was on June 24, which is why I am including it here. However, it actually occurred on Sunday, July 2. The Dead played for free on the Palo Alto/Menlo Park border, within walking distance of both Magoo's and The Tangent. I attended the show (I was 9). There are numerous photos of this event.

For a more detailed analysis, if now somewhat outdated, see my tour itinerary pages here
Grateful Dead Tour Itinerary January-April 1967
Grateful Dead Tour Itinerary May-June 1967

4/9/67 video: http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/11/dead-in-panhandle-sunday-april-9-1967.html