Click a link below to hear any of these TWTD programs now. To purchase download copies of our TWTD Encore rebroadcasts andor Interviews, visit Speaking of Radio. With his new album, Carry Fire, released, Plant is organizing an extensive tour. Also watch the newest video from the album. To log in for the first time, use your member number for your username and your last name for your password. You will be prompted to change these after. Music in Late Capitalism, and performance in general, was designed to be a scarce resource, withheld until payment was offered. If music was performed too freely, than people would stop paying for it. As a practical matter, this led to some mid century nightclub economics that Jerry Garcia derided as Cabaret playing a short set to sell drinks, and then taking a break, and either turning over the house or forcing everyone to buy more drinks for the next set. Radio disrupted this model, but not by much, since a listener didnt know when their favorite song would be played, and thus kept listening to ads while they were turned in. The Grateful Dead had a contrary assumption about music. To the Dead, if you gave people music for free, they would just want more of it, and pay for that privilege. Prior to the Grateful Dead, free concerts in the music business were the actions of the desperate. Free concerts in 1. San Francisco upended the notion that music was a finite commodity, and the Grateful Dead were fundamental to that equation. When free concerts became an untenable promotional scheme, the Dead moved to live FM broadcasts, another area in which they were pioneers. Ultimately, the Dead formally encouraged their fans to tape concerts in the mid 1. Thus the Dead are credited with inventing internet marketing, since giving it away in the hopes that people will pay later is the go to business model for the internet. I am hardly alone in the formulation that the Grateful Dead were foundational in enticing fans by simply playing music for free. Of course, Bob Weir and others have said that the Grateful Dead often did what was easiest, with little forethought, and so assigning them as incipient marketing geniuses may not be entirely warranted. While I think the Deads influence in the music business has been overstated, however, it isnt irrelevant. Whether the Dead gave away music for free by accident or design, it has had a profound effect on the 2. Today, free concerts abound all over cities and college campuses in America, and many performers accept that at least some free performances help get your music across to people who otherwise might never hear it. This post will look at the Deads free concerts as a commercial endeavor, primarily by examining the first free concert in any city where the Dead played. Since the 2. 0th century is now complete, this analysis probably has no current commercial value, but it should make for an interesting catalog. August 3, 1. 96. 6 Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC Grateful DeadUnited Empire Loyalists. The first free concert by the Grateful Dead can very definitely be identified. Pc Service Software Tools. Remarkably, it was on their first international trip, to Vancouver, British Columbia. The story was recounted in detail in Rock Scullys biography, and confirmed by the teenage members of the opening act. I wrote about the bands trip to Vancouver at my usual length, but I will focus on just a few key points here. Briefly, the Grateful Dead had been invited to play the Vancouver Trips Festival, a three day Acid Test under a more polite name, from July 2. As the Vancouver event was modeled on the San Francisco Trips Festival from January, the two brightest lights from that event were invited to Vancouver. Although the Grateful Dead and Big Brother and The Holding Company would be legendary within 1. Big Brother took the train to Vancouver and hitchhiked to the venue with Dave Getzs drums, and I dont think the Dead had any more glamorous of a trip. The Vancouver Trips Festival was not particularly well attended, although the Dead in fact played well and their performance has recently been released. The Dead were an underground sensation, though, so a local promoter had booked a show with them for the next Friday night August 5. Music in Late Capitalism, and performance in general, was designed to be a scarce resource, withheld until payment was offered. If music was performed too freely. However, the Dead had no record, and no one in Vancouver who hadnt been to the Trips Festival had heard them, so they had to be concerned about ticket sales. The Dead hung out and rehearsed at the suburban homes of the teenage members of the opening act, and while driving around they spotted a bandstand at a public park in Vancouver. Allman_Brothers_Band/ga-wh-aw-1994-10-29-back.jpg' alt='Allman Brothers Raleigh Tickets' title='Allman Brothers Raleigh Tickets' />So it came to pass that on August 3, the Wednesday before their show, the Grateful Dead and the United Empire Loyalists drove around Stanley Park in Vancouver, rapidly setting up their gear on bandstands, performing a few numbers and then being chased away by the cops. They played at least two places. Allman Brothers Raleigh Tickets' title='Allman Brothers Raleigh Tickets' />Their teenage hosts were enthralled, and dedicated themselves to a life of rock and roll until they went to college, but thats another story. How much the Vancouver free shows helped ticket sales wasnt clear, but the paying Vancouver show went ok, and it sparked an idea. The bands initial success in Vancouver was due to underground buzz, since that was all the Dead had to offer. Free concerts were a way for the band to generate that buzz themselves, and let the underground do their advance work. The West Coast was sort of a separate touring market from the rest of North America up through the early 7. Vancouver was part of that. The Dead drew well in Vancouver, but I dont know if many in Vancouver were even aware of the free concerts. The Dead did not play Vancouver after 1. Watch The Redcoats play a medley of Allman Brothers classic during halftime of yesterdays football game. Allman Brothers Raleigh Tickets' title='Allman Brothers Raleigh Tickets' />I think that was because touring the Northeast was more desirable. The important thing about the first trip to Vancouver, however, was the idea of publicizing shows by playing free concerts. September 1. 96. 6 Speedway Meadows, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco Grateful Dead. The most mysterious and chimerical free shows in Grateful Dead history are the least documented. Various old timers assert, with the casual confusion so classic of 6. Fall of 1. 96. 6 the Grateful Dead played some free concerts in Speedway Meadows at Golden Gate Park. There were no permits, no cops, no suburban wannabes, no hassles, nothing but fun. Of course, there were no tapes, no photos, no posters nor any other evidence that they really happened. End Of The World Mp4 Download. Did they happen We may never know. The timing makes sense. Rock Scully and Danny Rifkin managed to take control of 7. Ashbury in September of 1. Haight Street at the Straight Theater, quick free concerts in the Park would have been easy. Everyone says that 1. So, realistically, these concerts were more like parties than concerts, even though they were held in public spaces. The commercial value of the free Speedway Meadows concert was probably close to nil, since the only people attending were insiders who probably came to Dead concerts anyway. October 6, 1. 96. The Panhandle, San Francisco, CA Grateful DeadBig Brother And The Holding CompanyElektric Chamber Orkustra Love Pageant Rally. LSD was made illegal in the State of California on this Thursday, and the Grateful Dead and Big Brother held an unsanctioned free concert in the Panhandle. There had already been at least one free concert in the Panhandle, with Country Joe and The Fish on August 1. Dead had played some free shows at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park. Still, the October show was the first free Grateful Dead show in the Panhandle. This was a seminal event, because it was publicized, at least on the underground jungle telegraph. A few thousand freaks from everywhere in Northern California converged at the Panhandle, and discovered that there were a lot more of them in the Bay Area than anyone thought. The Love Pageant Rally, as it was known, was also an important milestone in the history of free Grateful Dead concerts, and indeed free concerts in general.