Word By Andy Zimmer
Grateful Dead Live at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on October 9, 1976. <--- Direct Archive link
For this week’s pick, I decided to give a shot out to my buddy Chris Cook. Aside from being a solid, all-around human being; Chris is a long-time DeadHead and dedicated music fan. Recently, I was chatting with Chris about all-things-Dead and he started telling me about his first show. As it turns out, Chris was actually exposed to the Dead somewhat by accident.
From 1973 until his untimely passing in 1991 Bill Graham, in addition to the countless other endeavors he was part of, put on a yearly concert series in Oakland, CA called “Day on the Green”. These events included some of the biggest touring bands around at the time and, by most accounts, were quite a thing to be a part of. Chris was fortunate enough to have attended the “Day on the Green” in October of 1976. At the time he was a huge fan of the Who, and specifically attended the event to see the lads from Britain do their thing. Coincidentally, the Dead were slated to perform in the slot just before the Who and Chris had the great fortune of being in the audience for that show. Apparently Dead archivist David Lemieux felt the show was an exceptional one, as it was released as the 33rd installments of the Dick’s Picks series. The show also made quite an impression on Chris. It started him on a long odyssey of traveling the world with the Grateful Dead. With over 200 shows under his belt, Chris has seen and experienced many transcendent musical moments, but he will never forget that first show.
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