MovieChat Forums > The Grateful Dead (1977) Discussion > Great time capsule of the year 1974

Great time capsule of the year 1974

posted 13 years ago by cryptical70
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One thing I like about watching the Grateful Dead movie is seeing what music fans were like in 1974. I was four years old, and in pre-school at the time and way too young to even know what the Grateful Dead was. It's fun seeing all the fans back then... what they were like, how they behaved, how they reacted to the music, and what they were wearing. Actually a lot remained the same when I saw the Dead in the 80s and 90s. The biggest difference was some of the clothes... way too many people wearing overalls back then!! Styles definitely improved since '74.

Winterland and the surrounding neighborhood along Steiner Street, looked rather dumpy back in 1974... graffiti on the walls, and a run-down building that was Winterland. The backstage door didn't even close properly. But it's hard to believe that Winterland has been gone for over 25 years (demolished in '85) and now condominiums are in its place. This movie is a good view of what this great music venue was like.

[–] Jamo57 13 years ago

Check out the DVD 'The Closing of Winterland'. It has a bonus feature about the building with an interview with Bob Weir. He has some really funny comments about the 'quality' of the building, or lack thereof. It was an old building even back in the 70s.

OTOH, tickets to these shows were probably $10 or so. Maybe less. The first concert I saw at a 16 year old in 1973 was 'Jethro Tull' at the Forum in LA. Tickets were $5.50 and $6.50.

Cool thing about Winterland though was it was an old skating rink/ballroom type of venue. Deadheads like big open floors for dancing. Theaters with rows of seats don't work well.

Let's never come here again because it would never be as much fun.