[Oakland Incident?]

Ah, fellow Bay Area concert go'er's from the 70's on here, nice!

From the recordings of the 2 shows, the only differences are that they played a 2nd encore of Black Dog on the first day, and a bit of Mystery Train in the acoustic set on the 2nd day. Otherwise, they were identical, and about the same length, well over 2 hours. But don't worry, I wouldn't have remembered without the bootlegs either! I have no doubt it took them a long time to start, and that the crowd got restless. Crowds used to always get restless, even when there was only 1/2 hour between 2 bands. Hell, they got restless at the first show, and they weren't even that late! I remember hearing it was something like 3 hours for the second show, but I was not there, so I don't know for sure.

Our impression of Graham was just that he was a hardline business guy, and you didn't mess around with him. He competely owned the concert business in the Bay Area, so if you wanted to play out there, you dealt with him. Again, my experiences at the shows were generally good, and he always seemed to have a good relationship with artists. But I'm sure not every one of his employees was so nice. That does suck that you got roughed up at that show. And yes, Cow Palace crowds could be pretty unruly! But I'm sure there are some people on here from other parts of the country who could tell us much worse stories of security at concerts, riot police, massive arrests, etc. We used to hear about them, and be glad we didn't see that crap at the shows we went to.

Yes, I've been here in the bay area since 1969! Still here.....

That bootleg would be interesting to hear! That concert seemed pretty short from my memory LOL! And I remember other poeple saying the same thing. But then again, we were spoiled in those days, and lots of bands played longer than 2 hours. The grateful dead always played for ever! And LZ were known for 3-4 hour concerts.

The time they took to come on the stage that day, was much longer than the normal amount of time. Not 30-45 minutes thats for sure. I thought is was more like 1 1/2 hours or more. A lot of bands were late coming out back then, and no one really cared because everyone was partying and not noticing the time. This time everyone was getting pissed, and Bill G. kept sending people out to entertain us.

Yes, he was a business man alright. He made millions! Smart man, but I don't recall anyone saying he was a nice guy. ;-) But you are right, in that we had it pretty good. No one stopped the drinking, or drugs going on. I remember seeing at one day on the green someone having sex on the stairs! LOL! SEX, DRUGS, AND ROCK AND ROLL!

[Oakland Incident?]

Exactly right, Steve. Standard '77 shows in the traditional way for both Oakland dates, although they did start 45 minutes late on Sunday (the second show).

I was there at the second show, and from my memory, it seemed much longer than a 45 minute wait. The crowd was really getting restless, and Bill Graham came out and was pissed at the crowds reaction. People were starting to throw things, and boo. The concert was also short. They were good, but not what I expected as far as long guitar solos ect. The concert was less than 2 hours if i remember right. There may have only been one small encore, or none. Again, my memory is not what it used to be!

I also went to all the day on the greens and concerts in the Bay Area. For some reason, we hated Bill Graham! I can't remember for the life of me why, other than maybe we thought he was driving ticket prices up or something. But we did not have a good impression of the man.

As for his employees, most were fine, and yes, drugs and alcohol were allowed, but some of the guys were a little rough. Once concert at Cow Palace, I was in the front with my friends. We were 16 and from the heat and smoke I started to pass out. One of the employees that stood between the barrier and the stage, started to lift me over the barrier. I came to, and said, I'm fine, let me go back over. He drug me to the end of the barrier and pushed me out into the crowd!

Cow Palace as always a rough crowd, and not a good place to be a young female alone. So there I was alone in this huge crowd, and no cell phones back then. I was scared and pissed off! So some employees were not nice. ;-) By the way, I did manage to work my way back up to the front and find my friends, and let him know what an ass he was.