By March of 1971, it had been a good seven months since I
had seen the Grateful Dead, and several months since I had been to any large
concerts. A mid-week trip to Discount
Records produced a handbill that showed the Dead playing at Winterland that
evening, along with a mysterious crew including Yogi Baijan, the Sufi Choir,
and the Whirling Dervish Dancers.
Although it was the middle of a school week, and I had never driven to San Francisco by myself, I entreated my parents to
let me go, and they assented, provided I could find someone to go with me. I
asked a school friend, Tom, who had never seen the Dead, if he wanted to go,
and he miraculously got permission from his parents to go with me, and by 8 PM
or so, we were off on 101 towards Winterland.
Walking into the already darkened hall, it became
immediately evident that this would not be a typical concert. On the stage were
a number of robed, bearded gentlemen chanting around a roaring fire that sent
flames high into the air inside what was famously a huge wooden firetrap. Decades later, taking Yoga classes in
Chicago, I learned what a major cultural force Yogi Bhajan and his Kundalini
Yoga movement had become. I can’t
identify Bhajan in the photos I took, and another bespectacled gentleman led
the chanting, so it is possible that he was not even there. Regardless, the
spectacle certainly made a strong impression at the time.
Ceremonial Fire Winterland 3.24.71 Photo: M. Parrish |
Once the chanting was finished, the fires were quenched
(whew!) and the stage cleared for the Sufi Choir. This group, conducted by William Allaudin
Mathieu, came together as a group of followers of spiritual mystic Samuel
Lewis, whose followers called him Mursid. The group was a true choir, that
persisted under Mathieu’s direction from 1969 until 1983. After performing several beautiful pieces on
their own, the choir was joined by Dead members Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil
Lesh, and Bill Kreutzmann for their last two pieces. The Dead members provided
delicate droning chords below the choir’s angelic harmonies, with Garcia’s
leads dancing around the choir’s melodies – a magical, all to
Dead and Sufi Choir 3.24.71 Photo: M. Parrish |
Winterland was pretty full, especially for a Wednesday night
for a show with limited advance promotion, but most of the floor was cleared
for the next performance, by a group of Whirling Dervish Dancers, who spun very quickly in large arcs, forming intricate patterns. I believe the accompaniment
was just recorded music, but can’t say for sure.
Dervish Dancers 3.24.71 Photo: M. Parrish |
Grateful Dead 3.24.71 Photo: M. Parrish |
It was quite late, close to 11, when the Dead finally came
onstage for their regular set. (Contrary to Deadbase, the New Riders did not
appear at this show). I was surprised and saddened by the absence of Mickey Hart,
which had not been reported in the local press, despite his having been on
hiatus from the band since February. At
this juncture, the band’s music was markedly less psychedelic than it has been
just a few months earlier, with a raft of shorter songs, including several new
originals, having taken the place of some of the longer pieces, although a nice
Truckin’>Other One emerged late in the first set.
Other than the early Fillmore West shows that
included both an early and late set by each band on the
Grateful Dead 3.24.71 Photo: M. Parrish |
The drive home was interesting, given that I had been through a full day of school before taking off on this evening adventure. It had been a splendid evening, full of surprises, and a great introduction to the leaner, more rock oriented Grateful Dead of 1971.