I have a number of additions and corrections for the list. I didn't do an exhaustive search, just a quick check of Dead shows from '66-74, so there are probably more cancellations to be found.
2/10/66 The Cabale, Berkeley - I believe this is spurious. There was no "Cabale" in 1966 - the venue had closed and changed to the Questing Beast. The COAU site notes, "There may have been a Grateful Dead show scheduled at the Questing Beast for Friday (February 11) which was canceled as well. A Grateful Dead tape circulates as “Questing Beast Rehearsal February 11, 1966,” but both the date and venue are spurious." I find it doubtful that there's any record of the Dead being scheduled to play there. http://chickenonaunicycle.com/Questing%20Beast%20History.htm
2/11/66 Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco - Possibly this is a misdate for 2/12/66, per the note on a deadlists poster: http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19660212.html The Dead may have cancelled both 2/11 and 2/12, or perhaps they weren't scheduled for either date in the first place (they'd left for LA the previous weekend). Is there any evidence?
5/66 Rendezvous Inn, San Francisco - I'm not sure these dates are correct. McNally's book says that in May 1967 "they began a brief series of Monday nights at the Rendezvous Inn," and his details make it clear that the Dead did play there. http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/07/may-1-8-1522-1967-rendezvous-inn-san.html It appears that Deadbase is mistaken about the Dead also being scheduled there on Monday nights in May 1966. The new edition adds the May '67 dates, correcting their error.
The Dead were definitely originally scheduled for the Fillmore on 66-02-12.
There is an earlier version of the Peace Rock poster listing The Mystery Trend, The Quicksilver Messenger Service, Our Lost Souls (The Girls) and The Grateful Dead.
The version on deadlists.com has The Wildflower added to the top of the bill and the Dead replaced by Big Brother & The Holding Company at the bottom of the bill, otherwise it is identical.
Finally there was a rougher redrawn poster listing The Great Society, The Wildflower, The Quicksilver Messenger Service, Our Lost Souls and Big Brother & The Holding Company with a note at the bottom "... the 'Grateful' are testing, the 'Mystery' lost an ax..."
All three posters are for the 12th and make no mention of the 11th. The first and third ones are on page 14 of "The Art Of Rock" by Paul Grushkin, I've never found them online.
The Grateful Dead cancelled a concert that was supposed to happen on 5/3/73 in Portland Oregon. I know because I hitchhiked from the SF Bay area with ticket in hand only to find out when I arrived that the show had been cancelled. The reason floating around was because Billy had burned his hand.
1/19/67 UC Berkeley - Yellow Shark writes: "On January 19, 1967 the Grateful Dead were scheduled but did not play Upper Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley in a rally protesting proposed UC Berkeley fee increase. The Loading Zone did perform." http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2014/06/january-20-1967-santa-monica-civic.html?showComment=1405214182338#c1120635054816349290 More details are in a Stanford Daily article: "Students at UC Berkeley are planning a vigil today to coincide with a meeting on the Berkeley campus of the California Board of Regents. The vigil is scheduled to begin at about 9:30 this morning across the street from University Hall, where the Regents are expected to discuss Governor Ronald Reagan’s proposals to cut the University’s budget and charge tuition. Two rock and roll bands, the Grateful Dead and the Loading Zone, have volunteered to entertain the vigilers while the Regents are meeting. The Berkeley Police Department has given unofficial notice that the bands and the vigilers will not be interfered with so long as order is maintained." (“Cal Students Plan Vigil of Reagan-Board Meet," Stanford Daily 1/19/67)
8/20/67 Mount Tamalpais - McNally writes: "The Dead were to play on August 20 at a gathering on beautiful, holy Mount Tamalpais, but when they got to the mountaintop, they discovered that there was no power, and the event turned into what Rifkin would call 'a bongofest.'" (McNally p.212)
3/23/68 Grande Ballroom, Detroit - More details from Lost Live Dead: “After the poor attendance at the Fairgrounds [on 3/22], the show was returned to the smaller Grande Ballroom. Animal guitarist Vic Briggs clearly recalls that the Dead went home on Saturday and did not play the Grande.” http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/04/grateful-dead-tour-itinerary-march.html
6/21/68 Civic Auditorium, San Jose - According to McNally, the Dead had a show scheduled in mid-September '68 with Frank Zappa in San Jose, but it was canceled at the last minute due to low ticket sales. His date was wrong, though - the canceled show was actually June 21, at the San Jose Civic Auditorium. (A show poster exists.) http://members.shaw.ca/fz-pomd/giglist/1968.html
7/68 Honolulu International Center, Honolulu - Per Deadbase 50: "The August 10, 1968 Billboard reported that scheduled July dates for the Dead in Honolulu had been rescheduled for the following January, which did not take place either."
On second thought I think there's a Deadbase error with the Honolulu listing. Their cancelled-show list includes three July '69 shows at Exhibit Hall in Honolulu; and the Dead ended up playing Honolulu in January '70 instead. So I'm guessing Deadbase's July '68 Honolulu dates may be a mistake.
I may not be able to enter Honolulu because it's just a little too thick and jagged a slice of time. The other two had eluded me, and I have entered them.
Actually the 8/10/68 Billboard did report canceled Dead shows at the Honolulu International Center in late July 68. So then the Dead booked another weekend exactly a year later at the HIC, then canceled that too. Odd!
10/68 London – Perhaps add a note that per the 10/12/68 Billboard, “The group opens at the Revolution Club, London, Oct.10, and follow with dates in Birmingham, Leicester, and Liverpool. From Oct. 22 to 31, the Grateful Dead will continue their tour in Belgium, Holland, Sweden, and Denmark, then will return to Britain for further dates.” http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/11/october-1968-grateful-dead-european.html On the other hand, these may not have been specifically scheduled dates; ads exist for the Middle Earth Club shows on Oct 11-12, but the rest may have been vague. The Dead had also planned an eastern US-European tour in March 1968, which didn’t happen – a number of cities were listed, but I’m not sure planning even went far enough to merit inclusion on a “canceled gigs” list: http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/02/march-1968-europe-tour-planned.html
"1/5/69" Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston - Delete this entry. It's a typo for the 10/5/69 show, which was indeed played.
8/21/69 Hippy Hill, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco - Per a listing in the 8/21/69 San Francisco Express Times: "Hippy Hill: Trans-Cultural Rip-Offs, Inc. presents Steve Gaskin & the Grateful Dead in concert with Shiva Fellowship. Bring dope (the sacrament) and good vibes. noon. free." http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2012/05/where-was-grateful-dead-on-sunday.html They'd played in St Helens, OR the day before, and there's some doubt as to whether they would have made it back to San Francisco by Sunday afternoon, for a free show. Since there's no other indication this show actually happened, my guess is it didn't.
8/5-7/69 Fillmore West, San Francisco - Some discussion of this cancellation was here - Fleetwood Mac also cancelled, and other bands substituted: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/01/grateful-deadjerry-garcia-tour.html?showComment=1435097203140#c4230745176226705214
8/20/69 Aqua Theater, Seattle - Note that the show was rescheduled for the next day.
8/24/69 Vancouver Pop Festival - I've seen reports from two different attendees of the festival that the Dead did not play, so that's verified. I know they were accessible online, but didn't note the sources - can add later.
9/26-27/69 - Change "Fillmore West" to "Fillmore East."
12/6/69 Fillmore West, San Francisco - The Dead were still scheduled to play after Altamont, per McNally, who writes: "The Dead still had a show to do that night, at Fillmore West... Kreutzmann arose and announced that he wasn't playing... 'If Billy's not playing, neither am I,' added Mickey. Poor McIntire was left to...tell Graham's manager, Paul Barratta, that the Dead were a no-show. Frantic, Barratta offered the audience free tickets to other shows." (McNally p.348) It's not mentioned whether the other bands on the bill still played. Scully tells a different story in Living With The Dead, but concurs that the Dead were still booked at the Fillmore West: "We go there thinking we are actually going to play, but everybody heard we were going to be at Altamont so nobody shows up." (Scully p.184)
10/12/69 Prospect Park, Brooklyn NY - Per the Village Voice, "A be-in, called 'Discover the New Worlds,' will take place in The Meadow, Prospect Park, between 1st and 2nd Streets, on Sunday, October 12, beginning around noon. Live music will be featured, with The Grateful Dead, Gypsy, and Dust." http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-october-12-1969-meadow-prospect-park.html
Early 1970: Since Deadbase did not list sources in their canceled-shows list, I am unsure of some of their dates and wouldn't trust any that are unverified. For example, a few from early 1970:
2/1/70 Fox Theater, St Louis - "played the bust fund benefit at the Warehouse in New Orleans instead." I am puzzled as to why the Dead would cancel a paying show to play a third unscheduled gig in New Orleans (per Rolling Stone, "only about 850 showed up anyway"); also, a newspaper review of the 2/2/70 St Louis show gave no indication that the show had been canceled or bumped from the day before.
The Buffalo show on 3/17 might have been rescheduled from the day before (the newspaper clippings from that week give no hint), but I'm puzzled by the listing for the Capitol Theater, Port Chester, on 3/18/70. The ad for the Capitol shows I've seen just lists 3/20-21; and why schedule a solitary show on a Wednesday? (Not the usual Capitol procedure.)
"1/25-26/70 Honolulu" and "5/19/70 St Louis" were spurious dates on the Deadbase list; I don't know where they got "5/28/70 Strand Lyceum, London" from (they claimed that it actually took place on May 25, with no evidence); and 6/19/70 Memphis was actually played.
So in general, dates taken only from the Deadbase list should probably have a question mark until verified - there are some from earlier years as well.
5/9/70 Southeastern Livestock Pavilion, Ocala FL - A "New Renaissance Faire" with the Dead and several local bands was planned. But the Dead ended up not playing the Livestock Pavilion... ("Rock Concert Scheduled for Ocala," Ocala Star-Banner, March 3, 1970, p. 2B) http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-may-9-1970-ocala-fl-canceled.html
5/70 Northwestern University, Evanston IL - "Further Productions, a Northwestern University student group, was hoping to book the GD for an outdoor gig at a weeklong campus festival planned for May 23-30, 1970." ("Zappa and Mothers Give Two Concerts Wednesday," Chicago Tribune, May 3, 1970, p. F7) http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-may-xx-betwee-23rd-and-30th-1970.html
6/13/70 Atlanta, GA - Perhaps add details from the 5/30/70 Billboard: "Plans are taking shape for a giant rock concert to be held in Atlanta's Braves Stadium on June 13. The talent line-up includes Grateful Dead, Ike & Tina Turner, Traffic, Stevie Wonder, the Allman Brothers, Albert King, Sweetwater, Ten Years After, Spirit and Sun Country, Love, the Baby. The show is being promoted by Aftermath Productions." There is also a larger article in the same issue ("Rock Stadium Sets Festival Production," p.22) which goes into detail on the planned festival. However, the list of 10 bands "already lined up" to appear only includes 7 of the same bands (the Dead and Stevie Wonder are not listed; the Mothers of Invention, Mountain, and It's A Beautiful Day are added). This makes me suspect that the promoters were just throwing out possible names and the Dead were only a vague proposition. http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/01/gd-june-13-1970-atlanta-braves-stadium.html
8/22/70 Washington DC 8/25/70 Isle of Wight Festival Per an 8/3/70 Washington Post article, "The Dead would like to liven up the Washington area with a free concert on Aug. 22, but are having a tough time finding a place to do it." It's also noted that the "Caravan of Love" tour is heading east "enroute to an Aug. 25 appearance at the Isle of Wight Music Festival." (Tom Zito, "Rock Notes: Caravan of Love," Washington Post, August 3, 1970, p. B6) This was part of the Medicine Ball Caravan tour - the Dead pulled out at the last minute, and the Caravan didn't make it to Washington DC, or the Isle of Wight for that matter (though it did play a festival in Canterbury on August 31). http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-1970-caravan-of-love-tour.html
9/4-6/70 Sikeston, MO - A festival was planned near Sikeston for Labor Day weekend with various groups including the Dead, but was canceled. ("Rock fest promoters say time worst enemy," The Southeast Missourian, August 12, 1970, pp. 1, 8) http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-sikeston-mo-september-4-6-1970.html
I can't get Northwestern or the Sikeston, MO shows onto my list because I can't do multiday ranges - the day is the minimum resolution. Others noted, etc. per your suggestions.
"5/28/70 Strand Lyceum, London" from (they claimed that it actually took place on May 25, with no evidence)"
As a side note: Jerry was scheduled to play with Howard Wales on 5/25/70 but missed this show as he had not returned from England yet. His passport was stamped, “Admitted May 26, 1970.” So maybe there was a show on the 25th in England...
10/3/70 Washoe County Fairgrounds, Reno NV - Per the 9/25/70 Nevada State Journal, "A group called 'Run For Peace' [gave tickets] to an 'Age of Aquarius' show planned for Saturday night at the Washoe County Fairgrounds... They plan to feature The Grateful Dead and The Hot Tuna... They were unable to 'communicate,' however, when the question came up as to who is paying these musical groups and how much." It seems the question was never answered, and the groups never played. http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/october-3-1970-washoe-county.html
11/15/70 Armory, Albany NY - The other acts on the bill performed as scheduled, but the Dead left. It's unclear why they left - per the promoter, the Dead split after a bomb threat with their $10,000 guarantee. According to a friend of the promoter, the Dead were too wasted to play and used the bomb threat as an excuse. Per McNally, the Dead had not been paid and the promoter used the bomb threat to end the show early (p.382). http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/12/november-15-1970-armory-albany-ny.html
12/24/70 City Center, NYC - There is some more discussion of this date here: http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2015/11/where-were-gd-on-december-24-1970.html It appears to have been a scheduled Black Panther benefit which was canceled. But I wonder what Deadbase's source was?
4/2/71 Kent State University, OH - The 4/10/71 Billboard reported that "the Grateful Dead played Kent State in Ohio;" however there's no plausible evidence that the show actually happened, so it was presumably either misreported or canceled. http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/11/april-2-1971-kent-state-university-kent.html
The promoters at Pepperland in San Rafael announced in the 7/25/70 Billboard that they were scheduled to open the venue on Labor Day weekend, and had signed the Dead for Sep 11-12 and 18-19, 1970. It seems the opening was delayed, and the Dead didn't play those dates there. http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/06/gd-september-11-12-1970-pepperland-san.html
12/25-28/70 Christmas Happening, Sycamore Flats, Laguna Beach CA - Per the LA Times, the Dead came to play at this multi-day gathering, but were "not permitted through the barricades, which were set up to halt the heavy flow of traffic into Laguna Beach." There was only one major road to the area, which was jammed and blocked off by police. It's not known which afternoon the Dead tried to appear - they were playing at Legion Stadium in El Monte about an hour away. http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-ca-december-27-1970-canyon-east-of.html http://www.lysergia.com/LamaWorkshop/LagunaBeach/lamaLaguna.htm
3/71 Northern Illinois University, Dekalb IL - Per the 5/7/71 Chicago Tribune, ""The Grateful Dead pulled a last-minute cancellation at Northern Illinois University a few weeks ago." (Larry Lujack, "Rock: A DJ's status report," Chicago Tribune, May 7, 1971, p. B11) The date is unknown, but this was most likely during the March tour. http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-marchapril-1971-norther-illinois.html
3/11/71 University Centre Ballroom, NIU, DeKalb, IL, the date comes from McNally et al "GD The Illustrated Trip" p 128 which says "there's very little documentation for this show - and in fact it may not have taken place."
9/3-4/71 Harding Theater, San Francisco - The 9/3/71 Berkeley Tribe advertised benefits for Head Start on these dates; but there's no evidence that they were played. http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/03/gd19710903-4-harding-theater-sf-ca.html
11/28/71 Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, San Rafael - The 11/25/71 Pacific Sun reported, "The Grateful Dead will play a benefit on Sunday for the benefit of Head Start." But no evidence has turned up that it happened. http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/01/gd-112871-marin-veterans-memorial.html
I am also uncertain of Deadbase's listing of a canceled run on 1/19-21/72 (Wed through Fri) at the same Auditorium in San Rafael - the Dead didn't do a comparable run there until 1983-84.
4/15/72 Copenhagen - Add venue: Tivoli Theatre. The Dead's Europe tour itinerary also scheduled a 5/17/72 appearance on South German Radio, Stuttgart; but I don't know any other details.
In summer 1972 the Dead were to go to Alaska to play two shows: a "Trust benefit" at the Palmer State Fairgrounds in Anchorage, June 30, and "a benefit for the Enep'ut Children's Center" at the Tanana Valley Fairgrounds in Fairbanks, July 2. The shows were promoted by Trust (an organization I know nothing about). For whatever reason, the Dead didn't go - perhaps these benefits were just too far removed to be worth the trip. (They wouldn't make it up to Alaska til June 1980.) http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1970s/19720630.html
You must be right about 9/3 and 9/4 at the Harding. I found listings for JGMS at the Lion's Share which probably came from later information than what went into the ad in the Tribe.
Entered the rest. I have never heard of that abortive Alaska trip - wow. Thanks!
10/15/73 County Coliseum, El Paso TX - Presumably rescheduled for 11/23/73.
10/23/73 - Delete entry. The Dead played the Metropolitan Sports Arena in Bloomington, a suburb of Minneapolis.
7/19-20/74 Los Angeles Coliseum - The 5/17/74 "Rock Talk From KG" in the Hayward Daily Review reported, "On July 19-20 Eric Clapton plays the LA Coliseum with the Bay Area's own Grateful Dead." It didn't happen. Clapton ended up playing at the Long Beach Arena on those dates. http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/july-19-20-los-angeles-coliseum-stadium.html
And finally, for what it's worth, a few city/venue changes from the Deadbase list: 10/10/70 Paterson State College – changed to Queens College. (They played Paterson the next day.) 5/5/72 Lille, France - The Dead returned to Lille on 5/13 to make up for this cancellation with a free show at the Fairgrounds 5/22-23/73 Cow Palace, Daly City – cancelled in favor of one day at Kezar on 5/26. 9/18/74 Arles, France – they played Dijon instead.
7/4/74 Columbus, OH - A 1974 article "explains that the GD had dropped out of a prospective 'July 4th superconcert' in Columbus, OH, with The Band and Eric Clapton.” (Branigan, Brian. 1974. A Dead 4th of July. Unknown publication, WI.) No other information known. The Dead were then scheduled for the July 4 Oshkosh show that didn't happen. The Columbus 'superconcert' is secondhand news so more confirmation is needed; but it's curious that in two separate cities that July, Eric Clapton was said to be appearing with the Dead. http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-july-4-1974-titan-stadium-oshkosh-wi.html
I think this concludes my search for now. As an aside - I didn't check non-Dead shows, but I'm sure there have been a number of posts here and on LLD about various NRPS/OAITW shows that are uncertain/didn't happen/possibly canceled. Early NRPS history is pretty vague & uncertain, but I know you've posted about various east-coast OAITW schedulings - though there are very few entries for them included here. Given the nature of these lower-profile bands we can't be sure if shows weren't played, but perhaps their inclusion on a list as "tentative" or "possible" or "unknown" would be useful.
Here are some Dead cancellations from the early 70s, at least I don't know of any evidence that any of these shows happened as originally planned.
1970-07-11 Mountaindale Summer Theater, Mountaindale, NY, brochure at http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1970s/19700711b.html
1971-01-23 Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, BC, handbill at http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/grateful-dead/handbills/handbill/PNE710123.html
1971-06-14 Central Park, New York, NY. Bill Graham introduces the Dead on 1971-04-29 at the Fillmore East "...allow us a permit, on June 14th these gentlemen will be in Central Park. Some, some very good friends of ours and yours, the Grateful Dead."
1971-06-18/19/20 Le Festival d'Auvers sur Oise, France was abandoned because of rain. The Dead played a free show at Chateau d'Herouville on the 21st instead. McNally p 400 and http://deadsources.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/june-21-1971-herouville-france.html
1972-04-05 to 09, the London shows to start the Europe 72 tour were intended to be at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park but the owners went broke. The shows were switched to tne Commodore bingo hall in Hammersmith but Cutler thought that was too small so the Dead played the two nights at the Empire Pool in Wembley instead, McNally p 425. Here's a Commodore ticket http://www.psilo.com/dead/showimage.php?iid=3380&text=04-08-72%20Ticket
1972-08-18 to 20 Sound-Storm 1972 Music Festival & Renaissance Art-Fair, possibly at or near to Poynette, WI. This festival did not happen. http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1970s/19720818-5.5x8.5.jpg
1972-08-31 Harding Theatre, SF, CA was announced as a "benefit, tentative" in the Dead Heads Newsletter No 2 but does not seem to have happened http://www.dead.net/archives/1972/clippings/gd-newsletter-2-august-1972-page-1
1972-10-29 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, MI, handbill at http://www.motorcitymusicarchives.com/assorted1972.html (look under Sept 15 for the handbill, GD are at the bottom of the Fall 72 concert series)
1972-11-23 Memorial Auditorium, Dallas, TX was announced in the Dead Heads Newsletter No 5 but was switched to the 24th http://www.dead.net/archives/1972/clippings/gd-newsletter-5-nov-1972-page-1
1973-02-10 Winterland Arena, SF, CA did not happen but tickets were sold http://www.psilo.com/dead/showimage.php?iid=3213&text=02-10-73%20Ticket
1971-01-23 Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, BC As I asked separately, why don't we think this happened?
1972-04-05 to 09 I have entered these, thanks. As per my note below about reschedules, I do not list cancellations for 7 or 8 April, just note that the venue had changed.
1972-11-23 noted, but I don't usually list this as a cancellation if it was rescheduled relatively close in time, as in this case.
All the rest new to my CXL list, and entered. Thanks!
1/23/71 Vancouver - You said it probably didn't happen: http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/05/nrps-january-1971.html?showComment=1413290555600#c7294202761467829892
I'd agree - there's no trace of the show aside from the handbill; it's absent from all Dead show lists. In the sixties, many Dead shows left equally little trace; but by 1971, I'd expect more evidence that the show happened. It's hard to think of another performed 1971 show that's disappeared like this.
Thanks to runonguinness for the additional finds! The more contributors, the better.
It's become clear that there were a lot more cancellations in the early years than suspected. You could almost construct an alternate tour history with all these shows that didn't happen...
For sure! One of the things I like with how I have my data set up is that I have color codings, so that I can really visualized the flow of tours and such. Cancellations are shaded red, interesting to see whole tours vs. one-off shows canceled and that sort of thing.
Another cancellation pointed out by runonguinness, which would be hard to place on the list since it's not dated: http://concertposterauction.com/detail.asp?id=4630#img
"Tour blank concert poster for a proposed Warner Brothers-sponsored series of (canceled) free concerts to be held over the summer of 1970, featuring the Grateful Dead, along with Crazy Horse (without Neil Young) and Sal Valentino... The tour was canceled (it actually sort-of morphed into the 1970 "Medicine Ball Caravan" tour, with different participants)."
Also, the 1/23/71 Billboard reported on the Dead's tour plans: "The first three weeks in March will be spent on a Midwestern tour being set up now by Bill Graham and Warner Bros. During the first week in April the group will tour the East Coast with dates in New York, Boston, and possibly Washington. In June, the entire Dead Family (some 50 people) goes to Europe for a one month tour. They have rented six barges, each capable of carrying 15 people, and will travel where they can by water. One of the barges is a sound stage and the bands will play as they travel down the canals of England and Holland. Tour also includes dates in France, Sweden and Germany, and the entire trip will be filmed for release as a full-length feature."
Sounds like the "possible" Washington DC date in the first week of April was canceled - as well as the entire June '71 Europe tour. It's hard to tell from this if any Europe dates were actually scheduled or the band's publicist was just making stuff up! http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2015/12/january-1971-touring-recording-plans.html
I'm also intrigued that the Midwest tour (and perhaps other tours?) were set up by "Bill Graham and Warner Bros." I thought the Dead's managers handled the tour booking? Was this a Billboard reporting error, or a regular practice?
Blair Jackson's essay in the Europe '72 box-set book has additional details on a few earlier Europe cancellations.
For instance, the 12/14/67 Rolling Stone reported on a "London Trip For The Dead" - "the Grateful Dead may appear at a 'Christmas on Earth' rock bash at London's huge Olympia Stadium December 22." (The planned event was downsized.)
A proposed First European International Pop Festival to be held in Rome in February '68 also didn't happen on the planned scale (and not with the Dead).
And there was a curious telegram sent from one of Country Joe & the Fish's managers on 9/12/69: "Jefferson Grateful European tour cancelled - no financial backer in Europe it turns out - ha ha."
London's Olympia is an exhibition hall not a huge stadium, still too big for the Dead to play in 1967 though. IT22 (see my post below) gave a prospective London venue for December 1967 of the Roundhouse which would have been much more realistic.
A lot of these early London attempts were at the Roundhouse. The Dead possibly did finally get there for a rehearsal before the Hollywood Festival in 1970 ("Taping Compendium Vol 1" p 575) but I think Lemieux's description of the video of this as occurring at a "beautiful little theatre" (http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2009/08/pre-74-dead-films.html) rules out the Roundhouse. It was a converted locomotive shed that even a trainspotter could not describe as beautiful with a straight face.
I have been gathering up the European cancellations over the years for a post, one day.
Right, one limitation of all of my methods is that they require a time-stamp at the day level (or more precise). My spreadsheets can't contain stuff of the "spring '71" sort.
There must be some workaround...like 3-xx-71 or 3-00-71 or even that misleading standby, 3-01-71. (The notes column can clarify the date range.) It would be a defeat to the format if you have to omit the multi-day events, or the planned gigs that didn't get as far as a scheduled date. The spreadsheet was made for man, not man for the spreadsheet!
Well, like all tools this one has its uses and its limitations. It's not a defeat of the format if it can't be pinned down, IMO. I dabbled in the past with using the 1st of the month (because the -xx- or -00- doesn't sort sensibly in Excel), but I don't like it. Things that can't be pinned down to a single day can be narrated, but not "quantified" with a time-stamp at the proper resolution, for my purposes.
1967-06-20 thru 24 Ambassador Theatre, Washington, DC Cancelled, "The Dead's equipment arrived, but unfortunately the city pulled their permit at the last minute." http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19670620.html http://rockondc.blogspot.co.uk/2007/11/ambassador-theater-and-how-it-rocked.html
1967-08-11 Cheetah, New York, NY "Taping Compendium Volume 1" p 213-214 reviews a radio ad thus "The Cheetah Club commercial, with a 'Viola Lee Blues' background, is speculated to be bogus, alluding to an event on Friday, August 11. Directed specifically to hippies, the narration runs through the band's personnel line-up before giving the promo for the event." The Dead had left New York by the 11th to play Detroit that night.
1967-12-20, 21, 22, 23 or 24 Roundhouse, London - possibly the first attempt to get the Dead to Europe. "International Times" No 22 1967-12-15 to 28 p 13 "News Flash!!!!! Country Joe and the Fish are definitely going to be in London for Circus Alpha Centuri. Big Brother and the Holding Company, Grateful Dead and the Doors are trying to cancel other engagements so as to be there also." http://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/index.php?year=1967&volume=IT-Volume-1&issue=22&item=IT_1967-12-15_B-IT-Volume-1_Iss-22_013
1968-02-19 to 25 First European International Pop Festival, Pallazo Dello Sport, Rome, Italy - the festival did not happen until May. It was reported as "The First European International Pop Festival: Pigpen To Meet Pope?" by Michael Lydon in "Rolling Stone" 10 February 1968. That is a great headline but shouldn't it have been "Pope to meet Pigpen"? http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/02/march-1968-europe-tour-planned.html
1968-05-04 to 10 First European International Pop Festival, Pallazo Dello Sport, Rome, Italy - another European try. The Festival had been reduced to the first four days by the time it actually happened. "International Times" No 28 1968-04-5 to 18 p 7 ad contains "Personal negotiations between the London Festival Office and Mr. O'Brien, Manager Steve Miller Bluses Band for Inclusion of the following groups while they are on European tour during the Festival period. For finalisation by WILLIAM MORRIS AGENCY INC. Big Brother and the Holding Company, Country Joe and the Fish, Electric Flag and American Music Band, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Steve Miller Blues Band." http://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/index.php?year=1968&volume=IT-Volume-1&issue=28&item=IT_1968-04-05_B-IT-Volume-1_Iss-28_007 "...on the third day, The Move... set fire to the stage with their pyrotechnics and were arrested by the police. The festival had been scheduled to last a week, but after that performance the Palazzetto dello Sport was shut by the authorities and the festival was over." Other sources say the festival was moved to the Piper Club for the fourth and final day. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1155419/first-international-pop-festival-1968-poster-hapshash-and-the/
1968(?)-06-07/8/9 Stockton Ballroom, Stockton, CA http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19660607a.html This poster is attributed to 1966 but there is no year on it and I do not believe that anyone booked the "Greatful Dead" to play three nights in "Stocton" on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in 1966. These dates fell on Friday, Saturday, Sunday in 1968 which looks more likely so I think that is the correct year. The Dead were at the Carousel that weekend so the shows did not happen. Or maybe the poster (and Jerry and Bob's autographs on it) is just a fake.
1967-06-20 thru 24 Ambassador Theatre, Washington, DC entered
1967-08-11 Cheetah, New York, NY entered
1967-12-20, 21, 22, 23 or 24 Roundhouse, London - entered into my GD-Europe narrative
1968-02-19 to 25 First European International Pop Festival, Pallazo Dello Sport, Rome, Italy entered into my GD-Europe narrative. LIA: "shouldn't it have been "Pope to meet Pigpen"?" LOL.
1968-05-04 to 10 First European International Pop Festival, Pallazo Dello Sport, Rome, Italy entered into European narrative
1968(?)-06-07/8/9 Stockton Ballroom, Stockton, CA entered
1968-10-11 Mothers, Birmingham, England England 1968? No chance. There's a listing in the "In The Sticks" column of "International Times" No 41 1968-10-04 to 17 p 23 third column (the ad for the Roundhouse shows on the 11th and 12th are on page 21). http://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/index.php?year=1968&volume=IT-Volume-1&issue=41&item=IT_1968-10-04_B-IT-Volume-1_Iss-41_023
1969-03-23 Center Arena, Seattle, WA There used to be a poster for this on sixtiesposters.com but it is no longer accessible. It was lot number 2458850 and went for $4476.78 in their February 2012 auction, the poster was yellow with a b/w photo of Jean Harlow and the bill was The Mothers Of Invention, Greatful Dead, Lamb and Mint Tattoo. The show did not happen and the Mothers played on 1969-04-19 instead, supported by Alice Cooper and the Guess Who. What is weird is that the day before, Saturday 1969-03-22, the Dead and the Mothers had both played guest sets at Thee Experience in Los Angeles as discovered by lostlivedead. Is that just a weird coincidence that the planned line-up for the 23rd in Seattle actually took place unscheduled the night before in LA? Involving two acts who weren't fond of each other. http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2015/10/august-28-29-1970-thee-club-los-angeles.html
1969-04-19 Worcester, MA The show was delayed by a day because the Dead's truck arrived late from Lafayette, IN. http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19690419.html http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/03/grateful-dead-tour-itinerary-march.html
1969-08-02 Atlantic City Pop Festival, Atlantic City Race Track, NJ There used to be an Atlantic City Pop Festival "Fact Sheet" on wolfgangsvault.com listing the Dead on Saturday the 2nd but I can't find it anymore. The only evidence I can now find for the Dead pulling out of this is Jeff Tamarkin writing "The (Woodstock) ads... promised the Dead, a band that had been booked into Atlantic City, but had pulled out at the last minute" in "Relix" Vol 16 No 4 p 15
1970-03-10 "for one week" Roundhouse, London - guess what. "International Times" No 73 1970-02-12 to 25 p 16 top of column 2 "Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company are playing for one week commencing Tuesday 10th March. This is still subject to confirmation. Sam Cutler and the Marquee Martin Agency will be handling the concerts." http://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/index.php?year=1970&volume=IT-Volume-1&issue=73&item=IT_1970-02-12_B-IT-Volume-1_Iss-73_016
An update on the supposed 12/12/66 cancellation at the SF Civic Auditorium - Deadbase says, "the Dead were supposed to open for the Beach Boys, but the Airplane got the job instead."
But per Lost Live Dead: "There is no evidence, none, for any type of show at the SF Civic on December 12, 1966, by the Grateful Dead or anyone else. I have no idea where that date came from, but it's got no basis. It was a Monday night, after all--rock bands didn't play the Civic on a Monday night."
However - the Beach Boys did play the Civic on 12/28/66, and the Airplane were one of several opening bands. http://esquarterly.com/bellagio/gigs66.html Whether or not the Dead were ever considered as an opening act (I have doubts), they were playing in Sacramento that day.
I have no idea how the 8/14/71 and 8/15/71 shows sneaked into the list in late 1974 ... strange on several levels, not least that they weren't canceled.
Holy smokes, this comment thread is great. If we can get JGBP to post venue info, and IM to post images, and all that rest, it'd be a living display! Get some animations and mapping going.
Thanks to all for your contributions.
LIA raises a really good methodological point above about uncertain time periods. I am open to ideas about how to merge these into my data.
One is to just code the CXLs for the maximum range. I don't link that because it puts a lot of red into my display. Further, I think it caves to our cognitive desire to see more events, more variation, more possibility. I prefer a more conservative strategy.
Thus, better, I think, is to single dates, but to find ways of communicating the "approximate" nature of these dates.
I think I have generally coded any known dates. What do we do with date ranges? E.g., "Zappa and Mothers Give Two Concerts Wednesday," Chicago Tribune, May 3, 1970, F7. See http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-may-xx-betwee-23rd-and-30th-1970.html.
GD billed in Chi sometime between May 23 and 30, 1970. What can I do with that in a spreadsheet technology? 5/00 and 5/xx don't work in Excel as dates. The only way to use them would be to convert my YYYYMMDD to true text, and then sort. I guess it could be done.
So, given that I use the event as my unit of analysis, I would code this is a CXL event (CXL=1), with the DATE given as 19700500 or 197005xx, and things just falling how they will in the sorting.
For data at the temporal resolution of the month (e.g., "in April the Dead are coming to Europe!" - psyche), any convention will do. We could just use the 1st of the month. Things would display intuitively, though the true events on firsts of months (which are many) get a little obscured.
I am open to any and all measurement or other ideas!
Found an old comment of mine on a JGMF post about the canceled 9/27/70 San Diego show:
"The 11/20/69 Daily Aztec [San Diego State U paper] reported that the Student Mobilization Committee was planning a peace festival the next month, at which the Dead would play: "The Grateful Dead have agreed to play here in December. They'll play just for travel expenses."
A couple weeks later, though, things didn't look quite so firm. The 12/4/69 Daily Aztec said that all plans were only tentative. An antiwar rally to be held in the Aztec Bowl was planned in early 1970, and the SMC was negotiating to get the Dead, possibly even the Airplane.
I didn't see any more about this in a quick look, so the plans must have fallen through, or perhaps the SMC didn't command much financing or organizing power. At any rate, the Dead played at the Community Concourse in January 1970 (promoted by Magna Production, an outfit I don't know), so San Diegoans got their Dead show."
This is too vague to be added to the list - nothing was scheduled after all - but we have the Dead being contacted & tentatively agreeing to play whatever event would be scheduled. It's a reminder that at any point in these early years, the future was a cloud of show possibilities, from which only some actual shows materialized.
"It's a reminder that at any point in these early years, the future was a cloud of show possibilities, from which only some actual shows materialized."
Probably always true: the stuff that happened is just a sample, and not an unbiased one, at that, of all of the possible things that could have happened.
The International Times (the underground London paper) had a couple more mentions of the Dead sniffing around England... No dates here, just indications of interest.
May 17, 1968: "Danny Rifkin, Grateful Dead manager, in town as we go to press. Arranging invasion of Europe in autumn this year with hedonistic humans. Back in 3-4 weeks - contact via IT. Many free scenes to be arranged." http://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/page.php?i=IT_1968-05-17_B-IT-Volume-1_Iss-31_007-010&view=text
January 1, 1969: "The family heads of some of San Francisco's tribes have hit town on a mind-blowing London run. There are 13 of them in all, including a baby. There is Pete and Sweet William from Hell's Angels, Jonathan, Danny and Rock of The Grateful Dead, Spider, Slade and another Peter of the Pleasure Crews and Ken Kesey of the Merry Pranksters...and then there are their women - Blanche, Frankie and Sue. And last but not least, here's Peter Zimmels, their spiritual adviser who was once a Buddhist monk. There is something vital and vibrating about these meat athletes from America's last frontier. They have created a sense of family and a feeling of brotherhood among each other that is seldom seen here. Their shot is a down-to-earth, no-holds-barred honesty which could easily offend the unsuspecting but is a real turn-on for others. I got the impression that they found the English rather too 'cool'. They swagger about like cowboys in their genuine Levi's, saddle boots and assorted head gear rambling on about their 'choppers'...their love of the wide open spaces back home, and the rip-roaring crazy excitement which seems to emanate from San Francisco. The purpose of their pleasure trip is to look around and see what is happening over here. In the summer they hope to bring over some fifty Hell's Angels, The Grateful Dead and other aspects of their scene in the hope of capturing, for us, the spirit of their way-out culture. England...be prepared." http://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/index.php?item=IT_1969-01-01_B-IT-Volume-1_Iss-47_004 (see also McNally p.282-83)
The Dead didn't come to England that summer either, though the Aug 29 '69 IT reported: "MUSIC IN HYDE PARK. The concert is on the 6th. At Speaker's Corner facing into the Park. As far as known, playing will be Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Ace of Cups, Puritans and whoever happens to be in San Francisco when the plane takes off - including Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young." http://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/index.php?item=IT_1969-08-29_B-IT-Volume-1_Iss-63_006
A 1970 article on the Dead's Hollywood Festival appearance mentioned the Dead's prolonged flirtations with England: "For the last three years rumours have circulated round London that the Grateful Dead were due to arrive in England for the first time, often to play a gig in Hyde Park. They were never realised, and the rumour that they were to play at the Holly Wood festival was at first met with hardened cynicism, and then slight disbelief. But they arrived this time, explaining how near they had come to making it earlier... 'We all got shots and passports and packed and then, 'Oh...we're not going...'" (Lawson, "What Will Be The Answer," Friends 6/12/70)
Garcia tried to explain the Dead's reasons for not coming to Europe earlier in a couple of the London interviews during the Europe '72 tour. See Carr, "The Dead," New Musical Express 4/1/72; or Peacock, "Jerry Garcia in London," Rock 7/17/72.
Man, I am over two dozen European misses, most in general time frames, as with "autumn this year" or "next summer" or what have you. Can't put them in spreadsheet, and in any case little more than rumors, for the most part (perhaps it should be "rumours", given the context). But I have put them all in a document.
From Ralph Gleason's 3/13/68 SF Chronicle column, reporting on the Dead & Airplane taking over the Carousel: "The Carousel is owned by Bill Fuller, the Irish ballroom operator who has similar properties in...London, Manchester and throughout Ireland. As part of the current arrangement, it is hoped to organize a European tour later this year with some of the San Francisco groups based on Fuller's ballrooms."
Rolling Stone also reported on a possible European tour in March '68, but with totally different details - with the Dead alone, and not using Fuller's ballrooms. And we can't assume that the eventual canceled tour of Oct '68 was the outcome of these plans - it could have been a separate effort altogether. I have the impression of the Dead's managers making vague plans throughout '68 that the Dead would scuttle.
David Nelson recalled that in early 1970, "Sam Cutler was telling us that he was going to set up this big tour of Europe. It was going to be the Dead, the New Riders, the Jefferson Airplane, any good San Francisco bands he could get, and we were all going to go over on a big ocean liner. There were all these meetings, like a big one at Jerry's house in Larkspur, where we talked about getting our passport photos taken and all. There were all sorts of changes, though [and the Festival Express tour happened instead]... We were disappointed we didn't get to go to Europe then." (from This Is All A Dream We Dreamed, p.157)
Jon McIntire said, "I kept trying to set up tours in Europe... Both times [5/24/70 + 6/21/71] I tried to mount tours, but neither time could I get the money needed to offset the costs. We thought it was okay to at least break even on something like this, because you're breaking in a new territory, but it was not okay in our position at that time to lose money, because we were just getting out of debt." (Dream p.172)
Mountain Girl suggested that the Europe '72 tour finally happened because of Sam Cutler: "He knew the territory. He knew the music business very well. It made him terribly valuable." Cutler himself said of the earlier attempts, "Most of the people around the Grateful Dead couldn't organize a piss in a brewery. They could organize a nice party and acid trip, but not a trip to Europe, so it never happened. They didn't know the logistics. You wouldn't expect them to. They were California hippies." (So Many Roads, p.176)
I found more precise dates for the planned Europe '68 tour, from a promotional notice for the Born Cross-Eyed/Dark Star single (released in the UK in October '68).
"The Grateful Dead are due to arrive in Britain on October 9th for the following tour - The Revolution, London (October 10th); Mother's, Birmingham (11th); Middle Earth at the Round House, London (11th and 12th); Granby Hall, Leicester (18th); Liverpool University (19th); Continental tour of Belgium, Holland, Sweden and Denmark (22nd-31st); Country Club, Hampstead (3rd November). Other dates are to follow."
Clearly the plug was pulled on this tour at the last minute!
Here's another multiday window that I will catalog here, since it can't go into my spreadsheet:
"Phantasmagoria III", a benefit for the Black Congress, KPFK and the Free Clinic, at Wrigley Field, June 13-16, 1968. "Bands committed so far" include Peanut Butter Conspiracy, GD, Fugs, Country Joe and the Fish, Standels, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Sunshine Co., Pacific Gas & Electric, Sweetwater, Family Tree, Hamilton Streetcar, Spencer Quinn, Illinois Speed Press, International Submarine Band, Hour Glass, P.F. Sloan and Richie Havens.
! ref: Osborn, Jim. 1968. Phantasmagoria III. Los Angeles Free Press, 5/17/68, p. 16, via Independent Voices.
In the 9/16/70 WMCA interview, Jon McIntire reads off the Dead's October '70 tour schedule from his calendar. I think he skips some east-coast cities, otherwise naming the cities in order, but there are some interesting changes from the actual tour: - he says they're playing Mankato, MN, between the 10/11 and 10/17 shows. Minnesota State U was there, so it would have fit right into their university tour. Something must have been scheduled but then canceled. - he says they're playing Columbus, OH, between the 10/24 and 10/30 shows. The Dead ended up playing the Club Agora on 11/29, so the date (and perhaps the venue) was changed. - he says there will be a second Boston show the weekend after the Nov 21 Boston U show, but he's pretty vague about it. I can't conclude anything from this, but note that the Dead didn't play anywhere on Saturday Nov 28, the only Saturday left open on the two-month tour.
The Grateful Seconds blog turned up some more canceled-show info, posted in the comments on the older canceled-show page - it's worth mentioning here as well.
Nice to see a poster confirming a show with Clapton, the Dead & the Band was scheduled for 7/4/74 at Beulah Park in Grove City, OH (a Columbus suburb). But the three bands went their separate ways instead, for reasons unknown.
A little more research into the planned 3/5/71 Yale show indicates that it was still scheduled as of mid-January '71; and it's always mentioned in connection with the abandoned prom. I don't know whether the band or the university pulled out, or whether the July Yale Bowl show was scheduled as a replacement show - presumably some spring '71 article yet to be found will tell more.
And most curious is the canceled 6/15/73 show at Nippert Stadium, the University of Cincinnati - a university-sponsored show. The Dead weren't touring the midwest in June '73 (although the 5/13/73 Iowa show was another case where they made the trip just for one show), and it was canceled close to the show date "due to problems connected with staging the event." What staging problems the Dead encountered in a football stadium, I'm not sure (a face-saving excuse?), but in any case the Dead returned to Cincinnati later that year with a different promoter. (Another minor oddity is that the show poster features a 1971 band picture with Pigpen, who'd been dead for months!) Research-wise, the info we have comes from an Indianapolis paper (the show was advertised in big cities across the region), so more details on the show may well come from Cincinnati papers.
I have the Yale cancellations as 3/5 at the New Haven Arena and 3/6 on campus.
Thomas, Robert McG, Jr. 1970. Yale Prom Gives Way After a 127-Year Run. New York Times, December 12, p. 12.
"Jeffrey N. Gordon and Charles E. Johnston 2d of the· class of '71 say, however, that their dance, scheduled for the New Haven arena on March 5 with ·the Grateful Dead, will be a nonprofit undertaking. · The ·details tend to get complicated, but essentially the Grateful Dead have been booked for two nights. ·The first will be a public performance at $5 a head, which will allow the sponsors to sell student tickets for the second night at $2 each. (The prom cost $15 a couple and included a steak dinner.) In effect, the student entrepreneurs are sharing their profits with the Yale community in the form of reduced tickets."
Note that this makes this night another cancellation twofer (along with 7/4/74 and maybe a few others).
Final note: I have Weir's mother dying on 3/4/71. I wonder what role that plays.
JGMF turned up some 1968-69 show lists in the Dead Archive featuring a few previously unknown dates. Since these are possibly canceled shows, they're worth listing here; but for now we don't know which might have actually been played.
1/31/68 OSU Ballroom?, Corvallis OR (uncertain whether this was scheduled) 10/19/68 Convention Center, Las Vegas NV 12/27/68 Catacombs, Houston TX (listed along with 12/28) 7/6/69 Grande Ballroom, Detroit MI
Just a brief note that the planned 11/28/71 Head Start benefit at the Marin Vets Memorial Auditorium in San Rafael was indeed canceled by the county board of supervisors, due to "complications" from a rock show earlier that week.
A random find confirming the 3/11/71 NIU, Dekalb cancellation: "The Grateful Dead were slated to play a benefit show March 11, 1971, at NIU’s Center Ballroom. Proceeds from the show were to go to the NIU Bail Bond Commission. Phil Larsen, president of the commission, told the Daily Chronicle the commission had formed the previous fall “to keep students in class while waiting to go to court.” (Demonstrations in May 1970 – in response to the Kent State University shooting – shut down the DeKalb campus and NIU students were arrested by the busload, according to the DeKalb County Journal.) The 1971 concert was canceled for some reason and $5,000 collected for tickets was refunded." http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2016/02/23/from-the-archives-when-the-grateful-dead-rocked-dekalb/acjgchm/
Could it be this venue? https://www.amazon.com/Ballroom-University-Northern-Illinois-University-Vintage/dp/B07FY87HYN
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington took the stage for his final performance inside NIU’s University Center on March 20, 1974. One of the hallmarks of the Ellington orchestra was the use of plunger mutes on brass instruments like trumpets and trombones. The mute is simply the rubber part of a toilet plunger and is used to alter the sound coming out of the instrument. That night’s guest trumpeter was Cootie Williams, a jump blues musician from Alabama whose use of the plunger is often credited with influencing renowned trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. The ballroom was renamed the Duke Ellington Ballroom in 1980.
The Dead didn't show at the 6/16/68 Daytop Village festival in Staten Island. The Jeff Beck Group replaced them. http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2014/09/missing-1968-shows.html?showComment=1503368781449#c2654466716786825660
"The Grateful Dead may be at Pershing Auditorium Nov. 11. According to Ike Hoig, Pershing Auditorium manager, everything is pretty well set for the Dead's concert."
From the Daily Nebraskan, October 16, 1972:
BOOKING KILLS 'DEAD' CONCERT Bart Becker
"Bad news, rock fans. Despite our trumpeting the good news a week or so ago, the Grateful Dead concert has apparently fallen through. The Dead had originally been scheduled for Nov. 11 at Pershing. However, the auditorium was booked for that night. An attempt to get the concert moved into the University Coliseum was nixed by the Dead's management."
(This could be called a re-scheduling rather than cancellation, since the Dead were booked at Pershing three months later.)
And another festival not played... The 11/16/68 Billboard reported: "VARA-TV will film the International Experimental Pop Festival in Utrecht Nov. 23 which will feature the Grateful Dead and Family."
Not sure if the Dead had any such plans, but Nov. 23 is weeks after when the putative European tour would have ended (Nov. 3 was the last scheduled date). As it turned out, the festival was bumped to December 28, and renamed Flight to Lowlands Paradise. As one site says, "The original date was November 23, but was shifted so that Jimi Hendrix could perform. However, he never came." (Actually, quite a few bands pulled out.)
But in an alternate universe, just imagine a Dutch TV program with the 1968 Dead playing...
A couple short articles with more details on the canceled 6/15/73 show in Cincinnati:
Tickets For Grateful Dead Yes, Virginia and Young People readers, tickets ARE still available for Friday's Grateful Dead concert at UC's Nippert Stadium. The concert is the first in a series of six concerts scheduled out-of-doors during the summer by the UC Office of Programs and Cultural Events. Tickets are $5 in advance and $6 at the door... (Cincinnati Enquirer, June 9, 1973)
Grateful Dead Off At Nippert The Grateful Dead concert, set for Friday at UC's Nippert Stadium, has been canceled. Reason for the cancellation, according to promoters, were "insurmountable problems connected with the staging of the event." The technical problems were twofold. The size of the stage needed to accommodate the full Grateful Dead show posed a problem. So did the fact that the stadium is located directly behind the UC physical plant which, according to the Dead's road manager, Sam Cutler, makes entirely too much noise. He feared it would be a distraction. It is believed the show will be rescheduled later in the summer when there's some more time to prepare fully for it. Patrons with tickets may obtain a full refund... (Cincinnati Enquirer, June 14, 1973)
A bit more on the July 27, 1968 Hawaii cancellation:
The July 26, 1968 Honolulu Advertiser reported: "DEAD CANCEL APPEARANCE IN ISLANDS The Grateful Dead, a San Francisco 'hard rock' combo, has canceled its weekend performances at the Honolulu International Center. An early 1969 date now is planned instead. Rock Scully, manager of the Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Records act, said that 'response to the Dead was more than ever expected, but in this heavy entertainment season, we feel we just won't reach all of the people that we would like to.' As a substitute, John Herbert, the local promoter, said he will schedule a free concert picnic at 2 p.m. at Sandy Beach, featuring local rock 'n' roll combos. Those holding tickets to the Dead show may get refunds from ticket counters from which they were purchased."
The July 27, 1968 Honolulu Star-Bulletin followed up: "The Grateful Dead's scheduled dance this weekend at the International Center Exhibition Hall was scrubbed. Peter, Paul & Mary conclude their two-day Waikiki Shell engagement tonight at 8:30 p.m. The Dead would no doubt have been just that at the box office trying to compete against PP&M... Promoter John Herbert says he dropped a bundle on the Dead venture, but is staging a free concert-picnic tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Sandy Beach, hoping to maintain good will with fans of the Dead."
However, the July 28, 1968 Honolulu Advertiser reported: "PROTESTS REPLACE SOUND OF BANDS A free concert today by six psychedelic bands at Sandy Beach today was canceled when the City revoked a permit. [The mayor] said the cancellation was made 'in the interest of all people.' ... The idea was to bring in six bands, free food, equipment and portable generators for an afternoon of groovy sounds and fun. The free concert idea came about when [promoter John] Herbert had to cancel a concert by the Grateful Dead, a big-name band, and refund tickets. Herbert then received a permit to use Sandy Beach for the free concert...and all the arrangements were made. On Thursday Herbert received a letter from Mayor Blaisdell... 'As you are aware, the department has a policy specifically banning [electronically amplified] instruments from beach parks, while permitting them under certain conditions in some other park areas. 'The policy is based on the fact that beach parks are essentially for swimming, surfing, sun bathing and related use, and that noise, particularly loud noise, conflicts with such use...'"
Rock Scully's apology for the cancellation is pretty lame and doesn't explain why they cancelled! (The Dead didn't play anywhere in late July '68, an oddly empty month.) The vague "early 1969" date got bumped to definite July 1969 dates, which were in turn also cancelled. I didn't see any report about that in the Honolulu papers.
Update: Now I don't think there was any July '69 cancellation. The lack of any report in the papers should've tipped me off that the Deadbase listing of a cancelled July '69 run in Honolulu was actually a misdate of the July '68 cancelled shows. See also: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/honolulu-international-center-honolulu.html?showComment=1577928755839#c2935352361342041708
The Dead were to play Homecoming Weekend in Ann Arbor, MI on 10/29/72 (tickets were announced in September) - but the 10/3/72 Michigan Daily ran this note:
"DEAD NOT COMING You may be at Hill Aud. Oct. 29th for the Grateful Dead concert. Don't be surprised if the Dead aren't there. UAC finally admitted yesterday that the San Francisco based rock combo would not be coming here. No word is yet in on when the concert may be rescheduled."
As it turned out, it was never rescheduled and the Dead didn't return to Michigan for years. Hard to say why the Dead canceled (if they'd ever committed in the first place), since it would have fit right in their fall tour schedule between Cleveland & Detroit.
It may already be mentioned in all the comments above, but the 8/3/71 Michigan Daily has a lengthy article from a Dead fan who hitchhiked from Ann Arbor to the planned Dead show in Gaelic Park on Friday, 7/30/71.
"The last time I saw them (Michigan State University, last March), they had me almost wanting to be a groupie. I have never seen a group so together and with the ability to take over 5,000 persons with them. "So, when I heard they would be playing at Gaelic Park in New York City, it was natural for me to want to see if they could do it again. "Fifteen hours on the road hitching to New York was not too high a price to pay..."
It rained on Thursday & Friday, but "the radio kept proclaiming that rain or shine, the Dead would play if the people would come out to hear them. "So the people came, but the Dead didn't. When we got off the subway, about 1,000 people were still there - all incredulous. People had come from as far away as Michigan and Ohio, we had met them on the road - all to hear and see the Grateful Dead. "When we got off the subway, we also saw a sign saying that the concert was cancelled. It was. Policemen were standing around...to inform people that the concert would not be... "I stopped crying after about an hour."
(Anita Crone, "Look, Ma, I'm Steering the Ferry," The Michigan Daily 8/3/71) https://digital.bentley.umich.edu/midaily/mdp.39015071754597/626
A ticket for a 1970-01-07 SUNY Stony Brook show with Tim Leary headlining has just appeared on ebay. The Dead have been scored out so they either cancelled or never agreed to the show https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tim-Leary-Grateful-Dead-Ticket-Stub-NYC-1970-Original-in-rough-shape/332693846093?hash=item4d7619384d:g:unEAAOSwHNxbK7Tr
The Los Angeles Free Press ran a premature notice on the planned 9/6/69 London Hyde Park show:
"The Jefferson Airplane has chartered a jet, loaded it full of light show equipment, the Merry Pranksters, the Grateful Dead, and the Ace of Cups, and flown off to do a free gig in London's Hyde Park. After the Freebie on September 6th, the entourage will take off for a short five day tour of Scandinavia, then to the Netherlands and finally into Paris's Olympia Theatre. The group is awaiting permission to perform in Czechoslovakia in a series of outdoor free concerts." (John Carpenter, LAFP 9/5/69, p.34)
I wonder what Carpenter's source was, since this differs in several respects from what Ralph Gleason had reported a week earlier in the SF Chronicle on 8/27/69: "The Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Crosby Stills and Nash...and Joni Mitchell will be presented in a free concert in London's Hyde Park September 7. The groups, with some additions to be announced, will be flying over directly from San Francisco. The show is being put on for filming for a Granada TV program and there's a possibility that there will be other concerts in Europe later."
Runonguinness found a handbill for a canceled 1968 Dead show in Los Angeles. It reads:
"ZENITH SUNRISE" GRATEFUL DEAD BUDDY MILES EXPRESS BLACK PEARL *introducing little john farm SHRINE HALL fri, sat, sept. 27, 28 8 pm - 2 am...$3.00 advance, $3.50 door Single Wing Turquoise Bird Lights
It appears to be genuine. This Shrine show didn't happen, and the Dead ended up not playing Sept. 27-28. The other acts on the bill were in Los Angeles: The Buddy Miles Express played at the Whiskey a Go Go from Sept. 18-23, and later there was an ad for Buddy Miles & Taj Mahal at the Shrine on October 4-5 (promoted by Lifeline). The obscure Black Pearl played at the Ash Grove on October 11-13. The even more obscure Little John Farm played at the Ash Grove in April '69. The Single Wing Turquoise Bird was a well-known light-show group who'd been doing lights at many Shrine shows.
The last previous Shrine show was Sept 6-7, promoted by Pinnacle, who'd been putting on shows at the Shrine through '68. They succumbed to debts and went out of business in mid-September. My guess is this show was a last gasp by Pinnacle, and it was cancelled when they folded.
"An original backstage pass for the cancelled free concert which was meant to take place in Hyde Park, London on 6th September 1969. The event was to feature performances by Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead but was cancelled due to Warner Brothers withdrawing their financial support of the event. The orange pass is printed with the event details and ‘Musicians Enclosure’ on the front. It is accompanied by a letter from the original owner which reads, “This was an event that I spent some time staying at the Airplane mansion on Fulton St. organizing. The bill would also have included Quicksilver Messenger Service, Sons Of Champlin, Joy Of Cooking and Ace Of Cups. A late pull out by Warner Bros. who were to underwrite the costs of the London portion of the tour caused it to be called off”. It measures 20.25cm x 10cm (8 inches x 4 inches). The condition is near mint."
Assuming this is all genuine, my guess is Warners were reluctant to commit their money to this event on top of giving the Dead (ie Lenny) a $75,000 advance on their new contract extension (according to Scully). Given a choice between the two, it's pretty clear which option Lenny would take. The mystery organiser says this was the "London portion of the tour" so this was intended to be more than a one-off show. Presumably the Dead and Airplane still had dreams of touring Europe together. The financing of this jape must have been a nightmare to arrange with almost every act on a different record label (who would have paid for the Ace Of Cups?). With CSN(&Y?), the biggest draw for any paying gigs, no longer being available it is no wonder it didn't happen.
Denise Kaufman from Ace of Cups says: We were supposed to go on this tour and had had meetings about it at the Airplane’s house on Fulton near Masonic. It was going to be a round the world tour with the bands you mentioned above and the last date on the tour was going to be Hyde Park with the Rolling Stones. It was on track to happen and we were all excited about it but then (I am remembering this and think my memory is correct here) there was an issue about Graham Nash’s passport because he wasn’t a US citizen. What I was told was that if he left the US there would be a problem about him getting back in so they decided not to do the tour and it was cancelled.
Got some more 411 on the cancelled Dead shows in Fort Worth June 30 and July 1, 1981. Your notes say lack of ticket sales which I truly belive but the Dallas Morning News on June 27, 1981 has this direct quote to them from Jerry Garcia "We painted ourselves into a corner and we really needed a few extra days to complete our 2-record live electric recording" Garcia is quoted further that they have gigs 7/5 in Oklahama CIty and 7/4 in Austin. I can't believe 3 days before the shows the Dallas Morning News reached out to Garcia and he made this quote
Here's a reference in the SUNY Binghampton Student Paper that the Dead are canceling a 11-19-1970 show due to the fact a member of the band is in jail for the month of November 1970. Since they were in the area and played Rochester on 11-20, this looks like a Dog Ate My Homework story https://www.dropbox.com/s/kz67ns9j4tmbuo3/seq-4-pdf.png?dl=0
"Art Of The Dead" by Philip Cushway p 62-63 shows Rick Griffin's poster and his original artwork for the opening of the Denver Family Dog on 1967-09-08/9. The poster shows the actual lineup of Big Brother, Blue Cheer and The Eighth Penny Matter but his initial design has Grateful Dead headlining instead of Big Brother. The Dead did play the Denver Dog two weeks later. Were they bumped because Janis was a bigger draw after Monterey or did they think they had a more reliable payday in Seattle that weekend?
I have a number of additions and corrections for the list. I didn't do an exhaustive search, just a quick check of Dead shows from '66-74, so there are probably more cancellations to be found.
ReplyDelete2/10/66 The Cabale, Berkeley - I believe this is spurious. There was no "Cabale" in 1966 - the venue had closed and changed to the Questing Beast. The COAU site notes, "There may have been a Grateful Dead show scheduled at the Questing Beast for Friday (February 11) which was canceled as well. A Grateful Dead tape circulates as “Questing Beast Rehearsal February 11, 1966,” but both the date and venue are spurious." I find it doubtful that there's any record of the Dead being scheduled to play there.
http://chickenonaunicycle.com/Questing%20Beast%20History.htm
2/11/66 Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco - Possibly this is a misdate for 2/12/66, per the note on a deadlists poster:
http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19660212.html
The Dead may have cancelled both 2/11 and 2/12, or perhaps they weren't scheduled for either date in the first place (they'd left for LA the previous weekend). Is there any evidence?
5/66 Rendezvous Inn, San Francisco - I'm not sure these dates are correct. McNally's book says that in May 1967 "they began a brief series of Monday nights at the Rendezvous Inn," and his details make it clear that the Dead did play there.
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/07/may-1-8-1522-1967-rendezvous-inn-san.html
It appears that Deadbase is mistaken about the Dead also being scheduled there on Monday nights in May 1966. The new edition adds the May '67 dates, correcting their error.
The Dead were definitely originally scheduled for the Fillmore on 66-02-12.
DeleteThere is an earlier version of the Peace Rock poster listing The Mystery Trend, The Quicksilver Messenger Service, Our Lost Souls (The Girls) and The Grateful Dead.
The version on deadlists.com has The Wildflower added to the top of the bill and the Dead replaced by Big Brother & The Holding Company at the bottom of the bill, otherwise it is identical.
Finally there was a rougher redrawn poster listing The Great Society, The Wildflower, The Quicksilver Messenger Service, Our Lost Souls and Big Brother & The Holding Company with a note at the bottom "... the 'Grateful' are testing, the 'Mystery' lost an ax..."
All three posters are for the 12th and make no mention of the 11th. The first and third ones are on page 14 of "The Art Of Rock" by Paul Grushkin, I've never found them online.
OK, I have entered these. I'll keep going through all of the wonderful comments you all are leaving - thank you!
DeleteNote that for whatever reason, the comments don't seem to be individually linkable, which is a drag.
The Grateful Dead cancelled a concert that was supposed to happen on 5/3/73 in Portland Oregon. I know because I hitchhiked from the SF Bay area with ticket in hand only to find out when I arrived that the show had been cancelled. The reason floating around was because Billy had burned his hand.
DeleteThanks, anon! Interesting date. Any chance you can scan your ticket stub?
DeleteI see we track that one already: https://jerrybase.com/events/19730503-02
Delete1/19/67 UC Berkeley - Yellow Shark writes: "On January 19, 1967 the Grateful Dead were scheduled but did not play Upper Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley in a rally protesting proposed UC Berkeley fee increase. The Loading Zone did perform."
ReplyDeletehttp://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2014/06/january-20-1967-santa-monica-civic.html?showComment=1405214182338#c1120635054816349290
More details are in a Stanford Daily article:
"Students at UC Berkeley are planning a vigil today to coincide with a meeting on the Berkeley campus of the California Board of Regents.
The vigil is scheduled to begin at about 9:30 this morning across the street from University Hall, where the Regents are expected to discuss Governor Ronald Reagan’s proposals to cut the University’s budget and charge tuition.
Two rock and roll bands, the Grateful Dead and the Loading Zone, have volunteered to entertain the vigilers while the Regents are meeting.
The Berkeley Police Department has given unofficial notice that the bands and the vigilers will not be interfered with so long as order is maintained."
(“Cal Students Plan Vigil of Reagan-Board Meet," Stanford Daily 1/19/67)
8/20/67 Mount Tamalpais - McNally writes: "The Dead were to play on August 20 at a gathering on beautiful, holy Mount Tamalpais, but when they got to the mountaintop, they discovered that there was no power, and the event turned into what Rifkin would call 'a bongofest.'" (McNally p.212)
3/23/68 Grande Ballroom, Detroit - More details from Lost Live Dead: “After the poor attendance at the Fairgrounds [on 3/22], the show was returned to the smaller Grande Ballroom. Animal guitarist Vic Briggs clearly recalls that the Dead went home on Saturday and did not play the Grande.”
ReplyDeletehttp://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/04/grateful-dead-tour-itinerary-march.html
6/21/68 Civic Auditorium, San Jose - According to McNally, the Dead had a show scheduled in mid-September '68 with Frank Zappa in San Jose, but it was canceled at the last minute due to low ticket sales. His date was wrong, though - the canceled show was actually June 21, at the San Jose Civic Auditorium. (A show poster exists.)
http://members.shaw.ca/fz-pomd/giglist/1968.html
7/68 Honolulu International Center, Honolulu - Per Deadbase 50: "The August 10, 1968 Billboard reported that scheduled July dates for the Dead in Honolulu had been rescheduled for the following January, which did not take place either."
On second thought I think there's a Deadbase error with the Honolulu listing. Their cancelled-show list includes three July '69 shows at Exhibit Hall in Honolulu; and the Dead ended up playing Honolulu in January '70 instead. So I'm guessing Deadbase's July '68 Honolulu dates may be a mistake.
DeleteI may not be able to enter Honolulu because it's just a little too thick and jagged a slice of time. The other two had eluded me, and I have entered them.
DeleteI see I have Honolulu cancellations July 25-27, 1969.
DeleteActually the 8/10/68 Billboard did report canceled Dead shows at the Honolulu International Center in late July 68. So then the Dead booked another weekend exactly a year later at the HIC, then canceled that too. Odd!
Delete10/68 London – Perhaps add a note that per the 10/12/68 Billboard, “The group opens at the Revolution Club, London, Oct.10, and follow with dates in Birmingham, Leicester, and Liverpool. From Oct. 22 to 31, the Grateful Dead will continue their tour in Belgium, Holland, Sweden, and Denmark, then will return to Britain for further dates.”
ReplyDeletehttp://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/11/october-1968-grateful-dead-european.html
On the other hand, these may not have been specifically scheduled dates; ads exist for the Middle Earth Club shows on Oct 11-12, but the rest may have been vague.
The Dead had also planned an eastern US-European tour in March 1968, which didn’t happen – a number of cities were listed, but I’m not sure planning even went far enough to merit inclusion on a “canceled gigs” list:
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/02/march-1968-europe-tour-planned.html
"1/5/69" Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston - Delete this entry. It's a typo for the 10/5/69 show, which was indeed played.
8/21/69 Hippy Hill, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco - Per a listing in the 8/21/69 San Francisco Express Times: "Hippy Hill: Trans-Cultural Rip-Offs, Inc. presents Steve Gaskin & the Grateful Dead in concert with Shiva Fellowship. Bring dope (the sacrament) and good vibes. noon. free."
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2012/05/where-was-grateful-dead-on-sunday.html
They'd played in St Helens, OR the day before, and there's some doubt as to whether they would have made it back to San Francisco by Sunday afternoon, for a free show. Since there's no other indication this show actually happened, my guess is it didn't.
Thanks on 1/5/69, fixed. Hippy Hill I read as 8/24/69, not 8/21. You're right, it probably never happened, but it's such an appealing notion.
Delete8/5-7/69 Fillmore West, San Francisco - Some discussion of this cancellation was here - Fleetwood Mac also cancelled, and other bands substituted:
ReplyDeletehttp://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/01/grateful-deadjerry-garcia-tour.html?showComment=1435097203140#c4230745176226705214
8/20/69 Aqua Theater, Seattle - Note that the show was rescheduled for the next day.
8/24/69 Vancouver Pop Festival - I've seen reports from two different attendees of the festival that the Dead did not play, so that's verified. I know they were accessible online, but didn't note the sources - can add later.
9/26-27/69 - Change "Fillmore West" to "Fillmore East."
12/6/69 Fillmore West, San Francisco - The Dead were still scheduled to play after Altamont, per McNally, who writes: "The Dead still had a show to do that night, at Fillmore West... Kreutzmann arose and announced that he wasn't playing... 'If Billy's not playing, neither am I,' added Mickey. Poor McIntire was left to...tell Graham's manager, Paul Barratta, that the Dead were a no-show. Frantic, Barratta offered the audience free tickets to other shows." (McNally p.348) It's not mentioned whether the other bands on the bill still played.
Scully tells a different story in Living With The Dead, but concurs that the Dead were still booked at the Fillmore West: "We go there thinking we are actually going to play, but everybody heard we were going to be at Altamont so nobody shows up." (Scully p.184)
10/12/69 Prospect Park, Brooklyn NY - Per the Village Voice, "A be-in, called 'Discover the New Worlds,' will take place in The Meadow, Prospect Park, between 1st and 2nd Streets, on Sunday, October 12, beginning around noon. Live music will be featured, with The Grateful Dead, Gypsy, and Dust."
Deletehttp://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-october-12-1969-meadow-prospect-park.html
I have entered all of this.
DeleteEarly 1970: Since Deadbase did not list sources in their canceled-shows list, I am unsure of some of their dates and wouldn't trust any that are unverified.
ReplyDeleteFor example, a few from early 1970:
2/1/70 Fox Theater, St Louis - "played the bust fund benefit at the Warehouse in New Orleans instead." I am puzzled as to why the Dead would cancel a paying show to play a third unscheduled gig in New Orleans (per Rolling Stone, "only about 850 showed up anyway"); also, a newspaper review of the 2/2/70 St Louis show gave no indication that the show had been canceled or bumped from the day before.
The Buffalo show on 3/17 might have been rescheduled from the day before (the newspaper clippings from that week give no hint), but I'm puzzled by the listing for the Capitol Theater, Port Chester, on 3/18/70. The ad for the Capitol shows I've seen just lists 3/20-21; and why schedule a solitary show on a Wednesday? (Not the usual Capitol procedure.)
"1/25-26/70 Honolulu" and "5/19/70 St Louis" were spurious dates on the Deadbase list; I don't know where they got "5/28/70 Strand Lyceum, London" from (they claimed that it actually took place on May 25, with no evidence); and 6/19/70 Memphis was actually played.
So in general, dates taken only from the Deadbase list should probably have a question mark until verified - there are some from earlier years as well.
5/9/70 Southeastern Livestock Pavilion, Ocala FL - A "New Renaissance Faire" with the Dead and several local bands was planned. But the Dead ended up not playing the Livestock Pavilion... ("Rock Concert Scheduled for Ocala," Ocala Star-Banner, March 3, 1970, p. 2B)
Deletehttp://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-may-9-1970-ocala-fl-canceled.html
5/70 Northwestern University, Evanston IL - "Further Productions, a Northwestern University student group, was hoping to book the GD for an outdoor gig at a weeklong campus festival planned for May 23-30, 1970." ("Zappa and Mothers Give Two Concerts Wednesday," Chicago Tribune, May 3, 1970, p. F7)
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-may-xx-betwee-23rd-and-30th-1970.html
6/13/70 Atlanta, GA - Perhaps add details from the 5/30/70 Billboard: "Plans are taking shape for a giant rock concert to be held in Atlanta's Braves Stadium on June 13. The talent line-up includes Grateful Dead, Ike & Tina Turner, Traffic, Stevie Wonder, the Allman Brothers, Albert King, Sweetwater, Ten Years After, Spirit and Sun Country, Love, the Baby. The show is being promoted by Aftermath Productions."
There is also a larger article in the same issue ("Rock Stadium Sets Festival Production," p.22) which goes into detail on the planned festival. However, the list of 10 bands "already lined up" to appear only includes 7 of the same bands (the Dead and Stevie Wonder are not listed; the Mothers of Invention, Mountain, and It's A Beautiful Day are added). This makes me suspect that the promoters were just throwing out possible names and the Dead were only a vague proposition.
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/01/gd-june-13-1970-atlanta-braves-stadium.html
8/22/70 Washington DC
8/25/70 Isle of Wight Festival
Per an 8/3/70 Washington Post article, "The Dead would like to liven up the Washington area with a free concert on Aug. 22, but are having a tough time finding a place to do it." It's also noted that the "Caravan of Love" tour is heading east "enroute to an Aug. 25 appearance at the Isle of Wight Music Festival." (Tom Zito, "Rock Notes: Caravan of Love," Washington Post, August 3, 1970, p. B6)
This was part of the Medicine Ball Caravan tour - the Dead pulled out at the last minute, and the Caravan didn't make it to Washington DC, or the Isle of Wight for that matter (though it did play a festival in Canterbury on August 31).
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-1970-caravan-of-love-tour.html
9/4-6/70 Sikeston, MO - A festival was planned near Sikeston for Labor Day weekend with various groups including the Dead, but was canceled. ("Rock fest promoters say time worst enemy," The Southeast Missourian, August 12, 1970, pp. 1, 8)
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-sikeston-mo-september-4-6-1970.html
I can't get Northwestern or the Sikeston, MO shows onto my list because I can't do multiday ranges - the day is the minimum resolution. Others noted, etc. per your suggestions.
Delete"5/28/70 Strand Lyceum, London" from (they claimed that it actually took place on May 25, with no evidence)"
DeleteAs a side note: Jerry was scheduled to play with Howard Wales on 5/25/70 but missed this show as he had not returned from England yet. His passport was stamped, “Admitted May 26,
1970.” So maybe there was a show on the 25th in England...
10/3/70 Washoe County Fairgrounds, Reno NV - Per the 9/25/70 Nevada State Journal, "A group called 'Run For Peace' [gave tickets] to an 'Age of Aquarius' show planned for Saturday night at the Washoe County Fairgrounds... They plan to feature The Grateful Dead and The Hot Tuna... They were unable to 'communicate,' however, when the question came up as to who is paying these musical groups and how much."
ReplyDeleteIt seems the question was never answered, and the groups never played.
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/october-3-1970-washoe-county.html
11/15/70 Armory, Albany NY - The other acts on the bill performed as scheduled, but the Dead left. It's unclear why they left - per the promoter, the Dead split after a bomb threat with their $10,000 guarantee. According to a friend of the promoter, the Dead were too wasted to play and used the bomb threat as an excuse. Per McNally, the Dead had not been paid and the promoter used the bomb threat to end the show early (p.382).
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/12/november-15-1970-armory-albany-ny.html
12/24/70 City Center, NYC - There is some more discussion of this date here:
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2015/11/where-were-gd-on-december-24-1970.html
It appears to have been a scheduled Black Panther benefit which was canceled. But I wonder what Deadbase's source was?
4/2/71 Kent State University, OH - The 4/10/71 Billboard reported that "the Grateful Dead played Kent State in Ohio;" however there's no plausible evidence that the show actually happened, so it was presumably either misreported or canceled.
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/11/april-2-1971-kent-state-university-kent.html
The promoters at Pepperland in San Rafael announced in the 7/25/70 Billboard that they were scheduled to open the venue on Labor Day weekend, and had signed the Dead for Sep 11-12 and 18-19, 1970. It seems the opening was delayed, and the Dead didn't play those dates there.
Deletehttp://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/06/gd-september-11-12-1970-pepperland-san.html
12/18-20/70 Capitol Theater - Add reference:
Deletehttp://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-december-18-20-1970-capitol-theatre.html
12/25-28/70 Christmas Happening, Sycamore Flats, Laguna Beach CA - Per the LA Times, the Dead came to play at this multi-day gathering, but were "not permitted through the barricades, which were set up to halt the heavy flow of traffic into Laguna Beach." There was only one major road to the area, which was jammed and blocked off by police. It's not known which afternoon the Dead tried to appear - they were playing at Legion Stadium in El Monte about an hour away.
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-ca-december-27-1970-canyon-east-of.html
http://www.lysergia.com/LamaWorkshop/LagunaBeach/lamaLaguna.htm
3/71 Northern Illinois University, Dekalb IL - Per the 5/7/71 Chicago Tribune, ""The Grateful Dead pulled a last-minute cancellation at Northern Illinois University a few weeks ago." (Larry Lujack, "Rock: A DJ's status report," Chicago Tribune, May 7, 1971, p. B11)
The date is unknown, but this was most likely during the March tour.
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-marchapril-1971-norther-illinois.html
3/11/71 University Centre Ballroom, NIU, DeKalb, IL,
Deletethe date comes from McNally et al "GD The Illustrated Trip" p 128 which says "there's very little documentation for this show - and in fact it may not have taken place."
I entered of all of that what I could.
Delete9/3-4/71 Harding Theater, San Francisco - The 9/3/71 Berkeley Tribe advertised benefits for Head Start on these dates; but there's no evidence that they were played.
ReplyDeletehttp://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/03/gd19710903-4-harding-theater-sf-ca.html
11/28/71 Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, San Rafael - The 11/25/71 Pacific Sun reported, "The Grateful Dead will play a benefit on Sunday for the benefit of Head Start." But no evidence has turned up that it happened.
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/01/gd-112871-marin-veterans-memorial.html
I am also uncertain of Deadbase's listing of a canceled run on 1/19-21/72 (Wed through Fri) at the same Auditorium in San Rafael - the Dead didn't do a comparable run there until 1983-84.
4/15/72 Copenhagen - Add venue: Tivoli Theatre.
The Dead's Europe tour itinerary also scheduled a 5/17/72 appearance on South German Radio, Stuttgart; but I don't know any other details.
In summer 1972 the Dead were to go to Alaska to play two shows: a "Trust benefit" at the Palmer State Fairgrounds in Anchorage, June 30, and "a benefit for the Enep'ut Children's Center" at the Tanana Valley Fairgrounds in Fairbanks, July 2. The shows were promoted by Trust (an organization I know nothing about).
For whatever reason, the Dead didn't go - perhaps these benefits were just too far removed to be worth the trip. (They wouldn't make it up to Alaska til June 1980.)
http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1970s/19720630.html
You must be right about 9/3 and 9/4 at the Harding. I found listings for JGMS at the Lion's Share which probably came from later information than what went into the ad in the Tribe.
DeleteEntered the rest. I have never heard of that abortive Alaska trip - wow. Thanks!
10/15/73 County Coliseum, El Paso TX - Presumably rescheduled for 11/23/73.
ReplyDelete10/23/73 - Delete entry. The Dead played the Metropolitan Sports Arena in Bloomington, a suburb of Minneapolis.
7/19-20/74 Los Angeles Coliseum - The 5/17/74 "Rock Talk From KG" in the Hayward Daily Review reported, "On July 19-20 Eric Clapton plays the LA Coliseum with the Bay Area's own Grateful Dead." It didn't happen. Clapton ended up playing at the Long Beach Arena on those dates.
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/july-19-20-los-angeles-coliseum-stadium.html
And finally, for what it's worth, a few city/venue changes from the Deadbase list:
10/10/70 Paterson State College – changed to Queens College. (They played Paterson the next day.)
5/5/72 Lille, France - The Dead returned to Lille on 5/13 to make up for this cancellation with a free show at the Fairgrounds
5/22-23/73 Cow Palace, Daly City – cancelled in favor of one day at Kezar on 5/26.
9/18/74 Arles, France – they played Dijon instead.
7/4/74 Columbus, OH - A 1974 article "explains that the GD had dropped out of a prospective 'July 4th superconcert' in Columbus, OH, with The Band and Eric Clapton.” (Branigan, Brian. 1974. A Dead 4th of July. Unknown publication, WI.)
DeleteNo other information known. The Dead were then scheduled for the July 4 Oshkosh show that didn't happen. The Columbus 'superconcert' is secondhand news so more confirmation is needed; but it's curious that in two separate cities that July, Eric Clapton was said to be appearing with the Dead.
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-july-4-1974-titan-stadium-oshkosh-wi.html
I think this concludes my search for now.
As an aside - I didn't check non-Dead shows, but I'm sure there have been a number of posts here and on LLD about various NRPS/OAITW shows that are uncertain/didn't happen/possibly canceled. Early NRPS history is pretty vague & uncertain, but I know you've posted about various east-coast OAITW schedulings - though there are very few entries for them included here. Given the nature of these lower-profile bands we can't be sure if shows weren't played, but perhaps their inclusion on a list as "tentative" or "possible" or "unknown" would be useful.
I had 10/10/70 and 9/18 correct. Rest all entered. Thanks.
DeleteI use "uncertain" here on the blog, but I don't have a dummy variable for it in the spreadsheets.
DeleteLIA, when I have time (might be a week or two) I will go back and enter from your contributions - thank you!
ReplyDeleteI will re-do the PDF and other displays to include bands, which I note didn't quite make what I have here.
Here are some Dead cancellations from the early 70s, at least I don't know of any evidence that any of these shows happened as originally planned.
ReplyDelete1970-07-11 Mountaindale Summer Theater, Mountaindale, NY, brochure at
http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1970s/19700711b.html
1971-01-23 Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, BC, handbill at
http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/grateful-dead/handbills/handbill/PNE710123.html
1971-06-14 Central Park, New York, NY.
Bill Graham introduces the Dead on 1971-04-29 at the Fillmore East "...allow us a permit, on June 14th these gentlemen will be in Central Park. Some, some very good friends of ours and yours, the Grateful
Dead."
1971-06-18/19/20 Le Festival d'Auvers sur Oise, France was abandoned because of rain. The Dead played a free show at Chateau d'Herouville on the 21st instead.
McNally p 400 and
http://deadsources.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/june-21-1971-herouville-france.html
1972-04-05 to 09, the London shows to start the Europe 72 tour were intended to be at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park but the owners went broke. The shows were switched to tne Commodore bingo hall in Hammersmith but Cutler thought that was too small so the Dead played the two nights at the Empire Pool in Wembley instead, McNally p 425.
Here's a Commodore ticket
http://www.psilo.com/dead/showimage.php?iid=3380&text=04-08-72%20Ticket
1972-08-18 to 20 Sound-Storm 1972 Music Festival & Renaissance Art-Fair, possibly at or near to Poynette, WI. This festival did not happen.
http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1970s/19720818-5.5x8.5.jpg
1972-08-31 Harding Theatre, SF, CA was announced as a "benefit, tentative" in the Dead Heads Newsletter No 2 but does not seem to have happened
http://www.dead.net/archives/1972/clippings/gd-newsletter-2-august-1972-page-1
1972-10-29 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, MI, handbill at
http://www.motorcitymusicarchives.com/assorted1972.html
(look under Sept 15 for the handbill, GD are at the bottom of the Fall 72 concert series)
1972-11-23 Memorial Auditorium, Dallas, TX was announced in the Dead Heads Newsletter No 5 but was switched to the 24th
http://www.dead.net/archives/1972/clippings/gd-newsletter-5-nov-1972-page-1
1973-02-10 Winterland Arena, SF, CA did not happen but tickets were sold
http://www.psilo.com/dead/showimage.php?iid=3213&text=02-10-73%20Ticket
1971-01-23 - how do we know this was canceled?
Delete1971-01-23 Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, BC
DeleteAs I asked separately, why don't we think this happened?
1972-04-05 to 09
I have entered these, thanks. As per my note below about reschedules, I do not list cancellations for 7 or 8 April, just note that the venue had changed.
1972-11-23 noted, but I don't usually list this as a cancellation if it was rescheduled relatively close in time, as in this case.
All the rest new to my CXL list, and entered. Thanks!
1/23/71 Vancouver - You said it probably didn't happen:
Deletehttp://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/05/nrps-january-1971.html?showComment=1413290555600#c7294202761467829892
I'd agree - there's no trace of the show aside from the handbill; it's absent from all Dead show lists. In the sixties, many Dead shows left equally little trace; but by 1971, I'd expect more evidence that the show happened. It's hard to think of another performed 1971 show that's disappeared like this.
Thanks to runonguinness for the additional finds! The more contributors, the better.
ReplyDeleteIt's become clear that there were a lot more cancellations in the early years than suspected. You could almost construct an alternate tour history with all these shows that didn't happen...
For sure! One of the things I like with how I have my data set up is that I have color codings, so that I can really visualized the flow of tours and such. Cancellations are shaded red, interesting to see whole tours vs. one-off shows canceled and that sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteAnother cancellation pointed out by runonguinness, which would be hard to place on the list since it's not dated:
ReplyDeletehttp://concertposterauction.com/detail.asp?id=4630#img
"Tour blank concert poster for a proposed Warner Brothers-sponsored series of (canceled) free concerts to be held over the summer of 1970, featuring the Grateful Dead, along with Crazy Horse (without Neil Young) and Sal Valentino... The tour was canceled (it actually sort-of morphed into the 1970 "Medicine Ball Caravan" tour, with different participants)."
Also, the 1/23/71 Billboard reported on the Dead's tour plans:
"The first three weeks in March will be spent on a Midwestern tour being set up now by Bill Graham and Warner Bros. During the first week in April the group will tour the East Coast with dates in New York, Boston, and possibly Washington. In June, the entire Dead Family (some 50 people) goes to Europe for a one month tour. They have rented six barges, each capable of carrying 15 people, and will travel where they can by water. One of the barges is a sound stage and the bands will play as they travel down the canals of England and Holland. Tour also includes dates in France, Sweden and Germany, and the entire trip will be filmed for release as a full-length feature."
Sounds like the "possible" Washington DC date in the first week of April was canceled - as well as the entire June '71 Europe tour. It's hard to tell from this if any Europe dates were actually scheduled or the band's publicist was just making stuff up!
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2015/12/january-1971-touring-recording-plans.html
I'm also intrigued that the Midwest tour (and perhaps other tours?) were set up by "Bill Graham and Warner Bros." I thought the Dead's managers handled the tour booking? Was this a Billboard reporting error, or a regular practice?
Blair Jackson's essay in the Europe '72 box-set book has additional details on a few earlier Europe cancellations.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, the 12/14/67 Rolling Stone reported on a "London Trip For The Dead" - "the Grateful Dead may appear at a 'Christmas on Earth' rock bash at London's huge Olympia Stadium December 22." (The planned event was downsized.)
A proposed First European International Pop Festival to be held in Rome in February '68 also didn't happen on the planned scale (and not with the Dead).
And there was a curious telegram sent from one of Country Joe & the Fish's managers on 9/12/69: "Jefferson Grateful European tour cancelled - no financial backer in Europe it turns out - ha ha."
London's Olympia is an exhibition hall not a huge stadium, still too big for the Dead to play in 1967 though. IT22 (see my post below) gave a prospective London venue for December 1967 of the Roundhouse which would have been much more realistic.
DeleteA lot of these early London attempts were at the Roundhouse. The Dead possibly did finally get there for a rehearsal before the Hollywood Festival in 1970 ("Taping Compendium Vol 1" p 575) but I think Lemieux's description of the video of this as occurring at a "beautiful little theatre" (http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2009/08/pre-74-dead-films.html) rules out the Roundhouse. It was a converted locomotive shed that even a trainspotter could not describe as beautiful with a straight face.
I don't have E72 box liner notes here.
DeleteI have been gathering up the European cancellations over the years for a post, one day.
ReplyDeleteRight, one limitation of all of my methods is that they require a time-stamp at the day level (or more precise). My spreadsheets can't contain stuff of the "spring '71" sort.
There must be some workaround...like 3-xx-71 or 3-00-71 or even that misleading standby, 3-01-71. (The notes column can clarify the date range.) It would be a defeat to the format if you have to omit the multi-day events, or the planned gigs that didn't get as far as a scheduled date. The spreadsheet was made for man, not man for the spreadsheet!
DeleteWell, like all tools this one has its uses and its limitations. It's not a defeat of the format if it can't be pinned down, IMO. I dabbled in the past with using the 1st of the month (because the -xx- or -00- doesn't sort sensibly in Excel), but I don't like it. Things that can't be pinned down to a single day can be narrated, but not "quantified" with a time-stamp at the proper resolution, for my purposes.
DeleteHere's some more Dead non-appearances.
ReplyDelete1967-06-20 thru 24 Ambassador Theatre, Washington, DC
Cancelled, "The Dead's equipment arrived, but unfortunately the city pulled their permit at the last minute."
http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19670620.html
http://rockondc.blogspot.co.uk/2007/11/ambassador-theater-and-how-it-rocked.html
1967-08-11 Cheetah, New York, NY
"Taping Compendium Volume 1" p 213-214 reviews a radio ad thus "The Cheetah Club commercial, with a 'Viola Lee Blues' background, is speculated to be bogus, alluding to an event on Friday, August 11. Directed specifically to hippies, the narration runs through the band's personnel line-up before giving the promo for the event." The Dead had left New York by the 11th to play Detroit that night.
1967-12-20, 21, 22, 23 or 24 Roundhouse, London - possibly the first attempt to get the Dead to Europe.
"International Times" No 22 1967-12-15 to 28 p 13 "News Flash!!!!! Country Joe and the Fish are definitely going to be in London for Circus Alpha Centuri. Big Brother and the Holding Company, Grateful Dead and the Doors are trying to cancel other engagements so as to be there also."
http://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/index.php?year=1967&volume=IT-Volume-1&issue=22&item=IT_1967-12-15_B-IT-Volume-1_Iss-22_013
1968-02-19 to 25 First European International Pop Festival, Pallazo Dello Sport, Rome, Italy - the festival did not happen until May. It was reported as "The First European International Pop Festival: Pigpen To Meet Pope?" by Michael Lydon in "Rolling Stone" 10 February 1968. That is a great headline but shouldn't it have been "Pope to meet Pigpen"?
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/02/march-1968-europe-tour-planned.html
1968-05-04 to 10 First European International Pop Festival, Pallazo Dello Sport, Rome, Italy - another European try. The Festival had been reduced to the first four days by the time it actually happened.
"International Times" No 28 1968-04-5 to 18 p 7 ad contains "Personal negotiations between the London Festival Office and Mr. O'Brien, Manager Steve Miller Bluses Band for Inclusion of the following groups while they are on European tour during the Festival period. For finalisation by WILLIAM MORRIS AGENCY INC. Big Brother and the Holding Company, Country Joe and the Fish, Electric Flag and American Music Band, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Steve Miller Blues Band."
http://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/index.php?year=1968&volume=IT-Volume-1&issue=28&item=IT_1968-04-05_B-IT-Volume-1_Iss-28_007
"...on the third day, The Move... set fire to the stage with their pyrotechnics and were arrested by the police. The festival had been scheduled to last a week, but after that performance the Palazzetto dello Sport was shut by the authorities and the festival was over." Other sources say the festival was moved to the Piper Club for the fourth and final day.
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1155419/first-international-pop-festival-1968-poster-hapshash-and-the/
1968(?)-06-07/8/9 Stockton Ballroom, Stockton, CA
http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19660607a.html
This poster is attributed to 1966 but there is no year on it and I do not believe that anyone booked the "Greatful Dead" to play three nights in "Stocton" on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in 1966. These dates fell on Friday, Saturday, Sunday in 1968 which looks more likely so I think that is the correct year. The Dead were at the Carousel that weekend so the shows did not happen. Or maybe the poster (and Jerry and Bob's autographs on it) is just a fake.
1967-06-20 thru 24 Ambassador Theatre, Washington, DC
Deleteentered
1967-08-11 Cheetah, New York, NY
entered
1967-12-20, 21, 22, 23 or 24 Roundhouse, London -
entered into my GD-Europe narrative
1968-02-19 to 25 First European International Pop Festival, Pallazo Dello Sport, Rome, Italy
entered into my GD-Europe narrative. LIA: "shouldn't it have been "Pope to meet Pigpen"?" LOL.
1968-05-04 to 10 First European International Pop Festival, Pallazo Dello Sport, Rome, Italy
entered into European narrative
1968(?)-06-07/8/9 Stockton Ballroom, Stockton, CA
entered
Furthurmore
ReplyDelete1968-10-11 Mothers, Birmingham, England
England 1968? No chance. There's a listing in the "In The Sticks" column of "International Times" No 41 1968-10-04 to 17 p 23 third column (the ad for the Roundhouse shows on the 11th and 12th are on page 21).
http://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/index.php?year=1968&volume=IT-Volume-1&issue=41&item=IT_1968-10-04_B-IT-Volume-1_Iss-41_023
1969-03-23 Center Arena, Seattle, WA
There used to be a poster for this on sixtiesposters.com but it is no longer accessible. It was lot number 2458850 and went for $4476.78 in their February 2012 auction, the poster was yellow with a b/w photo of Jean Harlow and the bill was The Mothers Of Invention, Greatful Dead, Lamb and Mint Tattoo. The show did not happen and the Mothers played on 1969-04-19 instead, supported by Alice Cooper and the Guess Who. What is weird is that the day before, Saturday 1969-03-22, the Dead and the Mothers had both played guest sets at Thee Experience in Los Angeles as discovered by lostlivedead. Is that just a weird coincidence that the planned line-up for the 23rd in Seattle actually took place unscheduled the night before in LA? Involving two acts who weren't fond of each other.
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2015/10/august-28-29-1970-thee-club-los-angeles.html
1969-04-19 Worcester, MA
The show was delayed by a day because the Dead's truck arrived late from Lafayette, IN.
http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19690419.html
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/03/grateful-dead-tour-itinerary-march.html
1969-08-02 Atlantic City Pop Festival, Atlantic City Race Track, NJ
There used to be an Atlantic City Pop Festival "Fact Sheet" on wolfgangsvault.com listing the Dead on Saturday the 2nd but I can't find it anymore. The only evidence I can now find for the Dead pulling out of this is Jeff Tamarkin writing "The (Woodstock) ads... promised the Dead, a band that had been booked into Atlantic City, but had pulled out at the last minute" in "Relix" Vol 16 No 4 p 15
1970-03-10 "for one week" Roundhouse, London - guess what.
"International Times" No 73 1970-02-12 to 25 p 16 top of column 2 "Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company are playing for one week commencing Tuesday 10th March. This is still subject to confirmation. Sam Cutler and the Marquee Martin Agency will be handling the concerts."
http://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/index.php?year=1970&volume=IT-Volume-1&issue=73&item=IT_1970-02-12_B-IT-Volume-1_Iss-73_016
ROG, I have entered or otherwise dealt with all of these. Thanks!
DeleteAn update on the supposed 12/12/66 cancellation at the SF Civic Auditorium - Deadbase says, "the Dead were supposed to open for the Beach Boys, but the Airplane got the job instead."
ReplyDeleteBut per Lost Live Dead: "There is no evidence, none, for any type of show at the SF Civic on December 12, 1966, by the Grateful Dead or anyone else. I have no idea where that date came from, but it's got no basis. It was a Monday night, after all--rock bands didn't play the Civic on a Monday night."
However - the Beach Boys did play the Civic on 12/28/66, and the Airplane were one of several opening bands.
http://esquarterly.com/bellagio/gigs66.html
Whether or not the Dead were ever considered as an opening act (I have doubts), they were playing in Sacramento that day.
deleted, thanks
ReplyDeleteOne thing that's clear to see is inconsistency on reschedules - I include some and exclude others, never good. That will have to be cleared up.
ReplyDeleteCXL has been updated based on the discussions above. Thanks for your contributions!
ReplyDeleteI have no idea how the 8/14/71 and 8/15/71 shows sneaked into the list in late 1974 ... strange on several levels, not least that they weren't canceled.
ReplyDeleteHoly smokes, this comment thread is great. If we can get JGBP to post venue info, and IM to post images, and all that rest, it'd be a living display! Get some animations and mapping going.
ReplyDeleteThanks to all for your contributions.
LIA raises a really good methodological point above about uncertain time periods. I am open to ideas about how to merge these into my data.
One is to just code the CXLs for the maximum range. I don't link that because it puts a lot of red into my display. Further, I think it caves to our cognitive desire to see more events, more variation, more possibility. I prefer a more conservative strategy.
Thus, better, I think, is to single dates, but to find ways of communicating the "approximate" nature of these dates.
I think I have generally coded any known dates. What do we do with date ranges? E.g., "Zappa and Mothers Give Two Concerts Wednesday," Chicago Tribune, May 3, 1970, F7. See http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/12/gd-may-xx-betwee-23rd-and-30th-1970.html.
GD billed in Chi sometime between May 23 and 30, 1970. What can I do with that in a spreadsheet technology? 5/00 and 5/xx don't work in Excel as dates. The only way to use them would be to convert my YYYYMMDD to true text, and then sort. I guess it could be done.
So, given that I use the event as my unit of analysis, I would code this is a CXL event (CXL=1), with the DATE given as 19700500 or 197005xx, and things just falling how they will in the sorting.
For data at the temporal resolution of the month (e.g., "in April the Dead are coming to Europe!" - psyche), any convention will do. We could just use the 1st of the month. Things would display intuitively, though the true events on firsts of months (which are many) get a little obscured.
I am open to any and all measurement or other ideas!
Possibly you could just list the first date of the date range - 5/23/70, 9/4/70, etc - with a note on the uncertainty.
DeleteFound an old comment of mine on a JGMF post about the canceled 9/27/70 San Diego show:
ReplyDelete"The 11/20/69 Daily Aztec [San Diego State U paper] reported that the Student Mobilization Committee was planning a peace festival the next month, at which the Dead would play: "The Grateful Dead have agreed to play here in December. They'll play just for travel expenses."
A couple weeks later, though, things didn't look quite so firm. The 12/4/69 Daily Aztec said that all plans were only tentative. An antiwar rally to be held in the Aztec Bowl was planned in early 1970, and the SMC was negotiating to get the Dead, possibly even the Airplane.
I didn't see any more about this in a quick look, so the plans must have fallen through, or perhaps the SMC didn't command much financing or organizing power. At any rate, the Dead played at the Community Concourse in January 1970 (promoted by Magna Production, an outfit I don't know), so San Diegoans got their Dead show."
This is too vague to be added to the list - nothing was scheduled after all - but we have the Dead being contacted & tentatively agreeing to play whatever event would be scheduled.
It's a reminder that at any point in these early years, the future was a cloud of show possibilities, from which only some actual shows materialized.
Nice!
ReplyDelete"It's a reminder that at any point in these early years, the future was a cloud of show possibilities, from which only some actual shows materialized."
Probably always true: the stuff that happened is just a sample, and not an unbiased one, at that, of all of the possible things that could have happened.
GD were recommended by planning committee for the Ithaca College Winter Weekend, ca. early 1971, but it obviously never happened.
ReplyDeleteNot a CXL, but might as well put it here. We can expand the view to might-have-beens.
"Union Hours Expanded; 'Dead' Planned," The Ithacan, November 6, 1970, p. 2.
The International Times (the underground London paper) had a couple more mentions of the Dead sniffing around England... No dates here, just indications of interest.
ReplyDeleteMay 17, 1968:
"Danny Rifkin, Grateful Dead manager, in town as we go to press. Arranging invasion of Europe in autumn this year with hedonistic humans. Back in 3-4 weeks - contact via IT. Many free scenes to be arranged."
http://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/page.php?i=IT_1968-05-17_B-IT-Volume-1_Iss-31_007-010&view=text
January 1, 1969:
"The family heads of some of San Francisco's tribes have hit town on a mind-blowing London run. There are 13 of them in all, including a baby. There is Pete and Sweet William from Hell's Angels, Jonathan, Danny and Rock of The Grateful Dead, Spider, Slade and another Peter of the Pleasure Crews and Ken Kesey of the Merry Pranksters...and then there are their women - Blanche, Frankie and Sue. And last but not least, here's Peter Zimmels, their spiritual adviser who was once a Buddhist monk.
There is something vital and vibrating about these meat athletes from America's last frontier. They have created a sense of family and a feeling of brotherhood among each other that is seldom seen here. Their shot is a down-to-earth, no-holds-barred honesty which could easily offend the unsuspecting but is a real turn-on for others. I got the impression that they found the English rather too 'cool'.
They swagger about like cowboys in their genuine Levi's, saddle boots and assorted head gear rambling on about their
'choppers'...their love of the wide open spaces back home, and the rip-roaring crazy excitement which seems to emanate from San Francisco.
The purpose of their pleasure trip is to look around and see what is happening over here. In the summer they hope to bring over some fifty Hell's Angels, The Grateful Dead and other aspects of their scene in the hope of capturing, for us, the spirit of their way-out culture. England...be prepared."
http://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/index.php?item=IT_1969-01-01_B-IT-Volume-1_Iss-47_004
(see also McNally p.282-83)
The Dead didn't come to England that summer either, though the Aug 29 '69 IT reported:
"MUSIC IN HYDE PARK. The concert is on the 6th. At Speaker's Corner facing into the Park. As far as known, playing will be Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Ace of Cups, Puritans and whoever happens to be in San Francisco when the plane takes off - including Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young."
http://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/index.php?item=IT_1969-08-29_B-IT-Volume-1_Iss-63_006
A 1970 article on the Dead's Hollywood Festival appearance mentioned the Dead's prolonged flirtations with England:
"For the last three years rumours have circulated round London that the Grateful Dead were due to arrive in England for the first time, often to play a gig in Hyde Park. They were never realised, and the rumour that they were to play at the Holly Wood festival was at first met with hardened cynicism, and then slight disbelief. But they arrived this time, explaining how near they had come to making it earlier... 'We all got shots and passports and packed and then, 'Oh...we're not going...'"
(Lawson, "What Will Be The Answer," Friends 6/12/70)
Garcia tried to explain the Dead's reasons for not coming to Europe earlier in a couple of the London interviews during the Europe '72 tour. See Carr, "The Dead," New Musical Express 4/1/72; or Peacock, "Jerry Garcia in London," Rock 7/17/72.
Man, I am over two dozen European misses, most in general time frames, as with "autumn this year" or "next summer" or what have you. Can't put them in spreadsheet, and in any case little more than rumors, for the most part (perhaps it should be "rumours", given the context). But I have put them all in a document.
ReplyDeleteAnd more Europe notes - plans, not dates:
ReplyDeleteFrom Ralph Gleason's 3/13/68 SF Chronicle column, reporting on the Dead & Airplane taking over the Carousel:
"The Carousel is owned by Bill Fuller, the Irish ballroom operator who has similar properties in...London, Manchester and throughout Ireland. As part of the current arrangement, it is hoped to organize a European tour later this year with some of the San Francisco groups based on Fuller's ballrooms."
Rolling Stone also reported on a possible European tour in March '68, but with totally different details - with the Dead alone, and not using Fuller's ballrooms.
And we can't assume that the eventual canceled tour of Oct '68 was the outcome of these plans - it could have been a separate effort altogether. I have the impression of the Dead's managers making vague plans throughout '68 that the Dead would scuttle.
David Nelson recalled that in early 1970, "Sam Cutler was telling us that he was going to set up this big tour of Europe. It was going to be the Dead, the New Riders, the Jefferson Airplane, any good San Francisco bands he could get, and we were all going to go over on a big ocean liner. There were all these meetings, like a big one at Jerry's house in Larkspur, where we talked about getting our passport photos taken and all. There were all sorts of changes, though [and the Festival Express tour happened instead]... We were disappointed we didn't get to go to Europe then." (from This Is All A Dream We Dreamed, p.157)
Jon McIntire said, "I kept trying to set up tours in Europe... Both times [5/24/70 + 6/21/71] I tried to mount tours, but neither time could I get the money needed to offset the costs. We thought it was okay to at least break even on something like this, because you're breaking in a new territory, but it was not okay in our position at that time to lose money, because we were just getting out of debt." (Dream p.172)
Mountain Girl suggested that the Europe '72 tour finally happened because of Sam Cutler: "He knew the territory. He knew the music business very well. It made him terribly valuable."
Cutler himself said of the earlier attempts, "Most of the people around the Grateful Dead couldn't organize a piss in a brewery. They could organize a nice party and acid trip, but not a trip to Europe, so it never happened. They didn't know the logistics. You wouldn't expect them to. They were California hippies." (So Many Roads, p.176)
I found more precise dates for the planned Europe '68 tour, from a promotional notice for the Born Cross-Eyed/Dark Star single (released in the UK in October '68).
ReplyDelete"The Grateful Dead are due to arrive in Britain on October 9th for the following tour -
The Revolution, London (October 10th);
Mother's, Birmingham (11th);
Middle Earth at the Round House, London (11th and 12th);
Granby Hall, Leicester (18th);
Liverpool University (19th);
Continental tour of Belgium, Holland, Sweden and Denmark (22nd-31st);
Country Club, Hampstead (3rd November).
Other dates are to follow."
Clearly the plug was pulled on this tour at the last minute!
Here's another multiday window that I will catalog here, since it can't go into my spreadsheet:
ReplyDelete"Phantasmagoria III", a benefit for the Black Congress, KPFK and the Free Clinic, at Wrigley Field, June 13-16, 1968. "Bands committed so far" include Peanut Butter Conspiracy, GD, Fugs, Country Joe and the Fish, Standels, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Sunshine Co., Pacific Gas & Electric, Sweetwater, Family Tree, Hamilton Streetcar, Spencer Quinn, Illinois Speed Press, International Submarine Band, Hour Glass, P.F. Sloan and Richie Havens.
! ref: Osborn, Jim. 1968. Phantasmagoria III. Los Angeles Free Press, 5/17/68, p. 16, via Independent Voices.
Regarding 8/2/69, I found an ad listing the GD in Seed, June 6, 1969, p. 10.
ReplyDeleteAnother addition!
ReplyDeleteIn the 9/16/70 WMCA interview, Jon McIntire reads off the Dead's October '70 tour schedule from his calendar. I think he skips some east-coast cities, otherwise naming the cities in order, but there are some interesting changes from the actual tour:
- he says they're playing Mankato, MN, between the 10/11 and 10/17 shows. Minnesota State U was there, so it would have fit right into their university tour. Something must have been scheduled but then canceled.
- he says they're playing Columbus, OH, between the 10/24 and 10/30 shows. The Dead ended up playing the Club Agora on 11/29, so the date (and perhaps the venue) was changed.
- he says there will be a second Boston show the weekend after the Nov 21 Boston U show, but he's pretty vague about it. I can't conclude anything from this, but note that the Dead didn't play anywhere on Saturday Nov 28, the only Saturday left open on the two-month tour.
The Grateful Seconds blog turned up some more canceled-show info, posted in the comments on the older canceled-show page - it's worth mentioning here as well.
ReplyDeleteNice to see a poster confirming a show with Clapton, the Dead & the Band was scheduled for 7/4/74 at Beulah Park in Grove City, OH (a Columbus suburb). But the three bands went their separate ways instead, for reasons unknown.
A little more research into the planned 3/5/71 Yale show indicates that it was still scheduled as of mid-January '71; and it's always mentioned in connection with the abandoned prom. I don't know whether the band or the university pulled out, or whether the July Yale Bowl show was scheduled as a replacement show - presumably some spring '71 article yet to be found will tell more.
And most curious is the canceled 6/15/73 show at Nippert Stadium, the University of Cincinnati - a university-sponsored show. The Dead weren't touring the midwest in June '73 (although the 5/13/73 Iowa show was another case where they made the trip just for one show), and it was canceled close to the show date "due to problems connected with staging the event." What staging problems the Dead encountered in a football stadium, I'm not sure (a face-saving excuse?), but in any case the Dead returned to Cincinnati later that year with a different promoter.
(Another minor oddity is that the show poster features a 1971 band picture with Pigpen, who'd been dead for months!)
Research-wise, the info we have comes from an Indianapolis paper (the show was advertised in big cities across the region), so more details on the show may well come from Cincinnati papers.
Yeah, I think I have all of that. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI have the Yale cancellations as 3/5 at the New Haven Arena and 3/6 on campus.
ReplyDeleteThomas, Robert McG, Jr. 1970. Yale Prom Gives Way After a 127-Year Run. New York Times, December 12, p. 12.
"Jeffrey N. Gordon and Charles E. Johnston 2d of the· class of '71 say, however, that their dance, scheduled for the New Haven arena on March 5 with ·the Grateful Dead, will be a nonprofit undertaking. · The ·details tend to get complicated, but essentially the Grateful Dead have been booked for two nights. ·The first will be a public performance at $5 a head, which will allow the sponsors to sell student tickets for the second night at $2 each. (The prom cost $15 a couple and included a steak dinner.) In effect, the student entrepreneurs are sharing their profits with the Yale community in the form of reduced tickets."
Note that this makes this night another cancellation twofer (along with 7/4/74 and maybe a few others).
Final note: I have Weir's mother dying on 3/4/71. I wonder what role that plays.
JGMF turned up some 1968-69 show lists in the Dead Archive featuring a few previously unknown dates. Since these are possibly canceled shows, they're worth listing here; but for now we don't know which might have actually been played.
ReplyDelete1/31/68 OSU Ballroom?, Corvallis OR (uncertain whether this was scheduled)
10/19/68 Convention Center, Las Vegas NV
12/27/68 Catacombs, Houston TX (listed along with 12/28)
7/6/69 Grande Ballroom, Detroit MI
Just a brief note that the planned 11/28/71 Head Start benefit at the Marin Vets Memorial Auditorium in San Rafael was indeed canceled by the county board of supervisors, due to "complications" from a rock show earlier that week.
ReplyDeleteA random find confirming the 3/11/71 NIU, Dekalb cancellation:
ReplyDelete"The Grateful Dead were slated to play a benefit show March 11, 1971, at NIU’s Center Ballroom. Proceeds from the show were to go to the NIU Bail Bond Commission. Phil Larsen, president of the commission, told the Daily Chronicle the commission had formed the previous fall “to keep students in class while waiting to go to court.” (Demonstrations in May 1970 – in response to the Kent State University shooting – shut down the DeKalb campus and NIU students were arrested by the busload, according to the DeKalb County Journal.) The 1971 concert was canceled for some reason and $5,000 collected for tickets was refunded."
http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2016/02/23/from-the-archives-when-the-grateful-dead-rocked-dekalb/acjgchm/
Could it be this venue?
Deletehttps://www.amazon.com/Ballroom-University-Northern-Illinois-University-Vintage/dp/B07FY87HYN
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington took the stage for his final performance inside NIU’s University Center on March 20, 1974. One of the hallmarks of the Ellington orchestra was the use of plunger mutes on brass instruments like trumpets and trombones. The mute is simply the rubber part of a toilet plunger and is used to alter the sound coming out of the instrument.
That night’s guest trumpeter was Cootie Williams, a jump blues musician from Alabama whose use of the plunger is often credited with influencing renowned trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. The ballroom was renamed the Duke Ellington Ballroom in 1980.
The Dead didn't show at the 6/16/68 Daytop Village festival in Staten Island. The Jeff Beck Group replaced them.
ReplyDeletehttp://deadessays.blogspot.com/2014/09/missing-1968-shows.html?showComment=1503368781449#c2654466716786825660
Another cancellation!
ReplyDeleteFrom the Daily Nebraskan, October 6, 1972:
DEAD TO PLAY AT PERSHING?
Larry Kubert
"The Grateful Dead may be at Pershing Auditorium Nov. 11. According to Ike Hoig, Pershing Auditorium manager, everything is pretty well set for the Dead's concert."
From the Daily Nebraskan, October 16, 1972:
BOOKING KILLS 'DEAD' CONCERT
Bart Becker
"Bad news, rock fans. Despite our trumpeting the good news a week or so ago, the Grateful Dead concert has apparently fallen through. The Dead had originally been scheduled for Nov. 11 at Pershing.
However, the auditorium was booked for that night. An attempt to get the concert moved into the University Coliseum was nixed by the Dead's management."
(This could be called a re-scheduling rather than cancellation, since the Dead were booked at Pershing three months later.)
And another festival not played...
ReplyDeleteThe 11/16/68 Billboard reported: "VARA-TV will film the International Experimental Pop Festival in Utrecht Nov. 23 which will feature the Grateful Dead and Family."
Not sure if the Dead had any such plans, but Nov. 23 is weeks after when the putative European tour would have ended (Nov. 3 was the last scheduled date).
As it turned out, the festival was bumped to December 28, and renamed Flight to Lowlands Paradise. As one site says, "The original date was November 23, but was shifted so that Jimi Hendrix could perform. However, he never came." (Actually, quite a few bands pulled out.)
But in an alternate universe, just imagine a Dutch TV program with the 1968 Dead playing...
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&u=http://www.yellowdog.nl/lowlands-1967-1968/het-paradijs-der-lage-landen/lowlands-1968/&prev=search
Actually, a report in the NME had the tour ending on 11/15 with a free concert in London (natch).
DeleteA couple short articles with more details on the canceled 6/15/73 show in Cincinnati:
ReplyDeleteTickets For Grateful Dead
Yes, Virginia and Young People readers, tickets ARE still available for Friday's Grateful Dead concert at UC's Nippert Stadium.
The concert is the first in a series of six concerts scheduled out-of-doors during the summer by the UC Office of Programs and Cultural Events. Tickets are $5 in advance and $6 at the door...
(Cincinnati Enquirer, June 9, 1973)
Grateful Dead Off At Nippert
The Grateful Dead concert, set for Friday at UC's Nippert Stadium, has been canceled. Reason for the cancellation, according to promoters, were "insurmountable problems connected with the staging of the event."
The technical problems were twofold. The size of the stage needed to accommodate the full Grateful Dead show posed a problem. So did the fact that the stadium is located directly behind the UC physical plant which, according to the Dead's road manager, Sam Cutler, makes entirely too much noise. He feared it would be a distraction.
It is believed the show will be rescheduled later in the summer when there's some more time to prepare fully for it.
Patrons with tickets may obtain a full refund...
(Cincinnati Enquirer, June 14, 1973)
A bit more on the July 27, 1968 Hawaii cancellation:
ReplyDeleteThe July 26, 1968 Honolulu Advertiser reported:
"DEAD CANCEL APPEARANCE IN ISLANDS
The Grateful Dead, a San Francisco 'hard rock' combo, has canceled its weekend performances at the Honolulu International Center. An early 1969 date now is planned instead.
Rock Scully, manager of the Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Records act, said that 'response to the Dead was more than ever expected, but in this heavy entertainment season, we feel we just won't reach all of the people that we would like to.'
As a substitute, John Herbert, the local promoter, said he will schedule a free concert picnic at 2 p.m. at Sandy Beach, featuring local rock 'n' roll combos.
Those holding tickets to the Dead show may get refunds from ticket counters from which they were purchased."
The July 27, 1968 Honolulu Star-Bulletin followed up: "The Grateful Dead's scheduled dance this weekend at the International Center Exhibition Hall was scrubbed.
Peter, Paul & Mary conclude their two-day Waikiki Shell engagement tonight at 8:30 p.m. The Dead would no doubt have been just that at the box office trying to compete against PP&M...
Promoter John Herbert says he dropped a bundle on the Dead venture, but is staging a free concert-picnic tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Sandy Beach, hoping to maintain good will with fans of the Dead."
However, the July 28, 1968 Honolulu Advertiser reported:
"PROTESTS REPLACE SOUND OF BANDS
A free concert today by six psychedelic bands at Sandy Beach today was canceled when the City revoked a permit.
[The mayor] said the cancellation was made 'in the interest of all people.' ...
The idea was to bring in six bands, free food, equipment and portable generators for an afternoon of groovy sounds and fun.
The free concert idea came about when [promoter John] Herbert had to cancel a concert by the Grateful Dead, a big-name band, and refund tickets.
Herbert then received a permit to use Sandy Beach for the free concert...and all the arrangements were made.
On Thursday Herbert received a letter from Mayor Blaisdell...
'As you are aware, the department has a policy specifically banning [electronically amplified] instruments from beach parks, while permitting them under certain conditions in some other park areas.
'The policy is based on the fact that beach parks are essentially for swimming, surfing, sun bathing and related use, and that noise, particularly loud noise, conflicts with such use...'"
Rock Scully's apology for the cancellation is pretty lame and doesn't explain why they cancelled! (The Dead didn't play anywhere in late July '68, an oddly empty month.)
The vague "early 1969" date got bumped to definite July 1969 dates, which were in turn also cancelled. I didn't see any report about that in the Honolulu papers.
Update: Now I don't think there was any July '69 cancellation. The lack of any report in the papers should've tipped me off that the Deadbase listing of a cancelled July '69 run in Honolulu was actually a misdate of the July '68 cancelled shows.
DeleteSee also: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/honolulu-international-center-honolulu.html?showComment=1577928755839#c2935352361342041708
The Dead were to play Homecoming Weekend in Ann Arbor, MI on 10/29/72 (tickets were announced in September) - but the 10/3/72 Michigan Daily ran this note:
ReplyDelete"DEAD NOT COMING
You may be at Hill Aud. Oct. 29th for the Grateful Dead concert. Don't be surprised if the Dead aren't there. UAC finally admitted yesterday that the San Francisco based rock combo would not be coming here. No word is yet in on when the concert may be rescheduled."
As it turned out, it was never rescheduled and the Dead didn't return to Michigan for years. Hard to say why the Dead canceled (if they'd ever committed in the first place), since it would have fit right in their fall tour schedule between Cleveland & Detroit.
It may already be mentioned in all the comments above, but the 8/3/71 Michigan Daily has a lengthy article from a Dead fan who hitchhiked from Ann Arbor to the planned Dead show in Gaelic Park on Friday, 7/30/71.
ReplyDelete"The last time I saw them (Michigan State University, last March), they had me almost wanting to be a groupie. I have never seen a group so together and with the ability to take over 5,000 persons with them.
"So, when I heard they would be playing at Gaelic Park in New York City, it was natural for me to want to see if they could do it again.
"Fifteen hours on the road hitching to New York was not too high a price to pay..."
It rained on Thursday & Friday, but "the radio kept proclaiming that rain or shine, the Dead would play if the people would come out to hear them.
"So the people came, but the Dead didn't. When we got off the subway, about 1,000 people were still there - all incredulous. People had come from as far away as Michigan and Ohio, we had met them on the road - all to hear and see the Grateful Dead.
"When we got off the subway, we also saw a sign saying that the concert was cancelled. It was. Policemen were standing around...to inform people that the concert would not be...
"I stopped crying after about an hour."
(Anita Crone, "Look, Ma, I'm Steering the Ferry," The Michigan Daily 8/3/71)
https://digital.bentley.umich.edu/midaily/mdp.39015071754597/626
A ticket for a 1970-01-07 SUNY Stony Brook show with Tim Leary headlining has just appeared on ebay. The Dead have been scored out so they either cancelled or never agreed to the show
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tim-Leary-Grateful-Dead-Ticket-Stub-NYC-1970-Original-in-rough-shape/332693846093?hash=item4d7619384d:g:unEAAOSwHNxbK7Tr
Thanks for continuing to send stuff my way! At current count, I show 388 canceled events in my spreadsheet.
ReplyDeleteThe Los Angeles Free Press ran a premature notice on the planned 9/6/69 London Hyde Park show:
ReplyDelete"The Jefferson Airplane has chartered a jet, loaded it full of light show equipment, the Merry Pranksters, the Grateful Dead, and the Ace of Cups, and flown off to do a free gig in London's Hyde Park.
After the Freebie on September 6th, the entourage will take off for a short five day tour of Scandinavia, then to the Netherlands and finally into Paris's Olympia Theatre. The group is awaiting permission to perform in Czechoslovakia in a series of outdoor free concerts."
(John Carpenter, LAFP 9/5/69, p.34)
I wonder what Carpenter's source was, since this differs in several respects from what Ralph Gleason had reported a week earlier in the SF Chronicle on 8/27/69:
"The Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Crosby Stills and Nash...and Joni Mitchell will be presented in a free concert in London's Hyde Park September 7.
The groups, with some additions to be announced, will be flying over directly from San Francisco. The show is being put on for filming for a Granada TV program and there's a possibility that there will be other concerts in Europe later."
Runonguinness found a handbill for a canceled 1968 Dead show in Los Angeles. It reads:
ReplyDelete"ZENITH SUNRISE"
GRATEFUL DEAD
BUDDY MILES EXPRESS
BLACK PEARL
*introducing little john farm
SHRINE HALL
fri, sat, sept. 27, 28
8 pm - 2 am...$3.00 advance, $3.50 door
Single Wing Turquoise Bird Lights
It appears to be genuine. This Shrine show didn't happen, and the Dead ended up not playing Sept. 27-28. The other acts on the bill were in Los Angeles:
The Buddy Miles Express played at the Whiskey a Go Go from Sept. 18-23, and later there was an ad for Buddy Miles & Taj Mahal at the Shrine on October 4-5 (promoted by Lifeline).
The obscure Black Pearl played at the Ash Grove on October 11-13. The even more obscure Little John Farm played at the Ash Grove in April '69.
The Single Wing Turquoise Bird was a well-known light-show group who'd been doing lights at many Shrine shows.
The last previous Shrine show was Sept 6-7, promoted by Pinnacle, who'd been putting on shows at the Shrine through '68. They succumbed to debts and went out of business in mid-September. My guess is this show was a last gasp by Pinnacle, and it was cancelled when they folded.
A "Musicians Enclosure" pass for the aborted 1969-09-06 Hyde Park freebie has just turned up on ebay.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jefferson-Airplane-Grateful-Dead-69-Hyde-Park-Cancelled-Concert-Backstage-Pass/401650403332?hash=item5d843ac804:g:nYMAAOSw7OdcBpi-
"An original backstage pass for the cancelled free concert which was meant to take place in Hyde Park, London on 6th September 1969. The event was to feature performances by Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead but was cancelled due to Warner Brothers withdrawing their financial support of the event. The orange pass is printed with the event details and ‘Musicians Enclosure’ on the front. It is accompanied by a letter from the original owner which reads, “This was an event that I spent some time staying at the Airplane mansion on Fulton St. organizing. The bill would also have included Quicksilver Messenger Service, Sons Of Champlin, Joy Of Cooking and Ace Of Cups. A late pull out by Warner Bros. who were to underwrite the costs of the London portion of the tour caused it to be called off”. It measures 20.25cm x 10cm (8 inches x 4 inches). The condition is near mint."
Assuming this is all genuine, my guess is Warners were reluctant to commit their money to this event on top of giving the Dead (ie Lenny) a $75,000 advance on their new contract extension (according to Scully). Given a choice between the two, it's pretty clear which option Lenny would take. The mystery organiser says this was the "London portion of the tour" so this was intended to be more than a one-off show. Presumably the Dead and Airplane still had dreams of touring Europe together. The financing of this jape must have been a nightmare to arrange with almost every act on a different record label (who would have paid for the Ace Of Cups?). With CSN(&Y?), the biggest draw for any paying gigs, no longer being available it is no wonder it didn't happen.
Denise Kaufman from Ace of Cups says:
DeleteWe were supposed to go on this tour and had had meetings about it at the Airplane’s house on Fulton near Masonic. It was going to be a round the world tour with the bands you mentioned above and the last date on the tour was going to be Hyde Park with the Rolling Stones. It was on track to happen and we were all excited about it but then (I am remembering this and think my memory is correct here) there was an issue about Graham Nash’s passport because he wasn’t a US citizen. What I was told was that if he left the US there would be a problem about him getting back in so they decided not to do the tour and it was cancelled.
The Aces were tied to the Airplane at the time.
Thanks, RoG!
ReplyDeleteGot some more 411 on the cancelled Dead shows in Fort Worth June 30 and July 1, 1981. Your notes say lack of ticket sales which I truly belive but the Dallas Morning News on June 27, 1981 has this direct quote to them from Jerry Garcia "We painted ourselves into a corner and we really needed a few extra days to complete our 2-record live electric recording" Garcia is quoted further that they have gigs 7/5 in Oklahama CIty and 7/4 in Austin. I can't believe 3 days before the shows the Dallas Morning News reached out to Garcia and he made this quote
ReplyDeleteEspecially since he had played the Santa Cruz Civic and the Fox-Warfield just before. I have it that Dead Set was released 8/26/81.
DeleteI was down there for those cancelled Fort Worth shows. Word in the lot was that Brent had od'd.
DeleteHere's a reference in the SUNY Binghampton Student Paper that the Dead are canceling a 11-19-1970 show due to the fact a member of the band is in jail for the month of November 1970. Since they were in the area and played Rochester on 11-20, this looks like a Dog Ate My Homework story https://www.dropbox.com/s/kz67ns9j4tmbuo3/seq-4-pdf.png?dl=0
ReplyDeleteNew, thanks! Do you have the publication info - name, date, page?
DeleteThat's three separate cancellations in four day - the Albany "bomb threat" on 11/15, Montreal 11/18 and Binghamton on 11/19.
It could make a great blog post: all the various creative excuses the Dead gave over the years for canceling shows...
ReplyDelete"Art Of The Dead" by Philip Cushway p 62-63 shows Rick Griffin's poster and his original artwork for the opening of the Denver Family Dog on 1967-09-08/9. The poster shows the actual lineup of Big Brother, Blue Cheer and The Eighth Penny Matter but his initial design has Grateful Dead headlining instead of Big Brother. The Dead did play the Denver Dog two weeks later. Were they bumped because Janis was a bigger draw after Monterey or did they think they had a more reliable payday in Seattle that weekend?
ReplyDelete