Though I was living in San Jose, Calif. at the time, I drove my ’67 VW camper bus from my hometown of Gustine, Calif., where I picked up my fellow Deadheads, Joe and David. We arrived early and got a very good parking spot in the lot adjacent to Winterland. We smoked dope, drank wine and mingled with other concertgoers. We had great fun and then headed for the entrance line. I believe we ended up sitting on the sidewalk mid-way under the “They’re not the best at what they do…” banner.
As the midnight chaos ensued, some audience member came walking along the front row rail of the balcony.
We eventually made our way into Winterland and found seats in the front row of the balcony directly behind the stage. We had great views of all the activity on the floor and in the upper seating and took some fantastic photos. As the midnight chaos ensued, some audience member came walking along the front row rail of the balcony. As he reached where we were sitting, he lost his balance and slipped over the rail on the stage side. Stopping his decent, he grabbed the balcony rail right in front of us. We quickly grabbed his hands and pulled him back up to our balcony seats. He thanked us and vanished into the crowd.
~ Rick Nagle