The closing of Winterland was the big to-do in my prime years of being a Deadhead. Having attended my first New Year’s run the previous year in 1977, attending the closing with the Blues Brothers and New Riders opening was a no brainer. The holy grail tickets for some reason weren’t too hard for us to obtain, even though we were high schoolers from the East Coast, thanks to Eileen Law at the Dead office and one kind person at Bill Graham Presents.
The day of the show was a complete thrill, hanging out around Winterland with Bill Graham patrolling the scene, his sister Esther in her soup kitchen on the corner of Post and Steiner, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd pulling up on their motorcycles, and the overall camaraderie of the continental assortment of Heads.
To my window-paned brain, the closing of Winterland was perfection all around.
With Winterland being the proverbial acid palace, this night would wind up being the greatest psychedelic experience of my life. Scoring some purple windowpane out front, the minute we stepped into Winterland at 5 p.m. when doors opened, the tab hit my tongue. My entire existence melted into the most blissful universe and would stay that way all through the show and through the trudge back to the Jack Tar Hotel on Van Ness at 9 a.m. on New Year’s Day.
To my window-paned brain, the closing of Winterland was perfection all around: Animal House on the big screen before the New Riders hit the stage; the incredible Blues Brothers set with Steve Cropper, ‘Duck’ Dunn, Steve Jordan, Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy and Paul Shaffer in the band; the midnight madness of the Dead’s first set with Bill Graham descending from the rafters in a giant joint; my all-time favorite Scarlet/Fire; the Thunder Machine jam with Ken Kesey and the Pranksters; the sick Not Fade Away jam with John Cipollina and Lee Oskar; the majestic third set and the glorious reawakening of Dark Star with a surprise late encore of We Bid You Goodnight and then breakfast.
I left a lot more than my heart in San Francisco at the closing of Winterland and I feel the magic every day sitting in the seats I grabbed when they tore the old joint down in 1985.
~ Rob Bleetstein