I was there with my great buddy, Charlie H, who has since passed away. What an adventure it was. Still have my T shirt and ticket stub that has nearly faded away. Our provisions were one carton of Marlboro’s each and a quart of Southern Comfort each.
I got there the day before with my younger cousin who was more like a brother who had different parents, Ric. We brought food & wine to drink, but we knew nothing of what happens in the mountains at night, it gets very cold, and in the day it gets so hot you feel as if you're gonna die. By the next day, the mayo & butter on our food made it go bad, and we needed water, but all we had was wine. The Dead played 1st, started at about 10 am. It sounded too low in volume and it lacked the energy I expected at a Dead concert. Maybe the heat was getting to them too. Of the 3 performers I went for the Dead, but I enjoyed them the least. Me & Ric didn't see the topless girl but we did see the guy with no pants go by us. There were a lot of people there by 2 pm the day of the music. So many, in fact, that we couldn't find my car. We must have walked 5 to 8 miles until we were totally lost and our feet hurt. Finally a guy in a VW Bug came along. We stopped him by standing in front of his car, we needed a ride. He wanted to help but his car was over-full already. He said if we wanted to stand on the side boards of the VW Bug, he'd go slow and take us back to the music area. I know it's 40 yrs later, but hey THANK YOU to that Bug owner, you quite possibly saved me & Ric's lives. Eventually we found my car. It was stuck in mud, from when the rains came, and other cars were in front & behind us, we couldn't move. Luckily we had bench seats back then, I slept in the front and Ric nodded out in the back. In the morning we got free and stopped at the first diner we saw. Those were the best eggs & bacon we ever had. "What a long strange trip it was"!
I got there friday evening having to park on the dirt roads and walk for miles. I ran into many kids that I was good friends with in grade school that I hadn't seen since moving in 6th grade! Yes, the drugs were there on display, laid out on blankets, but it wasn't like they were pushing it. The "streets" (pathways) were well organized, and I personally saw very getting along well. The rain was a pain.My summer job was with the phone company, which my Dad got me. I started looking for my car about 2 in the morning Sunday, and Like you, could not find it. Finally, about 6 in the morning I finally found it, and was able to get home Sunday morning before my Dad had finished his golf game! When he got home, mu sleeping-bay was on the clothes lines and I was asleep in bed with all those memories. ( Mom told me had been so mad all weekend thinking I wouldn't be be back for days, and miss work, making him look bad, Still makes me smile!!!
I was only 8 yrs old in the summer of 1973 but I recently read a story about 2 kids who went missing when they were en route to this show. Mitchel Weiser and Bonnie Bickwit, aged 16/15 respectively. I am sure no one "noticed" them as from what I've read nothing about them stood out. typical 70's teens with long hair, young and idealistic. But I wonder if they did make it (they were hitchhiking from a youth camp where Bonnie worked in Narrowsburg.) Reportedly they did catch a ride with someone part of the way. They are missing to this day.
I Read their story this morning, only God knows their journey. If they made it to the concert or they didn't, what happened along the way there or back home to Brooklyn NY, only God has all the details. John 5: 28-29 gives a future hope, there will be a resurrection and what a reunion that will be, a joyous one for sure can you just imagine Mitch and Bonnie reunited with their love ones. God cannot lie, that brings me comfort and a sure hope that soon I will be reunited with my love ones who have passed. Thanks for sharing 😏
I arrived on Thursday and was about 100 ft from the sound board near the portal posties. There was three of us. Me, Magoo and Donna, We had enough space for three sleeping bags. By Sat morning there was only a spot for the little box of space we all live in during the show. What I did not hear about the Grateful Dead Soundcheck. They began in the evening around six and played a wonderful mellow 2 hour or more set. Time may vary because of my chemical intake. Saturday it felt like 400 degrees and any water we got was hot but great. By Sat night we began to find the car. After that it was a blur. Thanks, Magoo and Donna. One of the highlights of my wonderful life as a teen in Boston. GO Heads. Mike L..
I was almost 19 when I and 2 buddies went there on a hot summer morning with no AC in the car I was driving. We got tickets when the show was announced then when we got there the fences were down and it was a free concert
I went w/ my sister, we saw the whole show and it was all great. I remember the mud and rain, too. Most of it was a blur, I met a nice guy there & we rode back together but I said goodbye b/c it just didn't feel right-ish. I came back to Providence and went to visit my sister a day after coming back Then I met and moved in w/ and eventually married my spouse. Sorry, Andy, but alas I was to meet and marry my soul mate. , Bob. The music was far out and groovy I might have been high but I forget if I was. I almost went to Woodstock but decided it was too far (that's how I felt at that time) so when Watkins Glen came up, I said f' yeah, let's go. We got a ride somehow there Might've hitchhiked but I forget if we did (PS, don't hitchhike no more b/c the air is different now). Great concert and I want to see if I can spot my sister and I in the crowd. Felt like millions of people! Oh, we danced !!
I can't believe you captured smitty coming down in the parachute! He had an artillery Sim charge that went off early and killed him. They found his body in the woods two days later. He is still a legend in the area.
I turned 17 in June 73. I hitchhiked there on Friday from CT(450 miles). Got a ticket from the cops on I-84, threw it away, and got right back on the road. Somehow I got a ride right up to the racetrack, jumped that snow fence and I was in. I spent the whole concert high on whatever I could find. Hitchhiked home on Sunday, then slept for about 24 hours. I never told my parents where I went, I just told my brother about that trip in 2023, he wasn't surprised because he knew I was crazy.
I was also there. Had the good sense to drive up through Pennsylvania so I did not get stuck in traffic. But I evidently missed the sound check. I left after the ABB who I came to see. Drove home to Trenton NJ all night and morning.
I saw them parachuting in too. They dropped out of view behind a van and I believe one had a smoke emitter of some sort that caused the parachute to burn. Is that true?
Missed woodstock just turned 15 but I drove my 66 be bus to watkins glen up state ny was great advertise d allmen bros.and cosby stills and nash butother bands showed up best I ever went to
After Woodstock it seems theses type of big big shows we're tried over and over all over the USA but for some reason they turned out to be failures, not sure if. Exactly the reason but they just weren't good shows that ended when they decided to do Pennsylvania and then wala, in 72 at the Pocono Speedway they did concert 10 a quarter mil people there all there for only one thing a great show a a very great party and both were achieved.then again in 73 with this show, ounce again great show great party and i'm sad to report it's never happened again in the USA, like, WELL like, damm I've got no explanation, I seriously don't know why. So so sad. I was fortunate, I was able to have been to both and can't a bad thing be said about either one crept maybe the traffic but that was kinda actually funny, cars just parked right there in the middle of the road for miles and those who reported on them really didn't give the Justice they deserved. Like at concert 10 , oh it rained it muddy yea it rained for like 15 mins the first morn of the show and there were many many groups there but one thing that did really kinda ticked me off was black Sabbath cancelled, but humble pie rocked hard so. I kinda of think that if they would of tried that second Woodstock thing here in pa i'm just betting it would of been better. Oh well. Here I am just rambling on about past memories of two of the biggest and best shows iv'e been fortunate to have been able to see. And if you were there i'm right sure you have the same positive stories to tell. Oh well, once upon a time.
Want to thank again the two ladies who picked me up in their U-Haul truck, and let me drive that rig straight through on Sunday to Champaign, IL, so I could call in sick for work Monday morning! My cardboard sign just said "WEST". They were on their way to Colorado.
We want to return in '23 for a reunion. If you live in the 5 boros or LI and are interested in joining us let me know. Please only make contact if you attended the original concert
Actually the version of In Memory of Elizabeth Reed played here is the original studio recording of the song, from the Idlewild South LP, released before the Fillmore East recording. But yes, the music of the ABB had changed a lot by the time of the Watkins Glen concert, mainly due to the addition of pianist Chuck Leavell.
Jay Look at the cars....as outdated as a Model - T Ford........listen to the music......as vibrant, full of spirit and living as the day it was penned...believe in the things that last.........Thanks
i look at my phone and its 97 degrees as i write this i heard it was firecracker hot this event just looking at all those non ac cars ugh. to be young and bullet proof again.
that is the low number they suspected of attending....the range you normally see is 600,000-800,000.....i guess i dont see how you cant believe that a free concert held on a racetrack and all its surrounding land couldn't fit 600k....they were still finding cars that got stuck from that concert in 2013
I ran the medical effort and I can tell you that from the aerial photos the official estimates of the actual attendance was in the range of 850,000 people.
