50,000 8 dead. A fest a place to have fun. Wow blew me away and made me remember. One year PBG increased the amount of tickets they sold. I was front and center as always. The crowd stated moving forward and pinned me against the fence. I turned around and said move back and I will never forget the mans face behind me. He was afraid and he was pinned as well had this terrified look in his eyes I will never forget. A set break and I flew out of there and never stood front annd center again for years I stood stage left. I was traumatized fer sure.
The next year PBG reduced size again and there was room to move once more.
I admire PBG for not being so profit driven . They are on it and I for 1 am very appreciative. Hugs all around PBG! Always an outstanding job of crowd flow and control. Thank you for lookin out for us.
Track 1 quote on Jer’s birthday: "You don’t want to have corrugated people." — from 39-second long Phil Lesh comments, Roosevelt Stadium, Aug 1, 1973, at the beginning of the show, as I was getting set to tape our Boys.
Funny you mention the Dead. I went to the Bill Graham Memorial “Laughter, Love and Music” in 1991 and was about ten rows from the rail as the Dead and Neil Young wailed, with 300K behind me. No one was pushing. It was tight, no question, but I never felt in danger. Just surrounded by “good grief” (Wavy Gravy quote).
Plenty of other smaller shows were scary AF due to aggressive crowd movement.