By Campbell Wood
In 1984, Bob Geldof was inspired. While watching the evening news in his home, the Boomtown Rats singer came across a story on the BBC about a “biblical famine” occurring in Ethiopia. That’s when he knew he had to do something with his musical fame.
A year later, on July 13th, 1985, Geldof’s dream came true when he created Live Aid with Midge Ure of Ultravox. It is estimated that 1.5 billion people watched the Live Aid benefit concert, including 72,000 at Wembley Stadium in London and 89,000 at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. The lineup included over 70 of the 80’s biggest musical stars such as Queen, Elton John, David Bowie, and Madonna, all to raise funds for food, water, and medicine for famine relief in Ethiopia. Live Aid was seen as the “spirit of the generation” and managed to raise a little over $200 million for the famine.
I believe that smaller philanthropic events played a crucial role in making Live Aid happen. Events such as Warren Haye’s Christmas Jam, which kicked off in 1988 in Asheville, NC, have helped raise money for local communities and allowed big events such as Live Aid to exist.
A notable contributor to philanthropy in the musical world is the pioneering jam band, the Grateful Dead. I would like to explain and show that the Grateful Dead’s influence paved the way for events such as Live Aid, simply by having great examples of smaller humanitarian acts.
In the summer of 1972, the Grateful Dead helped out a small creamery in danger of being shut down. Chuck and Sue Kesey had been running the Springfield Creamery in Eugene, Oregon, since 1960, but back taxes and debt put them in a harrowing position. Chuck took a road trip with acquaintances of the Springfield Creamery to the Grateful Dead offices in the Bay Area to ask if the group would perform a benefit concert to save the creamery. Jerry and the rest of the group agreed, and a concert date was set for less than a month later.
The couple rented a massive open field on the Oregon Country Fair site in Veneta. Volunteers immediately began building a stage facing westward, which proved to be unfortunate for the band, since they would end up playing for hours in the hot sun. The creamery was challenged with printing 20,000 concert tickets. They used labels from their own yogurt containers to make tickets and sold them for $3.00 at the creamery office and $3.50 at the door.
As is typical in Grateful Dead concert history, the event gained more traction than anticipated. Attendees of the concert recall walking around gates, nobody checking their ticket, or even not paying anything to attend the show.
On that August day, temperatures reached almost 100 degrees in the sweltering summer heat. Chuck decided it was a good idea to get a creamery tank full of water to quench the people’s thirst. To his surprise, they started to shower in the water. The band proceeded to tell the couple that there were “more naked people there than at any concert they’d ever given.”
The show was a raging success. The Dead went on to perform a 31-minute-long version of “Dark Star,” and the group played until the sun set. The buckets of proceeds for the concert raised $12,000, yet failed to pay off the $14,000 tax bill. The Grateful Dead ended up writing Chuck and Sue a check to save the Springfield Creamery. When asked about his opinion on the Dead, Chuck said, “This is the greatest band ever invented by humanity.”
During an unusual touring period in the Grateful Dead’s history, the band agreed to perform at the S.N.A.C.K (Students Need Athletics, Culture, and Kicks) Benefit concert on March 23, 1975. The event was set up by concert impresario Bill Graham to fund San Francisco school extracurriculars, as budget cuts threatened after-school programs and sports. The event showcased performances from acts like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Santana.
The group went on a touring hiatus in October 1974 and resumed on a consistent basis in June of 1975. While only playing four concerts in 1975, this was one of them. While being used to performing over 2 hour long sets, the band was confined to only 30 minutes, where they occupied their time with an almost all instrumental set. While the act was technically being performed by Jerry Garcia and Friends, the act featured every member of the Grateful Dead, as well as Merl Saunders on organ and Ned Lagin on keyboards.
The Grateful Dead called this performance at S.N.A.C.K. benefit “Space Age,” while they would later release the album “Blues for Allah” in 1975, which featured most of the songs from the show in different formats.
In September of 1988, the Grateful Dead hosted an impressive 9-show run at Madison Square Garden in New York. On the 24th, the Grateful Dead closed out their run with the Rainforest Benefit Concert. Organized by the group, the show featured Bruce Hornsby & The Range, Suzanne Vega, Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones, and Hall & Oates.
During a shocking concert, the Dead brought out a multitude of guests for their show. During “West L.A. Fadeaway” and “Little Red Rooster,” Mick Taylor came out to play guitar. While performing their only versions of the songs “Chinese Bones” and “Neighborhood Girls,” Suzanne Vega appeared to perform with the Dead. Hall & Oates bassist Tom “T-Bone” Wolk and saxophonist Mark Rivera performed “Everytime You Go Away” and “What’s Goin’ On” by Marvin Gaye with the band. Finally, the iconic “Drums” featured Baba Olatunji and Michael Hinton.
The Grateful Dead has also had its hand in starting its own foundations and charities. After roadie and later tour manager Rex Jackson died in a car accident, and as the group received requests from community organizations for help, members of the band founded The Rex Foundation in 1983. The Rex Foundation is a non-profit charitable organization supporting creative endeavors in the arts, sciences, and education. While still running today, The Rex Foundation aims to “support organizations committed to grassroots action, identify entities doing good work that might be overlooked, and help people helping others and trying to make a difference,” among many other actions.
Jerry Garcia also has a foundation in his name, created by his widow Manasha Garcia and daughter Keelin Garcia. According to its website, “The Jerry Garcia Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports environmental, artistic, and humanitarian causes through the beauty of music and art.”
The Grateful Dead supported many causes throughout their tenure as a band, and continue to do so to this day with organizations such as The Rex Foundation and The Jerry Garcia Foundation. Their smaller acts of kindness paved the way for major events such as Live Aid and contributed to millions of people receiving aid. The Grateful Dead harbors a great amount of culture, but also contributes a good amount to humanity.
