Bear by Robert Greenfield

Author:Robert Greenfield
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

15

Wall of Sound

On September 3, 1972, the Grateful Dead performed before sixty thousand people at Folsom Field, the football stadium at the University of Colorado in Boulder. During the show, a huge lightning storm began. In John Perry Barlow’s words, “Bear had a whole bunch of notions about electricity, and one of them was that the stage should always be grounded to itself, thereby becoming what is called a ‘floating ground.’

“Once this huge electrical storm started, the energy potential of the stage was different from its surroundings, so we literally had Saint Elmo’s fire on everything. Balls of lightning were rolling around the equipment, but the band went right on playing while standing in two inches of water. There was a big canopy over the stage and we ripped holes in that because of the wind, so the water onstage just got even deeper.

“At one point, some madman with an electric Skilsaw in his hand began cutting holes in the stage so the water would drain away. For some reason, nobody got electrocuted. Which I guess we could all thank Bear for.”

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