3/23/75: SNACK benefit, kezar stadium, san francisco, CA.

the dead had officially retired from performing after their five-night stand at winterland in october, 1974, so it was quite a surprise when they appeared in concert (and on the radio) at kezar stadium in the spring of 1975. the band played entirely unheard new material, joined by guest keyboardists merl saunders and ned lagin. the day's performance was billed as jerry garcia & friends, but it was generally perceived as a dead show. in terms of the set, i love the fact that they broke out a bunch of instrumental tunes from blues for allah before the official release of the record. this is so good ‘ol grateful dead-playing parts of an unfinished album live on the KIOI fm airwaves. the performance documents the fertile period of exploration the band was engaged in during their “retirement.” in a larger sense, the dead’s choice of material they played for the SNACK gig announced to their fans that they were not only recording, they were still busily carving a unique path that no one expected. the grateful dead were still in the game, even if the rules of the game were not yet known.

https://archive.org/details/gd1975-03-23.sbd.miller.110126.flac16