“More than a little weird”: Why the Grateful Dead thought they sucked at Woodstock
The Grateful Dead were always known for being one of the most formidable live acts on the planet, and the fact that they released countless live records celebrating their prowess onstage is a huge testament to how beloved they were for this aspect of their output. Sure, their studio albums were loved and demonstrated the band’s brilliance, but live was where they truly shone above their contemporaries.
They were well aware that this was where their strength lay as well, and would regularly perform marathon live sets that saw them jam with a sense of connectedness that few other bands could claim. It was an almost telepathic kinship that they shared, and to be able to make every performance feel somewhat unique was a huge undertaking that, the majority of the time, they were able to carry through flawlessly.
However, by their own admission, the band never seemed to do well when it came to performing on the ‘big’ stages. Whether due to stage fright, unfortunate technical occurrences, or simply having taken their commitment to drug use to the extreme, there always seemed to be something that got in the way of them ever triumphing in front of their largest audiences. While they may resent this to a certain degree, at least the band have always been able to laugh about it.
During a 1989 appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, guitarist and vocalist Jerry Garcia claimed that the band always seemed to hit a stumbling block when it came to playing the most momentous shows of their career, despite having spent over two decades honing their craft. “We usually do pretty bad at the big ones,” Garcia said, “We played terrible at Woodstock and Monterey Pop Festival, all the milestones.”
Letterman also referenced their time performing in Egypt, which was another series of shows on an enormous scale that went catastrophically wrong for the group. Garcia was happy to brush this off as jetlag and exhaustion from flying to the North African nation. However, he and fellow guitarist Bob Weir weren’t willing to make any excuses for their Woodstock appearance, which the host questioned them on as to why it was such an abysmal experience for the band.
“Our situation was more than a little weird,” Garcia laughed, before Weir elaborated on the reasons behind their performance being a complete train wreck. “Our sound man at the time decided he was going to change the ground in the middle of the whole thing,” Weir explained, referring to the botched electrical setup of their show.
Adding: “It was not done right or something. Every time I touched my instrument, I got a horrible shock, and [Jerry] was getting the same thing.”
While having “bolts of electricity flying across the stage”, as Garcia recalled, may have sounded like an incredible spectacle for members of the audience to witness, it certainly didn’t help the band in their performance, and they forever lamented their momentous appearance at the festival as being one of their worst. Despite not being best pleased with it, their reputation was not tarnished, and they proved time and time again that they were still a force to be reckoned with in a live capacity—Woodstock just wasn’t the best example of it.
