Beatles in “A Hard Day’s Night,” as well as at the Cow Palace in 1964 greatly influenced Jerry Garcia and friends. It influenced them to move from jug band and folk and on to rock & roll. The Grateful Dead were definitely fans and actually covered a number of their songs in the latter years, including Revolution, I Want to Tell You, Day Tripper, Tomorrow Never Knows, Blackbird and others (none particularly well). Unfortunately, there’s little evidence that admiration was returned!
George played a rosewood Telecaster guitar during the Let It Be sessions and later gave the guitar to the duo of Delaney & Bonnie, whom he had tried to sign to Apple Records, in addition to touring briefly with them in 1969. In 1970, Delaney & Bonnie played with the Grateful Dead on a concert tour captured in the documentary, Festival Express
Paul also mentioned the Grateful Dead in a 2002 interview with the Rocking Vicar website. The interviewer Mark Ellen asked Paul about his flirtations with avant-garde music and art in the mid-1960s, and Paul revealed that he had made a short film in the 1960s of the Grateful Dead based on Linda McCartney’s photography:
I actually have a project I would like … I’m involved … One of the many things I did, I did a thing called The Grateful Dead Photo Film, using Linda’s snapshots and making them move, dissolving between them and making them into a film, a short art film, which I showed at festivals and things.
there was something else tugging at Garcia as 1964 turned into 1965. For one thing, like half of America under the age of 25, Jerry had been seduced by the Beatles, especially their film, A Hard Day’s Night, which depicted life in a rock and roll band as just about the most fun that could be had on planet earth. the Beatles were deliciously irreverent and in-your-face anarchic; untamable gadabouts on an endless lark, always living in a completely different universe than the pitiable straight forces that were constantly trying to control, or at the very least, restrain them.
“The Beatles were why we turned from a jug band into a rock and roll band,” said Bob Weir.
When McCartney played the Monterey Pop Festival, he left a half-eaten sandwich on the side of the main stage. It’s been confirmed that Phil Lesh accidentally took several bites of the sandwich and stated, “It’s getting better all the time.”
When McCartney played the Monterey Pop Festival, he left a half-eaten sandwich on the side of the main stage. It’s been confirmed that Phil Lesh accidentally took several bites of the sandwich and stated, “It’s getting better all the time.”
Dismised as coincidence? Ha! You silly muffin…