Footage from 54 years ago at Family Dog At The Great Highway in San Francisco, CA. Chet Helms opened the ballroom in 1969 with hopes of reviving dance hall and ballroom culture in the Bay Area and restoring a sense of ritual to live musical performance. The Dead would play at the venue 16 times, this show being the first of 1970. | Grateful Dead

'A Night at the Family Dog' 💀⚡ Jefferson Airplane, Carlos Santana, and others joined the Grateful Dead for a show taping 55 years ago this month at Chet Helms’ Family Dog at the Great Highway in San Francisco. Their 9-song set was taped for a production by Ralph J. Gleason and Bob Zagone, later aired as a PBS special highlighting San Francisco bands in their hometown. | Grateful Dead

Let there be songs to fill the air 🌬️🎶 "One of the most-loved Grateful Dead songs, ‘Ripple’ was one of the many standouts on ‘American Beauty.’ It was played 11 times between 1970 & 1971, and then dropped until it returned in 1980, played as the set-closing song every night during the Dead's acoustic sets. It made one final appearance on 9/3/88 in Landover, MD, before being retired for good." - David Lemieux Watch the full performance of the tune from the final night of the Dead’s Radio City M