Grateful Dead Spirit Revived: Free Concert Celebrates Iconic Era

Danny Luehring will lead a free concert at Golden Gate Park Panhandle on Sunday, March 8, honoring the Grateful Dead's tradition of no-cost shows in San Francisco. Hard to Handle, Live Music in the Panhandle, will take place from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Ashbury and Oak Streets.

Music will blast from a flatbed truck, mirroring the band's free Golden Gate Park gigs and their March 3, 1968, show in Haight-Ashbury.

Danny's Live Dead headlines with musicians from Terrapin Crossroads: Grahame Lesh, Jerry's Middle Finger representative Garrett Deloian, Phil Lesh's former bass tech Brian Rashap, and Mother Hips' Danny Eisenberg on keys will join the drummer. The China Cats also perform.

Luehring started drumming for the Dead in 2013 when he filled in for a friend at Terrapin Crossroads, spending eight years at the venue and playing more than 400 gigs there before it closed in 2021. His weekly live series, Danny's Live Dead, was created in the spirit of the Bar stage at Terrapin Crossroads, and the group has continued honoring its legacy through shows like this one.

By the late 1960s, the Grateful Dead had built a devoted following in San Francisco. Free performances happened throughout the city. At least five shows took place in the Panhandle district, reflecting the free-love ethos that defined the hippie movement.

The March 8 show brings back this tradition. Fans can attend at no charge. They'll get the chance to experience the music that shaped a generation.