One with the Fans

"By the mid-1960s, America's "counterculture" blossomed, centered in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. Young people 'dropped out' by using marijuana and LSD, living communally, and resisting materialism. Two major bands—Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead—played local venues for this new counterculture. The Dead participated in a series of "Acid Tests," organized by Ken Kesey, where audiences dropped acid (which was still legal) and danced to music and light shows, trying to build off the energy of the bands. Films of these events depict the audience and performers evenly, showing that both mattered. This relationship between performer and audience became a trademark for the Grateful Dead, who continued to tour up into the 1990s. The Dead performed audience requests and reported a spiritual connection with their audiences, who performed a variety of rituals, including gathering in parking lots before shows, trading tapes of performances, and tripping on acid."-Kevin Mattson describes in the article "Rock Concert Audiences" in the Encyclopedia of Recreation and Leisure in America.

As we read in Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Ken Kesey organized large gatherings where hippies would experiment with drugs such as acid. The Grateful Dead served as a band that united with the people, fostering a sense of community that was quintessential to the hippies' way of life.