On June 1st, 1991 The Grateful Dead hosted a concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The event was opened by Johnny Clegg and Savuka, starting at 1 p.m. The crowd in the Coliseum ended up being about half capacity, with nearly 50,000 tickets sold. Still, it was one of the top 5 highest grossing shows of 1991.
Sound technician Dan Healy spent weeks studying the Coliseum before The Grateful Dead performed in order to figure out the best location for the band’s speaker towers in order to make sure there were “no bad seats.” Some fans were apprehensive about the reserved seating style of the Coliseum, in contrast with the usual festival seating for The Grateful Dead. However, much thought went into the show, including nude torso sculptures by Robert Graham to assure the authenticity of the show.