The July 28, 1973, event long held the Guinness Book of World Records entry for "largest audience at a pop festival," with an estimated 600,000 fans in attendance at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Raceway.
[1][page needed] At that show the Grateful Dead were joined on-stage by Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, and Jai Johanny Johanson, members of the Allman Brothers Band.
[1][page needed] Similar to the 1969 Woodstock Festival, an enormous traffic jam created chaos for those who attempted to make it to the concert site.
In essence, that meant that on July 28, one out of every 350 people living in America at the time was listening to the sounds of rock at the New York state racetrack.
Considering that most of those who attended the event hailed from the Northeast, and that the average age of those present was approximately seventeen to twenty-four, close to one out of every three young people from Boston to New York was at the festival.
[5]Summer Jam was the last concert event to be held at Watkins Glen International until 2011, when the rock band Phish organized and performed at a three-day festival, called Super Ball IX, at the complex.
Furman located the company owner, bought the amps off the factory floor, and flew back to the festival site, with the overloaded helicopter narrowly avoiding catastrophe.
Grateful Dead's soundcheck turned into a legendary two-set marathon, featuring their familiar tunes such as "Sugaree", "Tennessee Jed" and "Wharf Rat".
Their performance included songs from their soon-to-be-released album Brothers and Sisters, along with their standards "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed", "Statesboro Blues", "Les Brers in A Minor" and "Whipping Post".