Laughter, Love and Music, Bill Graham Memorial, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA, 11-3-1991, Part 1: Bobby McFerrin, Jackson Browne, Journey, Tracy Chapman, and More

On October 25, 1991 rock concert promoter Bill Graham died. The helicopter he was riding in went down in heavy fog as he returned home from a Huey Lewis and the News concert in Concord, California. Also killed were his companion, Melissa Gold, and his pilot, Steve Kahn. Federal investigators later said that Kahn was warned by air traffic controllers not to fly because of inclement weather. Just six days after that, a memorial rock concert for him was held in Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco. About 300,000 fans attended. There's enough music from this concert for four albums. Here's the first one.

Graham could be called a music promoter, and that much is true, but he was a lot more than just that. Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir called him "the most important non-musician in music." 

He's best known for owning the Fillmore and Winterland concert venues, but that's just a small part of the picture. There's no other promoter who has even come close to having the impact on music that he had, and I believe he's the only promoter inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He helped start and nurture the San Francisco music scene in the late 1960s, and helped a great many musical acts get their big breaks and then stay famous. 

Rabbi Robert Kirschner said of him, "There was a lot more to Bill than the Fillmore and Winterland and associations with the whole pantheon of rock 'n' roll in that era. He was also a visionary. He basically invented the whole idea of 'rock theater,' where you went to a concert for an immersion experience." His concerts were always special. For instance, when went to concerts at the Fillmore in the late 1980s, everyone who went could take home a free concert poster, as well as eat a free apple or two if they wanted. Who else would go the extra mile to improve a concert experience like that?!

And although he could be a ruthless businessman, he also was at the forefront of using music to promote social causes, especially to help fund charities. Neil Young had some moving words to say about that during this concert. "Bill Graham made us all look good. Gave us a chance to show you that we could do something good instead of just going on with our careers. He kept pushing us to do things for other people and making a place available for us to do it, so that there was no way out. Thank you, Bill."

There's a lot more that could be said about Graham and his remarkable career, but I'll direct you to his Wikipedia page for that:

Bill Graham (promoter) - Wikipedia

Suffice to say that he was beloved by many rock musicians, so they showed up for this memorial concert despite having only a couple of days to prepare. I'm sure many, many more would have wanted to play, but there was limited time available. Generally speaking, only the big name acts closest to him were chosen. 

For this first volume out of four, I gathered together all the musical acts that only performed a couple of songs each. Generally speaking, they are in the correct chronological order. However, Robin Williams, Journey, and Tracy Chapman all appeared after the next act, Santana, instead of before it. 

Also, note that I believe I've included all the music from the concert. The concert lasted about five and a half hours. The four volumes I've put together total four hours and fifteen minutes. The difference is the time between the acts.

There was just one non-musical performer at the concert, comedian Robin Williams. Normally, I like to keep things to just the music, but I've made an exception in this case to include his stand-up routine. But I stuck it at the end of this album, making it easier for you to keep it, skip it, or delete it. In fact, he performed just before Journey.

I've leave it to you to find out more about the performers if you want. But I have one comment to make about Journey. From 1977 until 1987, Steve Perry was the lead vocalist of that band. But in 1987, he felt burned out and quit the band. For the next several years, he retreated from the public eye and just tried to live a normal life. But he came out of semi-retirement for this concert. This end up being the last time Perry played with Journey.

You can find an entire article about it here:

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/last-journey-show-steve-perry/ 

Also, here's a Los Angeles Times about this memorial concert, written right after it took place:

Bay Area Plays Tribute to Graham : Memorial: About 300,000 gather for free concert at Golden Gate Park honoring the rock promoter who died 10 days ago in a helicopter crash. - Los Angeles Times 

All the music here is unreleased, I believe. I'm pretty sure the entire concert was broadcast on a local radio station, which is why we have an excellent sounding recording of all of it. 

This album is an hour and ten minutes long. 

01 talk by emcee (Dirty Dozen Brass Band)
02 talk (Dirty Dozen Brass Band)
03 My Feet Can't Fail Me Now (Dirty Dozen Brass Band)
04 talk by emcee (Bobby McFerrin)
05 talk (Bobby McFerrin)
06 Did I Hear You Say You Love Me (Bobby McFerrin)
07 talk (Bobby McFerrin)
08 The Star Spangled Banner (Bobby McFerrin)
09 talk by emcee (Jackson Browne)
10 For a Dancer (Jackson Browne)
11 talk (Jackson Browne)
12 World in Motion (Jackson Browne)
13 talk by emcee (Jackson Browne)
14 talk by emcee (Joe Satriani)
15 Always with Me, Always with You [Instrumental] (Joe Satriani)
16 talk (Joe Satriani)
17 The Crush of Love [Instrumental] (Joe Satriani)
18 talk by emcee (Joe Satriani)
19 talk by emcee (Aaron Neville)
20 Ave Maria (Aaron Neville)
21 talk by emcee (Aaron Neville)
22 talk by emcee (Journey)
23 talk (Journey)
24 Faithfully (Journey)
25 Lonely Road without You (Journey)
26 Lights (Journey)
27 talk by emcee (Tracy Chapman)
28 All That You Have Is Your Soul (Tracy Chapman)
29 Where the Soul Never Dies (Tracy Chapman)
30 talk by emcee (Tracy Chapman)
31 talk by emcee (Robin Williams)
32 Stand-Up Comedy Routine (Robin Williams)
33 talk by emcee (Robin Williams)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/BGA5GZ1u

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/XgCnvfog3Ukj8Gr/file

The cover image shows Steve Perry and Neal Schon of Journey at this exact concert. Perry is holding a microphone at the edge of the stage, and Schon is playing guitar. Oh, and I took the "Laughter, Love and Music" logo from a promotional poster for the event.

In Concert Against AIDS, Oakland Coliseum Stadium, Oakland, CA, 5-27-1989, Part 1: Tower of Power, Joe Satriani, and Los Lobos

Here's another big benefit concert with lots of big name stars. It's another case where these kinds of concerts seem to have mostly been forgotten, so I'm trying to give them the attention they deserve. I found enough for four albums from this concert. Here's the first one.

In the 1980s especially, the disease AIDS was a big issue. There was a lot of misinformation and fear about it. Ronald Reagan, who was president of the U.S. from 1981 to 1989, didn't even mention AIDS in public until 1985, despite it being a big news story since 1981, and he didn't give a speech addressing it until 1987. Foolish people were saying AIDS was a punishment from God for homosexuality (though eventually way more non-homosexuals would get it), and that one could get it from toilet seats and kissing and the like (which was untrue). So this concert was meant to help raise awareness about to issue as well as raise money to fund non-profits that were working on the issue.

The concert was held in the Oakland Coliseum, which could hold about 50,000 people. But I've come across some articles from the time period. It turns out there was so much fear and misinformation about AIDS at the time that about 20,000 tickets were unsold, and the articles cited opinions that some people were staying away out of fear of AIDS. For instance, famous music promoter Bill Graham, who helped promote this festival, said at the time, "There are people who are staying away out of fear, and they need to be educated." As if you could get AIDS just by attending a concert about AIDS! Sheesh!

Anyway, this first album essentially contains the warm-up acts before the bigger names performed later. Los Lobos was already a pretty big name, especially after they had a Number One single in the U.S. with "La Bamba" in 1987, so they get most of the time here. However, it's possible the first two acts, Joe Satriani and Tower of Power, performed more songs. I don't know. I put these albums together from multiple sources, and none of them had everything, which increases the chances there are more pieces I couldn't find.

This album is an hour and two minutes long. 

01 Always with Me, Always with You [Instrumental] (Joe Satriani)
02 Surfing with the Alien [Instrumental] (Joe Satriani)
03 The Crush of Love [Instrumental] (Joe Satriani)
04 Believe It (Tower of Power)
05 talk (Tower of Power)
06 What Is Hip (Tower of Power)
07 talk (Los Lobos)
08 Evangeline (Los Lobos)
09 Don't Worry Baby (Los Lobos)
10 talk (Los Lobos)
11 Will the Wolf Survive (Los Lobos)
12 I Walk Alone (Los Lobos)
13 talk (Los Lobos)
14 The Giving Tree (Los Lobos)
15 talk (Los Lobos)
16 Let's Say Goodnight (Los Lobos)
17 talk (Los Lobos)
18 Someday (Los Lobos)
19 Georgia Slop (Los Lobos)
20 Shakin' Shakin' Shakes (Los Lobos)
21 I Got Loaded (Los Lobos)
22 Why Do You Do (Los Lobos)
23 talk (Los Lobos) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/jXifNoFo

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/P9BFcCIUhqeQ3SE/file

The cover image is a screenshot taken from a video of Los Lobos performing at this exact concert. It's a bit low-res, but it was the best I could find. I tried to use the Krea AI program to increase the detail, but in this case it didn't seem to help much.