Fresno Fairgrounds

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Lore & Background

The Wall was engineered to eliminate intermodulation distortion by routing vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, piano, bass, and drums through distinct channels. Phil Lesh's bass was particularly unique; it passed through a quadraphonic encoder sending each of the four strings to separate speakers. This architecture allowed the band to hear themselves perfectly from behind the stage, as the Wall acted as its own monitoring system. To prevent feedback from this rear-facing arrangement, Alembic designed special microphones with matched pairs spaced 60 mm apart in reverse polarity, canceling out the sound of the Wall while amplifying only the vocals. Despite its technical brilliance, the system faced challenges: guest keyboardist Ned Lagin's contributions were often lost because crew members failed to switch his input from quadraphonic to vocal, and recordings suffered from a pronounced tinniness when compressed into stereo.

In Their Own Story

The completed Wall of Sound made its touring debut on March 23, 1974, at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California, nearly a year after a rudimentary version failed at Stanford University's Maples Pavilion where every tweeter blew during the first number. The sheer scale required four semi-trailers and 21 crew members to haul the 75-ton structure. To manage the setup time, the band utilized a leapfrog method with multiple sets of scaffolding; historian Dennis McNally noted two sets, while Stanley claimed there were three. Powered by 89 solid-state and three vacuum tube amplifiers generating up to 28,800 watts, the system projected high-quality sound six hundred feet away. The tour ended abruptly in October 1974 at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom due to rising fuel costs, personnel friction, and logistical burdens, leading to its disassembly before the band resumed touring with a practical system in 1976.

Reader's Guide

For fans tracking the Wall of Sound era, specific recordings from 1974 document the system's peak performance. The debut at the Cow Palace was released as Dick's Picks Volume 24. Other key releases include Dave's Picks Volume 34 recorded at the Jai-Alai Fronton in Miami on June 23, and Dave's Picks Volume 17 from July 19 at Selland Arena in Fresno, California. The system also appeared at the Iowa State Fairgrounds (June 16) and Freedom Hall in Louisville (June 18), featured on Road Trips Volume 2 Number 3. Later shows include Dick's Picks Volume 31 from Philadelphia and New Jersey in August, and The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack capturing the final Winterland shows in October. These archives preserve the unique sonic character of a system that projected acceptable sound up to one-quarter mile before wind interference degraded it.

Did You Know?

• Phil Lesh's bass was split into four separate channels so that each string had its own dedicated set of speakers.
• The system weighed 75 tons and required four semi-trailers to transport, with crew members leapfrogging scaffolding sets between shows.
• A special microphone system using reverse-polarity pairs spaced 60 mm apart was invented specifically to cancel out the sound of the Wall from the vocal mics.
• Guest keyboardist Ned Lagin's experimental interludes were frequently lost in recordings because the crew forgot to switch his input from quadraphonic to vocal.
• The full system was only used for seven months, from March 23, 1974, to October 20, 1974, before being retired due to rising fuel and personnel costs.