OLD BRIDGE - They came from all over East Coast and beyond, descending on the 300-acre Raceway Park drag strip on a hot late summer afternoon.

They carried blankets and dragged coolers, and, with parking at a premium, many walked for miles. They came to see a concert by the Grateful Dead, but also to be part of a happening that attracted a crowd estimated at 100,000 to more than 150,000.

Forty years later, the epic Sept. 3. 1977, show still resonates with fans, as well as those connected to the band.

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"Woodstock drew 300,000 people in 1969. Watkins Glen hosted nearly 600,000 persons in 1971. Raceway Park here joined the ranks of those other sites of monster outdoor concerts here yesterday, when an estimated 150,000 fans clogged the the access roas in this relatively remote area of Monmouth County," wrote Asbury Park Press correspondent Steven L. Lubetkin about the show.

New Riders of the Purple Sage and The Marshall Tucker Band opened the show, but there was little doubt who the large majority of fans came to see.

"The majority of the crowd sported Grateful Dead T-shirts or memorabilia of some sort," Lubetkin wrote. "The crowd's collection of Dead relics was offset by the giant banner bearing the band's 'skull' logo which hung over the stage behind the band."

And what about the performance itself? Writing for "Jambase" in 2016, Scott Bernstein had strong praise for the show,which was later released as a live album as part of the Dead's "Dick's Picks" series.

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"But the Dead’s lone concert at Raceway Park isn’t just remembered for its huge draw, it’s remembered for the wonderful music that went down in New Jersey’s Middlesex County," Bernstein wrote. "The show on September 3, 1977 features outstanding renditions of “Mississippi Half-Step,” “Eyes of the World” and “Not Fade Away” as well as the return of “Truckin'” for the first time in over two years."

Concert promoter John Scher, who got his first paying gig in the concert business by booking shows at Asbury Park's Sunshine In, said the Dead concert "shows (New) Jersey as a major, important market in the music business."

Many years later, Mickey Hart, one of the Dead's drummers, told the Press' Alex Biese that he had fond memories of the Raceway Park show.

“I had gotten into an automobile accident and this was the first time the Grateful Dead had played after I’d recovered," Hart said. "This was our first show (back), so it was really an important show for me. This was kind of my comeback from my injury; I didn't know it was going to be (in front of) like 175,000 people! It was a great concert. I had a wonderful time. I made it through. It felt good.”

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My friend and former colleague, Jeanne Jackson, drove down from Long Island to attend the 1977 show with about a dozen friends. In spite of the heat, long lines for portable toilets, and the long hours waiting for the Dead to take the stage, Jackson has fond memories of the show.

"Their arrival on stage caused a new pitch of excitement, bringing us to our feet," Jackson wrote in a Press story that appeared on the 10-year anniversary of the show. "And there we stayed through an entire set, singing and dancing to classic Dead songs like 'Friend of the Devil' and "Truckin'. I've since heard the band was rusty that night -- but they sounded fine to us."

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Reporters described the pungent smell of marijuana lingering in the humid air that day.

Dead manager Richard Loren told Rolling Stone magazine in 2013 that the Raceway Park concert showed the band's drawing power.

"It said, 'We're a big band,'" says Loren. "It put the Dead up there with anybody else who was performing: 'Yeah, the Allman Brothers are a big band, but they're not the Grateful Dead.' The industry stood up and said, 'Holy mackerel!'"

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But the concert almost didn't happen.

Officials from neighboring Manalapan, which is only about 200 feet from the border of Raceway Park, had sued in an attempt to block the show.

Manalapan's town leaders claimed the show violated a state law that regulated large gatherings of people at music and entertainment events. Promoters of concerts lasting 18 hours or more and drawing more than 3,000 people were supposed to obtain such a permit.

The real reason Manalapan didn't want the show to happen: then-police Chief Thomas Wallace and other law enforcement officials were convinced that motorcycle gangs, like the Hells Angels, the Breed and Pagans, were sure to show up at the show.

The Angels had become infamous due to their actions at 1969's Rolling Stones concert at Altamont Speedway in California. Hired as stage security by the Stones' management, the Angels got into numerous fights with both patrons and performers.

Concert-goer Meredith Hunter was stabbed to death by one of the Angels after he brandished a gun.

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"They are the personal bodyguards of the Grateful Dead," Wallace claimed in a Sept. 3 story in the Press. He told the newspaper "there is no doubt in my mind" that dangerous motorcycle gangs would be at the drag strip.

Scher scoffed at Wallace's claims.

"I've put on Grateful Dead concerts at least 15 times in New Jersey and not once has there been a motorcycle gang," Scher told the Press.

Middlesex County Prosecutor C. Judson Hamlin also predicted possible violence from rogue biker gangs. Scher described Hamlin's conduct as "disgraceful."

On Sept. 2, 1977, the day before the concert, Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Thomas L. Yaccarino refused Manalapan's request to stop the concert.

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The show, which was scheduled to last eight hours (it actually went for about nine), was not long enough to fall under the state statute, Yaccarino ruled.

Scher later said that Manalapan's attempts to block the Dead show garnered extra publicity, which likely lured even more concertgoers to Raceway Park.

And there were no signs of outlaw bikers at the show.

"Hell's Angels are not our bodyguards," Mickey Hart told a Press reporter. "If they're here, you'll see colors. I don't think they are."

It wasn't the first time Scher had run into opposition when trying to put on an outdoor show near the Jersey Shore.

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He and then-partner Al Hayward had to go to court in August 1971, when Wall officials attempted to block a Jefferson Airplane concert the two promoters intended to stage at Wall Stadium.

When Superior Court Judge Patrick J. McGann ruled in favor of the promoters, an Asbury Park Press ad proclaimed, "Jefferson Airplane will fly in Wall Aug. 15."

Fast forward to 1977. How many people really attended the Grateful Dead show?

"There's about 150,000 of us here," Scher proclaimed when he introduced the Dead at about 6:30 p.m.

Reminded of that later, Scher said, "I was playing with the kids at this point."

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Scher later said between 90,000 and 100,000 attended the show, although many observers that day thought there were many more people in attendance. Years later, at least one local official claimed the real attendance was closer to 200,000.

Whatever it's actual size, almost every official agreed the crowd was well-behaved.

"The kids are proving that 100,000 kids can get together and cause no problems," a jubilant Scher told the Press.

There were more than 50 people taken to Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune, some ferried on helicopters that Scher had leased for the show.

And two deaths were connected to the concert.

A 17-year-old Long Island man who was flown from the concert grounds and pronounced dead at the hospital was later found to have choked to death, according to a press report. An 18-year-old Brooklyn woman died early Sunday morning after the van she was riding in struck a tree near Raceway Park.

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There were also drug overdoses, many cases of dehydration and some injuries from falls. Traffic on the surrounding streets backed up so badly that many fans parked cars miles away and walked to the venue.

A helicopter used to ferry performers and injured patrons to and from the track was forced to crash land in a field off Route 33 in East Windsor after experiencing mechanical difficulties. No one was seriously injured.

Many Manalapan residents reported being trapped in their homes by traffic, and finding garbage on their property and cars parked on their lawns.

A Press story about the show's aftermath recounts the feelings of an unnamed older woman who picked up rotten fruit, beer cans and a sneaker from her litter-strewn yard the day after the concert.

"Animals! They were pigs!" she exclaimed.

But some residents made money from the show. In a 1987 story marking the concert's 10-year anniversary, Cecile Schmidt told reporter Joseph Sapia that concert-goers had given her $279 after she let them park on her lawn and gave out free food.

Some residents charged $10 for Dead fans to park on their property. Hundreds of cars were towed by police.

Overall, officials had few complaints about the crowd.

"Except for litter or traffic problems, this thing could become a yearly event as far as I'm concerned," an Old Bridge special police officer told Press reporter Robert J. Williams.

John Westlake, who ran three concession trailers at the concert, estimated the crowd had purchsed 200,000 cans of soda, 15,000 pounds of hot dogs, and large amounts of donuts, fruit cups and candy.

"When the gates opened they came in yelling like Indians, screaming and pushing to get close to the stage and I figured, 'Oh boy,'" Westlake told the Press. "But they were great, stood in line, waited patiently, and no one tried to start an argument."

It took nearly a week for Scher's employees to clean up the concert site and some surrounding streets.

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"When you put 100,000 adults together in that kind of heat, it's likely they wouldn't behave as well as the young people did," Old Bridge Mayor George Stone told the Press.

Even so, Stone and Old Bridge officials moved to ban future rock shows at Raceway Park, and Manalapan adopted a measure prohibiting "mass gatherings" without proper permits.

It would be years before another rock show was held at Raceway Park, but for those who were in the audience on Sept. 3, 1977, the memory of that legendary show will never fade away.

Here's the setlist:

Promised Land

They Love Each Other

Me and My Uncle

Mississippi Half-Step

Looks Like Rain

Peggy-O

New Minglewood Blues

Friend of the Devil

Music Never Stopped



Bertha

Good Lovin'

Loser

Estimated Prophet

Eyes of the World

Samson and Delilah

He's Gone

Not Fade Away

Truckin'



Terrapin Station

Jean Mikle: 732-643-4050, jmikle@gannettnj.com