Grateful Dead Music Forum

Samson wrote:Do you think the change after the coma was a public perception thing, an on the ground shift, or caused a wave of police presence? What was tangibly different?

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Sam

I think the public perception change drove the dramatic increase in police presence. I think the public perception change was caused by the dramatic increasei in popularity that occurred in late '87 - '88. 10,000 hippies hanging out at a small venue and mostly keeping to themselves is a lot less threatening to the average homeowner than 80,000 dead heads with tickets, another 10,000 without tickets that are just there for the parking lot party AND the associated increase in illegal vending taking place at the venue.