{"id":670088,"date":"2026-09-03T08:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T08:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/670088\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T08:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T08:01:11","slug":"documentary-on-grateful-dead-allman-brothers-the-bands-historic-1973-summer-jam-shares-first-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/670088\/","title":{"rendered":"Documentary On Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, The Band’s Historic 1973 ‘Summer Jam’ Shares First Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new documentary film will tell the story of the Grateful Dead<\/strong>, Allman Brothers Band<\/strong>, and The Band<\/strong>\u2018s legendary Summer Jam<\/a><\/strong> concert, which brought over 600,000 fans to Watkins Glen, NY on July 28th, 1973. The team behind the film has shared a trailer and is calling for individual equity investment through Wefunder<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The new film by director Jordan Bogdonavage<\/strong> (Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza) and Academy Award-winning producer Art Horan<\/strong> (The Usual Suspects) will tell the story of Summer Jam from those who know it best, featuring new and archival interviews with the Allman Brothers Band\u2019s Jaimoe<\/strong> and Chuck Leavell<\/strong>, The Band\u2019s Robbie Robertson<\/strong>, Grateful Dead road manager Sam Cutler<\/a><\/strong>, and Allman Brothers management team member Bunky Odom<\/strong>. Original Summer Jam promoters Jim Koplik<\/strong> and Shelly Finkel<\/strong> also appear in the film in addition to serving as executive producers. Summer Jam At Watkins Glen \u2013 The Documentary will mark the first full-length feature devoted to the historic concert.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust looking down at this ocean of bodies. I\u2019d never seen anything like that in my life,\u201d Leavell says in the film\u2019s trailer. \u201cAnd I thought, \u2018Wow, we\u2019re going to play to these people. That\u2019s crazy.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: Remembering The Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, & The Band\u2019s Summer Jam Festival<\/a><\/p>\n

For many years, Summer Jam held the Guinness Book of World Records entry for the \u201clargest audience at a pop festival,\u201d surpassing Woodstock<\/strong> by at least an additional 100,000 people. In his book Aquarius Rising: The Rock Festival Years, author Robert Santelli<\/strong> estimated that one out of every 350 people living in the United States was at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Raceway<\/strong> for Summer Jam. Furthermore, Santelli wrote, \u201cconsidering 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s Wefunder page<\/a> states that production is already underway and nearing completion. Organizers are calling for investors, promising future equity and revenue share in the project. Additional perks are available for larger investments, including your name in the credits, copies of the film, VIP tickets to the New York or Los Angeles premiere, and credit as a co-executive producer.<\/p>\n

Find full investment information here<\/a> or visit the film\u2019s website<\/a>. Watch the trailer for the film below.<\/p>\n

Summer Jam At Watkins Glen \u2013 The Documentary: Trailer<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new documentary film will tell the story of the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers Band, and The Band\u2018s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[282957,282958,282959,282960,18,117,81629,282961,282962,19,17,282963,327,96806,282964,282965,282966,282967,282968,96807,282969,282970,282971,282972],"class_list":["post-670088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-allman-brothers","tag-allman-brothers-summer-jam","tag-bunky-odom","tag-chuck-leavell","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-grateful-dead","tag-grateful-dead-allman-brothers","tag-grateful-dead-allman-brothers-the-band","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jaimoe","tag-movies","tag-robbie-robertson","tag-sam-cutler","tag-summer-jam","tag-summer-jam-concert","tag-summer-jam-documentary","tag-summer-jam-grateful-dead","tag-the-band","tag-the-band-summer-jam","tag-watkins-glen","tag-watkins-glen-summer-jam","tag-watkins-glen-summer-jam-documentary"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}