On May 6th, 1970, the Grateful Dead performed a free show at Kresge Plaza on the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA. The Grateful Dead performance that day was part of a larger nationwide protest movement of events in response to the killing of four college students by National Guardsmen at a protest at Kent State University in Ohio two days earlier.

Songs performed for those in attendance at the event that day included “Dancin’ In The Street”, “China Cat Sunflower” into “I Know You Rider”, “Morning Dew”, “Good Lovin'”, “Casey Jones”, a very strong-sounding “St. Stephen”, “Not Fade Away”, and more.

The MIT show was also a historical moment as it marked Ned Lagin‘s first time meeting the Grateful Dead. The multi-disciplinary composer, scientist, and keyboardist had written a letter asking the Dead to play at MIT—where he was enrolled as a biology student—and sent them a sample of his music. Lagin went on to frequently collaborate with members of the Dead and occasionally sat in with the band from 1970–1975. In 1975 he released Seastones, an experimental electronic album featuring Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, and Mickey Hart, as well as David Crosby, Grace Slick, and others.

Related: Listen To Bob Weir’s Isolated Guitar Parts From Grateful Dead’s Final Show At Berkeley’s Greek Theatre In 1989 [Full-Show Video]

Revisit the May 1970 Grateful Dead performance at MIT in protest of the Kent State massacre with the full-show audio below:

Grateful Dead – Kresge Plaza – Cambridge, MA – 5/6/70

[Audio: Jonathan Aizen]

[Originally published 5/6/20]