Sam Cutler, tour manager for Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones, dies at 80
Sam Cutler, a former tour manager known for his work with iconic bands such as the Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead, died on Tuesday, July 11, at his home in Brisbane, Australia. He was 80.
The cause of his death was cancer, according to his children, Bodhi and Chesley Cutler, who revealed that their father had been battling the disease for nearly a decade and had been undergoing treatment.
Remembering Cutler’s contributions to the band, the surviving members of Grateful Dead, some of whom are performing with Dead & Company at Oracle Park in San Francisco this weekend, took to social media to pay tribute. They acknowledged his profound impact on both the band and the world of music, stating in a tweet, “His spirit, passion & creativity left indelible marks on the Grateful Dead & the world of music.”
Cutler rose to international prominence in his 20s when he served as the master of ceremonies for the Rolling Stones’ free concert at London’s Hyde Park on July 5, 1969. During the event, which drew 500,000 people, he famously declared, “Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest rock ’n’ roll band in the world!”
He subsequently joined the band on their American tour, where the Stones first played the Oakland Arena in 1969 and Cutler wound up in an onstage wrestling match with promoter Bill Graham.
“It was quite the clash of titans,” guitarist Keith Richards noted in Graham’s autobiography.
The tour culminated in the ill-fated Altamont Speedway concert. Described by music historian and former Chronicle critic Joel Selvin as “rock’s darkest day,” the event marked a tragic turn for the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead.
The Altamont free festival, held on Dec. 6, 1969, at a speedway 50 miles east of San Francisco, lives in notoriety as one of rock music’s great debacles. During the concert, an 18-year-old fan was fatally stabbed by a member of the Hells Angels, who had been hired as security for the event for $500 in beer. Three other concertgoers also died in accidents, and many others were subjected to violence, shocking the crowd of 300,000.
“Altamont was a huge turning point for both the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead,” Selvin told The Chronicle. “The Dead determined never to have anything to do with the mainstream audience ever again and dedicated themselves to their audience and their community. The Stones, who were this fearless and fierce band, lost something at Altamont that they never regained; some fire went out in them.”
Cutler chronicled his experiences in a memoir titled “You Can’t Always Get What You Want: My Life with the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead and Other Wonderful Reprobates,” published in 2011. In the book, he recounted his decision to remain in California after the concert with just $300 in his pocket.
Despite the Altamont tragedy, Cutler forged a friendship with the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia and subsequently became the band’s touring manager. Cutler played a pivotal role in organizing the band’s 1970 Festival Express Tour in Canada, the 1973 Watkins Glen Summer Jam festival, which attracted a crowd of 600,000, and the band’s 1972 European Tour, documented in the three-album set “Europe ’72."
“With the Rolling Stones I was looking after the band,” Culter told Classic Bands. “With the Grateful Dead, I did everything. I took care of all the travel arrangements, all the bookings for the shows. Everything. So, in effect, I worked much harder in a way with the Grateful Dead than with the Stones.”
In a statement shared on Facebook, Cutler’s children said, “Many people from across our big beautiful world crossed paths with Sam in his life, and many more formed timeless memories with him that are each beautiful encapsulation of the man that he was. Sam would want nothing more for his friends to continue to form timeless memories with whomever they meet, and to share those memories with him in the next life.”
Sam Cutler was born on March 10, 1943, in Hatfield, England, and was raised by adoptive parents. He initially worked as a teacher but found his passion as a stage manager in the late ’60s, working with emerging rock acts such as Pink Floyd and Eric Clapton. Cutler also collaborated with artists such as the Band, Allman Brothers, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Mike Bloomfield and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. However, he eventually distanced himself from the music industry to travel the world.
“I certainly didn’t want to help other people realize their fantasies yet again,” he told the music and culture site Please Kill Me. “I’d had enough of all that. So I went off to India and contemplated my navel and tried to work out what I wanted to do.”
In 1998, he relocated to Australia, spending several years living on a bus.
“I’d just gone as far as I wanted to go,” he said. “I’d gone down as many roads as I wanted to explore. The Grateful Dead were far out, of course, but they weren’t so far out that I wanted to live with them for the rest of my life. We’re brothers. They’re wonderful people. I did what I did with them, and then I f— off.
Cutler is survived by his sons, Bodhi and Chesley Cutler.
https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/music/sam-cutler-grateful-dead-rolling-stones-dead-18201951
