Jun 23, 1973 (dates approximate) · Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Stadium · Oakland, CA
What did Day on the Green actually cost?
Day on the Green No. 1 (1973)
Historical recreation — figures are period estimates for demonstration. Names, venues, dates, and headline figures are documented history; line-item amounts are period-plausible reconstructions, never presented as historical fact.
The history
In 1973 Bill Graham Presents launched Day on the Green at the Oakland Coliseum Stadium — the daytime stadium-concert series that became the West Coast's defining rock franchise for two decades (Led Zeppelin's 1977 dates, the great twin bills of the '70s and '80s). This entry recreates the inaugural-year production as a budget file: union stagehand calls, stadium rental, and the era's grass-protection and security line items. Exact inaugural date and bill are not consistently documented; the date shown is approximate.
Estimated attendance: 40,000–55,000.
The budget vs. the close
Top-line plan $250,000.00 · recorded actuals $222,500.00 — variance derived from the line items below, the way Wavemist computes it on every show.
The paper trail, line by line
| Category | Line item | Budgeted | Actual | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talent | Headline + support acts (stadium bill) Period estimate (reconstruction). | $100,000.00 | $105,000.00 | +$5,000.00 (+5.0%) |
| Venue | Coliseum Stadium rental + field protection Playing-field protection was a standing Day on the Green cost. | $30,000.00 | $30,000.00 | $0.00 (0.0%) |
| Labor | Union stagehand calls — load-in, show, load-out Period estimate (reconstruction). | $25,000.00 | $29,000.00 | +$4,000.00 (+16.0%) |
| Gear | PA & lighting package Period estimate (reconstruction). | $20,000.00 | $22,000.00 | +$2,000.00 (+10.0%) |
| Security | Stadium security & ushers Period estimate (reconstruction). | $12,000.00 | $13,000.00 | +$1,000.00 (+8.3%) |
| Catering | Backstage hospitality — a BGP signature Bill Graham's backstage spreads were famous in the business. | $5,000.00 | $6,500.00 | +$1,500.00 (+30.0%) |
| Freight | Trucking & equipment freight Period estimate (reconstruction). | $6,000.00 | $7,000.00 | +$1,000.00 (+16.7%) |
| Insurance | Event insurance Period estimate (reconstruction). | $8,000.00 | $8,000.00 | $0.00 (0.0%) |
| Permits | City/county permits & licensing Period estimate (reconstruction). | $2,000.00 | $2,000.00 | $0.00 (0.0%) |
| Total | $208,000.00 | $222,500.00 | +$14,500.00 | |
Historical recreation — figures are period estimates for demonstration. Variance is computed on read from the line items — never stored.
Carbon footprint: 1973 vs. today
Directional, order-of-magnitude estimates for demonstration — methodology shown line by line, not a measured footprint. Factors are published per-unit values (US EPA 2024 Hub diesel at 10.21 kg CO₂e/US gal ≈ 2.68 kg/litre DEFRA-equivalent; eGRID grid kWh; DEFRA air travel) — where the in-product carbon registry already seeds a factor, the exact same value is used here.
The 1973 production, as modeled
| Source | Assumption | kg CO₂e |
|---|---|---|
| Venue grid power (tungsten/PAR rig + PA) | ≈400 kW stadium rig × ~12 show + load-in hours, plus house loads → ~6,000 kWh Factor: eGRID 2022 US average, 0.392 kg CO2e/kWh (seeded in the product carbon registry as venue_power.us-national-avg) — today's grid as a conservative floor for the dirtier period grid | 2.4 t CO₂e |
| Supplemental diesel gensets | 2 × 100 kW field gensets × ~24 h at ~4 gal/hr → 192 gal Factor: US EPA 2024 Hub, 10.21 kg CO2e/US gal diesel (seeded in the product carbon registry as generator.diesel-ulsd-per-gallon) | 2 t CO₂e |
| Trucking & freight | Regional staging/PA moves → ~2,500 truck-miles Factor: US EPA 2024 Hub, 0.9 kg CO2e/truck-mile (seeded in the product carbon registry as trucking.tractor-trailer-53ft-diesel) | 2.3 t CO₂e |
| Attendee travel (the dominant source) | ≈50,000 attendees, ~30 urban miles round trip, ~3 per car → 500,000 car-miles Factor: US EPA, 0.37 kg CO2e/car-mile (seeded in the product carbon registry as travel_ground.sedan-gas) | 185 t CO₂e |
| Artist & crew travel | ≈40 artist/crew domestic round-trip flights Factor: DEFRA + RFI 1.9, 195 kg CO2e/domestic economy round trip (seeded in the product carbon registry as travel_air.domestic-economy-rt-us) | 7.8 t CO₂e |
| Period estimate, total | 199.4 t CO₂e | |
The same show with today's tech
LED rig replaces tungsten/PAR on: Venue grid power (tungsten/PAR rig + PA)
−70% · saves 1.6 t CO₂e
LED cuts the lighting share ~80–90%; PA and house loads carry over, so the line nets ~70%.
Battery packs replace field gensets on: Supplemental diesel gensets
−85% · saves 1.7 t CO₂e
Charged off the CA grid (CAMX, ~0.21 kg/kWh).
Consolidated, routed trucking on: Trucking & freight
−20% · saves 450 kg CO₂e
Load consolidation + routing software typically trims 15–25% of freight miles.
Transit incentives (BART/AC Transit to the Coliseum) on: Attendee travel (the dominant source)
−25% · saves 46.3 t CO₂e
The stadium sits on a BART line — modal shift is the realistic lever.
Travel routing + economy-class policy on: Artist & crew travel
−10% · saves 780 kg CO₂e
Itinerary consolidation; flying is flying.
The headline
≈25% lower with a modern, Wavemist-tracked production
199.4 t CO₂e then → ≈148.6 t CO₂e with today's tech. The honest residual is the part no rig can fix — people getting to the show.
In Wavemist, this isn't a separate spreadsheet: carbon is computed from the same line items you already budget — the trucking line that prices the bid is the trucking line that counts the miles.
Directional, order-of-magnitude estimates for demonstration — methodology shown line by line, not a measured footprint.
With Wavemist — the retro analysis
a recurring series is a benchmarking goldmine — every Coliseum load-in feeds vendor pricing observations, so by show three you know exactly what staging, sound, and stagehands should cost, and settlement reconciles against the advance in minutes.
Run your own paper trail
Import all 9 legendary shows into your own Wavemist — free — no card required — or see pricing for the Producer and Studio plans.