At the time of this concert, the New Riders' lineup consisted of John Dawson on guitar and vocals, David Nelson on guitar and vocals, Buddy Cage on pedal steel guitar, Stephen Love on bass and vocals, and Patrick Shanahan on drums.
Around the same time, the band entered the local Club 3 Degrees' annual Music Tournament competition, and in 2005, they were awarded the grand prize of free recording time at Winterland Studios in Minneapolis.
The album was recorded in summer and fall 1975, primarily at Winterland in San Francisco and the Long Island Arena in Commack, New York.
The Winterland concerts of October 17, 18, 20, 21, and 22, 1978, were the first shows played by the Dead after their concerts near the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt a month earlier.
Thirty Seconds Over Winterland is an album by the American psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane.