DJTees Blog — Rock Festivals

This is where I indulge in my passions - VINYL & ROCK 'n' ROLL

The Goose Lake International Music Festival, Michigan 1970

The Goose Lake International Music Festival, Michigan 1970

Authored By John Nicholson

The Goose Lake International Music Festival was held August 7-9, 1970 at Goose Lake Park, in Leoni, Michigan. It was one of those strange festivals which seem to have slipped into obscurity despite drawing a huge number of people, estimated at 200,000. Outside of Michigan maybe no-one has ever heard of Goose Lake, but it was A Big Deal. The promoter was Richard Songer, a wealthy 35-year-old man who had been successful in the construction business. He set out with local DJ Russ Gibb, to produce a festival with great facilities and to avoid any of the issues that dogged...

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The Festival Of Growing Things July 1967, Marin County, California

The Festival Of Growing Things July 1967, Marin County, California

Authored By John Nicholson

Held on Sat Jul 01, 1967 - Sun Jul 02, 1967 at Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre, Mt. Tamalpais, Marin County California, this sounds like such a lovely event, held across a weekend in the Summer Of Love, in beautiful Marin County. The festival was a celebration of marijuana. The poster actually features stylized marijuana leaves and the event advertised “Free Seeds,” and “barefoot dancing on the grass.” Can you imagine any festival now being advertised on this basis? Barefoot dancing, you say? Where do I get my ticket? It speaks to more innocent times.  The music was all west coast bands, all of...

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Texas International Pop Festival, Lewisville 1969

Texas International Pop Festival, Lewisville 1969

Authored By John Nicholson

The Texas International Pop Festival was held at Lewisville, Texas, on Labour Day weekend, August 30 to September 1, 1969, just a couple of weeks after Woodstock. In the history of 60s and early 70s festivals, it has gone down in history as one of the most significant and important. The site for the event was a big field just south and west of the newly opened Dallas International Motor Speedway. It's place in history is as one of the best and most successful in terms of vibe and music, if not in terms of making a profit. A lot...

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Vortex I: A Biodegradable Festival of Life. Milo McIver State Park, Estacada, Oregon, 1970

Vortex I: A Biodegradable Festival of Life. Milo McIver State Park, Estacada, Oregon, 1970

Authored By John Nicholson

This is more commonly known as just Vortex and was a remarkable week-long rock festival in Oregon in 1970. It was sponsored by the Portland counterculture community, with help from the state of Oregon in Clackamas County near Portland. It goes down as one of the few events where The Man and The Freaks worked together. We dig that, baby.  It was put together in order to demonstrate the positive side of the anti-War Movement and to prevent violent protests during a planned appearance in the state by President Richard Nixon. To date, it remains the only state-sponsored rock festival...

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Incident at Kickapoo Creek, Heyworth, Illinois 1970

Incident at Kickapoo Creek, Heyworth, Illinois 1970

Authored By John Nicholson

Held on Dave Lewis' farm between Fri May 29, 1970 - Sun May 31, 1970, this was Illinois's hilariously-named version of Woodstock. It angered The Man, it frightened the local townsfolk and it had the local clergy declare it an embodiment of evil. Now if that doesn't sounds like a good way to spend a weekend, I don't know what does.  The bands who played were Arrow Memphis, B.B. King, Backstreet, Bloomsbury People, Blue Challengers, Bluesweed, Bucktooth, Butterfield Blues Band, Canned Heat, Country Joe & The Fish, Dan Fogelberg, Delaney & Bonnie, Easy Street, Esquires, Feather Train, Finchley Boys, For...

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The Closing Of Winterland, San Francisco 31st December 1978

The Closing Of Winterland, San Francisco 31st December 1978

Authored By John Nicholson

When I was kid in the 70s, growing up in the northeast of England, obsessed with all things west coast and hippie, the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco was one of those almost mythic places that you heard about, like the Fillmore East and West. They were not mere venues for bands to play, they were counterculture planets which like-minded people orbited around, or that's how it seemed 6,000 miles away.  Located at the corner Post Street and Steiner Street, San Francisco, 31st December 1978 marked the end of the Winterland. It was the day it closed its doors for the...

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2nd British Rock Meeting, West Germany 1972

2nd British Rock Meeting, West Germany 1972

Authored By John Nicholson

The 1st and 2nd British Rock Meetings were the promotional brainchild of Marcel Avram and Marek Lieberberg, the founders of MAMA Concerts and were heavily sponsored by the American Army because they had so many GI’s posted out in West Germany. Nice of them to put on a 4-day festival for the troops! 4 days! Sat May 20, 1972 - Mon May 22, 1972 (that's 3 days, surely?! Maybe they lost the ability to count after too much dope) The GIs were able to purchase tickets at advance booking offices on the army grounds, the AFN soldier broadcaster advertised them, and bus...

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Man-Pop Festival Winnipeg, Canada 1970

Man-Pop Festival Winnipeg, Canada 1970

Authored By John Nicholson

On August 29, Man-Pop Festival - Winnipeg 1970, one of Winnipeg's first outdoor rock festivals, took place at the Winnipeg Stadium. Man-Pop was part of the youth festivities for the Manitoba Centennial celebrations. Concerts had been held across province all summer long and Man-Pop was the grand finale. The Centennial Corporation budgeted $230,000 for the event, expecting to make back $100,000 of that through ticket sales. In July 1970 the lineup was announced. The show would be held at the Winnipeg Stadium, headlined by Led Zeppelin. Their fee was $50,000. It also included a mix of local, national and international...

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KFRC Fantasy Fair And Magic Mountain Festival, Northern California June 1967

KFRC Fantasy Fair And Magic Mountain Festival, Northern California June 1967

Authored By John Nicholson

This was a momentous moment in the history of rock music and of the countercultre. Held at the Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre, on the south side of Mount Tamalpais, Marin County, California on June 10 & June 11 1967, it is widely held to be the first authentic rock festival, held six months after the Human Be-In in Golden Gate Park. It was originally due, as posters state, to be held a week earlier, but was called off due to bad weather. Hey, there's no bad weather, man, it's all nature, dude.  It was produced and sponsored by Tom...

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Newport Pop Festival, Costa Mesa, California 1968

Newport Pop Festival, Costa Mesa, California 1968

Authored By John Nicholson

Originally scheduled to be held inside the Orange County Fairgrounds in an outdoor pavilion. The fairgrounds are on Newport Boulevard, just a short distance from Newport Beach (hence the name). However, advance ticket sales were triple of what was expected, and it became evident that no area inside the fairgrounds could hold even 25,000 people, let alone the near 100,000 now predicted. In the last three days before the show, it was moved to one of the adjoining parking lots of the fairgrounds. Fencing, staging, sanitation, and food concessions had to be organized within just three days. This must've been...

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Lake Riviera Pop Festival, France 1970

Lake Riviera Pop Festival, France 1970

Authored By John Nicholson

France has a bit of a checkered history with rock festivals. With the riots of 1968 still reverberating through society, the authorities were not keen on festivals at all, fearing it was a gathering of the masses against authority, when really, it was hairy people wanting to get stoned and get their groove on. They didn’t dig that in any way whatsoever and badly judged what was really going on.  This festival was held Thursday Jul 23, 1970 - Saturday Jul 25, 1970 in Valbonne but from the get-go struggled against the authorities. By mid-July they came up with a...

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Palm Springs Pop Festival, California April 1969

Palm Springs Pop Festival, California April 1969

Authored By John Nicholson

These days Coachella is a big deal, but for 10 years after this 1969 festival, there were no permits issued for anyone wanting to hold out door music events in the Palm Springs area because of the trouble it caused. Come with me back to 1969 Back then, the conservative SoCal desert town was small place of some 20,000 people. The Palm Springs Pop Festival was held in April 1969. On the bill were the likes of Procol Harum, The Doors, Canned Heat, John Mayall, Savoy Brown, Steve Miller, Ike and Tina Turner, Eric Burdon and the Animals, the Flying...

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Festival of the Flower Children, Woburn Abbey 1967

Festival of the Flower Children, Woburn Abbey 1967

Authored By John Nicholson

Held over August Bank Holiday in 1967, this was the first flowering of the British hippie fests. According to the Sunday Times, it attracted over 25,000 hippies from all over Europe for a show that was inspired primarily by Monterey Pop. The 3-day line-up was Al Stewart, Alan Price, Bee Gees, Blossom Toes, Breakthru, Dantalion's Chariot, Denny Laine, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Family, Small Faces, The Big Roll Band, The Dream, The Jeff Beck Group, The Marmalade, The Syn, Tintern Abbey, Tomorrow, Zoot Money. In the Summer Of Love, festivals here were really very different to those happening in...

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Mississippi River Festival 1969

Mississippi River Festival 1969

Authored By John Nicholson

In 1969, Southern Illinois University initiated the Mississippi River Festival. Though primarily designed as a summer residence for the St Louis Symphony Orchestra (with Walter Susskind the conductor), [a la Tanglewood in Massachusetts featuring the Boston Pop Orchestra] the Mississippi River Festival regularly featured other types of music over its typical two-month, 30 date run.  So this wasn’t the usual hairy freaks in a field for a three day gig. This was all more respectable and well organised and didn’t involve people called Sky or Sunflower. Flowers were not dropped from helicopters and Wavy Gravy was not in charge of...

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Catacombs Pop Festival 1968, Houston, Texas

Catacombs Pop Festival 1968, Houston, Texas

Authored By John Nicholson

This was advertised as a Trips Festival.  The Catacombs was one of Houston’s most important rock-and-roll clubs of the late 1960s. It opened in April 1966 at 3003 South Post Oak Road in Houston’s west side. The club was owned by Ames Productions, which was owned by brothers Richard and Steve Ames, and Bob Cope served as the general manager. When it first opened in 1966 it was aimed at teenagers, so much so that for a while you had to wear school clothing to get in and only 15 - 20 year-olds were allowed! Weirdsville.  Bands popular at the...

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