lzfan715 Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 I missed all of this, and was just wondering if anyone had stories of any festivals that they'd like to share. It doesn't have to be from just those two, they can come from Knebworth, Days on The Green, whatever you've been to. Post pictures, stories, videos, anything. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadScreamingGallery Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 lzfan, as old as I am and as much as I have experienced of the Zep years, I was too young for the Monterey and Woodstock fests (and too young for the heyday of hippiedom in the Haight). I am not sure if there are any members here who are both LZ fans and are also old enough to have experienced the late '60s hippie days. I remember that the older siblings of my friends were the ones who experienced all that and, when Zep came along, they were "our band". Around the same time that I saw LZ at MSG in '73 my husband, who I did not know yet, went to a massive festival upstate NY at Watkins Glen. The bands who played there were the Dead, the Allmans, and the Band. My husband has cool stories of that weekend. If you want, I can ask him to share some here. I missed all of this, and was just wondering if anyone had stories of any festivals that they'd like to share. It doesn't have to be from just those two, they can come from Knebworth, Days on The Green, whatever you've been to. Post pictures, stories, videos, anything. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lzfan Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Hearing from you was, great. If you'd like to ask your husband go ahead, just as long as it doesn't inconvienece you. I'm lzfan715 but my other account is having some problems so I had to make a new one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 I was also too young to have attended any of the big fests back in the 60s and 70s but I have a number of older siblings who attended the Atlanta Pop Festival and saw the Allmans at Maggie Valley in NC way back when. I also have a friend (who has since passed away) that attended Woodstock. Myself, I've attended several festivals including: the Old Time Fiddler's Convention in Union Grove, NC, MerleFest (Doc Watson's annual festival held every year in North Wilkesboro, NC in memory of his late son Merle Watson), Woodstock '94 and the Austin City Limits Music Festival (the first two). In the case of Woodstock '94, an older brother swore he would go to Woodstock if ever they held another festival there. Well, when it finally became a reality he suddenly forgot he ever said that but I made good on it, even though I ended up going all by myself. The site of Woodstock '94 is where they planned to have the original Woodstock. In the weeks leading up to Woodstock '94 some other organizers planned to hold their own anniversary concert at the site of the original Woodstock but it was cancelled due to poor ticket sales. I understand some artists showed up anyway (such as Soul Asylum, Victoria Williams and Joe Walsh). In fact, one attendee said Joe Walsh could be found sitting on the hood of his car jammin' away using nothing but a Pignose amp. I enjoyed Woodstock '94 and have no regrets about attending but it was definitely a very commercial event (one which Neil Young was very outspoken about at the time) with MTV constantly circling, along with a lot of corporate vendors such as Pepsi. Before the third Woodstock got underway five years later I had a bad feeling about it right from the start. Unfortunately my feelings turned out to be correct as lot of people had the wrong idea about such fests and went apeshit instead, starting fires and whatnot turning the whole thing into an ugly fucking mess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JethroTull Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 I remember seeing some Green Day concert footage at that 3rd Woodstock Jahfin mentioned. There was a mud slinging fight between the band and audience. OI!!! No Thanks. Just play some music. The only festival I can say I attended was the Philadelphia folk festival in the late 70's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joelmon Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 I'll go into more detail eventually...but no, I wasn't at Woodstock or Monterey...but did go to the Newport Jazz Festivals of 1968 and 1969. They were 5 day affairs and had many bands each day and evening. I lived nearby..so wasn't doing the camping thing...plus I was too young ! Went with the parents to the '68 Fest which was traditional jazz....Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Woody Herman and others... Then in '69 the producer had rock bands.....Of which one was LED ZEPPELIN and that's the day I went....I have newspaper articles and my own review which I've already posted...here once, and the old board a few times. But I'll repost a newspaper article or two soon...I saved my Newport '69 thread from the old board. I went to a few one day festivals in the 70s (I'll write about those, and pics etc)...maybe some in the 80s...and again in the 90s, I went to the Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals again. There were a smittering of ROCK bands interpersed with these fests as well... Then the one-day Lollapalooza's of the early 90s (do those count ?) And then there were multi-day fests here in Nashville during the 80s and 90s..having mostly regional bands...but a few national ones too.... So I'll try to add as I find the impulse... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 I remember seeing some Green Day concert footage at that 3rd Woodstock Jahfin mentioned. There was a mud slinging fight between the band and audience. OI!!! No Thanks. Just play some music. My campsite was at a prime vantage point to see most of that show and it was most entertaining. Even though one of the guys from Green Day got hurt I believe it was more about them having fun with the audience than anything. People were also rolling down the hills nearby using shopping carts. Only thing is, at the bottom the hill water had built up from all of the rain so there's no telling what they might run into. Lots of tents were abandoned down there due to all of the rain so I imagine there were some injuries there as well. The first thing I did when I arrived was find the highest piece of ground I could so my tent wouldn't take on water in the event of rain. The only festival I can say I attended was the Philadelphia folk festival in the late 70's. Which reminds me, I attended the traveling edition of the Newport Folk Festival several years ago (late 90s, early 00s) with Joan Baez, Wilco, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Lucinda Williams, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Nanci Griffith, Lyle Lovett, Marc Cohn and several others. I must admit to never being a huge fan of Joan's but that concert helped to change my opinion of her. Mainly her covers (one of which was an Indigo Girls song) and her dead on impersonation of Bob Dylan that had the entire audience rolling in the aisles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spats Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Whenever i watch footage of the woodstock and monterey festivals i always wonder what those people are doing now and how it feels seeing themselves on film afterall these years. I was looking at the Jimi Hendrix performance and saw these fans on the side of the stage. It would be cool to see interviews with them now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Whenever i watch footage of the woodstock and monterey festivals i always wonder what those people are doing now and how it feels seeing themselves on film afterall these years. I was looking at the Jimi Hendrix performance and saw these fans on the side of the stage. It would be cool to see interviews with them now. Leading up to Woodstock '94 there were lots of retrospectives and Where Are They Now?-type features on both the performers and attendees alike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadScreamingGallery Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Hearing from you was, great. If you'd like to ask your husband go ahead, just as long as it doesn't inconvienece you. I'm lzfan715 but my other account is having some problems so I had to make a new one. Hi Alicia, I thought it might be you. My husband doesn't mind. We're a bit busy tonight but we'll post about the fest tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joelmon Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I'm going to post more pics...and my memoirs of this festival...the largest I've ever been to. It's still gonna take a bit, I have some stuff to retrieve. This was recorded there...and some friends, along with myself are actually in the foldout of the album cover. I have the cd..no longer have the album jacket...but will eventually get the photo...and post it...I may have to photo the photo itself..in the cd artwork, it's very small and in black and white...it's color in the album jacket...'foldout' photo is reminicent of the Woodstock album stage and crowd shot... original photo the album cover was used for... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stonefreelee Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 By the time i started going to concerts, festivals were few and far between. In the mid seventies the midwest had what was called "The Mississippi River Festival"...my mom went to a few of those, I was too young. While waiting for the mighty Zep to return, I attended "Super-Jam 1980" at St.Louis' Busch Stadium. This was a one day concert, which started at noon. And it was HOT! I would guess this was in July, early August, if memory serves...The show opened at noon with a band i had never heard of called "Judas Priest"...hmmm. I was wearing shorts and black ledzep 1977 tour tee...they were wearing black leather! I know they were hot! I was basically center stage , straight back...all the way back, practically, the first raised section off of the floor. Once, sitting in my seat, I blacked out from lack of hydration...'course, chain smokin' the spliffs didn't help... i think next was April Wine, then Shooting Star. The heat was probably close to a hundred or at least felt like it. This was a serious problem, as the fire department began shooting fire hoses from the front of the stage into the air (towards the audience, of course!). Saw it all happening, but I was too far back to reap the benefits...I thought, oh fuck, that's nice...it was more of a tease than anything! Later, I was standing in line at a concession stand waiting for one of my friends to complete their purchase and BAM! down i went again...fell face first onto the concrete floor! When I came to, I remember feeling how, well, how cool the floor felt! I remember coming to and seeing thousands of legs around me, feeling the cool floor and the soda/water/beer from a thousand spills seeping through my t-shirt, my shorts, my (no doubt) tighty whiteys! And oh how sticky it all was! Need I mention that i had no clean shirt, no change of tighty whites? I hadn't even got to the dual headliner(s) yet! And the headliners were...journey and sammy hagar. Almost anti-climactic, huh? Well, they were pretty good, I suppose. I remember Sammy driivng onstage in his red trans-am(?) or whatever...I think journey and sammy would rotate the headlining duties...and sammy closed it up at six pm or so, maybe seven... I remember how odd it felt to be going home after a concert and it was still light out!!! That was definately a first...oh, and the bump on my head and my wet, rumpled clothing! Good times! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maven2blue Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I've been to the Beale Street Music festival (Memphis TN) which is in early May. Last year was a lot of fun. There was 60 bands playing during the three day festival. I went for 1 day and spent most of the time at the Budweiser stage. Got to hear Jerry Lee Lewis, Gov't Mule and the Allman brothers and some of Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. This year, I plan to get a hotel room and spend the whole weekend there. May is a good month for a festival. Not too hot. There's the Hot August Blues festival about 5 miles from my house. Every year I say I'm thinking about going but I never do because its just too hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pb Derigable Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 My Father is one of two couples to be married at the 94 woodstock. He was told that according to New York state law that the mayor of a town of 10,000 can marry a couple. Woodstock only has a few thousand, but during that week it was well over 10,000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lzfan715 Posted February 13, 2008 Author Share Posted February 13, 2008 ^That's a really cool story. I had never heard of marriages happening there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragster Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Now this is an informative thread!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lzfan715 Posted February 13, 2008 Author Share Posted February 13, 2008 I wanted it to be. I'm hopeing to get as many stories as I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadScreamingGallery Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 I wanted it to be. I'm hopeing to get as many stories as I can. I forgot about this! My apologies. Here is (paraphrased in my own words) some of my husband's memories of the music festival at Watkins Glen (upstate NY). I think that I already told you that it was in July '73 and so close to the time when I was at Zep's MSG concerts. We didn't know one another at that time. My husband and his friends (who lived in NJ) planned to go up to the music fest. At that time, he was driving a really bad Dodge Coronet. His mother had just received, for her 40th birthday, a beautiful car. A sort of late 50's/ early 60's sports car-type vehicle with porthole type windows in the back. My husband said that it was such a cool car he begged her to let him drive it up to the festival. They went round and round and she finally relented! He couldn't believe it and said that his mother: 1) worried about him driving up in his beater car and 2) didn't realize where he was taking the car. My husband and his friends set off for the drive upstate. He said that, as they approached the concert grounds, the highway was so clogged with cars and kids on foot that he just pulled over, locked up his mother's car, and set out walking with his friends to the concert area. He said it was an amazing scene. Thousands upon thousands of kids everywhere. They made their way toward the front of the stage. It was an all day concert with only three bands: The Band, The Allman Brothers, and The Grateful Dead. Honestly, he said that the music got boring at times and the kids were restless because the sets were so long. Because it was the '70s, to break up the day, they engaged in a lot of 70's activities. What he remembers as being incredible is the fact that as they roamed around amongst the crowd, he saw people from his high school there! Kids he didn't really know but recognized from his classes. Amazing that something like that happens when there were something like 50k people there. He doesn't remember any violence; kids were sharing and helping one another out. The only negative he recalls are some kids who overindulged and were sick or passed out. My husband said the highlight of the night was when, under the stars, all 3 bands took the stage and played together. He remembers feeling such a sense of community and good will. After it was all over and the kids were pouring out, they found his mom's car - not a dent, not a scratch on it! Totally unscathed. He and his friends just camped out there - he said most kids did that - just slept near their cars that night and drove home the next day. I might have forgotten something here. Oh, I know. He said the people in the little town near the concert area were so cool and friendly and welcoming! In those days, not everyone felt that way about long-haired kids going to a rock fest but he said that the locals were great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragster Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 I might have forgotten something here. Oh, I know. He said the people in the little town near the concert area were so cool and friendly and welcoming! In those days, not everyone felt that way about long-haired kids going to a rock fest but he said that the locals were great Right on!!!! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ally Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 Anybody here remember "B..INS" ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragster Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 I remember a sort of Be-In held at my high school in the mid-70s!!! We had lots of fun at that one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lzfan715 Posted February 15, 2008 Author Share Posted February 15, 2008 Pardon this question, but what's a be-in? I've heard of bed-ins because of John Lennon but not a be-in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joelmon Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 Pardon this question, but what's a be-in? I've heard of bed-ins because of John Lennon but not a be-in. Good reading here Alicia.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Be-In Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lzfan715 Posted February 15, 2008 Author Share Posted February 15, 2008 So basically a bunch of people got together and just hung out? did you see where it says that they have Digital Be-Ins? That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. It totally defeats the point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ally Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 So basically a bunch of people got together and just hung out? did you see where it says that they have Digital Be-Ins? That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. It totally defeats the point. "B-INs' were were music and art festivals (among other things).... a big deal up and down the westcoast of North America. Although San Francisco had the most famous ones....every city had them. "Easter B-ins" marked the start of the festival season which would continue on through the summer. Many local artists cut their teeth at these events and for those of us that were too young to go to the clubs, it was our chance to see the bands. As was the case with more famous festivals ,there was alway's a chance you'd get an established band or two just show up and play. In the end they were harmless fun that ended up being banned because... the times were a changin' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.