Dan T. Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Everybody knows about Woodstock, the seminal music festival held in August 1969 featuring a historic lineup of musicians. But did you know about the Laurel Pop Festival, held right up the road at the Laurel Race Track between Baltimore and DC just one month prior to Woodstock and featuring many of the same superstar acts? I didn't, until now. It seems to have been lost in the haze of time. It was overshadowed by some of the much larger events held that year... including the famous Woodstock and infamous Altamont. But holy cow, check out the lineup: It was attended by about 15,000 people. They set up wooden chairs in the race track infield. A friend sent me this article from last week's Baltimore Sun that brought this event to light: http://www.baltimoresun.com/explore/howard/news/community/ph-ll-history-festival-1227-20121229,0,6492345.story Here's a link to the 14 page "Laurel Pop Festival Programme" completed with vintage artwork, photos, and vernacular of the time: http://www.cornick.org/gallery/LAURE_-POP_FESTIVAL_PROG_JULY_1969/lp01 The Led Zeppelin website has a page devoted to the festival, including photos, set list, and an amusing story from a pre-teen kid who was a new Zeppelin fan and talked his dad into letting him, his brother, and a friend go to the show. The 10, 11, and 13 year old kids dressed up in coat and ties (it WAS a concert after all) and were slightly freaked out at the spectacle they stumbled into. http://www.ledzeppelin.com/show/july-11-1969 Enjoy this slice of local rock history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forehead Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I wonder why the Edwin Hawkins Singers weren't given top billing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan T. Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 I wonder why the Edwin Hawkins Singers weren't given top billing... One hit wonders: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 There were a gazillion rock festivals in 1969. Two of them just happened to become really really famous. Woodstock itself was kind of a fluke. It was supposed to be a festival for 50,000 to 100,000 people. It just sort of took off and became an event. It also happened to be the one festival that had an incredible documentary made about it. There's a good chance that Woodstock would be largely forgotten without the film. Altamont was kind of a fluke too. It started out as free Grateful Dead/Rolling Stones show that was supposed to take place in Golden Gate Park. If it had taken place in the city, it probably would have been no more memorable than the Stone's Hyde Park Show (which is only really remembered because it became a kind of wake for Brian Jones). A whole bunch of bad decisions let to it being the disaster it became. (Weirdly, I think the decision to hire the Hell's Angels is only, like, the third dumbest decision made for that show). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan T. Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 Altamont was kind of a fluke too. It started out as free Grateful Dead/Rolling Stones show that was supposed to take place in Golden Gate Park. If it had taken place in the city' date=' it probably would have been no more memorable than the Stone's Hyde Park Show (which is only really remembered because it became a kind of wake for Brian Jones). A whole bunch of bad decisions let to it being the disaster it became. (Weirdly, I think the decision to hire the Hell's Angels is only, like, the third dumbest decision made for that show).[/quote']What were one and two? Because three was a hell of a dumb decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 What were one and two? Because three was a hell of a dumb decision. 1. Having it in Altamont in the first place. 2. The location of the stage. The Angels were brought in because they were having it in a location with no security and the stage was basically going to be "in the round." If you watch footage of the concert, Mick Jagger is utterly terrified from the second he steps on stage. The crowd is right on top of him and has him completely surrounded. If they rushed the stage, there would be no place to run. No one knows for sure what he was thinking, but if Meredith Hunter had been able to take a few more steps, he could have killed anybody on stage that he wanted. (Paying the Angels in beer was a pretty dumb idea too). There was this bizarre hippie fascination with the Angels. Ken Kesey had invited him to his Acid Tests and everyone started to see them as these "noble savages," when in reality they were hardened criminals. The Angels seemed to like Kesey and started to regard Allen Ginsberg as some kind of pet. Ginsberg, in terms, seems to have been fascinated with them sexually. Ginsberg thought he and the Angels had some spiritual and political connection. Cool black night thru redwoods cars parked outside in shade behind the gate, stars dim above the ravine, a fire burning by the side porch and a few tired souls hunched over in black leather jackets. In the huge wooden house, a yellow chandelier at 3 A.M. the blast of loudspeakers hi-fi Rolling Stones Ray Charles Beatles Jumping Joe Jackson and twenty youths dancing to the vibration thru the floor, a little weed in the bathroom, girls in scarlet tights, one muscular smooth skinned man sweating dancing for hours, beer cans bent littering the yard, a hanged man sculpture dangling from a high creek branch, children sleeping softly in their bedroom bunks. And 4 police cars parked outside the painted gate, red lights revolving in the leaves. That changed when the Angels beat the ever-living **** out of some hippies at a protest. But there was still this idea that the Angels were part of the movement. The Stones apparently had some kind of culture gap. They had used a London branch of the Angels for security at the Hyde Park concert. But those guys were apparently just bikers who were using the name. The real Angels were not particularly well-suited to act as security guards. Hunter S. Thompson seemed to have open eyes when it came to the Angels and even he nearly got stomped to death by them. My face looked like it had been jammed into the spokes of a speeding Harley, and the only thing keeping me awake was the spastic pain of a broken rib. It had been a bad trip. . . fast and wild in some moments, slow and dirty in others, but on balance it looked like a bummer. On my way back to San Francisco, I tried to compose a fitting epitaph. I wanted something original, but there was no escaping the echo of Mistah Kurtz' final words from the heart of darkness: "The horror! The horror!. . . Exterminate all the brutes!" When in doubt, just blame Hippies for being dumb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky21 Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I met an older guy at a concert in Richmond a little while ago who was telling me about this show. Look at the bill at the top of the thread and consider this. He was ranting on and on and about how Savoy Blues Band stole the show. From Jeff Beck, the Guess Who, Frank Zappa and Sly Stone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forehead Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 According to the article, the Savoy Blues Band didn't play. That old guy was lying or got the band wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky21 Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 That lying ****. I couldn't believe some band I never heard of blew Jeff Beck and Sly's doors off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan T. Posted January 4, 2013 Author Share Posted January 4, 2013 So as a nice bookend to this vintage rock and roll story, I watched Russell Crowe's "Almost Famous" last night. One of my favorite movies. Edit: I meant Cameron Crowe. Who was also in Gladiator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chachie Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 So as a nice bookend to this vintage rock and roll story, I watched Russell Crowe's "Almost Famous" last night. One of my favorite movies. Cameron Crowe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRobi21 Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Wow hell of a lineup indeed. If you dont know Savoy BB you should get to know them. They got some great stuff. One of the first of all those British blues bands to have a black singer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan T. Posted January 5, 2013 Author Share Posted January 5, 2013 Cameron Crowe. :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chachie Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 :doh: One of my absolute faves too, Dan. Every time it comes on cable I just can't click away. I remember that era of rock and was probably only a few years younger than the main character (which was Crowe himself, of course) during that time. He captured the spirit of the 70s so perfectly. Magical movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No_Pressure Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 So as a nice bookend to this vintage rock and roll story, I watched Russell Crowe's "Almost Famous" last night. One of my favorite movies. Me too, I also love Woody Allen in "Zombieland"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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