The Outdoor Rock Festival 1966-2011 Corry Arnold September 2011 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Outdoor Rock Festival 1966-2011

Corry Arnold September 2011

www.Rockprosopography101.Blogspot.com

Why Go To A Free Concert?

• Upsides

Downsides

– It’s cheap It’s crowded – See new bands Bands could be lousy – Bring your friends Potential bad scene – Meet new people Everyone can see you

Why Play A Free Concert?

• Upsides

Downsides

– Make new fans Lost in the shuffle – Make new friends Uncertain environment – Might get paid Wrong association

What Is A Rock Concert?

• Prior to the mid-60s, Serious music--Art--was quiet

and Entertainment was loud. The modern rock concert changed that

• Rock concerts have three main characteristics

– Loud, with sensory overload – A unique, authentic performance – The audience is a community

August 5, 1966, Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC

• Prior to rock, Entertainers did not play for free, as a

performance was an expiring commodity

• A unique artistic event offers a chance for the

audience to return and see another event

• A free concert becomes publicity for a forthcoming

paid event

– The birth of Internet marketing

October 6, 1966, The Panhandle, San Francisco: The Love Pageant Rally

• On October 6, 1966, LSD was declared illegal in California
• The Grateful Dead and Big Brother and The Holding Company

(with Janis Joplin) had a free concert in the park outside where they lived. About 3000 people showed up.

• Both bands played concerts that weekend

The Human Be-In, January 14, 1967, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

• Berkeley activists had been staging Sit-Ins since

1964

• The Human Be-In was supposed to be a merging of

the political and social “factions” and appeared to succeed

• 20,000 people showed up to hear a half-dozen

bands, and Network News showed highlights

Monterey Pop Festival, June 16-18, 1967

• The three day festival was held at the site of the Monterey Jazz Festival (the

County Fairgrounds), and 20,000-50,000 attended

• Among the 30 acts were

– Simon & Garfunkel, Mamas And Papas (pop) – Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead (SF hippies) – The Who, Jimi Hendrix (London underground)

• No bands got paid, so the event could not be duplicated

Sky River Rock Festival and Lighter Than Air Fair, Sultan, WA August 31- September 2, 1968

• The three day event was

held on private property

• utside of Seattle--no

restrictions

• Three dozen bands played

music 24/7

• A peaceful time was had by

all, despite the rain

• This became the model for

rock festivals for the next few years

1969-Festival Summer

• March 30-April 1 Lockhart Park, Ft. Lauderdale, FL “Easter Rock Festival”
• May 23-24 Seminole Indian Reservation, FL “Big Rock Pow Wow”
• May 23-25 County Fairgrounds, San Jose, CA “Northern California Folk-Rock Festival
• May 23-25 Football Practice Field, San Jose, CA “Aquarian Family Festival”
• July 4-5 Atlanta Int’l Raceway, Hampton, GA “Atlanta International Pop Festival”
• July 5 Hyde Park, London, GB
• July 25-27 Gold Creek Park, Woodinville, WA “Seattle Pop Festival”
• August 1-3 Atlantic City Racetrack, Mays Landing, NJ “Atlantic City Pop Festival”
• August 15-17 Max Yasgur’s Farm, Bethel, NY “Woodstock Music and Art Fair”
• August 22-24 Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA “Wild West Festival”(canceled)
• August 30-September 1 Dallas Motor Speedway, Lewisville, TX “Texas International Pop

Festival”

• August 30-November 1 Baton Rouge Speedway, Prairieville, LA “New Orleans Pop

Festival”

• August 30-September 1 Tenino, WA “Second Annual Sky River Rock Festival”
• November 28-30, West Palm Raceway, West Palm Beach, FL “First Annual West Palm

Beach Music and Art Festival”

• December 6 Altamont Speedway, Livermore, CA

Rock Concert Economics

• Assume two nights in Chicago in February
• Vanilla Fudge headlines, with two opening acts provided by the booking

agency

– 5,000 capacity, tickets $4.00 – Bands will cost $24,000 (60%) – Expenses will cost $6,000 (15%)

• With two sell outs and no surprises-max profit will equal $10,000 (25%)
• The promoter is risking $30K to make $10K.
• Potential surprises

– New Vanilla Fudge album stinks – Bass player gets arrested – Band breaks up – Fudge stuck in Iowa due to blizzard

Kinetic Playground, Chicago, IL February 7-8, 1969 Vanilla Fudge/plus two bands

• The booking agency provided

two English bands when the concert was booked in December

• Led Zeppelin’s first album had

been released in mid-January

• Jethro Tull’s first album had

been released in October 1968

• FM airplay was huge, so

uncountable tickets could have been sold, but the bands were playing Memphis the next night

Atlanta International Pop Festival, Atlanta International Raceway, Hampton, GA July 4-5, 1969

• Led Zeppelin, Joe Cocker, Creedence Clearwater and Johnny Winter

were hot

• Grand Funk Railroad was the big surprise
• Johnny Rivers and Paul Butterfield were over, and Al Kooper may have

canceled

• The risk was distributed throughout the lineup, and there were no caps
• n ticket sales. Over 100,000 people showed up.
• A profit of $12000 was spent on a free concert in Piedmont Park in

Atlanta (July 6)

The 2nd International Atlanta Pop Festival, Middle Georgia Raceway, Byron, GA July 3-5, 1970

• The event was moved to Byron, GA, 90 miles south of Atlanta
• Jimi Hendrix was bigger than ever
• Ten Years After, Jethro Tull and the Allman Brothers were hot
• Ginger Baker’s Air Force were a no-show
• The crowd was upwards of 200,000, the biggest event in Georgia

history prior to the 1996 Olympics. Traffic was backed up 100 miles on I75/US 401

What happened?

• It was difficult to avoid letting people in for free, so the full benefit of

huge crowds could not be realized

• The sites did not facilitate selling food, drink or other concessions
• Small, rural communities were uncomfortable with huge crowds
• People expected not to pay the second year
• Few people wanted to go two years in a row

The US Festival, Glen Helen Regional Park, Devore, CA September 3-5, 1982

• Steve Wozniak, the “other” founder of Apple, was a sort of hippie
• He financed a series of concerts in Southern California in 1982 and ‘83
• He envisioned a new paradigm of a technologically sophisticated

Woodstock West

• The concerts lost money, but not a lot, and it showed that technology

could solve some problems that had plagued large rock events

Sheds

• A “Shed” is a dedicated indoor/outdoor amphitheatre,

surrounded by a concession area

• Allows the promoter to commodify a Festival
• BGP operated the US Festival and built the first Shed
• Touring festivals like Lollapalooza and Ozzfest play

Sheds across the country

Festivals Today

• Multi-day Festivals generally have a theme
• No mega headliner
• Economics are similar to Professional Sports
• Technology has solved some 60s problems

Free Concerts Today

• Controlled Free Concerts in Urban Areas
• Encouraging tourism or celebrating events
• Financed by sponsors and concession sales

– Headline bands are paid – Economics are comparable to a nightclub – Usually there is an implicit tax subsidy