The Goose Lake International Music Festival held August 7–9, 1970 in
Leoni Township, Michigan
Leoni Township is a civil township of Jackson County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 13,807 at the 2010 census.
Communities
* Leoni is a small unincorporated community in the southeastern part of the township, east of Jackson, ...
, "was one of the largest music events of its era", and featured many of the top
rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
bands of the period.
History
Facilities and planning
The festival took place nearly one year after
Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...
, and the Goose Lake promoters set out to create a better planned event with better facilities for rock fans than Woodstock. The lead promoter was Richard Songer, a wealthy 35-year-old man who had been successful in the construction business. Songer teamed up with experienced Detroit disc jockey and promoter, Russ Gibb, and his associate, Tom Wright, to help plan the festival.
Goose Lake Park was built on 390 acres of land, with a budget of $1 million, and was billed as the "world's first permanent festival site". It was projected that 60,000 fans would attend the first festival.
The stage was built on a large, revolving turntable with two performance spaces so that the previous band could disassemble its gear and the next band set up while the current band was performing. At the end of each performance, the stage would rotate 180 degrees, and the next act would begin performing almost immediately. The backstage area had a tent where 20 to 30
groupies
The term groupie is a slang word that refers to a fan of a particular musical group who follows the band around while they are on tour or who attends as many of their public appearances as possible, with the hope of meeting them. The term is usu ...
described as "sizzlers" were available for the performers.
Those who attended were provided free campsites, free parking and free firewood. There were restrooms and showers every 500 feet, medical staff, motorcycle and dune buggy trails, a lake with a beach, and also the "longest slide in the world". To keep gate crashers out, the site was surrounded by a high chain-link fence topped by barbed wire.
The admission price for the three-day event was $15.00, and entry tokens in the style of poker chips were sold to avoid the counterfeiting of paper tickets.
Before the festival, concerned local officials sought a temporary restraining order to prevent the event, but a judge denied the request. Many Canadian rock fans were turned back at border crossings and were unable to attend.
Performers
National and international acts performing at the festival included
Faces
The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Ten Years After
Ten Years After are a British rock group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, the band had eight consecutive Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. In addition, they had twelve albums enter the US ''Billboar ...
,
The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers are an American country rock band, best known for their influential 1969 debut album, ''The Gilded Palace of Sin''. Although the group is perhaps best known for its connection to band founders Gram Parsons and Chris ...
,
Mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...
,
John Sebastian
John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and harmonicist who founded the rock band The Lovin' Spoonful. He made an impromptu appearance at the Woodstock festival in 1969James Gang
James Gang is an American rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1966. The band went through a variety of line-up changes until they recorded their first album as a power trio consisting of Joe Walsh (guitars, lead vocals), Tom Kriss (bass), a ...
featuring
Joe Walsh
Joseph Fidler Walsh (born November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has been a member of three successful rock bands: the James Gang, Eagles, and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr ...
The Litter
The Litter was an American psychedelic and garage rock band, formed in 1966 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. They are best remembered for their 1967 debut single, " Action Woman". The group recorded three albums in the late 1960s bef ...
.
Notable Detroit area bands performing included Bob Seger, the MC5,
The Stooges
The Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, also known as Iggy and the Stooges, was an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Da ...
,
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
featuring
Mitch Ryder
Mitch Ryder (born William Sherille Levise, Jr.; February 26, 1945) is an American musician who has recorded more than 25 albums over more than four decades.
Career
Ryder formed his first band, Tempest, when he was at Warren High School, and th ...
Savage Grace
''Savage Grace'' is a 2007 drama film directed by Tom Kalin and written by Howard A. Rodman, based on the book ''Savage Grace'' by Natalie Robins and Steven M.L. Aronson. The story is based on the highly dysfunctional relationship between heires ...
,
Third Power
Third Power was an American psychedelic hard rock band from Detroit, Michigan, who released one album in 1970.
The group was formed in 1969, and became a prominent local club band before signing to Vanguard Records.SRC. Masters of ceremonies were
Teegarden & Van Winkle
Teegarden & Van Winkle were an American musical duo, composed of Skip (Knape) Van Winkle (electronic organ, organ pedal bass, vocals) and David Teegarden (drums, vocals). Formed in Tulsa, the duo took its brand of folksy rock to Detroit.
Th ...
, who also performed.
Savoy Brown
Savoy Brown (originally Savoy Brown Blues Band) were an English blues rock band formed in Battersea, south west London, in 1965. Part of the late 1960s blues rock movement, Savoy Brown primarily achieved success in the United States, where t ...
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...
were announced acts that did not perform due to contractual problems.
The festival
An estimated 200,000 rock music fans attended the festival. The initial attitude of the "young, hip police force" toward the fans in attendance was to "leave them alone", at least when they were inside the festival grounds. The festival was known for widespread, openly visible drug sales and public nudity.
John Laycock of the ''
Windsor Star
The ''Windsor Star'' is a daily newspaper based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Postmedia Network, it is published Tuesdays through Saturdays.
History
The paper began as the weekly ''Windsor Record'' in 1888, changing its name to the ''Bor ...
'' praised the festival, writing that "The Organization Men of Goose Lake have resurrected the spirit of Woodstock without the discomforts" and that "the giant amphitheatre was superbly equipped." Laycock mentioned the performances of Frost, Savage Grace, Chicago, The Flock, Jethro Tull, John Sebastian, Faces, Ten Years After, Mountain and The Flying Burrito Brothers as particularly memorable. Tom Wright, who was responsible for staging and logistics at the festival, including design of the revolving stage, reported that it had gone off "virtually hitch free".
The rotating stage was a success. Record store owner Dave Bernath remembered, "The band would literally hit their last note, say 'thank you' and 'goodbye,' they spun around and the next band started within a minute — in seconds! The first band was still fading out when the other band came on! That's the way it should be!"
Despite some problems, "most fans and musicians recall a sunny attitude surrounding the weekend". Rod Stewart enjoyed his Friday night performance so much that he stayed to watch
Alvin Lee
Alvin Lee (born Graham Anthony Barnes; 19 December 1944 – 6 March 2013) was an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known as the lead vocalist and lead guitarist of the blues rock band Ten Years After.
Early life
He w ...
perform with Ten Years After the following night.
The participation of the
White Panther Party
The White Panthers were an anti-racist political collective founded in November 1968 by Pun Plamondon, Leni Sinclair, and John Sinclair. It was started in response to an interview where Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, w ...
and the affiliated
Serve the People
"Serve the People" () is a political slogan which first appeared in Mao-era China, and the motto of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It originates from the title of a speech by Mao Zedong, delivered on 8 September 1944. The slogan also becam ...
(STP) Coalition added some "street credibility" to the event. The festival took place at the time of the 25th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and peace groups publicized an anti-nuclear weapons message during the event.
Detroit rock historian David A. Carson wrote that "drugs took center stage" at Goose Lake, and that the park was "reminiscent of Attica" because of the barbed wire topped perimeter fence. There was a report of a rape by a group of bikers while The Stooges were performing.
*
Aftermath
There were 160 arrests of those leaving after the event, mostly on drug charges. Jackson County sheriff Charles Southworth estimated that "75% of the youths were on drugs"
Extensive newspaper coverage concentrated on the open drug sales and use at the festival. Michigan governor
William Milliken
William Grawn Milliken (March 26, 1922 – October 18, 2019) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 44th governor of Michigan. A member of the Republican Party, he is the longest-serving governor in Michigan history, servin ...
denounced the "deplorable and open sale and use of drugs" at the festival, and called for investigation and prosecution of the "drug pushers" who were present. Michigan attorney general Frank J. Kelley said "I think we have seen the first and last rock concert of that size in Michigan".
Promoter Richard Songer was indicted for promoting the sale of drugs. He was acquitted in December 1971. The district attorney obtained an injunction barring any other public shows at the park. No further rock festivals took place at Goose Lake.
The site of the Goose Lake Festival is now the Greenwood Acres Family Campground.
See also
*
List of historic rock festivals
A rock festival is an open-air rock concert featuring many different performers, typically spread over two or three days and having a campsite and other amenities and forms of entertainment provided at the venue. Some festivals are singular eve ...
*
List of jam band music festivals
This is a list of jam band music festivals. This list may have some overlap with list of historic rock festivals and list of reggae festivals. Jam bands are musical groups who relate to a unique fan culture that began in the 1960s with Grateful ...