New Orleans Pop Festival
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The New Orleans Pop Festival was a
rock festival 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 even ...
held on
Labor Day Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...
weekend (August 30 – September 1, 1969), two weeks after the
Woodstock Festival 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, New York, Woodstock. ...
. It was held at the Louisiana International Speedway in Prairieville,
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, about 65 miles up the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
from
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster.
; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
and 15 miles south of
Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...
. Over 26 bands performed during the three days of the festival, including seven veterans of Woodstock. It had a peak attendance of 25,000–30,000 people.


Background

The summer of 1969 saw a proliferation of the relatively new concert genre of pop/rock festivals. While the cultural highlight was undoubtedly the
Woodstock Music and Art Fair 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, New York, Woodstock. ...
on August 15–18, 1969, near White Lake, New York, the New Orleans Pop Festival was among several major pop festivals held that year in the deep South. Unlike several other pop festivals around the country, the local citizenry and governmental bodies were tolerant though wary of such a large crowd. The experiences of other festival promoters having to fight local government ordinances and prohibitions was not shared by promoter Steve Kapelow and his sponsoring company, Kesi, Inc, with the result that concert preparations were complete upon commencement of the festival. The fall of 1969 saw the beginning of court-ordered
integration Integration may refer to: Biology *Multisensory integration *Path integration * Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome *DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...
of area schools, and racial tensions were high. Because of several incidents of violence resulting from racial incidents, local towns were under a tight night curfew, although that curfew did not extend to the concert site.


Preparation

Promoter Steve Kapelow, 27 at the time and a fellow musician, described the preparations for the festival by telling a UPI reporter, "We expect 15,000–20,000 in light of advance ticket sales, but we have prepared for double that." Kapelow explained that their extra preparations were costing more money than was likely necessary, "but we'd rather do that than have the industry suffer another disaster," referring to Woodstock where attendance was vastly greater than anticipated, and preparations were inadequate. Kapelow pointed out that he was confident in his attendance projections because the Louisiana population base was much smaller than that of the New York area, that there was another pop festival in the Dallas area on the same weekend that would compete for attendees, and that destruction from
Hurricane Camille Hurricane Camille was the second most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the United States, behind the 1935 Labor Day hurricane. The most intense storm of the 1969 Atlantic hurricane season, Camille originated as a tropical depression ...
, which made its U.S. landfall on July 18 in the
Biloxi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States (the other being the adjacent city of Gulfport). The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054 and in 2019 the estimated popu ...
/ Gulfport,
Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
area would likely reduce attendance from the
Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...
. The stage was built in the straightaway of the race track on the opposite side of the
infield Infield is a sports term whose definition depends on the sport in whose context it is used. Baseball In baseball, the diamond, as well as the area immediately beyond it, has both grass and dirt, in contrast to the more distant, usually grass-c ...
to the
grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...
, with capacities of 60,000 and 11,000 respectively. The stage itself was double wide, with two separate light and sound systems, making a large
jam session A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without exte ...
with several groups possible and greatly reducing the
intermission An intermission, also known as an interval in British and Indian English, is a recess between parts of a performance or production, such as for a theatrical play, opera, concert, or film screening. It should not be confused with an entr'acte (F ...
between performers. Kapelow and fellow promoter Joe Kaplan attended several previous pop festivals to get an idea of what sort of preparations were necessary, and that work resulted in what was reported as "an abundance of food and drink and other supplies." Hundreds of portable toilets and 50-gallon drums of water were scattered around the race track, and limited showers were available to festival goers. The festival was originally planned for two days, but a free Saturday evening show was added. Sunday tickets went for $7.00 for advance tickets and $9.50 at the gate, while Monday prices were $8.00 in advance and $10.50 at the gate. Tickets for the entire festival cost $13.00 in advance and $16.00 at the gate (an estimated $83.00 and $102.00, respectively, in 2015 dollars).


Concert crowd

Uniformed law enforcement restricted themselves to traffic control in the access roads. Although there were 116+ undercover narcotic officers, drug use was such that only 37 drug arrests were made, with the focus being the sellers rather than the users. Promoters had arranged for several motorcycle clubs to handle internal security, and apparently did a good job. Local Sheriff H. M. Waguespack praised the behavior of the crowd, saying that things were going much better than he had expected. Local towns were under a tight night curfew due to violence resulting from racial incidents because of the recent court-ordered integration of area schools, but the sheriff's office declined to extend the curfew to the festival site. A medical team hired by the promoters handled a few cases of drug overdoses, but most cases were related to insect bites and cuts incurred by walking on broken glass. Peak attendance occurred on Sunday; law enforcement estimated 20,000–25,000 and the promoters' estimate was 30,000–35,000.


Schedule

The schedule of the festival is known with relative certainty. The concert poster contained the complete lineup and time of appearance. Newspaper articles a day or two prior to the concert repeated the highlights of the poster's schedule with a few changes. Newspaper reports after the performances confirm that all bands on Sunday which were scheduled played ("although the time slots for them were juggled considerably") and confirm most of Monday's lineup with a few order changes. Without any media reports to the contrary, it is assumed that Saturday's schedule took place as planned. Lesser known bands were scheduled to play an hour apart, better known bands were given an hour and 15 minutes, and Jefferson Airplane was booked for a two-hour concert. The demands of the crowd for encores quickly put the festival off schedule, pushing performance times later and later as the day wore on, although the double stage did allow a band to get on stage before the preceding band was finished, drastically reducing the intermission between bands. ''Saturday, August 30, 1969'' # Local bands starting playing at 6:00pm until the "official" free concert began at 8:00pm. # White Fox # Snow Rabbit # Deacon John and the Electric Soul Train # Whizbang # Axis #
Tyrannosaurus Rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...
#
It's a Beautiful Day It's a Beautiful Day is an American band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1967, featuring vocalist Pattie Santos along with violinist David LaFlamme and his wife, Linda LaFlamme, on keyboards. David LaFlamme, who as a youth had once p ...
''Sunday, August 31, 1969'' # Flower Power # Snow Rabbit #
Spiral Starecase The Spiral Starecase was an American pop band, best known for its 1969 single " More Today Than Yesterday". The band, from Sacramento, California, United States, was recognizable for its horns and lead singer/guitarist Pat Upton's voice. The g ...
# Oliver # Smyth #
The Youngbloods The Youngbloods were an American rock band consisting of Jesse Colin Young (vocals, bass, guitar), Jerry Corbitt (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), Lowell "Banana" Levinger (guitar and electric piano), and Joe Bauer (drums). Despite recei ...
# It's a Beautiful Day # Country Joe and the Fish #
The Byrds The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole cons ...
#
Canned Heat Canned Heat is an American band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. The group is noted for its efforts to promote interest in blues music and its original artists and rock music. It was founded by two blues enthusiasts Alan Wilson and Bob ...
- A fireworks display was scheduled after this act. #
Iron Butterfly Iron Butterfly is an American rock band formed in San Diego, California, in 1966. They are best known for the 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", providing a dramatic sound that led the way towards the development of hard rock and heavy metal music. ...
#
Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...
#
Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...
Sweetwater and White Clover were supposed to play, but their performances were canceled due to the late hour; the scheduled jam session was probably also canceled. Doug Kershaw from Louisiana played as well but is not mentioned here. He had a big hit: Louisiana Man. ''Monday, September 1, 1969'' While it is likely that Sweetwater and White Clover were moved to Monday's lineup, there was no mention of it in local media reports. (At the very least, Sweetwater's status as a Woodstock band makes it unlikely that they were not given another performance slot.) #
Potliquor Potliquor (sometimes erroneously referred to as Pot Liquor) was a 1970s rock group from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The band was formed by George Ratzlaff and Guy Schaeffer after the breakup of a successful cover band named the Basement Wall. Like se ...
- A flower drop was supposed to take place during the Potliquor performance, but the plane missed its target and dropped the flowers onto nearby fields instead of on the crowd; additionally, the flowers fell in globs instead of "floating gently down among the flower children." # Axis # Oliver # Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys # Santana # Chicago (Transit Authority) - Several newspaper articles referred to this group as Chicago Transit Authority. The concert poster listed them as it is listed here, with Transit Authority in parentheses. This would suggest that the band had already changed its name but were still commonly known as CTA. # It's a Beautiful Day # Tyrannosaurus Rex # The Youngbloods #
Lee Michaels Lee Eugene Michaels (born Michael Olsen, November 24, 1945) is an American rock musician who sings and accompanies himself on organ (music), organ, piano, or guitar. He is best known for his powerful soulful voice and his energetic virtuosity o ...
#
Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
#
Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to ac ...
#
Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music encompassed New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B. Active as a session musician from t ...
VooDoo Show # Giant Jam Session featuring Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Cat Mother, Santana, Chicago, Beautiful Day # Whizbang # Glen McKay and his crew, known as the Headlights, nationally known for their concert light shows, presented a light show Sunday and Monday nights. Several newspapers mentioned that Clearwater Revival (presumably
Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, also referred to as Creedence and CCR, was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band initially consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty; his brother, ...
) played, but that is almost certainly incorrect.


Other Labor Day festivals of 1969

The New Orleans Pop Festival was not the only festival of significance on the Labor Day weekend of 1969. Three were held on that weekend in the U.S. and one in
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
: *
Sky River Rock Festival The Sky River Rock Festival and Lighter Than Air Fair was a historic rock festival first held on a raspberry farm on the Skykomish River outside Sultan, Washington. The 1968 rock festival was held between August 31 to September 2. It was the firs ...
(August 30 – September 1, 1969), held in Tenino,
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
*
Texas International Pop Festival The Texas International Pop Festival was a music festival held at Lewisville, Texas, on Labor Day weekend, August 30 to September 1, 1969. It occurred two weeks after Woodstock. The site for the event was an open field just south and west of the ...
(August 30 – September 1, 1969), held at the newly opened
Dallas International Motor Speedway The Dallas International Motor Speedway was a racetrack located in Lewisville, Texas. It operated from June 1969 to 1973. The racetrack served as the site for such events as the NHRA Spring Nationals and World Finals, and the Texas International P ...
in Lewisville,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
*
Isle of Wight Festival The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970. The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early ...
(August 29–31, 1969), held at Wootton,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
on the
Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...


The music

According to reports from the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the first of the Sunday performances were "largely disappointing", with the performance by Oliver described as "particularly inept". However, the "Youngbloods awakened a lethargic crowd... with a solid performance." It's a Beautiful Day was called "one of the outstanding acts of the entire festival" and received calls for the first encore of the day. Country Joe and the Fish were said to be "moving", while the Byrds gave a professional performance but "their music lacked the emotion of the other groups". Canned Heat, who followed The Byrds, was described as "the hit of the night", bringing the spectators to their feet, and yet perhaps topped by Iron Butterfly who "definitely provided the highlight of the night's entertainment". Janis Joplin followed "with obvious emotion" and yet her performance was "anti-climactic after Canned Heat and Iron Butterfly". On Monday, It's a Beautiful Day gave "another fine performance".


Groups of note

Several groups which appeared at the New Orleans Pop Festival also appeared at the two other major U.S. pop festivals being held on the same holiday weekend. Those groups were: * Also performing at the Sky River Rock Festival: * # Country Joe and the Fish # The Youngbloods * Also performing at the Texas International Pop Festival: * # Canned Heat # Chicago Transit Authority # Janis Joplin # Santana # Sweetwater Seven groups also appeared at Woodstock, two weeks previous, on August 15–18, 1969: # Sweetwater # Janis Joplin # Santana # Jefferson Airplane # Grateful Dead # Country Joe and the Fish # Canned Heat While most groups were already nationally known, at least one group was able to parlay its performance at the New Orleans Pop Festival into a
record contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...
. The local group,
Potliquor Potliquor (sometimes erroneously referred to as Pot Liquor) was a 1970s rock group from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The band was formed by George Ratzlaff and Guy Schaeffer after the breakup of a successful cover band named the Basement Wall. Like se ...
, caught the eyes of several record labels, eventually signing a record contract with
Janus Records Janus Records was a record label owned by GRT Records, also known as General Recorded Tape. The label was in operation from 1969 to 1979. History Janus was founded in July 1969 as a joint venture of GRT and British label Pye Records. In its ea ...
.


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 even ...


References

{{Rock festival Concerts in the United States Hippie movement Counterculture festivals 1969 in American music Pop music festivals in the United States Music festivals established in 1969 1969 music festivals