Biggest Outdoor Rock Fest?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Backsasser, Apr 7, 2009.

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  1. Backsasser

    Backsasser Forum Resident Thread Starter

    The first and biggest outdoor show i attended was on June 2 1979 in Raleigh,NC.I believe it was Carter's Stadium.The lineup in order of appearance
    Poco
    Van Halen
    Boston
    The Outlaws
    It was a crazy day and one of my most fond memories.
    Poco dropped all ballads and rocked!Van Halen were touring their second album and they just rocked that stadium like there was no tomorrow.People in the front were throwing these red cups at the stage during Van Halen's performance and Roth had the band stop in the middle of a song and threaten to kick somebody's butt!
    Boston was amazing they killed it!And believe it or not those were all great performances then the Outlaws took the stage and they were the best i had ever seen them!They played with such fury.I wish you all could have been there priceless!
    Attendance was about 60,000
     
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  2. Baron Von Talbot

    Baron Von Talbot Well-Known Member

    One of the biggest I attende was at the Zeppelin Feld in Nuremberg 1970 with 70.000 people at the very same place were Adolf Hitler had that huge mass meetings with militaray lightning that could be seen 200 kilometers and that reached 6000 meters and gave the attendants a feeling of being insode a huge cathedral (seen snippets in black & white from that day in 1934 on TV last night). Gigantic.

    anyway that day and night the Bands were amo Cheap Trick, Nils Lofgren, The Scorpions, AC / DC (with Bon Scott) and THE WHO - first time without Keith, but with a gigantic back then unique avantgarde LASER SHOW - First time ever seem that green Laser Lights there.
    BTW one of the best bands that day was The Steve Gibbons Band , but they were all great ! AC / DC killed it with HELLS BELLS thou...
     
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  3. motorcitydave

    motorcitydave Enlightened Rogue In Memoriam

    Location:
    Las Vegas, NV, USA
  4. Backsasser

    Backsasser Forum Resident Thread Starter


    Maybe 1979?
     
  5. Watkins Glen: Band, Dead, Allmans July 23, 1973 600,000 people

    I think the largest in a stadium was Yes, and Frampton, at Philly's JFK stadium June 12, 1976 125,000

    i am sure there have been others
     
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  6. musicalbeds

    musicalbeds Strange but not a stranger

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    I attended the "Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto", after getting my ticket in a case of beer;

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molson_Canadian_Rocks_for_Toronto

    "Estimated to have between 450,000 and 500,000 people attending the concert, it is the largest outdoor ticketed event in Canadian history, and one of the largest in North American history."


    Bands included the Stones, AC/DC, RUSH, the Guess Who and more...it was a blast!
     
  7. surfingelectrode

    surfingelectrode Active Member

    Location:
    Lutz, FL
    Ultra Fest in Miami a few weeks ago... over 80,000 people!!
     
  8. duggan

    duggan Senior Member

    Location:
    sydney
    Knebworth 1976, close to 200,000 with the Stones, 10cc, Skynyrd, Todd Rundgren and others.
    Blackbush(e) 1978, over 200,000 with Dylan, Joan Armatrading, Graham Parker and others
     
  9. Almost Simon

    Almost Simon Forum Resident

    Clapton being the other, not sure who else. Would've loved to have gone to that show.

    I've been down to the site there a few times, it's not that far away from where I was born in Surrey. They have a big Sunday market there. Not sure why other acts haven't played there, seems a decent place for a large gig. I'd suggest better than Knebworth (where I currently live,) where its a complete pain to get to the site.
    .
     
  10. duggan

    duggan Senior Member

    Location:
    sydney
    I think there have been problems getting permission from the local authorities.
     
  11. jackaroe

    jackaroe Active Member

    Location:
    Ontari-ari-ari-o
    Roger Waters - The Wall live in Berlin - over 300,000.
     
  12. rinso white

    rinso white Pale Fire

    Location:
    Kingston, NY
    Bon doing Hell's Bells? Hmmmm...
     
  13. marka

    marka Forum Resident

    The last Presidential Inauguration, featuring Aretha Franklin (and her hat), Yo Yo Ma, Itzhak Pearlman... 1.5 million.
     
  14. Backsasser

    Backsasser Forum Resident Thread Starter


    Wow!That must have been something!
     
  15. Terry

    Terry Senior Member

    Location:
    Milwaukee
    I attended the largest paying outdoor rock concert, which was the SARS benefit in Toronto. Over 500,000 paying attendees. Too many people, IMHO.
     
  16. Jersey Shore Bob

    Jersey Shore Bob New Member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    The SUMMER JAM FESTIVAL at Watkins Glen, New York on July 28, 1973 featured the Grateful Dead, the Band & the Allman Brothers, and newspapers at the time reported a crowd of 700,000 ~ I remember there were people dancing for as far as you could see in every direction ~ and the Dead, Band & Allmans jammed together on stage as the sun came up on Sunday morning....
     
  17. seacliffe301

    seacliffe301 Forum Resident

    In the fall of '78 I attended a free outdoor concert in L.A. that had Chicago as the headliner. This show was the finale for a week of concerts held during the "LA Street Scene". Various jazz acts had been playing all week.This was Chicago's first outting after the death of Terry Kath. IIRC, they were set up on the steps of the Los Angeles City Hall.
    A month or so after that show, People magazine did a feature on Chicago, focusing on the passing of a founding member. They mentioned this show, quoting that there were more than 300 thousand in attendence.
    Certainly more people than anything I had ever seen.
     
  18. brew ziggins

    brew ziggins Forum Prisoner

    Location:
    The Village
    It wasn't a 'fest' but I believe I had about 499,999 close friends at Simon and Garfunkel's concert in Central Park.

    And there was a huge crowd for the No Nukes march/concert in the park in 1982. I remember Ziggy Marley, Jackson Browne and the Boss performed, but I forget the rest of the roster.
     
  19. Koptapad

    Koptapad Forum Resident

    Count me in for Watkins Glen 1973 Summer Jam too.
     
  20. Didn't happen.
     
  21. davmar77

    davmar77 I'd rather be drummin'...

    Location:
    clifton park,ny
    me too. i was sorry we didn't get there in time for the warmup sets the night before. the day of the main show we left after the band's set. we were just too tired and wet to care anymore and decided that was it.

    the free simon & garfunkel show was great. we ended up with backstage passes. pretty comfortable back there with bleachers about 30 ft off the stage with speakers facing us.
     
  22. Anyone know the big festival that took place in (or just outside of) Winnipeg in the 70's?

    I was too young to go but cars all over the city had the red parking pass sticker on their windsheilds that summer.

    I believe the headliners were The Eagles and Steve Miller Band.

    Sound familiar?
     
  23. TimB

    TimB Pop, Rock and Blues for me!

    Location:
    Colorado
    Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert

    Back in 1994. Maybe 80,000 people or so there. Great show that ran 7 1/2 hours. It was the last event at the old Cleveland Muni Stadium.
     
  24. Baron Von Talbot

    Baron Von Talbot Well-Known Member

    ooops, it was of course later - 1979 typo missed the 9 hit the next one - 0..
     
  25. Baron Von Talbot

    Baron Von Talbot Well-Known Member

    I wasn't familiar with AC/DC back then, so i checked release dates and personel. In fact the concert was in early September of 1979 and the last album with Bon Scott was Highway To Hell, which came out in June of 1979. In 1980 Back in Black was released and I always though they played some of the songs from that one, too. Maybe yes. maybe no.
    How do they usually start their shows with that killer one two riffs from left to right ? I thought it was Hells Bells - of course there was no huge bell on stage, that is what I know, I happened to be real close to the left ( right from stage) stack of amps, since the Scorpions played directly before , Cheap trick later and that was already LOUD Rock at it's best BUT the opening chords just killed it. Felt 3 times as loud + mighty. Killer opener like Back in Black or Thunderstruck but that was later.
    Who knows , maybe they had written Hells Bells already and just put it on the next LP with the new singer ? Seems unlikely I know..
    Any ideas ?
     
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