North Carolina Rock Festivals In the Mid-1970s

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by george nadara, Jan 19, 2010.

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  1. george nadara

    george nadara Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    In Pictures Of An Exhibitionist, Keith Emerson recalls the August Jam rock festival held Saturday, 10 August 1974 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway outside Charlotte, North Carolina. This reminded me of a friend who attended a rock festival in North Carolina… he says it was the July 4th weekend in either 1976 or 1977, he thinks in Winston-Salem… and, inebriated, remembers virtually nothing of the experience. Foghat and Black Oak Arkansas with Ruby Starr were on the bill. Otherwise zilch. Can anyone fill in details of stadium festivals that fit these limited criteria? Very curious about who and what my friend missed.
     
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  2. george nadara

    george nadara Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    In the mid-1970s, what were the names of the stadiums in Winston-Salem and Charlotte that also held festivals?
     
  3. DavidW

    DavidW Senior Member

    Location:
    Virginia
    My uncle went to the 1974 festival in Charlotte. I remember that in addition to ELP, the Allman Brothers played. There were others. I also remember that some gate crashers stomped some guard dogs to death - I think german shepherds. That made the news.

    I saw Black Oak Arkansas (with Ruby Starr), Foghat, and Montrose at either the Park Center or the Charlotte Colliseum in Charlotte in 1975 on Halloween night. A lot of people came in costumes. I attended several concerts around that time at both places. Both are indoor arenas and might not be what you are looking for. I remember friends going to another outdoor festival in Charlotte but don't remember if it was the speedway or another venue. I never saw any concerts in Winston-Salem during that time, but I did buy tickets to a Rolling Stones concert in Greensboro at a record shop in WS in 1978. I will always remember that. Tickets were sold out everywhere else. I did see Bob Dylan in Winston-Salem in 2002 (sometime around then).
     
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  4. Beetlebum

    Beetlebum Forum Resident

    Location:
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    My brother and I were there in 1974 in Charlotte. ELP was massive. I think Foghat played as well. It was an odd mixture of southern rock, boogie and prog rock at its finest. Also, the blotter was good.

    There were other day festivals in Charlotte previous to that which I think were held outdoors in the old "Charlotte Stadium" or "Charlotte Coliseum". One had Mahavishnu Orchestra and The Allman Brothers, the other had Captain Beyond, Canned Heat and a bunch of other groups.

    Does anyone remember these ? I'm afraid I barely can.

    BB
     
  5. Sneaky Pete

    Sneaky Pete Flat the 5 and That’s No Jive

    Location:
    NYC USA
    I attended the show with ELP and Allman Brothers. I went to many of these small "festivals" at that time in NC. I can remember some of the specific acts, but which bands appeared together at what show is not clear.

    I also went to a big festival or two in SC at Rockingham Motor Speedway. If someone can post the old promo posters it would help. It was a long time ago and I've seen many shows since then.
     
  6. Beetlebum

    Beetlebum Forum Resident

    Location:
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    The Rockingham festival was the Peachtree Festival, Faces canceled so Alice Cooper played instead :>) Another band not on the bill was Bertha, and all girl rock band.

    I don't remember The Eagles playing at the Charlotte show.
     

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  7. Beetlebum

    Beetlebum Forum Resident

    Location:
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    The Brownsville Stations site has some info on the 1973 show in Charlotte, turns out it was at The American Legion Memorial Stadium, with Goose Creek Symphony, Brownsville Station, Wet Willie, Marshall, Tucker ZZ Top, the Mahavishnu Orchestra , The Allman Brothers Band!

    I don't remember see all those guys. Maybe we got there late, I'll have to ask my brother. Mahavishnu Orchestra was fantastic, I do remember.

    http://www.schoolpunks.com/1973.html
     
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  8. Sneaky Pete

    Sneaky Pete Flat the 5 and That’s No Jive

    Location:
    NYC USA
    Thanks Beetlebum what a blast from my past. I can distinctly remember those posters now that I see them again. Those were very different times $12.00 tickets in advance.

    I remember I lived in a big old house on a tree line Street near downtown Charlotte, and we paid $125.00 rent. I know that sounds like a lot but we split it among 4 people.
     
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  9. ubik333

    ubik333 Active Member

    From the late 60s to the mid-70s,The Charlotte Coliseum was my concert cradle - toddling stage for a concert-going lifetime - and what a beginning! Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones(Mick Taylor era), Stevie Wonder, The Who, Bob Dylan & The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival .... and before that the WAYS radio station concerts .... a bit hazy on those shows. Remember Arthur Conley, Leslie Gore, The Bar Kays, Peaches And Herb, Tommy James And The Shondells, Percy Sledge, Eddie Floyd - I was just a kid.
    Wish someone had posters from those nights...

    Jerry
     
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  10. george nadara

    george nadara Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    Thanks, Beetlebum, for the posters and for the Brownsville Station link. The mention of Mahavishnu Orchestra reminds me of another friend who saw Jeff Beck at a North Carolina festival circa 1975-6. Anyone remember? Maybe if we continue to jar each other's memories. :D
     
  11. Beetlebum

    Beetlebum Forum Resident

    Location:
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    "OPEN AIR FREE FORM CONCERT"

    Here's a list of who played at the 1972 Peachtree Festival. Rory Gallagher finished it up after Alice and was amazing ! It turns out NC State Senator Tony Rand, a major power broker in NC who just announced his retirement, was one of the concert organizers !

    Alice Cooper (Original Lineup)
    The James Gang (With Dominic Troiano and not Joe Walsh)
    Three Dog Night (Original Lineup)
    Fleetwood Mac (Mick Fleetwood, Christie McVie, Bob Welch, Danny Kirwan)
    Poco
    Bloodrock
    Black Oak Arkansas
    Goose Creek Symphony
    Rory Gallagher
    Birtha (All female rock band that kicked butt that morning when they played!)
    Fabulous Rhinestones
    Tower of Power

    Someone else's memory of the bands: http://www.rockinghamremembered.com/051206WilliamWinslow.html

    "Lineup was:
    (This act was also there - per Bill Presley 091906) - Wishbone Ash
    Fabulous Rhinestones (with Harvey Brooks' - who played with Dylan, Mike Bloomfield and others on bass)
    Bertha (all woman hard rock quartet)
    Fleetwood Mac (with Danny Kirwan, Bob Welch and
    Christine McVie)
    Bloodrock (after Grand Funk Railroad, one of the favorite
    rock bands in NC in those days)
    Poco (best rock set I ever saw, particularly "Good Feeling to
    Know")(in the heat they were unable to return for an encore;
    I recall MC saying "Poco is puking")
    Black Oak Arkansas (pre-"Jim Dandy to the Rescue"; "When
    Electricity Came to Arkansas" is the number I remember best)
    Three Dog Night (they were the headliners, along with Alice)
    James Gang (with Dominic Troiano, not Joe Walsh)
    Alice Cooper (fireworks exploded just above heads of the
    audience)
    Rory Gallagher (very few were still awake when he played but
    he was great)

    There were two stages. First band was on right stage, second
    on left, etc. I don't recall many logistical glitches."

    More links on the 1972 Peachtree Festival to tickle your memory:

    Bertha wisely documented their appearance:
    http://www.birtharocks.com/picture1.html

    Poco fan site:
    http://www.angelfire.com/rock3/deliverin/poco1972.htm

    http://www.rockinghamremembered.com/051206WilliamWinslow.html
    http://www.rockinghamremembered.com/031206TwigGravely.html
    http://peachtree72.com/main/
    http://www.fayobserver.com/Articles/2009/09/06/931184
    http://blogs.fayobserver.com/livewire/2009/09/06/our-own-mini-woodstock-back-in-1972/
    http://www.rockinghamremembered.com/051206WilliamWinslow.html
    http://eighthdistrictdemsnc.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html
     

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  12. DavidW

    DavidW Senior Member

    Location:
    Virginia
    The August Jam is definitely the one my uncle attended. I remember some of the acts besides ELP and the Allman Brothers advertised. I also knew some people that saw Captain Beyond and Canned Heat at an outdoor festival. It must be the same one mentioned in an above post. And some other people I knew went to the Peachtree Festival. They were really into Alice Cooper at the time.

    Did anyone see Rod Stewart & Faces and Uriah Heep in 1975? I think it was the Park Center or maybe the Charlotte Colliseum. I did go to that one. I know this thread is focusing on outdoor festivals and not indoor concerts. I was just curious if anyone else here remembers that one.
     
  13. Slyde

    Slyde New Member

    I attended both the August Jam in 1974 at the speedway in Charlotte and the concert at Wake Forest's Football Stadium( I think it was the Grove Stadium at the time) in 1976. The lineup for the Winston Salem Show was Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Jeff Beck, Black Oak Arkansas and headliner Aerosmith. The whole concert was excellent!!! Bob Seger was a sweet surprise because I wasn't real familiar with his music at the time. It was my first time seeing Jeff Beck and he was amazing that day. I've always liked Black Oak, still I'm not their biggest fan but.......................Don't ever discount what they bring to the party, raunchy rock and the genius of Jim Dandy behind the mic! This was also the first time I had seen Aerosmith and they were tight and rocked hard, vocals were right-on, couldn't have been any better. I must say that the next time I saw Aerosmith in Greensboro two or three years later, they were near horrible. Apparently their addictions were playing out but it was ugly!
     
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  14. Daryl M

    Daryl M Senior Member

    Location:
    London, Ontario
    We saw ELP in Cleveland the weekend prior to the August Jam in Charlotte. I believe
    that we had our tickets to the Cleveland concert before I saw the ad in Rolling Stone
    for the ABB/ELP festival. We would have flown to Charlotte as we'd just graduated
    from high school. August Jam attracted 200,000 and had Eagles, Marshall Tucker,
    Ozark Mountain Daredevils, et al. In Cleveland we had a Joe Walsh-less James Gang
    and Climax Blues Band as support.
     
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  15. george nadara

    george nadara Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    How in the world did you find this old thread? Thanks for the post, I'm going to send it to my friend to see if it jars any memories. :laugh:
     
  16. Slyde

    Slyde New Member

    Today is the 40th anniversary of the August Jam, I've been searching the net for anything related!!!
     
  17. Tim Garner

    Tim Garner New Member

    I also attended both the August Jam in 1974 at the speedway in Charlotte and the concert at Grove Stadium in 1976.
    I had found info on the Aug Jam but not the Groves Stadium concert. Thanks for that!

    I also remember a series of outdoor concerts on a smaller scale in Winston-Salem. My memory is rather sketchy but it seams that these local concerts (outdoor parties with live music) may have been called "Strawberry Fields"? I don't think they lasted but one summer.
    I'm thinking I saw Brownsville Station Blue Oyster Cult before they re well known? Maybe CCR?
    Anyone else remember these?
     
  18. Gregory Earl

    Gregory Earl Senior Member

    Location:
    Kantucki
    Just stumbled on to this thread after a friend where I work told me about attending the August Jam Fest.

    Did they do another Jam Fest the next year in '75 at the speedway or was '74 the last one?
     
  19. monkees paw

    monkees paw Active Member

    Location:
    Southport CT
    This is a great thread, wonderful stories. . Unbelievable lineups of bands!..
     
  20. Mike Beane

    Mike Beane New Member

     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 1, 2016
  21. astro8585

    astro8585 Forum Resident

    Location:
    27301
    I was at Faces and Uriah Heep. It was at Charlotte Coliseum. Ron Wood had just been out wit
    h the Rolling Stones for the first time and this was the last tour with Faces I think. I remember this as one of the loudest shows I ever saw with Faces playing through those big Ampeg amplifiers. But even with the volume it was a good mix, so volume in itself was not a detraction. Also remember the drum lights during Heep's Sweet Lorraine.
     
  22. propblast

    propblast New Member

    Location:
    central michigan
    Peachtree 2 Festival at Fayetteville NC. in 1973. Before the show a crowd of rowdies pushed down the fence to the right of the entrance gate. The police and dog teams held the crowd back, then on the other side of the venue the rowdies pushed the fencing over. The police responded by rushing over to that spot. Leaving the gap in the fence by the gate unguarded.
    As I and 2 other friends were waiting to get in, with ticket in hand, we just walked over the downed fence.
    It was a great show, The band Santana was dressed all in white, had a minute of silence before they played.... Tower of Power was a Horn tootin powerhouse! And I was not a fan of a bunch of horn tootin. I have some photo`s from that festival that I will post.
    North Carolina had a lot of outdoor music shows going on in 1973-74.
     
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  23. tim bakin

    tim bakin New Member

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, NC
    This is cool. I was not at the August Jam but was at the 76 show at Groves Stadium. It was a monster. Probably the best fireworks show I ever saw but then again, my perception was probably influenced by "outside stimulus". I stumbled on this thread trying to find out info about the old "Strawberry Fields" shows in Winston-Salem. Any chance that anyone here saw any of those? They were just a hair before I became old enough to go to shows on my own I believe. Either that or I just never heard about them at the time, which I would find hard to believe.
     
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  24. slovell

    slovell Retired Mudshark

    Location:
    Chesnee, SC, USA
    We used to go to a place above Charlotte back in the early/mid 70's up I-77 N I think (maybe/maybe not, maybe further up I-85 N) called Tobacco Road that had name bands. I can't remember who all I saw play there but it was out in the country on private land. We were all really wasted on those weekends so I plead the fifth. Anybody else remember this place?
     
  25. shefarmer

    shefarmer New Member

    Location:
    blairsville ga
    hi slovell, i, too use to attend concerts at tobacco rd. the only one i remember is david allan coe with my friends loafer's glory backing them up. sometime around 1975.
    shefarmer
     
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