North Carolina Rock Festivals In the Mid-1970s

HI, i must clarify; the band, LOAFER'S GLORY, did not actually 'back up' D.A.C.; they were a separate band, maybe 2nd billing. i do remember the venue being way in the deep woods, on private land. there was a huge, nice soundstage, a pond, and a little bar up front. the isolation and proximity to acres and acres of farmland really inspired us young folks to 'get one with nature'. maybe that nice windowpane helped, too. that might be the night that my friend snuck into a barn and cooked a chicken in a paint can; delicious! this reminiscence of tobacco road brings to mind another deep woods venue: UNION GROVE FIDDLERS CONVENTION. remember that? would love to hear from anyone that was there.....

 

I hope that was lead free paint.

 

What was the outdoor festival in the early 1970's in Charlotte at the American Legion Stadium which included Spirit and Wishbone Ash. It went most of the day and got rained out but moved into the Grady Cole Center and continued with Dr. John, Uriah Heep and Ike and Tina?

 

I went to one at the Charlotte Memorial Stadium in May 1979 on a hot Saturday afternoon/evening - the bands I remember were Poco, Atlanta Rhythm Section, and Boston as the headliner. I remember they made Boston keep their encore short because of a 10:00 curfew in Charlotte at that time.

I also saw one at the Springfest in Chapel Hill in April '79, which had The Spinners, Nantucket, & Jimmy Buffet as the headliner.

 

let me tell you what i remember it was a long time ago in winston we had weekly out door event at the fair grounds called strawberry field for a couple of dollars you got to see many named artist and august jam in charlotte was a real banger thousands of people it was a all weekend event as we were arriving people were along the side of the road selling mushroom and about anything else you wanted also inside of the concert not like woodstock you had venders selling real food lol electric light orchestra were there also there was a area with rows of tents with signage as what they had to offer music was awesome we hippies used to have many get togethers with no fighting or shootings go figure if you were short on having enough to get something to eat you just walked around asking for spare change we looked after each other in those days also there was a event in i believe troy nc called the annual all southern fall festival i remember it being chilly at dark. oops lets not forget the fiddlers convention at union grove nc thats as far as we made it heading to woodstock i slept under the i40 bridge whill still under const

 

do you or anyone else have any photos or footage of this event or any others

 

New member here; love this thread! I found the site trying to track down the date of a show I saw at Groves Stadium in the mid 70s. The show was ZZ Top headlining, with Skynyrd before them, and, I want to say Wet Willie before, and I think I recall Elvin Bishop scheduled, but then cancelled. Turns out it was May 29, 1976. Rough show. Had a big episode during Skynyrd where a fight broke out between some bikers and some military guys. When it broke out, a big circle formed around the fight, big enough that Skynyrd stopped playing until the police came out and restored order. Wild!

Also, loved seeing some posters mentioning the Faces and Uriah Heep at Charlotte Coliseum. I’m a big Faces fan; really glad I got to see that show!

 

I went to see The Rolling Stones at the original Charlotte Coliseum in 1972. It was my senior year of high school and set the tone for the year. Stevie Wonder was the opening act.

 

I loved Strawberry Fields. I went to just about every concert there!!! We had a blast!!!

 

I loved Strawberry Fields. I went to just about every concert there!!!

 

Here’s a few additional artists who were at those Big Ways radio sponsored shows.Jerry Butler, Brian Hyland, Honeycomb, Sugarloaf,Jean Knight, King Floyd and Dennis Coffey. I was at all the concerts you mention in your post. Bo Diddley opened for CCR. Credence was minus Tom Fogerty by then and they only played for 30 minutes!!

 

i went to this concert. it rocked... aerosmith sounded bitchin' .. early stuff. you where able to bring alcohol in as long as it was in plastic. that was weird ... aerosmith 'blew-off' about 1000 white flash fireworks for their finalie .... tyler was 'boom' classic .. i was visiting my dad in greensboro one summer 1976, i guess.. lucky me...

 

I’m indebted to Beetlebum for the information he provided.

I was also at the Peachtree Celebration, as well as that Memorial Stadium with the Allman’s and Mahavishnu (had to work that Saturday at a grocery store in Wadesboro, thumbing up to the Queen City just in time to see McLaughlin and Company’s closing number).

A couple of weeks ago I drove up from Jacksonville FL to Charlotte and saw Rory’s bass player Gerry McAvoy and his fantastic band. I had a chance to talk to this gracious gentleman after the show and he remembered the Peachtree show well, telling his incredible guitar player Davy Knowles, “Yeah, we played after Alice Cooper and Three Dog Night. There’s a lot of stuff I still haven’t told you about”.

Rory also played a roadside bar in Cheraw SC in March or April of 1974. Gerry didn’t really remember that one.

 

After Alice Cooper finished their set at Peachtree Festival it was very late and the crowd just dissipated. Rory came on and I just walked right up to the stage and watched his performance. Couldn’t have been more than 100 people standing there.

 

I gathered that was the intent was to “wind the crowd down” after Alice’s zaniness. I was familiar with Rory from his 1972 live set, and I watched part of it from further back, but my ride was ready to go so I only caught the first part of his performance.

That was one of those days that makes me wish I had a time machine.

I sure would love to come across a poster for that show—surely there can’t be more than 2 or 3 around. Thankfully I held on to my ticket stub.

 

Rockingham Motor Speedway is in NC., near the border with SC.

 

I saw Loafer's Glory playing at the Cafe Deja Vu in the Cameron Village Underground, Raleigh around 1977. I believe they were from around Asheville? I saw Coe about a dozen times in the 70s and 80s. A heck of a live act back then.

 

Fayetteville in the 60s-70s was like the old west. Ft Bragg was the base where troops deployed to Vietnam and came back after a tour in Vietnam. There were tons of young men in the area and not nearly as many young females. They were mainly draftees that were away from home for the first time and draftees that had just come out of the jungle. There were just two small colleges around so there weren't many non military kids in the area. I grew up about 20 miles north and going to Fayetteville on our own when we were in high school was like going to Sodom or Gomorrah. Hookers, drugs, fights, topless clubs, gunfire, knife fights it was wild. Rednecks and GIs with PTSD mixed with alcohol and a limited number of available females makes for mayhem. The Cumberland County Arena held lots of festival seating concerts back in the 70s. I must have seen Foghat three or four times there during high school. Dawg those guys were road warriors! I saw the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, and Elvin Bishop on a very good double bill there as well. Shockingly I don't remember there ever being an incident at those shows. Must have been all the organic matter that got slipped in. But an outdoor concert around Fayetteville, that would have been a recipe for trouble.

 

I was at that show. Someone cancelled but didn't remember it was Wet Willie. I remember the Hell's Angels were showing their asses up front. I don't think it was military guys they were fighting but I didn't see everything. People starting fleeing that area of the football field and to show how stupid I was at 17 I started going toward it, with my girlfriend! We got where we could see and there were Hell's Angels fighting long haired guys, not short haired military looking guys. Everybody was giving them a wide berth but it was my impression the the Angels were trying to assert their dominance started pushing people around and a few stood up to them. I remember Ronnie Van Zandt appealed to them to cool it and dropped a big jug of wine down to them but it didn't work. Finally the crowd parted as a big well organized formation of police in riot gear, (helmets/blackjacks/shields) hustled in. The crowd cheered the police as they arrested and removed the assholes. The other thing I remember was that they played Merle Haggard on the PA between acts.

 

Thanks for the correction. I moved away from NC in 1976. Plus my memories of Rockingham are a little hazy to say the least. ;-)

 

I was at NCSU during that era. I remember seeing Sea Level at the Pier at the Cameron Village Underground. They had a lot of great shows there.
State would have “Zoo Day” in the spring. I became a big fan of Capricorn band Cowboy via the 77 event, and in 78 fellow Capricorn artists the Dixie Dregs put on quite the show.

 

I was hoping to see archival photos of girls with cutoffs and halter tops. You've let me down, forum.