Summer Jam at Watkins Glen
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The Summer Jam at Watkins Glen was a 1973 rock festival which received the Guinness Book of World Records entry for "Largest audience at a pop festival." An estimated 600,000 rock fans came to the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Raceway outside of Watkins Glen, New York on July 28, 1973, to see The Allman Brothers Band, The Band, and the Grateful Dead perform.
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[edit] History
The concert was produced by Shelly Finkel and Jim Koplik, two promoters who previously organized a successful Grateful Dead concert at Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1972. Similar to the 1969 Woodstock Festival, an enormous traffic jam created chaos for those who attempted to make it to the concert site. 150,000 tickets were sold for $10 each, but for all the other people it was a free concert. The crowd was so huge that the largest part of the audience was not able to see the stage; however, twelve huge sound amplifiers, installed courtesy of legendary promoter Bill Graham, allowed the audience to at least hear.
Although the concert was scheduled to start on July 28th, thousands of music fans were already at the concert site on the 27th. Robbie Robertson of the Band requested to do a soundcheck, but was perplexed that so many people were sitting in front of the stage. Bill Graham allowed the soundcheck with the crowd of people in front, and the Band ran through a few numbers to the delight of the audience. The Allman Brothers Band did their soundcheck next, playing "One Way Out" and "Ramblin' Man". The Grateful Dead's legendary soundcheck turned into a two set marathon, featuring their familiar tunes such as "Sugaree", "Tennessee Jed" and "Wharf Rat". They also performed a unique jam that was eventually included on their retrospective CD box set So Many Roads (1965-1995).
On July 28, the day of the concert, 600,000 music fans had arrived in Watkins Glen. The Grateful Dead performed first, playing two long sets. They opened with "Bertha" and played many hits such as "Box Of Rain", "Jack Straw", "Playing in the Band", "China Cat Sunflower" and "Eyes of the World".
The Band followed the Dead with one 2 hour set. However, their set was cut in half by a drenching thunderstorm, in a scene again reminiscent of Woodstock. During the storm, keyboardist Garth Hudson performed his signature organ improvisation "Genetic Method" until the rain let up.
Finally, the Allman Brothers Band performed for 3 hours. Their performance included "Wasted Words", "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed", "Statesboro Blues", "Les Brers in A Minor" and "Whipping Post".
Following the Allmans' second set, there was an hour encore jam featuring musicians from all three bands. The jam featured spirited renditions of "Not Fade Away", "Mountain Jam", and "Johnny B. Goode".
Although there were no reports of violence at Watkins Glen, the day was marred by the death of Willard Smith, 35, a skydiver from Syracuse, New York. Smith, who dove from an airplane, was carrying flares. One of the flares ignited his body suit, and he was engulfed in flames. Smith's body was eventually found in the woods near the concert site.
Many historians claimed that the Watkins Glen even was the largest gathering of people in the history of the United States. In essence, that meant that on July 28, one out of every 350 people living in America at the time was listening to the sounds of rock at the New York state racetrack. Considering that most of those who attended the event hailed from the Northeast, and that the average age of those present was approximately seventeen to twenty-four, close to one out of every three young people from Boston to New York was at the festival.
[edit] Pirate radio
Unbeknownst to the organizers of the event, a pirate radio station out of Hartford, Connecticut operated for 12 days from the site of the concert. CFR AM and CFR FM pulled a camper with a fully equipped radio studio into the concert's press area five days before the gates opened and were accepted by the other media as a Canadian radio station setting up to do a remote broadcast of the concert. Broadcasting commenced almost immediately after arrival at the site and consisted of live disc jockeys (10 people were involved with the pirate station, including several prominent Hartford DJs at the time). As opening day approached, station personnel interviewed Bill Graham, Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead and various musicians as the studio/camper was set up along the access road between the heliport and the stage. Adjacent to the press area were a detachment of New York Mounted Police who appeared to be thrilled to have a station broadcasting from the site. In exchange for free food, the radio station relayed state police announcements about traffic congestion every thirty minutes. Due to Watkins Glen being on a hill, the station's AM and FM signals traveled several dozen miles. The station interrupted its regular programming to carry the last two days of the concert live and continued to broadcast for four days after the show ended to provide information and entertainment to the departing crowd.
[edit] Discography
- The Band - Live at Watkins Glen (Audio-CD, released 1995). This release is mostly comprised of studio takes with overdubbed audience sounds.
- The Grateful Dead - Watkins Glen, NY, July 28, 1973 (4 CD-Box)
- Watkins Glen (6 CD-Box with The Band, The Grateful Dead, and The Allman Brothers Band)
