The first Atlanta International Pop Festival was a rock festival held at the Atlanta International Raceway in Hampton, Georgia, twenty miles south of Atlanta, on the July Fourth (Friday) weekend, 1969, more than a month before Woodstock.Roberts, Scott. (July 2011). "42 Years Ago This Month: The First Atlanta International Pop Festival" . Atlanta Magazine.Haden, Courtney. (July 2, 2009). "Remembering the Atlanta International Pop Festival". Birmingham Weekly.Beeman, Paul. (July 6, 1969). "Music Fans Stay Orderly Despite Heat, Wine, Drugs". The Atlanta Journal and Constitution.Santelli, Robert. Aquarius Rising - The Rock Festival Years. 1980. Dell Publishing Co., Inc. pp. 105-109, 266-7. Crowd estimates ranged from the high tens of thousands to as high as 150,000,Beeman, Paul. (July 7, 1969). "Pop's the Thing Despite Heat at Hampton". The Atlanta Journal. with few problems reported other than those related to the hot weather.
The second Atlanta International Pop Festival was held in a soybean field adjacent to the Middle Georgia Raceway in Byron, Georgia, south of Macon, from July 3–5, 1970, although it did not finish until after dawn on the 6th.West, Kirk (11 September 2002), Liner notes, Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival: July 3 & 5, 1970 As in 1969, high temperatures were an issue, and nudity and drug use were widespread. The festival became a free event after promoters opened the gates when crowds outside threatened to overwhelm security, and estimates of the crowd ranged between 150,000 and 600,000. The festival saw rock icon Jimi Hendrix perform before his largest American audience ever and featured the up-and-coming Macon-based Allman Brothers Band.
The 1970 festival would end up being the final Atlanta International Pop Festival, with Georgia authorities passing legislation to make it more difficult for anyone to organize another such rock festival in the state. It remains one of the largest public gatherings in Georgia history and one of the largest music festivals of its era. Recordings of some of the performances have been released by some of the performers involved (e.g. Hendrix and the Allmans) and seven songs were included on the 1971 album The First Great Rock Festivals of the Seventies: Isle Of Wight / Atlanta Pop Festival.
1969 festival
The festival was organized by a seventeen-member promotional team that included Chris Cowing, Robin Conant and Alex Cooley. Cooley was also one of the organizers of the Texas International Pop Festival a few weeks later on Labor Day weekend, as well as the second, and last, Atlanta International Pop Festival the following summer, and the Mar Y Sol Pop Festival in Puerto Rico from April 1 to 3, 1972. The sound system for the 1969 Atlanta festival was supplied by Hanley Sound of Medford, Massachusetts, and the light show was provided by The Electric Collage of Atlanta,McCabe, Tim. August 1969. "Festival Review". Metro Beat. both of which would return for the second Atlanta Pop Festival. Although his name appeared on the promotional poster, Chuck Berry did not perform at the festival.
With temperatures nearing a hundred degrees (), local fire departments used fire hoses to create "sprinklers" for the crowd to play in and cool off. It was a peaceful, energetic, hot and loud festival with few (if any) problems other than heat related. Concession stands, however, were woefully inadequate, with attendees frequently standing in line for an hour to get a soft drink.
On the Monday following the festival, July 7, the festival promoters gave Atlanta's music fans a gift: a free concert in Atlanta's Piedmont Park featuring Chicago Transit Authority, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, and Spirit, all of whom had played at the festival, and Grateful Dead, who had not. According to the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, the free event was the promoters' way of showing "their appreciation for the overwhelming success of the festival",Beeman, Paul. (July 6, 1969). "Pop Group List Concert at Park". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. although Alex Cooley has also described their motivation as simple hippie guilt at making a few-thousand-dollar profit.Budnick, Dean and Baron, Josh. Ticket Masters. 2011. ECW Press, Toronto. Piedmont Park had by then become the location of regular, free, and often impromptu rock concerts by mostly local Atlanta bands, and, beginning in mid-May 1969, by Macon's new Allman Brothers Band.Mankin, Bill. "We Can All Join In: How Rock Festivals Helped Change America" . Like the Dew. 2012.
Lineup Over twenty musical acts performed at the event:
Blood, Sweat & Tears Booker T. & the M.G.'s The Butterfield Blues Band Canned Heat Chicago Transit Authority Joe Cocker Creedence Clearwater Revival The Dave Brubeck Trio w/ Gerry Mulligan Delaney and Bonnie and Friends Grand Funk Railroad Ian & Sylvia Tommy James and the Shondells Janis Joplin Al Kooper Led Zeppelin Pacific Gas & Electric Johnny Rivers Spirit The Staple Singers Sweetwater Ten Wheel Drive Johnny Winter
1970 festival
Like 1969's Woodstock festival, the event was promoted as "three days of peace, love and music." Tickets for the festival were priced at $14. Also like Woodstock, it became a free event when the promoters threw open the gates after large crowds outside began chanting "Free, free, free. Music belongs to the people" and threatened to overwhelm even the biker security crew the promoters had hired.Abram, Malcolm X. (Summer 2000). "Byron Pop, 1970 – Woodstock, Middle Georgia Style". Hittin' the Note – Issue #29.Alvarez, Eugene. (Summer 1992). "Byron, Ga., Became 'The Woodstock Of The South'". Georgia Journal.Beeman, Paul. (1970-07-05). "Byron Festival Free To Most Of 200,000". Atlanta Journal and Constitution.Santelli, Robert. Aquarius Rising - The Rock Festival Years. 1980. Dell Publishing Co., Inc. Pp. 216-218.Marvin, Carolyn. (1970-07-05). "Bikers Twirl Chains, Halt Festival Gate Rush". Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Crowd estimates for the festival varied widely at the time, ranging from 150,000 to 600,000.Santelli, Robert. Aquarius Rising - The Rock Festival Years. 1980. Dell Publishing Co., Inc. Pg. 270.Collins, Howard. (1970-07-06). "Drums Hit Final Beats As Pop Festival Ends On Sour Finance Note". The Macon Telegraph.Beeman, Paul. (1970-07-05). "Byron Festival Free to Most of 200,000". The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, pp. 1A & 10A.Richard L. Eldredge FOR THE JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, Arts & Entertainment: "What a splash: Recalling Georgia's 'Woodstock'"., The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 07-04-1995, pp E/07.
Construction crews worked at the festival site for over a month prior to the event's opening day building the main stage, two spotlight towers atop soaring tree-trunk tripods, an eight-foot tall plywood fence surrounding the entire 11.7-acre audience seating area, and other facilities.Whittaker, Dave. (1970-06-20). "Pop Festival Ticket Sales Running Ahead". The Macon News.Beeman, Paul. (1970-06-28). "Hippies Working? And They Don't Bite! – Mid-Georgia Prepares For Festival". The Atlanta Journal and Constitution. A separate, much smaller stage – the "Free Stage" - was also built some distance away in a wooded camping area to accommodate impromptu performances by mostly local Georgia musicians who wanted to play during the festival, and many did - including The Allman Brothers Band.Alvarez, Eugene. (Summer 1992). "Byron, Ga., Became 'The Woodstock Of The South'". Georgia Journal. During the construction phase, the band Wet Willie performed for the construction crew but did not perform during the festival itself. The festival sound system was supplied by Hanley Sound of Medford, Massachusetts, and a rear-projection light show was provided by The Electric Collage of Atlanta, both of which had provided similar services at the first Atlanta Pop Festival the previous summer.
Temperatures at the festival were sweltering, surpassing 100 degrees Fahrenheit () every day. Although nudity and drug use were widespread, local law enforcement officials, who knew they were vastly outnumbered, stayed outside the festival gates and employed a general hands-off policy towards most festival-goers during the event's duration. However, Georgia's colorful governor, Lester Maddox, who had tried repeatedly to prevent the festival from taking place, vowed that he would do whatever it took to block any similar event in the future.Marvin, Carolyn. (1970-07-04). "200,000 Swelter At Pop Festival". Atlanta Journal and Constitution.Merrill, Hugh. (1970-07-07). "Maddox Asks Ban On Music Festivals". Atlanta Journal.Santelli, Robert. Aquarius Rising - The Rock Festival Years. 1980. Dell Publishing Co., Inc. Pg. 222. The state legislature willingly complied and enacted sufficient restrictions to make it much more difficult for anyone to organize another rock festival in the state. A third Atlanta Pop Festival never took place.
Performers Over thirty acts performed on the main stage during the course of the event:Concert Poster
The Allman Brothers Band Ballin' Jack Bloodrock Bloomsbury People Cactus Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys Chakra The Chambers Brothers Goose Creek Symphony Grand Funk Railroad Gypsy Memphis State University cast of "Hair" Hampton Grease Band Handle Richie Havens Hedge & Donna The Jimi Hendrix Experience It's a Beautiful Day Johnny Jenkins B.B. King Lee Michaels Mott the Hoople Mountain Poco Procol Harum Radar Rare Earth Terry Reid Rig Savage Grace John Sebastian Bob Seger System Spirit Ten Years After U.S. Kyds Johnny Winter
Jimi Hendrix performed at around midnight on the Fourth of July to the largest American audience of his career, presenting his unique rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner" to accompany the celebratory fireworks display. The Anunga Runga Tribe of the musical HAIR, which had performed for two weeks in April 1970 on the campus of Memphis State University, were the last act to perform, following Richie Havens, who opened his set at dawn on Monday morning (July 6) with his version of "Here Comes the Sun."
Among the artists billed in various promotional materials and programs but who did not perform at the festival were: Captain Beefheart, Ginger Baker's Air Force, Taos, Jethro Tull, Ravi Shankar, Country Joe and the Fish, Judy Collins, Rotary Connection, and Sly and the Family Stone.
Audio recordings