Monday, December 10, 2012

Texas International Pop Festival 1969


The Texas International Pop Festival was a music festival held at Lewisville, Texas, on Labor Day weekend, August 30 - September 1, 1969. It occurred two weeks after Woodstock. The site for the event was the newly-opened Dallas International Motor Speedway, located on the east side of Interstate Highway 35E, across from the Round Grove Road intersection. 

The festival was the brainchild of Angus G. Wynne III, son of Angus G. Wynne, the founder of the Six Flags Over Texas Amusement Park. Wynne was a concert promoter who had attended the Atlanta International Pop Festival on the July Fourth weekend. He decided to put a festival on near Dallas, and joined with the Atlanta festival's main organizer, Alex Cooley, forming the company Interpop Superfest. 

Artists performing at the festival were: Led Zeppelin, B.B. King, Canned Heat, Chicago (then called Chicago Transit Authority), Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, Freddie King, Grand Funk Railroad, Herbie Mann, Incredible String Band, James Cotton, Janis Joplin, Johnny Winter, Nazz, Rotary Connection, Sam and Dave, Santana, Shiva's Headband, Sly and the Family Stone, Space Opera, Spirit, Sweetwater, Ten Years After and Tony Joe White. 

North of the festival site was the campground on Lewisville Lake, where hippie attendees skinny-dipped and bathed. Also on the campground was the free stage, where some bands played after their main stage gig and several bands not playing on the main stage performed. It was on this stage that Wavy Gravy, head of the Hog Farm commune, acquired his name. (At Woodstock, he was Hugh Romney.) 

The Merry Pranksters, Ken Kesey's group, was in charge of the free stage and camping area. While Kesey was neither at the Texas event nor at Woodstock, his right hand man, Ken Babbs, and his psychedelic bus, Further (Furthur) were. The Hog Farm provided security, a trip tent, and free food. 

Attendance at the festival remains unknown, but is estimated between 120,000 and 150,000. As with Woodstock, there were no violent crimes reported. There was one death, due to heatstroke, and one birth. 

High-quality soundboard bootleg recordings of almost the entire festival are circulated on the internet. Led Zeppelin's set is one of the most popular Led Zeppelin bootlegs due to the high technical and musical quality of the performance.







Schedule:

The Festival began at 4:00 p.m. each day. Grand Funk Railroad opened all three days and played through the afternoon heat till the 4:00 p.m. opening band. BB King played all three nights and told the same jokes and stories, perhaps thinking he had a different 150,000 person crowd for each show.

Saturday, August 30:

Canned Heat
Chicago Transit Authority
James Cotton Blues Band
Janis Joplin
B.B. King
Herbie Mann
Rotary Connection
Sam & Dave

Sunday, August 31:

Chicago Transit Authority
James Cotton Blues Band
Delaney & Bonnie & Friends
Incredible String Band
B.B. King
Led Zeppelin (announced as "The Led Zeppelin")[10]
Herbie Mann
Sam & Dave
Santana

Monday, September 1:

Johnny Winter
Delaney & Bonnie & Friends
B.B. King
Nazz
Sly and the Family Stone
Spirit
Sweetwater
Ten Years After
Tony Joe White


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_International_Pop_Festival


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