The Atlantic City Pop Festival was the forerunner to the Woodstock Festival, which took place 12 days later in the summer of ’69.
The late great Frank Zappa in Mays Landing.
ATLANTIC CITY — Twelve days after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took mankind’s initial steps on the moon, Atlantic County braced for another first — the staging of the Atlantic City Pop Festival.
Over the three-day weekend of Aug. 1-3, 1969, drumbeats would replace hoof beats at the festival site, the Atlantic City Race Course in Hamilton Township. Festival producers Herb, Allen and Jerry Spivak, Shelley Kaplan and Larry Magid envisioned an event that featured top-flight entertainment along with about 70 craft and food booths in a relaxed, outdoor atmosphere.
An impressive range of talent ranging from A (American Dream) to Z (Frank Zappa) was booked.
The roster of acts spanned the musical spectrum from American rock (Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Captain Beefheart), the blues (B.B. King), British rock (Procol Harum, Joe Cocker), R&B (Booker T. & The MGs), singer/songwriters (Tim Buckley, Joni Mitchell) to ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll (Little Richard). Other acts were initially booked (Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Moody Blues) and featured in advertising and on T-shirts, but did not appear at the festival.
In his book, My Soul’s Been Psychedelicized – Electric Factory: Four Decades in Posters and Photographs (Temple University Press), Magid credited Spivak with sealing the deal for the racetrack as the site of the festival, the first major one on the East Coast.
Not everyone was eager to see the festival come to southern New Jersey. One merchant, upset at the prospect of young people descending on Atlantic County, suggested the words “Atlantic City” be deleted from the festival name since it would tarnish the image of the region. Security was tight for the festival. Police officers in Pleasantville and Atlantic City worked 12-hour shifts. On the racecourse grounds, 100 private security guards kept watch to ensure the racecourse would be able to open for thoroughbred racing season on Aug. 8, five days after the festival ended. State troopers were stationed at nearby Oakcrest High School as precaution if problems developed. The festival’s lineup served as a magnet, attracting fans not only from the tri-state area, but as far away as Florida, California and Canada. Ticket prices were reasonable — $6 for one day or $15 for the entire weekend. The festival was a sellout with 40,000 in attendance each day, Magid noted. In the end, the musicians were the glue that kept the festival together with their performances. Procul Harum’s show on the first was a highlight, spotlighting the guitar work of guitarist Robin Trower and organist Matthew Fisher. The biggest disappointment of the festival came on the opening day when Mitchell walked off the stage, midway through the fourth song of her set. Mitchell believed the audience was not listening to her as she sang the same verse twice during “Cactus Tree” without any reaction.
“I’m sorry I can’t play anymore,” she said in halting her performance. The acts following Mitchell restored the crowd’s energy level, notably the Chambers Brothers, who closed the show Friday night, highlighted by “Time Has Come Today.”
Two San Francisco-area bands electrified the crowd Saturday. Jefferson Airplane featured the soaring vocals of Marty Balin and Grace Slick on “Somebody to Love” and “Volunteers.” Creedence Clearwater Revival, riding a wave of commercial popularity, did not disappoint with such hits as “Green River” and “Proud Mary.”
The pace of the festival went smoothly, Magid noted in his book, thanks to a stage designed by Buckminster Fuller that revolved on a turntable to allow the acts to go on without delay.
During the festival, the crowd was generally orderly, but there was a sense of “anything goes” as well. Some spectators climbed the racecourse’s light towers for a better view of the proceedings. During the heat on Saturday, others went swimming in the track’s pond to cool off. Marijuana use also was prevalent. A Rolling Stone report on the festival noted that “dope smoking was so flagrant that anyone sitting within five rows of the stage was guaranteed at least a contact high.”
Watch a rare video clip from the Atlantic City Pop festival circa 1969 (sorry, no sound):
The biggest disruption in the festival — aside from three days of on-and-off rain — came when no one was on stage. A small group of concertgoers who camped at the site ransacked the merchants’ area, stealing an estimated $20,000 worth of musical instruments, albums and related merchandise. The festival ended harmoniously with memorable closing performances by Janis Joplin and Little Richard.
Twelve days later, the Woodstock Festival kicked off in New York and became the festival most associated with 1969, thanks to a documentary film and two soundtrack albums. Silent footage of the Atlantic City Pop Festival can be seen on YouTube, but the memories play on in the minds of those who were there that August weekend.
Here is the original audio promo for the 1969 festival with photos of bands and program:
Finally, a short clip of Janis Joplin live at the festival (with sound):
Story Behind the PhotosOn July 31, 1969, Maryland 17-year-old Peter Stupar, with a rented camera, hitched his way up to the Atlantic City area for the Atlantic City Pop Festival. Little did he know that a) he’d be allowed to shoot all three days of the concerts, by managing to stay on the press corps side of the fence, b) he’d become a successful rock photographer who would go on to shoot Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, The Who and countless others (see peterstupar.com), or that c) he’d spend all three nights (Aug. 1-3, 1969) sleeping in the rain in the festival parking lot. “It rained like hell all every night,” Stupar tells AC Weekly. “It was like a hurricane. I had no change of clothes; I was a salty dog.”
Stupar hadn’t even purchased his first Nikon, yet on the second day of the festival, he “marched over to the fence where the press photographers were on the second day and I told them I was with the press and they didn’t even ask for anything.”
Stupar, who has been working on a book of photographs from the festival, says those who are interested in photos from the festival should check the photo gallery on his Web site.
(All photos copyright Peter Stupar 2011. Photos are available for purchase by e-mailing the photographer at pstupar@aol or via his Web site peterstupar.com).
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Back in 1969, a decade after the launch of the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island (and nearly 15 years after the Newport Jazz Festival was established in 1964) and just a couple weeks before Woodstock took place in upstate New York (Aug. 15-18), Atlantic City had its own big rock and pop festival. Held Aug. 1-3, 1969, at the Atlantic City Race Course, the Atlantic City Pop Festival featured ...
As purveyors of some of the most poignant songs of the rock era, it would seem that David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash were working from an agenda when they were turning out their counterculture messages more than 40 years ago.
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From the moment the song was released, it seemed to take on a life of its own. In less than a month, it rocketed up the charts to capture the top position in Great Britain and France and crossed the ocean to become a top 10 hit in America.
WHEN BILLY CRYSTAL MADE CONTACT OFF a pitch by the Pirates' Paul Maholm during a Yankees spring training game in March -- the day before the actor/comedian turned 60 -- it was, according to Crystal, "[T]he strangest, greatest moment of my life." Crystal fouled the pitch, but the comedian wasn't planning on embarking on a new career for himself in the big leagues anyway. AC Weekly contributor David J. Spatz did a "mahvelous" job interviewing Crystal, who appears this weekend at Borgata for two shows, in this week's cover story (see p. 62). Also making a rare appearance in this neck of the woods this weekend is live horse racing (which started Wednesday) at the Atlantic City Race Course (see Ray Schweibert's piece on p. 68). Although it was reported on Wednesday that the six-day Atlantic City Race Course meeting won't have its simulcast signal exported as originally intended, live thoroughbred horse racing is set to continue at the course (which is actually in Hamilton Township) this Thursday and Friday, April 24-25 and next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, April 30-May 2. Due to its infrequent live races, the race course, which debuted...
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1. Zappa_Fans said... on Aug 18, 2011 at 09:16AM
“Was anybody there?? What did Zappa play??? Anyone have a set list?”
2. Anonymous said... on Aug 23, 2011 at 08:41PM
“Didn't go to AC Pop Festival, was only 12 years old. However, one of the festival's headliners was Iron Butterfly, who were one of the hottest acts in the world at the time. It's weird that stories like the one above never mention them. (Note that Iron Butterfly played AC and did not play Woodstock.) Anyway, they played AC on Friday, and the next night Iron Butterfly took their bus to Cherry Hill to play the Camden County Music Fair. It was my first concert. My main memory from the show is that after his iconic solo in "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida", the rest of the band dumped a trash can full of beer onto Ron Bushy, Iron Butterfly's drummer. Awesome.”
3. Dan P said... on Oct 13, 2011 at 02:36PM
“i was there all three days with my cousin. since we didn't camp out (lived in ac), i dont remember the rain. i totally agree with excellent set by procul harum, one of the best of the weekend. chicago, santana, and paul butterfield also unbelievable. for me, best by far was janis. her raw energy and sensuality has yet to be topped, 41 yrs and countless shows later. only point of disagreement was jefferson airplane totally sucked. they were late on stage, so stoned they mostly just stood there, and what did come out was lifeless. most of the crowd left by that time left 30 mins into their set, ourselves included. magid and spivak should have had the foresight to film the weekend. there are precious few mementos of the festival. just priceless memories.”
4. john g. said... on Aug 27, 2012 at 05:18PM
“I was 16 years old. I remember Joni Mitchell being upset with the venue. Does anyone else remember her words? She interrupted her own set and said something about making "room for the 'heavy' bands." At least that's how I remember it.”
5. brian p. said... on Sep 29, 2012 at 09:49PM
“Three friends and I, from Toronto, were there. It was an amazing three days....first time we saw and heard Joe Cocker and Santana. Remember the Joni incident. Most of us were very happy she left so that the good stuff could continue...we bought our tickets before we heard about Woodstock but were glad we did...
Iron Butterfly and the Mothers of Invention were amazing....as were many of the others...
Ahhh, the summer of '69.....”
6. Lee Mathis said... on Nov 29, 2012 at 08:10AM
“I was 16 and had my mom drive us out there on Friday...
IT WAS GREAT!!”
7. Anonymous said... on Dec 18, 2012 at 02:06AM
“I was there all three days. I was hired to work the lights . I was from Longport, NJ. I was on
the right hand side of the stage as you look at it. I was there all three days. I stood right next to and talked with Janis Joplin. I gave her a bottle of beer shaped like a keg, she was wonderful and funny and very normal to talk with. SomeOne was taking pictures the whole time call me if you want to talk about the concert. 251-751-7667”
8. dutch from south philly said... on Jan 4, 2013 at 11:07AM
“i had meet a girl at the philly art museum the week before meet her again at the concert been together ever since GREAT SHOW WONDERFULL MATE”
9. George Kotzas said... on Jan 25, 2013 at 08:13PM
“Agree. Procol Harum was a high point.
”
10. Les Ericson said... on Jan 29, 2013 at 04:14PM
“I was there for all 3 days (and then for Woodstock 2 weeks later-what a month) The highlight for me was being hoisted onto the stage by a hells angel who guarded the stage left when Janice was on-I danced like a crazed puppet and she danced all the way stage right (not noticing me of course) -I always tell the tale of the time I danced with Janice Joplin-plus for whatever reason (drugs I'm sure) I heckled Zappa who stopped for a second and gave me the finger-ahhh fame!”
11. Mark Canard said... on Mar 6, 2013 at 07:06PM
“I validate John g. (above) Joni did not think we dug her (WRONG). She seemed freaked out by the enormous crowd.
It is hard to engage 250,000 people!
I was there from beginning to end and had the whole festival experience. We hitchhiked there and I shared cigarettes with Frank Zappa and was at stage side and photographed Janis Joplin with my little Kodak Instamatic.
The greatest thing for me was being in the=at huge audience and sleeping with a great crowd in the most primitive conditions and feeling the vibe.”
12. George Liebert said... on Mar 18, 2013 at 10:02AM
“I was at the Saturday show. We were camp counselors in Monroe, NY and drove down on our day off to see the show. Great great lineup that day, a lot of "B" groups, Butterfield, Byrds, Tim Buckley, BB, as well as Jeff Airplane and others. It feels like there were more bands that day than on the lineup card
but it was great fun. We had to drive over a 100 on the Jersey tpk to get back to camp before revelie the next day!”
13. Anonymous said... on Mar 22, 2013 at 11:39PM
“i was there as a result of knowing relatives of the promoters.got to drive my 63 chevy onto the track and park near the stage.i was asked to stand on stage and repel boarders and did so.little richard hit on me.had shots with joplin.jimi hendrix was there.cannot understand why there is no mention of him.he and joplin hung out.plenty of people tripping on and off the stage.at the end i drove my chevy around the track.i hit 80.a compleat blast”
14. Bill Bonney said... on Apr 12, 2013 at 10:23AM
“I was there for the duration and someone announced to the crowd that we had to be cool because there was a big concert coming up in New York State and everyone was watching how this one turned out. If there were no problems here they would proceed with Woodstock. The first night there was tension in the air with all those kids packed in so tight but when The Chamber Brothers came on it all dissapated and was great from there on in.
My friend and I brought no food or drink or sleeping bag or anything and we wanted for nothing! We sat in the crowd and food and drinks and smoke was just passed around all three days. You just ate some or drank some or smoked some and then passed it on, so cool! The music was great from morning till night and then you just lie back right where you were sitting and sleep. When it got real hot city water trucks came by and sprayed the crowd to cool us off, we loved it. Three days of peace, music, and freedom!”
15. fab4ever said... on May 16, 2013 at 12:14PM
“Took a bus from upstate ny and stayed for all three days. got in the concert when a group crashed one of the gates. met and talked with Janis before she went on. took lots of photos but all lost in flood in 2006.”