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Exactly 34 years ago today -- also on a Friday -- Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker and Tina Turner played for 50,000 fans in Los Angeles. Not in a stadium, but on a small horse racing oval in residential Northridge. Few in the crowd held tickets, and most were stoned. Same for Hendrix, who played so poorly that he vowed to return Sunday and do better. That he did, jamming with drummer Buddy Miles in a memorable set for which bootlegs still trade on the Web. By then, some 200,000 souls had endured the stifling Valley heat, lack of food or water, angry cops and a chain-wielding car club called the Street Racers to hear the Byrds, Rascals, Jethro Tull, Spirit, Eric Burdon, Marvin Gaye and other popular acts of the time.
"Now it's night and the crowd is getting out of hand," remembers Jay Donnellan, guitarist for the band Love. "Helicopters are circling directly overhead with spot lights aimed down and someone on the P.A. is trying to settle down a large group of people who have scaled the chain link fencing and as he does, the fencing collapses on top of the paying crowd. Someone shoots a flare at the helicopters...
...potential mayhem and nobody's in control. The party crashers who couldn't get in were breaking down the perimeter fencing and the police (who were dumber than a bag of hammers), thought it a great idea to keep stirring things up with their helicopters and force presence. Well, somehow the music prevailed..."
Reviewer Pete Johnson in the L.A. Times wrote that fans seated near enough to the stage "may have heard the best performance of their lives." But for most, the sound system was so weak the music blurred into the noise of helicopters, sirens and so many celebrants. With nowhere to stay, they slept overnight in suburban front yards and stripped fruit off backyard trees. Markets nearby were ransacked, and in a Sunday melee 15 police were sent to the hospital.
City Hall went berserk that the largest rock music event ever -- a claim that lasted only until Woodstock, later that summer -- could erupt with little warning in bucolic Northridge. Hauled before the police commission, the young promoter, Mark Robinson Jr., replied when asked what he would do differently next time: "I wouldn't do it." The city promptly banned big outdoor rock festivals.
Could be. There are many versions of the events of that weekend around. The most common stories about Hendrix though involve a drink spiked with acid, and a run-in with Black Panthers from the college that owned the festival site. Seven months earlier, black students had commandeered the San Fernando Valley State College administration building, and a couple dozen were facing felony charges. Gov. Reagan demanded their heads, and the leaders got what were apparently the longest sentences of any dealt to students protesters in the '60s. End of diversion...
Posted by: Kevin Roderick at June 20, 2003 07:13 PMPoster & Handbill Images From That Event Are Shown On A New BALLINJACK WEBSITE
http://www.dancingmonica.com/ballinjack.htm
I was at this festival and would appreciate any remembrances from anyone else who was there. We stayed until Sunday noon and there were some bad vibes coming down.
I recall Jethro Tull being practically unknown but really great in concert. Also, Johnny Winter with unknown little brother, Edgar, in his band.
And Jimi Hendrix seemed really loaded on Reds or something heavier or both. As his set progressed, Jimi got increasingly hostile and verbal with the crowd. People were booing his comments, then he would start a song and he would play pretty great.
I was there. We had graduated from jr. high the day before. I had my hair done in the romantic, pinned-up-curls look of the day--very victorian-looking-- didn't exactly go with my hippest 13yo outfit, but it was a big deal to get it done and I didn't want to take it down!
My friend's dad was the manager of the Downs, and he got a lot of heat for this event. Ironically, he was very conservative and religious, and his own daughter wasn't allowed to go.
During the day, I got autographs from a bunch of people, including Marianne Faithful. I still have hers someplace. I wish I still had the poster! I remember, even then, thinking this was an amazing amount of talent in one place.
I remember the helicopters overhead, shining a bluish light. I remember a naked, stiff, cold girl being passed hand-over-hand out of the crowd and hoping she wasn't dead! We lived near the Downs and could hear the music every night.
Absolutely the coolest day of my young life, and without a doubt the hippest day Northridge ever experienced!
Posted by: Lisa at March 11, 2004 11:28 PMI was not at that concert. But in 1973 at the age of 14 I saw Ballin'Jack perform in Medford, OR. I was wondering why such an incredible band was playing at such a small venue. Grossly underrated tunes. Maybe it was the horns, as I know a lot of people who don't like horns in rock, though Chicago and The Grassroots did quite well. I had their album collection until some prick ripped off my 70 albums in HS. It's nice to see the internet keep alive some very forgotten but deserving bands.
Posted by: Doug Klinkebiel at April 29, 2004 10:13 AM
of LA Observed
Regarding Hendrix, what I heard from a source who said he attended was this, although I don't know if it was a report of the Friday or Sunday show :
The temperatures dropped as night fell, and Hendrix was worried he wouldn't be able to perform -- not because he was stoned, but because you can't play with cold fingers -- so he asked to be bumped up ahead of the band Ballinjack. He played a short set, with some difficulty, and then told the crowd he knew that some of them had come just to see him, but urged everyone to stay for Ballinjack. On this recommendation, my source said that he stayed, and was rewarded with an excellent set by the horn-heavy band.
I'd be interested in hearing anything that either contradicts, confirms or supplements this ....
Posted by: The Raven at June 20, 2003 06:51 PM