12,000 Hear Joan Baez at SPAC

Tiny Girl With Very Big Voice

by Marilyn Nason, The Post-Star, August 8, 1967

A lone, tiny girl on the mammoth stage of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center last night set the proper tone for a concert by Joan Baez, as some estimated 12,000 persons listened attentively and applauded wildly.

Singing “oldies but goodies,” a standard or two but largely unknown numbers, Miss Baez displayed a remarkable vocal range, a strong, vibrant voice and a sure mastery of her guitar.

Mike trouble was a source of repeated annoyance both to her and the audience, but seemed to stem largely from the fact that although she is petite, she possesses an extremely powerful voice.

The protest songs, expected by most of those attending, were there but seemed milder than what might have emerged or, perhaps, as one fellow critic observed, “When she first sang these a few years ago, protest songs were not so common as today.”

The audience, both in the 5,100-seat amphitheatre and literally covering the lawn behind, was largely teen-age. But the surprising fact was that the major share were extremely well dressed-a la a Saturday night date – with sensible-length hair and polite, if enthusiastic, applause throughout the evening.

Miss Baez introduced most of her tunes, occasionally spoke at some length between numbers, and displayed her mastery of several languages, at least in song, by singing in Japanese, Italian and Spanish.

If a criticism of any kind were to be voiced, beyond the aforementioned mike trouble, it would have to be the generally morbid tone of many of Miss Baez’s songs, a sharp contrast to the fantastic smile she displayed to the applause given each number.

At one point, she showed an intelligent understanding of a major American problem by telling the basically teenage audience, “The anti-marijuana law is stupid, but then so is smoking. If life is an interesting enough trip, you don’t need smoking ‘pot’ anymore than you need booze.” And she received thunderous applause for the remark.