The Fifth Dimension Draw 16,000 at SPAC; Second Largest Crowd in Center’s History

by Marilyn Nason, The Post-Star, August 20, 1969

The largest crowd of the season, some 16,000, turned out last night for the return visit of the Fifth Dimension at Saratoga Performing Arts Center and a spectacular evening it was.

Under near-perfect weather conditions (a welcome, if rare, change from the perpetual rains of this summer), SPAC was bulging at the seams for this fine, talented group. Last night’s attendance has only been topped in the four-year history of SPAC by Simon and Garfunkel with 17,500.

Without any augmented amplifiers or auxiliary sound systems, the Fifth Dimension were a pleasant group, clearly audible everywhere, even to the very top of the lawn swarming with people, not too noisy for those sitting down front and just, all in all, one of the best specials of this or any season.

They sang everything their fans wanted, all the hits of the past few years that have made the Fifth Dimension famous on records, in clubs and on TV. Applause-getters included “Love, Sweet Love,” “You Make Me So Very Happy,” “Up, Up and Away,” “On Broadway,” “Stoned Soul Picnics,” “Ode to Billy Jo,” “If I Had a Hammer,” “Look of Love.”

But certainly the greatest crowd-pleaser was “Aquarius,” which really brought down the house and served as final number of the evening. For this, they brought members of the audience onstage to join in dancing, revealing some pretty rhythmic uninhibited souls out there in audienceland.

After singing “Working On a Groovy Thing,” the quintet introduced its popular composer, Neil Sedaka, who took a bow sitting in the audience with his wife and father-in-law.

The Fifth Dimension, although basically a rock group, is a superior rock group, one that can be equally enjoyed by the
youngest and the oldest, by anyone, in fact, who enjoys good, hardworking professional entertainers who know what they are about onstage.

The three fellows and two gals work hard, seem to enjoy what they are doing and each other and are thoroughly personable, pleasant, clean-cut people both on and offstage.

Their arrangements are uptempo, a good strong sound. All five sing well, dance like perpetual motion machines and offer a wholesome show with miniature production numbers for each tune and a bit of comedy thrown each between numbers.

For the fashion-minded, they wore brown and glitter gold outfits for the first half of the program, then changed to colorful, tasteful calypso outfits for the second portion. They were backed by a foursome of organ, piano, guitars and drums, just right for the SPAC stage and their arrangements.

Tonight Morton Gould conducts the Congress of Strings Orchestra at 8:30 onstage.