Countdown At A Rock Concert
by Bill Rice, The Times Record, June 23, 1973
SARATOGA SPRINGS – It was 2 p.m. Friday, hot and humid, with a trace of rain in the sky.
Driving north on Interstate 87, we saw our first trace of the Allman Brothers concert scheduled for 8 p.m. at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center that evening — two hitchhikers thumbing with a sign marked “SPAC.”
Tragedy has relentlessly stalked the six-man Allman Brothers Band since 24-year-old guitarist Duane Allman, who founded the group in 1969, was killed in a motorcycle accident while vacationing in Macon, Ga., in October 1971. His brother Gregg, organist and vocalist, took over the group’s leadership.
A year and 13 days later, bassist Berry Oakley was driving his motorcycle down a Macon street when it collided with a city bus. Berry, also 24, died several hours later. He has subsequently been replaced by Lamar Williams. Despite persisting tragedy, the beat of the Allman Brothers goes on.
At 2:30 p.m., five and a half hours before the concert was to begin, there was little sign of the expected 24,000 young people at the main box office. Ed Lewi, promotional director for the Performing Arts Center, gave us the projected figure.
“When the amphitheater sells out a day and half after tickets go on sale, that’s the kind of crowd we expect,” said Lewi.
Probably the first to arrive was 19-year-old Tom Russo, from Hayfield in Fulton County. He slept overnight on top of the ticket building in a sleeping bag.
“The mosquitoes were a little heavy,” he said, “but nobody else hassles you up there.”
Twenty-two-year-old John McMahon hitchhiked from Rome, N.Y., and also slept overnight nearby. He wouldn’t say where.
Three bearded and sunburned youths from Jacksonville, N.C., arrived a night early.
“WE HEARD the concert was Thursday,” said their spokesman, Phil George. *We were just boogying (driving) around the country,” he explained, “when we heard about the concert on the radio and thought this would be a good place to come. We cracked out (slept) down the road a bit,” he added.
3:30 p.m. — While a Performing Arts Center maintenance crew sprays mosquito repellent along the lawn, the Allman Brothers band begins playing on stage to test their sound equipment.
Outside the main gate, a steadily growing group of youngsters is still milling around, some playing cards, some drinking beer, apparently unaware of whose music they are hearing. Later on they will be clamoring in the aisles for the same musicians.
4:00 p.m. — A few of the early birds have somehow appeared on the grounds and security people at the center are politely rounding them up and politely escorting them out.
Five youngsters apparently intent on ending the humidity are swimming, clothes and all, in Geyser Creek, which runs noisily near the amphitheater.
4:45 p.m. — Someone says the gates are about to be opened, and 500 to 11,000 youngsters are now standing patiently waiting for the turnstiles to move.
Others slide down the steep banks of Geyser Creek, looking for another way in. For most, it will mean a couple of wet feet for nothing, because security people are on hand to greet them on the other side.
5 p.m. — The gates are opened and the kids stream across the 65-foot-high bridge leading from the main ticket office to the lawn.
Bare feet and midriffs, blue jean tops and bottoms, football shirts and track suits are all part of the colorful garb that make SPAC the closest thing to Woodstock the area has ever had.
The kids come equipped, carrying blankets, tarps, parkas and something for just about every kind of weather. There are backpackers who probably never climbed a mountain.
They scamper to a favorite spot on the lawn and claim it for their own, some even planting flags for proof of ownership.
5:15 p.m. — An unexpected surprise. A band begins to play and lo and behold — it is the Allman Brothers Band, with Gregg Allman on organ, back to retest equipment.
This time they are recognized and the kids crowd down to the back of the amphitheater for an unscheduled concert.
7 p.m. — The alr show has started. Balloons, frisbees and paper airplanes take to the air, and cheers go up to record the distance of the longest flights.
8 p.m. — The lights go down and the marijuana cigarettes light up. As soon as The Marshall Tucker Band, warm-up
group for the Allman Brothers, takes to the stage and begins to play, it becomes apparent, although the crowd may not reach the expected number of 24,000, that crowd control will be a problem this evening.
Splinter groups immediately spill over from the mass of wall-to-wall people on the lawn and start down the aisles towards the stage.
They are held back temporarily by security people, but the night has just begun.
As soon as the Allman Brothers Band began to play, any semblance of crowd control was lost, which isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds. It simply means the kids crowd down to the front where they can dance and boogie to their heart’s delight.
As this report ends, Herb Chesbrough, administrative assistant of the center, reports crowds total more than 25,000. The Allman Brothers Band is delivering a hard-driving but polished version of boogie, blues and rock.
Call it what you will, the group manages il extremely well.
Recent Comments