Performing Arts Center Has Rock Show, Drama
by Don A. Metivier, The Post-Star, August 23, 1972
(editor’s note – Deep Purple was originally supposed to play with Fleetwood Mac on this date, but their arrival date to the U.S. was delayed, leading ultimately to Fleetwod Mac playing with McKendree Spring)
A rock show and a drama both took place at Saratoga Performing Arts Center Monday evening.
The rock show was on stage—featuring the group organized several years ago in the Glens Falls area, McKendree Spring, and an English group, Fleetwood Mac.
The drama took place in the deep ravine adjacent to the amphitheater. A SPAC security officer fell 20 feet from a cliff into Geyser Creek while chasing persons trying to climb a fence to get into the rock show.
Terrence E. MacArthur, 21, Jay Street, Albany, was running along the side of the ravine when he slipped and fell into less than 18 inches of water.
The point where he landed was almost inaccessible. Members of the Saratoga Springs Emergency Corps and park rangers had to climb down to the trapped and injured man.
It took more than an hour to get MacArthur strapped into a basket stretcher and up the cliff. Then rescuers had to hack their way through dense brush to reach the ambulance parked in the Route 50 parking area.
MacArthur was taken to Saratoga Hospital for treatment of wrist and elbow fractures and a back injury.
Meanwhile a large crowd of youngsters was enjoying the rock music.
McKendree Spring, which organized at Adirondack Community College several years ago, is a hard rock unit. Their program featured an electric violin which was used in spectacular fashion.
The group was received very well in its first major engagement in the upstate area.
The crowd had to wait nearly an hour for stage hands to tear down the equipment used by McKendree Spring and get Fleetwood Mac set up.
Once they started playing, at 10:30 p.m., the second group displayed a softer rock sound, built around the lead guitar of Danny Kirwan.
SPAC has an 11:30 p.m. curfew, so the English group could only perform for an hour.
The Post-Star, July 27, 1972
The Troy Record, August 16, 1972
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