27 replies to this topic

[simonlewisbooks]

Over the weekend BBC4 showed an excellent documentary on the infamous Rolling Stones concert at Altamont in 1969. This was labelled
as "the day the sixties died" - the concert was marred by frequent drug and booze-fueled brawls and this eventually led to a member of the audience being fatally stabbed by the "security guards". It transpired, he had actually pulled a gun (something I'd never heard before, but there it was on film...and rather chilling in a JFK sort of way).

Until I watched this I had no idea this notorious concert was held at a race track. There were some quite good aerial shots of the speedway (possibly taken by George "Star Wars" Lucas who was credited as one of the cameramen), although the concert seemed to be located in the car park area, rather than the infield. However the motor sport connection goes further, this venue was a late replacement for the scheduled location - Sears Point - which was too small to cope with the numbers expected!

It got me thinking of circuit/tracks that have been used as rock venues .
On the Donington thread there's been much comment about the place being more famous to many as a rock venue than as a circuit.
Rockingham regularly hosted events a few years ago that combined racing with a rock concert featuring some quite big names.
Hendrix played a huge gig at Richmond Speedway around the same time as the Stones were getting into trouble at Altamont
The Beatles last proper concert was at Candlestick Park, which had a Midget racing heritage I believe.
Any others of note?

[gwk]

Watkins Glen held at least one big rock concert in the 70s. IIRC, rthe Grateful dead played, and it was supposed to have been bigger than Woodstock.

Nowadays, concerts are held after NASCAR and IRL events there - don't know who plays.

PS. Turns out there is a big Wikipedia article and lots of other information on the web on the WG 'Summerjam'.

Edited by gwk, 14 December 2009 - 14:41.

[alansart]

Didn't Crystal Palace hold concerts. There was a stage in the middle somewhere.

[Peter Morley]

Bay City Rollers played at Mallory Park in 1975
47,000 people turned up which must be about as many as they ever got for a race meeting!
Apparently the event was organised by BBC Radio 1 who had previously held similar events at Brands Hatch.

Iron Maiden played at Assen in 2008.

Rock am Ring (as in Nurburgring) is a pretty major music festival, which splits acts with Rock am Park (in Nuremberg).
Rock am Ring was started in 1985 to celebrate the opening of the new short circuit and has been going for all but two years since then.

I saw the Sex Pistols at Crystal Palace in 2002 I think that was in the sports stadium, no idea how that relates to the race track?
The Crystal Palace bowl was used during the 70s for a series of Harvey Goldsmith concerts (graden parties), with acts like Pink Floyd.

[buckaluck]

Ontario Motor Speedway before it was torn down had two concerts.

California Jam

The first California Jam was held on April 6, 1974. This rock festival concert drew a crowd of 300-400,000, the largest paid attendance for a rock concert. Portions of the concert were televised live on ABC. The performers included Rare Earth, Earth Wind and Fire, The Eagles, Seals and Crofts, Black Oak Arkansas, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

California Jam II

The second Cal Jam was held on March 18, 1978. The second event drew a crowd of almost 300,000 paid attendance. Performers included Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Santana, Dave Mason, Foreigner, Heart, Bob Welch, Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood, Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush and Rubicon.

Buck

[garyfrogeye]

There have been various concerts over the last few years at Le Mans 24 Hour, during the race. Last year was the Stranglers.

[buckaluck]

Laguna Seca Raceway held several concerts in the 80's for Stevie Ray Vaughn, Grateful Dead and the 90's for Bob Dylan, The Allman Brothers to name a few.
More recently one in late July to early Aug. http://www.seemonter...-music-festival.

Buck

[alansart]

Bay City Rollers played at Mallory Park in 1975
47,000 people turned up which must be about as many as they ever got for a race meeting!
Apparently the event was organised by BBC Radio 1 who had previously held similar events at Brands Hatch.

I marshalled at that - screaming kids everwhere. Bay City Rollers and playing don't really go together

I saw the Sex Pistols at Crystal Palace in 2002 I think that was in the sports stadium, no idea how that relates to the race track?
The Crystal Palace bowl was used during the 70s for a series of Harvey Goldsmith concerts (graden parties), with acts like Pink Floyd.

The stadium is pretty obvious on this picture. The Crystal Palace bowl, I think, is the square brown box towards the top. The circuit, as it was, is in red.

[Peter Morley]

I marshalled at that - screaming kids everwhere. Bay City Rollers and playing don't really go together

At least you were in the fortunate position of being paid to go!!
A friend is still embarassed about having persuaded her father to drive her down from Yorkshire for it!
I was wondering if the Bay City Rollers counted, if they had any talent it certainly wasn't musical!!

[Duc-Man]

Rock am Ring at the Nürburgring paddock is already mentioned.
The sister event Rock im Park is been held mainly in the park and the football stadium right next to the Norisring in Nürnberg.
The main stage was since 2004 right on the start/finish straight.

The motodrom of the Hockenheimring hosts big open-air concerts and festivals on regular basis.

[alansart]

At least you were in the fortunate position of being paid to go!!
A friend is still embarassed about having persuaded her father to drive her down from Yorkshire for it!
I was wondering if the Bay City Rollers counted, if they had any talent it certainly wasn't musical!!

Paid - I wish

[Jim Thurman]

The Beatles last proper concert was at Candlestick Park, which had a Midget racing heritage I believe.
Any others of note?

Simon, if you haven't seen "Gimme Shelter", you truly should. It covers the entire Stones U.S. tour, including the goings on and negotiations for a free concert site in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is one of the most fascinating and then disturbing documentaries one could ever see.

I'm likely one of the only folks here on the forum who attended races at Altamont, which has had a checkered history and apparently closed for good now. And, yes, the concert took place outside the race track itself.

Candlestick Park wasn't built until the late 1950's, well past the prime midget era, and as such - had none. However, there were sports car races held there in 1964 and 1965. The circuit used parking lot and stadium access roads and the August '65 race was a tragedy filled nightmare.

There also was a dirt oval across the highway from Candlestick Park - Champion Speedway.

I'm glad someone mentioned Ontario Motor Speedway and the Cal Jam concerts.

[Frank S]

From an earlier thread about music and racetracks:
http://forums.autosp...a...t&p=2548885

[taylov]

I remember a drag race meeting at Blackbushe, Surrey in the early 1970s with one or more Wombles (I think this counts as "they" did have more than one hit record). My lasting memory is that one of the Wombles got very very drunk - one of the funniest sights I ever saw

Tony

[gkennedy]

Here in Australia, I remember going to a 'Rock Festival' at Sydney's Oran Park race track in (I think) 1970. We'd had a spate of similar things around that time, and some of us were already over spending a couple of days sleeping in tents or cars, generally being unwashed and unshaven and getting by on crappy food and copious amounts of alcohol or other mind-altering substances. I don't remember it all that well, funnily enough, but I do remember it was the first time I'd seen or even heard of 'Daddy Cool'. Amongst all the dreary, spaced out bands with their interminable guitar and drum solos, Daddy Cool were the highlight for mine. Ross Wilson out the front with a foxtail dangling beneath his legs, and tall Ross Hannaford on lead guitar with his dorky glasses, and his helicopter cap playing really good, bouncy rock n' roll.

Yikes! Is that the time? Forty years ago, almost. Almost as long ago as the Stones at Altamont.

[HistoricMustang]

Well, lets not forget this one just down the road from my home.

I revisited the area several years ago.

Henry

The festival was held at the Middle Georgia Raceway Park which was near Byron, Georgia, south of Macon and east of I-75. The raceway was out in the country off a 2 lane farm-to-market road which ran from I-75 east toward I-16. That road was bumper-to-bumper the entire time of the festival. Folks from around there had heard about naked dope-smoking hippies camped out in the woods near there and it seems like every red neck came from miles around to get a glimpse of naked hippie flesh.


http://www.messyopti...ird/APF_00.html

[simonlewisbooks]

Simon, if you haven't seen "Gimme Shelter", you truly should. It covers the entire Stones U.S. tour, including the goings on and negotiations for a free concert site in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is one of the most fascinating and then disturbing documentaries one could ever see.

Thats actually the one that was screened. Yes it was indeed a most disturbing couple of hours viewing but absolutely mesmerizing none the less - even if you take the view that Mick really can't sing very well...
However it only covered the concerts at Altamont and Madison Sq. Gardens rather than the whole tour so possibly this was an edited version, although it hung together superbly if it was. An excellent documentory. Highly recommended.

[Jim Thurman]

Thats actually the one that was screened. Yes it was indeed a most disturbing couple of hours viewing but absolutely mesmerizing none the less - even if you take the view that Mick really can't sing very well...
However it only covered the concerts at Altamont and Madison Sq. Gardens rather than the whole tour so possibly this was an edited version, although it hung together superbly if it was. An excellent documentory. Highly recommended.

I should have used "entire U.S. tour" advisedly

As far as the edit of the film you watched. Did it have footage of the Stones in the Muscle Shoals Studio doing "Wild Horses"? Did it feature the haggling, hassles and wrangling to find a location for the concert?, including legendary attorney Melvin Belli meeting Dick Carter (the promoter of Altamont Speedway)? Belli's apprenhension of Altamont as a site stands out.

Mesmerizing is the perfect description. Following the Stones successes and triumphs in the wake of Brian Jones' passing, on through cutting "Wild Horses" and then leading up to Altamont - which was obviously a disaster before it even started and wound up tragic as well. And Jagger's reaction when viewing the rushes from the film. A stunning and apt ending.

[oldtransamdriver]

The Strawberry Fields Rock Festival August 70 at Mosport Park. I didn't go - had no interest in mixing with young dopers who I perceived as being slackers wanting to avoid WORK. I was far too busy working and trying to go racing.

Lots of info on the Net about this one.

Robert Barg

[JacnGille]

Both Road Atlanta and Atlanta Motor Speedway have had "rock and race" weekends in the past.

[simonlewisbooks]

I should have used "entire U.S. tour" advisedly

As far as the edit of the film you watched. Did it have footage of the Stones in the Muscle Shoals Studio doing "Wild Horses"? Did it feature the haggling, hassles and wrangling to find a location for the concert?, including legendary attorney Melvin Belli meeting Dick Carter (the promoter of Altamont Speedway)? Belli's apprenhension of Altamont as a site stands out.

Yep, it showed that. Belli seemed very at home as the centre of attention striding around his office talking to various parties on the loudspeaker phone. I guess as an attorney he was used to that!
Intersting that Dick Carter says he's "only doing this for the publicity" and later makes a point of telling the announcer to name check him "Can you say it's Dick Carter's Altamont Speedway, not just Altamont Speedway?"

I read that the track was trashed by the 300,000 crowd and rendered unusable for three years afterwards.

Ironic that 40 years later, almost to the day, a cover of WILD HORSES is the most played track on British Radio.

[scags]

The Englishtown, NJ , Drag racing track also had a Grateful Dead show, with a 100, 000 or so there(not me).

[proviz]

The Beach Boys played in Keimola in midsummer 1966, would you believe....

Edited by proviz, 15 December 2009 - 12:45.

[martyk]

I'm likely one of the only folks here on the forum who attended races at Altamont, which has had a checkered history and apparently closed for good now. And, yes, the concert took place outside the race track itself.

Jim, I've been to Altamont (not since the 1970's though)! Looking through my old pictures, I now realize I went there both before (1968) and after (1975) the Stones.

I never quite figured out why it couldn't stay open, maybe it was too far from population centers.

Photo from 1975:
Hosted on Fotki

[Jim Thurman]

Jim, I've been to Altamont (not since the 1970's though)! Looking through my old pictures, I now realize I went there both before (1968) and after (1975) the Stones.

I never quite figured out why it couldn't stay open, maybe it was too far from population centers.

Photo from 1975:
Hosted on Fotki

Hi marty. Well, you and I are likely the only ones

Todd Gibson in the Flintsone Flyer. Thanks for posting that.

I only made it to Altamont from 1980 through 1983. That was it's fourth and fifth operators (if I recall correctly). I only made it to one Spring and one Fall race, and the weather was nice then, but the last race I attended it was 106 degrees (farenheit). And the wind. It was the strangest feeling when it got to late afternoon, it was like you were being inhaled, being pulled out of the stands from all the air going back through the pass. Great track.

I told Allan Brown that if he wanted to detail all of Altamont's opening and closing dates for his book ("History of America's Speedways - Past & Present"), that he'd have to add another page.

[oldtransamdriver]

Altamont is alive and well and operating as Altamont Raceway Park. I was recently the proud owner of a Le Mons BMW 318 that competed at one of those notorious races at Altamont in 07. The Beemer was mortally wounded last winter during the BC winter ice racing season, and has now been parted out, hopefully to be reborn again as another Beemer racer, this time on the dry tracks.

BTW, that is a neat photo of Todd Gibson in his famous Flintstone Flyer. Gibson used to be a semi regular at Oswego Speedway. Oswego eventually banned rear engined supers, so don't know what happened to that car. When I first started going to Oswego in the late sixties, Gibson was driving a converted Indy roadster if I remember. Am surprised to learn he also raced in CA as I thought he came from Ohio.

Robert Barg

Edited by oldtransamdriver, 16 December 2009 - 07:04.

[martyk]

Altamont is alive and well and operating as Altamont Raceway Park. I was recently the proud owner of a Le Mons BMW 318 that competed at one of those notorious races at Altamont in 07. The Beemer was mortally wounded last winter during the BC winter ice racing season, and has now been parted out, hopefully to be reborn again as another Beemer racer, this time on the dry tracks.

BTW, that is a neat photo of Todd Gibson in his famous Flintstone Flyer. Gibson used to be a semi regular at Oswego Speedway. Oswego eventually banned rear engined supers, so don't know what happened to that car. When I first started going to Oswego in the late sixties, Gibson was driving a converted Indy roadster if I remember. Am surprised to learn he also raced in CA as I thought he came from Ohio.

Robert Barg

Veering off-topic here, but Gibson was at Altamont for the Golden West Classic series, a seven race open competiition series that was held in the fall in Northern California (along with T-Car Speedway in the Reno area). Gibson even ran one race on the dirt at Clovis in his RE car.


Gibson also won the feature at Altamont the day I took the picture.

[Jim Thurman]

Robert, unfortunately Altamont closed after 2008. A good article on it from a San Francisco source:

http://www.sfgate.co.../SPK317QG7N.DTL

Not to further digress, but the Golden West Classic that Marty mentions was truly a national gathering of Super Modified racers for a series of races held on various Central/Northern California tracks (and Carson City, NV too).

Getting back on topic, I recall one more racing venue that hosted at least one concert. I've seen photos of posters for Toledo Speedway. IIRC, among those on the bill: The Stooges, Alice Cooper and SRC.