MY FIRST POP FESTIVAL
I was at Atlantis Rising when I first saw the poster advertising the Atlanta Pop Festival. I stared at the line-up: there was Janis Joplin, Canned Heat, Ten Wheel Drive, Spirit, Joe Cocker, The Chicago Transit Authority, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sweetwater, Al Kooper, Pacific Gas & Electric, Dave Brubeck, Chuck Berry (who was a no-show, because the streets were blocked for miles) and a new act called Led Zeppelin.
This I knew was where I had to be, and every moment from that day on I thought, talked and awaited the festival. Festivals were a new idea, and I had no idea what to bring with me. I knew there would be refreshment stands, so I figured there would be enough for 20,000 people. What I couldn't know then was there would be over 200,000 people, the heat would go over 100 every day, and that my life would be changed, yet again, just the day after the festival. I say four days because I was high a day and a half after the fest as you will see......
It was a good thing there were so many hippies- because we all shared what we had from pot to beer those three days. There were so many highlights- seeing Janis perform. Canned Heat got the crowd on it's feet and boogying, Grand Funk arrived with a story about having thier van roll over (which would years later turn out to be false), but put on a great show anyway. Dave Brubeck played jazz to an enthusiastic crowd (we didn't have the kind of niched marketing they do now, we didn't know we weren't supposed to like jazz!), I had a great time. I even heard Johnny Rivers play SECRET AGENT MAN! I still love that song!
Not everyone on the poster was there, but for me the highlight was Led Zeppelin. Originally the band was to be called THE NEW YARDBIRDS, but what I saw that afternoon tripping my ass off was nothing like The Yardbirds.
As Jimmy Page, wearing a farmer's hat to keep the sun out of his eyes played and Robert Plant used the microphone for effect, I was transfixed. It was huge, heroic in parts and grandiose in others. I would see the band 8 times over the years, but this show clocking in at under one hour would remain the best performance I ever saw of the band. This was the blues taken to a new level, a mystical level that the audience sat stunned by. A good thing the audience was stunned- critics would hate the band for their first three albums. This was before any reviews had come out on the band, and the crowd's reaction was honest. Half way through the set women were heading toward the stage, and one woman ran across the stage to hug Robert Plant- and was promptly removed. Raw sex appeal, mystical blues, heroic riffs- there was nothing else like them. Janis had impressed me with her control of the crowd as she slinked across the stage, but Led Zeppelin had taken me to a new place.
There was an LSD freakout tent, but there were no drugs for people having bad trips. There were plenty of salt tablets that had been passed out during the heat, so as trippers entered with stories of UFO's and the fest going on forever they were handed a salt tablet and told it was a downer. Then the volunteers would ask people about their jobs, parents- they would come down instantly. I learned about the placebo effect watching the people enter the tent!
When the festival ended I was handed a flyer about a party in Piedmont Park the next day, and I couldn't wait to go keep the festival high going.
I got to the park and walked to the bandshell as Hampton Grease Band were playing, and I noticed the skull and lightening bolt that Owsley had created for the Dead on music equipment. Peter Pan, a blonde I was hot for told me Owsley was at the Fest too! She asked if I knew what he looked like. I said no.
Spirit came on and were phenomenal, much better than at the Festival where bad sound had done them in. When I heard someone say that Owsley was giving out acid. I looked over and saw a guy with a handle bar moustache, older than most of the crowd, with a group of people around him. I walked over and sure enough, people were walking away with hits of acid. I decided I wanted one too.
I approached him after I saw him hand two people in a row the drug and held out my hand for one. He abruptly said, "No way". He then handed one to the person behind me. I was persistent. "There is no way you are even 17", he said to me, "this is not going to be your first trip". I felt crushed. My ID! I had my fake ID! It was resume time I thought, and I pulled it out and handed it to him.
I certainly did not look like a "Randall", but I started talking. I had done peyote, I had read Leary and I was ready. I had actually done those things, and he looked me up and down and handed me a hit. I took it on the spot, and he was called away by one of the roadies.
I had taken acid before, but nothing like this. At some point the Dead were jamming and Duane Allman was onstage and a girl named Mona and I walked over to a bridge to join others having sex there. I was timing myself to the music, but had no sense of how time was flying by. We finished and it was 2 am! I went back to watch the show and grooved until it stopped. One of my pals offered me a ride home but I decided to walk!
I walked back to my Morningside duplex and the sun was beating down on me. I couldn't open my eyes fully because it was too bright. I got to my place and looked at the quilt on my bed. I saw people rising out of the quilt, laughed and looked again only to see a quilt. I decided to play a Donovan album I had and it sounded like the notes were breathing, flowing in the air. I walked onto the porch and the sky was a psychedelic barrage of colors with a big bright sun in the center.
One of my roommates came out and asked if I was ok. I said I was, but I needed my sunglasses. He laughed and said it was 4:30 in the morning!
Owsley went to prison. I quickly realized I would never get acid like that again. Window pane was close, but no cigar.
The images of those four days remain in my memories and I still smile when I remember them. If only the DEA stories of flashbacks had been true. They said years later you would find yourself in an intense acid trip that would come out of nowhere.
I'm still waiting!
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