Festival for Peace

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The Festival for Peace was an all day concert event produced at Shea Stadium in Queens, NY on August 6, 1970.[1]

It was the second event of a series planned to raise funds for anti-war candidates in the early 1970's. The first, the Winter Festival for Peace, took place in Madison Square Garden earlier in the year. The date selected for the Summer event was of particular interest as it was also the 25th anniversary of the U.S. first use of an atomic weapon in the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945 in World War II. The concert, advertised as the Summer Festival for Peace, was scheduled for 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM although several last-minute performers and extended sets added about two hours. Seating was General Admission by tier in the stadium.

Very little media has survived and no film of this concert has surfaced publicly despite the fact that it featured such historic performers as Janis Joplin, Paul Simon, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Steppenwolf, The James Gang, Miles Davis, Johnny Winter, Herbie Hancock and a dozen other important acts of the period.

It proved to be the penultimate performance for Janis Joplin who died only two months later, as well as a reunion and last performance with her former band, Big Brother & the Holding Company. When the concert was first announced, Joplin was not advertised but Big Brother was scheduled to appear. She was in NYC to do two appearances on Dick Cavett's television show and decided to perform with her former band while in town. During the August 3rd appearance with Cavett, Joplin described the Festival for Peace concert in some detail and as being initiated by Peter Yarrow (of the singing group Peter, Paul & Mary). [2]

Other sources confirm that Mr. Yarrow, a well-known peace advocate, together with Phil Friedmann (an Amherst graduate who worked in the campaign for the Democratic nomination of Sen. Eugene McCarthy for President) produced the Summer Festival after their huge success of the Winter Festival for Peace at Madison Square Garden in February, 1970.[3]

The importance of these concerts were manifold. First, unlike the for-profit Woodstock Music & Arts Fair which became increasingly political as it unfolded, the Festivals for Peace were the first large venue U.S. events which were produced with the sole intention of fund raising for political, and specifically anti-war, purposes: not unusual later but not seen prior to 1970. Secondly, again in contrast to Woodstock where performers insisted on being paid handsomely, Peter Yarrow and Friedmann were able to convince the top acts of the day (including many that were paid at Woodstock like CCR, Hendrix and Joplin) to donate their time and performances to the Festival for Peace shows just months after Woodstock.

This may have been the first time that some of the world's most famous rock acts came together to aid a specific socio-political agenda in such large venues and The Summer Festival for Peace was most certainly larger and earlier than other more publicized benefit concerts. It pre-dated The Concert for Bangladesh (August 1, 1971), Farm Aid (September 22, 1985), and others by a year and more.

[edit] References

  1. ^ McHugh, Barbara. History of Shea Stadium. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
  2. ^ Final Janis Joplin Interview (Dick Cavett) (video). YouTube (1970-08-03). Retrieved on 2007-03-05.
  3. ^ Palevsky, Hilary. Recycled cards connect two friends. The Amherst Student. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.