World Series of Rock
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The World Series of Rock was a recurring day-long multi-act rock concert held at Cleveland Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio from 1974 through 1980.[1] Belkin Productions staged these summer outdoor events, attracting popular hard rock bands and huge crowds to the open stadium which could fit over 86,000 fans. FM rock radio station WMMS sponsored the concerts.[2] Attendance was by general admission.
The World Series of Rock was known not only for its arena rock spectacle, but was also notorious for the rowdiness, rampant drug use and drunkenness of the crowd. One concertgoer fell through a hole in the backstop net while sliding down it and landed on the concrete of the lower grandstand, suffering a fractured spine. The Cleveland Free Clinic maintained tents on site staffed with volunteers.
Cleveland Stadium was the home field of the Cleveland Indians American League baseball club, which played out of town at the time of the concerts. Stadium officials allowed fans to congregate near the stage on the playing field, which required fixing the turf before the Indians returned home.
After the 1975 football season the field was completely re-surfaced and a drainage system was installed due to damage from the rock concerts. The first concert of the 1976 season featuring Aerosmith, Todd Rundgren's Utopia, Jeff Beck (with the Jan Hammer Group) and Derringer scheduled for July 11th was cancelled due to concerns about field conditions. No concerts were held in 1976 but the series resumed in 1977 after a field covering system was employed.
The July 28, 1979 World Series of Rock was marred by violence in the early morning hours before the concert as thousands of fans camped out around the stadium overnight in order to get the best seats when the gates opened. There were several shootings (including one fatality), stabbings and dozens of robberies reported. Complaints from city officials and concerns about safety resulted in the next World Series of Rock scheduled for August 19th being cancelled. The last World Series of Rock was held on July 19, 1980. Cleveland Stadium was demolished in 1996, and replaced with Cleveland Browns Stadium built on the same site.
County Stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin staged its own series of rock festivals, also called the World Series of Rock, in the early 1980s. Since then, "World Series of Rock" has become a generic term for multi-act stadium concerts.
[edit] Concert lineups
June 23, 1974
August 4, 1974
September 1, 1974
May 31, 1975
June 14, 1975
July 11, 1975
August 23, 1975
June 5, 1977
June 25, 1977
August 6, 1977
July 1, 1978
July 15, 1978
August 26, 1978
July 28, 1979
July 19, 1980
[edit] References
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This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations. |
- ^ Toman, James A. (1997). Cleveland Stadium: The Last Chapter. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Landmarks Press, Inc., 64-65. ISBN 0936760109.
- ^ Gorman, John, with Feran, Tom (2007). The Buzzard: Inside the Glory Days of WMMS and Cleveland Rock Radio. Cleveland, Ohio: Gray & Company, 72-79.
- Wolff, Carlo, Cleveland Rock & Roll Memories: True and Tall Tales of the Glory Days, Told By Musicians, DJs, Promoters & Fans Who Made the Scene in the '60s, '70s, and '80s, Gray & Company, Publishers (2006), ISBN-13: 978-1-886228-99-3.
- Hanson, Debbie, "Jules Belkin - Making Cleveland Rock" (2004). [1]
- Oppenhuis, Glenn, Bowie's Baseball Site (2003). [2]
- Eriksson, Christoffer (editor), Rock This Way-The Swedish Aerosmith Fan Site. [3]
- Sparling, Scott (editor), The Seger File-An unofficial web site about the music of Bob Seger. [4]
- Whipple, Pete (editor), Forgotten Yesterdays-A Comprehensive Guide to Yes Shows (1996). [5]
