Atlantic City Pop Festival

Atlantic City Pop Festival
Genre	Rock, pop, etc.
Dates	August 1, 2 and 3rd
Location(s)	Hamilton Township United States
Years active	1969
Attendance	100,000+

The Atlantic City Pop Festival took place in 1969 on August 1, 2 and 3rd at the Atlantic City race track, two weeks before Woodstock Festival. It actually took place in Hamilton Township at the Atlantic City Race Course. There was heavy security at the festival, and the stage the acts performed on was created by Buckminster Fuller. A ticket for the entire 3-day weekend was $15.00 to see all of the performers listed. Attended by some 100,000+ people.

Performers

The festival featured the following performers:

• Aum
• Booker T. & the M.G.'s
• Tim Buckley
• Paul Butterfield Blues Band
• The Byrds
• Canned Heat
• The Chambers Brothers
• Chicago (as the Chicago Transit Authority)
• Joe Cocker
• The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
• Creedence Clearwater Revival
• Crosby, Stills & Nash (billed, but did not perform)
• Cass Elliot
• Iron Butterfly
• Jefferson Airplane
• Dr. John the Night Tripper
• Janis Joplin
• B.B. King
• Lighthouse
• Little Richard
• Looking Glass
• Lothar and the Hand People
• Mississippi Fred McDowell
• Hugh Masekela
• Buddy Miles
• Joni Mitchell
• The Mothers of Invention
• Tracy Nelson & Mother Earth
• Procol Harum
• Buddy Rich
• Biff Rose
• Santana
• Sir Douglas Quintet
• Three Dog Night
• The American Dream
• Johnny Winter (billed, but did not perform)

Highlights

Lineup changes:

• Crosby, Stills & Nash were originally on the lineup but ended up as a no-show, Nash was claimed to have had polyps on his tonsils (but sang at Woodstock two weeks later). The Chambers Brothers substituted for the band at the last-minute. The Moody Blues were also scheduled but the band did not appear.
• Blues guitarist Johnny Winter was present but unable to perform because of equipment trouble.
• Janis Joplin and Mama Cass introduced Santana as their favorite band; this was their first appearance on the East Coast.

Memorable performances included:

• Procol Harum performing "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and a series of songs from "A Salty Dog" while the wind whipped up the lake behind them.
• Iron Butterfly's extended set of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".
• The Chambers Brothers followed Iron Butterfly with a memorable rendition of "Time Has Come Today" that had many in the crowd dancing on the huge speakers on the stage, some even with clothes on. They were the final Friday night act.
• Dr. John the Night Tripper performing "Gris-Gris" and "Walk on Gilded Splinters".
• Little Richard filled in for Johnny Winter playing a set on a white grand piano and rocked the track as he invited the audience to come up and dance on stage.
• Janis Joplin and her Kozmic Blues Band electrified the audience with "Try", a cover of The Chantels "Maybe" and "As Good As You've Been To This World". She joined Little Richard on stage for a few tunes as well.
• Joni Mitchell performed one song, complained that people were not listening, "I've just played the same verse twice and no one noticed", then left the stage. I was there and witnessed that. I did hear her say "I've just played the same verse twice and no one noticed", but she didn't leave the stage. I remember her restarting the song and continuing with her performance. Per a source, she was pelted with toilet paper steamers. One of them fell into the baby grand piano, she slammed down the cover and walked off stage…
• Joe Cocker performing "With A Little Help From My Friends" and "Feelin' Alright" while playing air guitar.
• Mother Earth's lead singer Tracy Nelson wowed the crowd with her bluesy performance of "Mother Earth" and "Down So Low".
• Aum opening the Friday show, ending the set as the guitarist leaped off the stage onto the racetrack below.

See also

• List of historic rock festivals
• List of music festivals in the United States