The 1969 Palm Beach Pop Festival: 54th Anniversary
On #TDIH on November 28-30, 1969 (54th anniversary) Thanksgiving weekend. The 1969 Palm Beach Pop Festival:
1969 Palm Beach Pop Festival Documentary Trailer: https://youtu.be/777UEHKyka4
The newspapers called it Woodstock South. Just three months after the festival at Woodstock. Location: Palm Beach International Raceway, Jupiter Florida.
Three days festival of music and sunshine. Notable performers include King Crimson, Johnny Winter, Iron Butterfly, Janis Joplin,The Byrds, Sly and the Family Stone, Grand Funk, The Rolling Stones and Jefferson Airplane among others. The Rolling Stones started playing at 4:00 A.M..
The audience and Bands were subjected to non-stop torrential rainstorm and freeze mornings.
Backstage waiting for the Rolling Stones at The 1969 Palm Beach Pop Festival (First Annual Palm Beach Music and Arts Festival) with Grace Slick after The Jefferson Airplane performed in the early morning in the freezing Florida weather. The Rolling Stones started playing at 4:00 A.M..
In 1969, for four days over a rainy, muddy Thanksgiving weekend, he staged the Palm Beach International Music and Arts Festival, drawing about 40,000 fans to his raceway on Beeline Highway across from Pratt & Whitney.
Yes, SunFest has put on great festival weekends over the years, but there’s never been a lineup quite like this one. It was the cream of rock’s classic era:
The Rolling Stones, in their only appearance in Palm Beach County. Janis Joplin, 11 months before her overdose death. Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone, The Byrds, Chambers Brothers, King Crimson, Grand Funk Railroad, Iron Butterfly, Johnny and Edgar Winter, Steppenwolf, Vanilla Fudge, Country Joe and the Fish, Spirit, Pacific Gas & Electric. And some mostly forgotten acts, such as Rockin’ Foo and The Rotary Connection, featuring future soul icon Minnie Riperton.
Even ’60s hipster and Merry Prankster Wavy Gravy was there, cementing the Woodstock connection.
It wasn’t a success, at least financially. There are a lot of reasons for that, from bad weather to counterfeit ticket sales, and the biggest issue of all: the formidable pressures brought to bear on Rupp by politicians and government agencies.
GREATEST COLLECTION OF TALENT ANYWHERE Palm Beach International Raceway, Jupiter, FL
Country Joe and the Fish
Iron Butterfly
Johnny Winter
King Crimson
Pacific Gas & Electric
Sweetwater
The Chambers Brothers
The Rugbys
Grand Funk Railroad
Janis Joplin
King Crimson
Pacific Gas & Electric
Rotary Connection
Sly & the Family Stone
Spirit
Spooky Tooth
The Byrds
Vanilla Fudge
Wavy Gravy
Grand Funk Railroad
Jefferson Airplane
Rotary Connection
Steppenwolf
Terry Reid
The Byrds
The Rolling Stones
