3 days in early August '69....just prior to Woodstock. 4 of us 19 yr olds drove from Cincy to Atlantic City for the very under reported, little known Atlantic City Pop Festival. 39th Anniversary this weekend. 6 bucks a day or $15 for the entire 3-day affair....and it was so damn good. The 1st glimpse any of us had at Joe Cocker, Chicago Transit Authority.......what a range of artists !
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Atlantic City Pop Festival
The Atlantic City Pop Festival took place in 1969 on August 1, 2 and 3rd at the Atlantic City race track, two weeks before the better known Woodstock Festival. .
Attended by some 100,000+ people the festival featured the following performers (partial list):
American Dream
Aum
Booker T. & The M.G.s
Tim Buckley
Paul Butterfield Blues Band
The Byrds
Canned Heat
The Chambers Brothers
Chicago **Chicago Transit Authority
Joe Cocker
The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
Credence Clearwater Revival
Dr. John
Iron Butterfly
Jefferson Airplane
Janis Joplin
Lighthouse
Little Richard
Lothar and the Hand People
Hugh Masekela
Buddy Miles
Joni Mitchell
Mother Earth **Tracy Nelson
Procol Harum
Buddy Rich
Santana
Sir Douglas Quintet
Three Dog Night
Edgar Winter
Johnny Winter
Frank Zappa
Biff Rose was the MC and filled in for Joni Mitchell when she started to cry and ran off stage in the middle of her 3rd song when the crowd was not paying attention to her performance, It seems she was placed in the rotation directly after Mother Earth featuring Tracy Nelson & the crowd wasn't ready to hear her mild act.
Crosby, Stills & Nash were originally on the lineup but ended up as a no-show,Nash supposedly had polyps on tonsils (but sang at Woodstock Two weeks later) The Chambers Brothers were a last-minute substitute.
Moody Blues were scheduled but weren't there