Texas International Pop Festival

The Texas International Pop Festival was a music festival held at Lewisville, Texas, on Labor Day weekend, August 30 to September 1, 1969. It occurred two weeks after Woodstock. The site for the event was an open field just south and west of the newly opened Dallas International Motor Speedway, located on the east side of Interstate Highway 35E, across from the Round Grove Road intersection.[1]

Texas International Pop Festival
Texas International Pop Festival poster
GenreRock, pop, etc.
Location(s)Lewisville, Texas
United States
Years active1969
Founded byInterpop Superfest

History

The festival was the brainchild of Angus G. Wynne III, son of Angus G. Wynne, the founder of the Six Flags Over Texas Amusement Park.[2][3] Wynne was a concert promoter who had attended the Atlanta International Pop Festival on the July Fourth weekend. He decided to put a festival on near Dallas, and joined with the Atlanta festival's main organizer, Alex Cooley,[4] forming the company Interpop Superfest.

Artists performing at the festival were: Canned Heat, Chicago (then called Chicago Transit Authority), James Cotton, Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, Grand Funk Railroad, The Incredible String Band, Janis Joplin, B.B. King, Freddie King, Led Zeppelin, Herbie Mann, Nazz, Rotary Connection, Sam and Dave, Santana, John Sebastian, Shiva's Headband, Sly and the Family Stone, Space Opera, Spirit, Sweetwater, Ten Years After, Tony Joe White and Johnny Winter.[2][3]

North of the festival site was the campground on Lewisville Lake, where hippie attendees skinny-dipped and bathed.[3][5] Also on the campground was the free stage, where some bands played after their main stage gig and several bands not playing on the main stage performed. It was on this stage that Wavy Gravy, head of the Hog Farm commune, acquired his name.[2] (At Woodstock, he was Hugh Romney.)

The Merry Pranksters, Ken Kesey's group, were in charge of the free stage and camping area. While Kesey was neither at the Texas event nor at Woodstock, his right-hand man, Ken Babbs, and his psychedelic bus Further were.[6] The Hog Farm provided security, a trip tent, and free food.[7]

Attendance at the festival remains unknown, but is estimated between 120,000 and 150,000.[3][4] As with Woodstock, there were no violent crimes reported.[5][7] There was one death, due to heatstroke, and one birth.[4]

High-quality soundboard bootleg recordings of almost the entire festival are circulated on the internet.[8] Led Zeppelin's set is one of the most popular Led Zeppelin bootlegs due to the high technical and musical quality of the performance.[1]

Schedule

The Festival began at 4:00 p.m. each day. Grand Funk Railroad (announced as "Grand Funk Railway") opened all three days and played through the afternoon heat till the 4:00 p.m. opening band. BB King played all three nights and told the same jokes and stories, perhaps thinking he had a different 150,000 person crowd for each show.[9]

Saturday, August 30
  1. Grand Funk Railroad
  2. Canned Heat
  3. Chicago Transit Authority
  4. James Cotton Blues Band
  5. Janis Joplin
  6. B.B. King
  7. Herbie Mann
  8. Rotary Connection
  9. Sam & Dave
Sunday, August 31
  1. Grand Funk Railroad
  2. Chicago Transit Authority
  3. James Cotton Blues Band
  4. Delaney & Bonnie & Friends
  5. The Incredible String Band
  6. B.B. King
  7. Led Zeppelin (announced as "The Led Zeppelin")[10]
  8. Herbie Mann
  9. Sam & Dave
  10. Santana
Monday, September 1
  1. Grand Funk Railroad
  2. Johnny Winter
  3. Delaney & Bonnie & Friends
  4. B.B. King
  5. Nazz
  6. Sly and the Family Stone
  7. Spirit
  8. Sweetwater
  9. Ten Years After
  10. Tony Joe White

Memorial
A plaque commemorating the festival, placed at Hebron station in Lewisville (former site of Dallas International Motor Speedway).

On January 29, 2010, the Texas Historical Commission approved the placement of a state historical marker near Hebron Station, a Denton County Transportation Authority train station in eastern Lewisville, close to the former site of the festival stage.[6] A benefit concert was held in Lake Dallas, Texas, on January 31, 2010, to raise the $1,500 required to pay for this marker.[11] The marker was placed at the site with a formal dedication ceremony held at the nearby train station on October 1, 2011.[12] A current overlay map shows the main concert stage area now covered by the Hebron-121 Station town home development, and the festival grounds covered by a chicken restaurant to the north and the Edgewater Apartments to the south.[13]

See also

References
  1. Wilonsky, Robert (February 5, 2010). "For Your Weekend Pleasure: Led Zeppelin Live in Lewisville In the Summer of '69". Unfair Park. Dallas Observer.
  2. Young, Michael E.; Roy Appleton (August 30, 2009). "Texas International Pop Festival was full of surprises for artists, fans, onlookers". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  3. Head, James (February 2, 2010). "Texas International Pop Festival, 1969". Handbook of Texas. Texas State Historical Association. Archived from the original on December 25, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  4. Gray, Chris (September 1, 2009). "The Forgotten Festival: The 1969 Texas International Pop Festival". Houston Press. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  5. Associated Press (September 5, 1969). "Pop Festival The Last, Mayor Says". Reading Eagle. p. 3. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  6. Appleton, Roy (January 31, 2010). "Tribute concert today raises funds for 1969 Lewisville pop festival's state historical marker". The Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  7. Kifner, John (August 31, 1969). "Texas Pop Fans Don't Have Bethel's Problems". The New York Times. p. 46. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  8. "Texas International Pop Festival 1969 (12 Soundboard CDs)". Quality Boots. June 26, 2008.
  9. "Page 12 - Performance Schedules". Festival Program. Texas International Pop Festival. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  10. "Texas International Pop Festival". Led Zeppelin official website. Retrieved February 6, 2009.
  11. Mariani, Anthony (January 30, 2010). "Texas Pop Festival Historical Marker". Fort Worth Weekly.
  12. Wilonsky, Robert (September 13, 2011). "At Long Last, Texas International Pop Festival In Lewisville to Receive a State Historical Marker". Unfair Park. Dallas Observer. Retrieved September 13, 2011.
  13. "Texas International Pop Festival - The 1969 Location". austinnewsstory.com. Retrieved September 10, 2015.

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