It is currently Mon Mar 16, 2020 8:02 pm

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 31 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3
Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3
Author Message
Post subject:
Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 3:46 pm
Offline
Amateur
Amateur
User avatar

Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:20 pm
Posts: 158
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
Read this link for the whole story:

http://www.hotrails.co.uk/history/1976.htm#Jun

but my portion of it was:

I was the guy who inadvertently started the riot ­ or struck the match to the already smoldering powder keg. There were four of us who'd come to the festival together from Mountain Home, ID. Day one had been great and BOC was fantastic! (And I remember that it was Nektar as well, the other band was Big Horn) We were looking forward to day two.

Around 12:30 we headed over to the gate since the show was supposed to start around 1, I think. The gate was locked and there were a lot of folks standing around speculating about what had happened. We went back to our van which wasn't too far from the gate and watched for movement. When we saw the crowd going through the gate we headed in. If I remember correctly this was about 4 p.m. and everyone was pretty pissed off.

The bleachers sat on an earthen embankment. You walked from the gate up the embankment and then down into the speedway. The ice cream truck sat at the crest of the embankment along with the concession stands. When we got to the ice cream truck it had already been broken into and someone was passing out "free" ice cream. We looked down at the stage and saw the crew tearing down the equipment. "What the...?" A crowd was gathering in front of the plywood barrier at the front of the stage.

We went down onto the inner circle of the speedway and up to the barrier. At this point someone had started to rip the barrier apart and I slipped through the barrier with my 35mm camera and made my way onto the stage where I proceeded to take photos of the crowd and what was going on. More of what happened to those photos shortly. So I'm on stage taking pictures wearing a t-shirt from a Boise, ID music store wearing a civil war kepi hat, and I guess looking like part of the crew.

The crowd was ugly and yelling at everyone on stage to put things back and put the show on. Really, we all knew that we'd been ripped off and there was no way the show was continuing, but it made people feel good to vent. Some of the venom was directed at me personally, so I pulled off my hat and pulled out my ticket and waved it in the air to show that I was one of them. Mistake #1. The crowd got louder and some people started throwing things onto the stage. A piece of wood almost hit me and pissed me off. I picked up the chunk of wood and threw it back. Mistake #2.

Now everyone on stage ran for cover because the air was then full of rocks, beer bottles, and wood. A rock hit my leg pretty hard as I scrambled ­ I guess I deserved it. Unfortunately, as I've been reading some of these other recollections, there were others not as lucky. I never saw anyone with their head "busted open" as one commenter stated. I felt badly enough, that would have made me absolutely miserable.

My recollection of the balance of the riot is as it has been described here. I seem to recall hearing that someone was seriously injured by the semi running around the track but I didn't see it. I didn't feel responsible for the truck incident since that kind of crap had already started (with the ice cream truck) before I hit the stage.

Now for the pictures... Mistake #3. I had mis-loaded the film in the camera and I got NOTHING but memories!


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 31 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3
Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: