NathanFestival Day
On the 28th, Summer Jam festival commenced with an opening by the Dead, who played for two very long sets. The band performed many fan favorites like “Box Of Rain”, “Bertha,” “Playing in the Band”, “Jack Straw”, and “China Cat Sunflower.” The Band was supposed to play for two-hours, but then a rainstorm happened during their performance. Fans were drenched in mud.
Enthusiastic Keyboardist
The Band evacuated the stage, but the keyboardist Garth Hudson remained on-stage to continue playing for the multitude of festival-goers. Soon after the rain died down, The Band finished their set. The Allman Brothers were next in line. This band ended up playing some of their biggest hits with a few new songs too. The fans demanded an encore jam that went on till 3 in the morning.
Not-So-Fond Memories?
The drummer for the band, Allman Brothers, Butch Trucks was not so keen on the happenings at the event. He did not appear to have such a merry memory of Summer Jam. In an interview he did back in 2016, the musician did not speak so fondly of his Summer Jam experience. He denounced the festival experience and even judged the bands’ collective intoxication…
Butch Trucks on Summer Jam
“I think a lot of those people came to hear the greatest jam of the three best jam bands in the country. So after we finished playing, we all came out for the jam and all I can say – I’ve heard the tapes – is it was an absolute disaster. I kept listening and listening, then thought about that night. It was a jam that couldn’t possibly have worked because of the mixture of drugs. The Band was all drunk as skunks, The Dead was all tripping and we were full of coke,” were the exact lines from the interview.
Live On The Radio
A pirate radio station was set up as a camp during Summer Jam. This radio station was responsible for broadcasting the entire festival as it went live. The radio people managed to reach the press area of the festival five days prior to the actual festival time so that they could get ready. The radio station had 10 people, including multiple DJs, to work on the mobile radio station.
Working Of The Radio
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Their broadcast, as CFR AM and CFR FM, was able to get through to people staying a few dozen miles away. The DJs did their best to give as much information as possible. They interviewed Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead and Bill Graham. They also did some broadcasts on the traffic situation for the New York State Police, that was rewarded with free food by the cops.