Miami Pop Festival
Encyclopedia
The Miami Pop Festival was the name of two different music festival
s that took place in 1968 at Gulfstream Park
, a horse racing track in Hallandale
, Florida
(now called Hallandale Beach), just north of Miami.
The first Miami Pop event took place May 18–19, 1968. An estimated 100,000 people attended this concert, which was promoted by Michael Lang, later famous as promoter of Woodstock. Bands featured at the festival included Steppenwolf
, The Jimi Hendrix Experience
, The Mothers of Invention
, Blue Cheer
and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Jimi Hendrix performed "Fire", "Foxy Lady
", "Getting my heart back together" and "Purple Haze
". Sunday's concert was rained out and because of this, Hendrix wrote "Rainy Day, Dream Away." Chuck Berry
, The Blues Image
, Pacific Gas and Electric
and Three Dog Night
also performed. The opening act on the main stage on Saturday was a little-known group called The Package and the closing act on that same stage was Jimi Hendrix.
The second Miami Pop Festival was held December 28–30, 1968 at Gulfstream. It was promoted by Tom Rounds
, who had previously promoted the seminal Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival on Mount Tamalpais
in Marin County, California
. True to its name, Miami Pop II emphasized a lighter, "Top 40" style of music including Procol Harum
, The Turtles
, The Grass Roots
, Three Dog Night
, Jose Feliciano
, The Blues Image
and The Box Tops
. More "serious" veins of music were represented by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band
, Hugh Masekela
, Pacific Gas and Electric
, Fleetwood Mac
, Richie Havens
, The Sweet Inspirations, Joni Mitchell
, Jr. Walker & The Allstars, The McCoys
, Sweetwater
, The James Cotton Blues Band
, Canned Heat
, The Charles Lloyd Quartet, Booker T. & the M.G.'s
, Ian & Sylvia, Country Joe and The Fish
, Buffy St. Marie, Steppenwolf
, The Amboy Dukes
and Iron Butterfly
; rounding things out were Chuck Berry
's roots rock, the picking of Flatt and Scruggs, jamming from the Grateful Dead
, smooth nightclub stylings by Marvin Gaye
, raucous soul from Joe Tex
, and covering a range from hard rock to folk. Many of these musicians were cast as superheroes in a commemorative comic book
distributed at the festival.
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
s that took place in 1968 at Gulfstream Park
Gulfstream Park
Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino is a racetrack and county-approved racino in Hallandale Beach, Florida, in the United States. During its annual meet, which spans December through April, it is one of the most important venues for horse racing in America....
, a horse racing track in Hallandale
Hallandale Beach, Florida
Hallandale Beach is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. The city is named after Luther Halland, a worker for Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad. As of the 2010 census, the population was 37,113...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
(now called Hallandale Beach), just north of Miami.
The first Miami Pop event took place May 18–19, 1968. An estimated 100,000 people attended this concert, which was promoted by Michael Lang, later famous as promoter of Woodstock. Bands featured at the festival included Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf (band)
Steppenwolf are a Canadian-American rock group that was prominent in the late 1960s. The group was formed in 1967 in Los Angeles by vocalist John Kay, guitarist Michael Monarch, bassist Rushton Moreve, keyboardist Goldy McJohn and drummer Jerry Edmonton after the dissolution of Toronto group The...
, The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Jimi Hendrix Experience were an English-American psychedelic rock band that formed in London in October 1966. Comprising eponymous singer-songwriter and guitarist Jimi Hendrix, bassist and backing vocalist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, the band was active until June 1969, in which...
, The Mothers of Invention
The Mothers of Invention
The Mothers of Invention were an American band active from 1964 to 1969, and again from 1970 to 1975.They mainly performed works by, and were the original recording group of, US composer and guitarist Frank Zappa , although other members have had the occasional writing credit...
, Blue Cheer
Blue Cheer
Blue Cheer was an American psychedelic blues-rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009...
and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Jimi Hendrix performed "Fire", "Foxy Lady
Foxy Lady
"Foxy Lady" is a song by The Jimi Hendrix Experience from their 1967 album Are You Experienced. It can also be found on a number of Hendrix's greatest hits compilations, including Smash Hits and Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix...
", "Getting my heart back together" and "Purple Haze
Purple Haze
"Purple Haze" is a song written in 1966 and recorded in 1967 by The Jimi Hendrix Experience and released as a single in both the United Kingdom and the United States. It appeared on their 1967 album Are You Experienced...
". Sunday's concert was rained out and because of this, Hendrix wrote "Rainy Day, Dream Away." Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
, The Blues Image
The Blues Image
Blues Image was a critically acclaimed late 1960s rock band. Their most successful song was "Ride Captain Ride" in the last half of 1970, which reached #4 on the both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian RPM magazine charts. Blues Image was a well-respected band among their peers...
, Pacific Gas and Electric
Pacific Gas & Electric (band)
Pacific Gas & Electric was an American blues rock band in the late 1960s and early 1970s, led by singer Charlie Allen. Their biggest hit was "Are You Ready?"-Career:...
and Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night is an American rock band best known for their music from 1968 to 1975. During that time the band charted 21 Billboard top 40 hits in America, three of which reached Number One...
also performed. The opening act on the main stage on Saturday was a little-known group called The Package and the closing act on that same stage was Jimi Hendrix.
The second Miami Pop Festival was held December 28–30, 1968 at Gulfstream. It was promoted by Tom Rounds
Tom Rounds
Tom Rounds is an American radio broadcasting executive, founder and chief executive officer of Radio Express in Burbank, California.-Early years:...
, who had previously promoted the seminal Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival on Mount Tamalpais
Mount Tamalpais
Mount Tamalpais is a peak in Marin County, California, United States, often considered symbolic of Marin County. Much of Mount Tamalpais is protected within public lands such as Mount Tamalpais State Park and the Mount Tamalpais Watershed.-Geography:...
in Marin County, California
Marin County, California
Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...
. True to its name, Miami Pop II emphasized a lighter, "Top 40" style of music including Procol Harum
Procol Harum
Procol Harum are a British rock band, formed in 1967, which contributed to the development of progressive rock, and by extension, symphonic rock. Their best-known recording is their 1967 single "A Whiter Shade of Pale"...
, The Turtles
The Turtles
The Turtles are an American rock group led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. The band became notable for several Top 40 hits beginning with its cover version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" in 1965...
, The Grass Roots
The Grass Roots
The Grass Roots is an American rock band that charted between 1966 and 1975 as the brainchild of songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri.In their career, The Grass Roots achieved two gold albums, one gold single and charted singles a total of 21 times. Among their charting singles, they...
, Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night is an American rock band best known for their music from 1968 to 1975. During that time the band charted 21 Billboard top 40 hits in America, three of which reached Number One...
, Jose Feliciano
José Feliciano
José Feliciano is a Puerto Rican singer, virtuoso guitarist and composer known for many international hits including the 1970 holiday single "Feliz Navidad".-Childhood:...
, The Blues Image
The Blues Image
Blues Image was a critically acclaimed late 1960s rock band. Their most successful song was "Ride Captain Ride" in the last half of 1970, which reached #4 on the both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian RPM magazine charts. Blues Image was a well-respected band among their peers...
and The Box Tops
The Box Tops
The Box Tops were a Memphis rock group of the second half of the 1960s. They are best known for the hits "The Letter," "Neon Rainbow," "Soul Deep," "I Met Her in Church," and "Cry Like A Baby," and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period...
. More "serious" veins of music were represented by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Paul Butterfield
Paul Butterfield was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player, who founded the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 1960s and performed at the original Woodstock Festival...
, Hugh Masekela
Hugh Masekela
Hugh Ramopolo Masekela is a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer, and singer.-Early life:Masekela was born in Kwa-Guqa Township, Witbank, South Africa. He began singing and playing piano as a child...
, Pacific Gas and Electric
Pacific Gas & Electric (band)
Pacific Gas & Electric was an American blues rock band in the late 1960s and early 1970s, led by singer Charlie Allen. Their biggest hit was "Are You Ready?"-Career:...
, Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
, Richie Havens
Richie Havens
Richard P. "Richie" Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense, rhythmic guitar style , soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children...
, The Sweet Inspirations, Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
, Jr. Walker & The Allstars, The McCoys
The McCoys
The McCoys were a rock group that started in Union City, Indiana, in 1962.-Career:The original members, all from Union City, were guitarist Richard Zehringer , his brother Randy on drums, and bassist Dennis Kelly. This first line-up was known as The Rick Z Combo, and later known as Rick and the...
, Sweetwater
Sweetwater (band)
Sweetwater was a rock band originally from Los Angeles. They were the act scheduled to play first at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, although due to problems within the band, solo folksinger Richie Havens became the first performer...
, The James Cotton Blues Band
James Cotton
James Cotton is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band.-Career:...
, Canned Heat
Canned Heat
Canned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The group has been noted for its own interpretations of blues material as well as for efforts to promote the interest in this type of music and its original artists...
, The Charles Lloyd Quartet, Booker T. & the M.G.'s
Booker T. & the M.G.'s
Booker T. & the M.G.'s is an instrumental R&B band that was influential in shaping the sound of southern soul and Memphis soul. Original members of the group were Booker T. Jones , Steve Cropper , Lewie Steinberg , and Al Jackson, Jr....
, Ian & Sylvia, Country Joe and The Fish
Country Joe and the Fish
Country Joe and the Fish was a rock band most widely known for musical protests against the Vietnam War, from 1966 to 1971, and also regarded as a seminal influence to psychedelic rock.-History:...
, Buffy St. Marie, Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf (band)
Steppenwolf are a Canadian-American rock group that was prominent in the late 1960s. The group was formed in 1967 in Los Angeles by vocalist John Kay, guitarist Michael Monarch, bassist Rushton Moreve, keyboardist Goldy McJohn and drummer Jerry Edmonton after the dissolution of Toronto group The...
, The Amboy Dukes
The Amboy Dukes
The Amboy Dukes were an American rock music band of the late 1960s and early 1970s from Detroit, Michigan, best remembered for their hit single "Journey to the Center of the Mind", and for launching the career of Ted Nugent...
and Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly is a US psychedelic rock band best known for the 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".Their heyday was the late 1960s, but the band has been reincarnated with various members. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is the 31st best-selling album in the world, selling more than 25 million copies.-History:The...
; rounding things out were Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
's roots rock, the picking of Flatt and Scruggs, jamming from the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
, smooth nightclub stylings by Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
, raucous soul from Joe Tex
Joe Tex
Joseph Arrington, Jr. , better known as "Joe Tex", was an American Southern soul singer-songwriter, most popular during the 1960s and 1970s...
, and covering a range from hard rock to folk. Many of these musicians were cast as superheroes in a commemorative comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
distributed at the festival.