When people talk about the 'summer of love' they often mistakenly refer to, and include, Woodstock. In fact the 'summer of love' was two years before Woodstock and began on the West Coast. In June 1967 the KFRC Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival was held in Marin County, California. Imagine being able to go to a 2-day concert to see acts including Canned Heat, Country Joe & The Fish, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane and Tim Buckley. And ... wait for it .. the admission price was $2. TWO DOLLARS!
Just one week later a 3-day event was held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds, organised by John Phillips (Mamas & Papas), record producer Lou Adler, publicist Derek Taylor (many years with The Beatles) and Alan Pariser. The artist list for this show was unbelievable and it was reflected in the ticket prices. They ranged from $3 to a massive $6.50. In fairness, that's a 2022 equivalent of $50 for the top end, but still great value for the line-up. I've linked to a video of Eric Burdon's song 'Monterey' where he mentions some of the acts and the video shows scenes from D.A. Pennebaker's movie 'Monterey Pop'.
Both of these events were the beginnings of the 'summer of love' and epitomised the flower power counter-culture. In fact John Phillips and Lou Adler used the song 'San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)' to promote the Monterey festival.
It's amazing what you learn after so many years. I always knew Scott McKenzie sang that song. What I didn't know until recently is that Papa John Phillips wrote it ! Am I the last to know?
I've mentioned that Eric Burdon was there, Canned Heat, Country Joe and Jefferson Airplane came along after appearing at Fantasy Fair the week before. Janis was there as part of Big Brother and the Holding Company and on the strength of her performance they were signed by Columbia Records. Otis Redding did a set using Booker T & The MG's as his backing group!! Sadly Otis was killed in a plane crash just six months later.
There was friendly rivalry between The Who and Jimi Hendrix because they were both totally off-centre. They tossed a coin to see who would perform first - neither wanted to be upstaged by the other. The Who ended up going on first and at the end of their set Pete Townshend smashed his guitar and Keith Moon kicked over his drums. Not to be outdone, at the end of HIS set Jimi sang ?? an almost unrecognisable feedback induced whining throbbing version of The Troggs 'Wild Thing' before he sprayed lighter fluid over his guitar and famously knelt over the fire - an image shown whenever Jimi's name comes up. Just as an aside, although he's known for doing a brilliant interpretation of Dylan's 'All Along the Watchtower', during this concert Jimi covered Bob's 'Like a Rolling Stone.' Magic.
Grateful Dead, The Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel - the list is seemingly never-ending. Finally, on the last day, the last act was The Mamas & The Papas with concert organiser John Phillips able to look back on a successful 3 day festival. Their selection included 'California Dreamin'' and 'Monday, Monday' along with some surprising covers. There was a nicely arranged version of The Beatles 'I Call Your Name' and the 1960 Jerry Leiber / Phil Spector classic 'Spanish Harlem'. The last song of the festival was their cover of 'Dancing in the Street' when Mama Cass told the crowd "You're on your own."
A great slice of music history. If you dig deep enough you'll find more acts from the festival on CD and vinyl, some even on the Tube of You.
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