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As an aging baby boomer, I often wish that the sort of festivals we have now were around during my younger years. I often wonder what the lineups would have been like during a particular year. I took a shot at creating a second-tier festival lineup, something equivalent to what Gov Ball or BC are today, for 1974 (i.e., no Led Zep, Eagles, Stones, Who, Floyd, or Elton John. They'd likely limit themselves to the top tier fests.).
The lineup is based upon the likely placement of that act in a festival lineup in 1974. There are half a dozen artists here who were a year or two away from their big breakthrough single at that time and they're billed far lower than they'd be billed within a few years. When in doubt about placement, I checked the band's wiki page to confirm the release date of the single or album which would lift them onto a much higher line in '75 or '76.
I specifically chose 1974 because it was the year before punk/new wave started breaking out of CBGBs. A dream lineup taking place a couple of years later would likely look very different.
It's a mix of hit makers and FM album rock station favorites cutting across classic rock, prog, soul, glam, country, funk, jazz, country rock, fusion, blues, and folk, just like today's festivals bring indie rock, rap, R&B, metal, EDM, and Americana into the same lineups. Of course, all acts are as they were in 1974, in terms of band lineups and age (and vital signs) of the performers.
Without further adieu...
The Best Damn Music Festival of 1974 David Bowie * Yes * Neil Young * Lynyrd Skynyrd * Al Green * The Band Aerosmith * Gordon Lightfoot * The Spinners * Johnny Cash * Joni Mitchell * Curtis Mayfield James Brown * The Kinks * Genesis (performing "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" in its entirety) T Rex * Loretta Lynn * Roxy Music * Mahavishnu Orchestra * Weather Report * Badfinger * The Raspberries * Mott The Hoople * Electric Light Orchestra * Parliament/Funkadelic * Can * Bobby Womack * Rush * Supertramp * New York Dolls * Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band * Little Feat * Pure Prairie League * Big Star * Thin Lizzy * Bob Marley & The Wailers * Mandrill * KC & The Sunshine Band * Sun Ra Arkestra * Ornette Coleman * Waylon Jennings * Sandy Denny * BT Express * Muddy Waters * Richard & Linda Thompson * Be Bop Deluxe * Tom Waits Comedy Stage:
Richard Pryor * George Carlin * Rodney Dangerfield * Andy Kaufman * Albert Brooks * Larry David
Last Edit: Apr 19, 2018 19:10:38 GMT -5 by tw12 - Back to Top
EDIT: as well as many of the musical acts. These conflicts would be just brutal
True, the conflicts would be horrendous.
If time travel ever becomes a "thing," I could see a festival like this happening. You send the promoting staff back in time to set up an office, arrange the grounds/logistics, book the performers, etc. The portals are set up at the gates to the grounds in the modern era, you walk through the portal and you're back in '74, '84, or '94 (the latter two would also be great years for a retro festival) at the festival. You go out (and back to your "home" year) through the exit portals.
Tbh this is a really interesting concept because radio stations were fairly new around that time that I don't even know what they exactly played around that time period. I imagine it depended on where you lived back then to what kind of music you got exposed to f.e. the UK or on the West Coast.. Though with my 22 y/o I'm way to young to even know that much bands from that time period. 80s and 90s is fairly okay I think but 60s and 70s is a huge gap for me still.. I think you should add some DJs aswell because Kraftwerk and I think Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five (were starting to be active/popular/come up) around that period aswell.
Tbh this is a really interesting concept because radio stations were fairly new around that time that I don't even know what they exactly played around that time period. I imagine it depended on where you lived back then to what kind of music you got exposed to f.e. the UK or on the West Coast.. Though with my 22 y/o I'm way to young to even know that much bands from that time period. 80s and 90s is fairly okay I think but 60s and 70s is a huge gap for me still.. I think you should add some DJs aswell because Kraftwerk and I think Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five (were starting to be active/popular/come up) around that period aswell.
Radio stations weren't new in the 70's, at least not here in the States.
Incidentally, if you have the I Heart Radio app they have a station that only plays Casey Kasem's American Top Forty radio shows from 1970 to about 1989 on a constant loop, one from the 70's then one from the 80's. It's a fun time capsule, especially for those of us who were alive in the 70's and 80's.
Tbh this is a really interesting concept because radio stations were fairly new around that time that I don't even know what they exactly played around that time period. I imagine it depended on where you lived back then to what kind of music you got exposed to f.e. the UK or on the West Coast.. Though with my 22 y/o I'm way to young to even know that much bands from that time period. 80s and 90s is fairly okay I think but 60s and 70s is a huge gap for me still.. I think you should add some DJs aswell because Kraftwerk and I think Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five (were starting to be active/popular/come up) around that period aswell.
I'd definitely put Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five in a 1984 mock. The Sugarhill Gang kicked off their label in 1979 and Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force were an early 80's phenomenon, too. Hip hop started coalescing in the late 70's, but the closest to rap you could get in 1974 was Gil Scott-Heron.
Kraftwerk was around and turned out to be hugely influential upon disco, hip hop, and EDM, but I left them out of the mock in large part because they're still around today, performing live, and sounding exactly like they did in the 70's. Apparently, their last tour involved 3D glasses for audience members.
I thought about that, but wondered if they'd fit into the modern festival format. They played that big Watkins Glen show in the early-mid 70's with the Allmans and The Band, but that was only three bands playing full-length sets. Drums/Space + between song tuning = half of a modern festival set by itself.
Here are some other bands to think about for your 74 lineup:
Traffic (with Winwood) CSNY Robin Trower Joe Walsh Marshall Tucker band Van Morrison and the Caldonia Soul Orchestra
Genesis - Late night special performance of Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Beyond the ability to make this an entirely pre-punk/new wave lineup, the main reason I picked 1974 was so that Genesis (during their last year with Peter Gabriel) could perform their masterwork in its entirety.
I did see Van Morrison on the Wavelength tour a few years later. He made the same mistake a few bands made in the last 70's -- having Rockpile open for you (Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Billy Bremner, and Terry Williams. As great of a straight-ahead 4/4 rocking band there ever was). Van was very good, but Rockpile blew him off the stage. I saw them do the same to Blondie around that time, too (although I will never forget that Blondie opened with the as-yet-unreleased "Dreaming" and completely knocked me out.)
Again, CSNY would probably be a top-tier fest headliner. I recall that they were headlining football stadiums in the 70's.
KC & The Sunshine Band, the Post Malone of its day.
Oh, I went to an upstate NY community college for two years before going away to school. I was on the concert committee and we almost booked KC & The Sunshine Band immediately after they broke big and could still be had at a reasonable cost. The negotiations fell apart due to some very diva-like requirements in the contract rider, although I don't recall now what they were.
KC & The Sunshine Band, the Post Malone of its day.
Oh, I went to an upstate NY community college for two years before going away to school. I was on the concert committee and we almost booked KC & The Sunshine Band immediately after they broke big and could still be had at a reasonable cost. The negotiations fell apart due to some very diva-like requirements in the contract rider, although I don't recall now what they were.
Post by gryphonkin on Apr 20, 2018 18:00:35 GMT -5
So are you just giving an entire day to Yes and Gabriel-era Genesis, both of whom will probably want 3 hours each? (kudos on the full "Lamb" runthrough. You've found the only way I'd ever go to a festival with Phil Collins on the lineup.
Also, can we have a Superjam? Because I really just want Richard Thompson, Stevie Van Zandt, Gary Rossington, Steve Howe, Joe Perry, Muddy Waters, and Eddie Hazel in a "Holy Crap, the Wall of Guitars" Superjam.
So are you just giving an entire day to Yes and Gabriel-era Genesis, both of whom will probably want 3 hours each? (kudos on the full "Lamb" runthrough. You've found the only way I'd ever go to a festival with Phil Collins on the lineup.
Also, can we have a Superjam? Because I really just want Richard Thompson, Stevie Van Zandt, Gary Rossington, Steve Howe, Joe Perry, Muddy Waters, and Eddie Hazel in a "Holy Crap, the Wall of Guitars" Superjam.
I don't recall the mid-70's Yes show I saw as being tremendously long. Two hours, maybe. Genesis could headline a smaller stage, and just do Lamb. (They were still playing 2.500 seat theaters in the U.S. at that point. They were not a big deal in terms of commercial popularity until they became a pop band.)
I suppose you could have a Wall of Guitars Superjam every night, with whomever's around that day.
I suppose you could have a Wall of Guitars Superjam every night, with whomever's around that day.
I could dig it. Waters, Van Zandt, Rossington, and Perry for a blues jam. Thompson, Hackett, Howe, and Hazel in a "How many time signatures can we fit into two hours?" jam.
Here are some other bands to think about for your 74 lineup:
Traffic (with Winwood) CSNY Robin Trower Joe Walsh Marshall Tucker band Van Morrison and the Caldonia Soul Orchestra
Genesis - Late night special performance of Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Beyond the ability to make this an entirely pre-punk/new wave lineup, the main reason I picked 1974 was so that Genesis (during their last year with Peter Gabriel) could perform their masterwork in its entirety.
I did see Van Morrison on the Wavelength tour a few years later. He made the same mistake a few bands made in the last 70's -- having Rockpile open for you (Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Billy Bremner, and Terry Williams. As great of a straight-ahead 4/4 rocking band there ever was). Van was very good, but Rockpile blew him off the stage. I saw them do the same to Blondie around that time, too (although I will never forget that Blondie opened with the as-yet-unreleased "Dreaming" and completely knocked me out.)
Again, CSNY would probably be a top-tier fest headliner. I recall that they were headlining football stadiums in the 70's.
Its always fun debating festival lineups. No different now than 74. That said.....
You are correct that CSNY would have been a headliner in 74. They played a mix of venues in 74 and that included several stadiums. For most of 74 (and most/all of the summer) Neil Young was touring with CSNY and wouldn't have done a solo show so you either need to remove Neil or add CSNY as a headliner.
Traffic would have also likely been a headliner (if booked). This was right before the last lineup with Winwood broke up and would almost certainly have headlined over Yes.
in 74 Van was playing a very different set/band than he was later in the decade. 74 was the year after the performances that made up Its Too Late Now. While I'm a huge fan of Rockpile, they were later in the decade and comparing them to Van circa 74 (with the Caldonia Soul Orchestra) is a stretch and probably more a question of taste.
I suppose you could have a Wall of Guitars Superjam every night, with whomever's around that day.
I could dig it. Waters, Van Zandt, Rossington, and Perry for a blues jam. Thompson, Hackett, Howe, and Hazel in a "How many time signatures can we fit into two hours?" jam.
Van Zandt and Van Zant could do something during the festival, just to confuse everyone (like booking Belly and Belly at the same festival in 2018, which someone should have done.)
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