Pick a Day

Music History Events: Festivals

October 11, 1998 The first Smoke Out Festival sparks up in San Bernardino, California. Organized by Cypress Hill, about 40,000 fans converge in the celebration of music and marijuana. The festival returns every year through 2003, then returns in 2009.

August 15, 1998 Pete Townshend, Joni Mitchell and Lou Reed, along with original Woodstock acts Richie Havens and Melanie, play Day 2 of the A Day In The Garden festival in Bethel, New York, where the 1969 festival took place. Mitchell closes her set with "Woodstock."

October 25, 1996 The first Ozzfest is held as a two-day festival in Phoenix, Arizona, and Devore, California.

June 27, 1996 Fugees headline the "Hoodshock" festival in Harlem, which the group organized as a free event to encourage voter registration. The Notorious B.I.G., Sean "Puffy" Combs and Wu-Tang Clan also perform, but the event makes headlines for a panic set off at the end of the festival when a man fires gunshots into the air. In the chaos, about 30 people are injured.

June 27, 1996 The sixth edition of Lollapalooza launches at Longview Lake in Kansas City, Missouri. Defying tradition as a showcase for underground acts, the headliner is Metallica, with Soundgarden also on the bill. Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell bows out, and the tour lasts one more year before going on a 6-year hiatus.

November 8, 1994 A&M Records releases Woodstock 1994, an album documenting the Woodstock '94 festival that took place in Saugerties, New York, three months earlier. The two-disc set includes live performances from 27 artists, including Joe Cocker ("Feelin' Alright"), The Cranberries ("Dreams"), Green Day ("When I Come Around") and Bob Dylan ("Highway 61 Revisited").

August 13, 1994 Day 2 of Woodstock '94 welcomes Irish rockers The Cranberries, who entertain the crowd with their forthcoming single "Zombie" and a rendition of the Carpenters' "(They Long to Be) Close to You." In a nod to his 1969 performance, original Woodstock veteran Joe Cocker revisits "With A Little Help From My Friends" on the more prestigious North Stage.

June 18, 1993 Lollapalooza 1993 kicks off at Thunderbird Stadium, in Vancouver, BC. The main stage acts include the headliner, Primus, as well as Alice in Chains, Dinosaur Jr., Fishbone, Arrested Development, Front 242, Babes in Toyland (first half), Tool (second half), and Rage Against the Machine.

July 18, 1992 The second edition of Lollapalooza is launched at Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View, California. The traveling festival features such main stage attractions as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam.

October 15, 1991 The first day of the Guitar Legends festival is held at Seville, Spain. The 5-day festival features performances by Roger Waters, Joe Satriani and B.B. King.

October 12, 1991 The Day on the Green Festival takes place at Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California. Headlined by Metallica, the lineup also includes Queensrÿche, Faith No More and Soundgarden.

June 23, 1990 During their headlining set at the Glastonbury Festival, The Cure pause during a performance of "Fascination Street" so a police helicopter can rescue a woman who's nearly been crushed to death by the overzealous crowd.

April 21, 1990 The International Ska Festival & Earth Day Celebration goes down at the Greek Theatre in San Francisco, with performances by The International Beat, The Uptones, and Bad Manners. With 10,000 attending, it's an early indicator that ska is finding an audience in America.

May 29, 1983 Van Halen get a record $1.5 million to play Day 2 ("Heavy Metal Day") of Apple founder Steve Wozniak's US Festival, the second and final year of the event. It's the most any act has ever been paid for a single performance.More

April 24, 1983 With Los Angeles punk rock running afoul of authorities, the Minutemen play a guerilla concert in the Mojave desert, where fans are bussed in. It's the first of a series of "Desolation Center" concerts that are the precursor to Burning Man and other desert music festivals.More

July 16, 1982 Peter Gabriel launches the 3-day WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) festival at the Royal Bath and West showground in Somerset, England, with acts including the Drummers Of Burundi, Echo & the Bunnymen, and the Tian Jin dancers from China. It's a financial disaster but artistic success; Gabriel revives it the next year and the festival carries on, branching out to many countries over the next several years.

July 5, 1981 At the "Rock Werchter" festival in Belgium, The Cure play a 9-minute version of "A Forest" when they are told to hurry off stage so Robert Palmer can begin his set.More

August 23, 1980 The Heatwave Festival, known as the "New Wave Woodstock," goes down at Mosport Park near Toronto. Performers include Elvis Costello, The B-52s, The Pretenders, and Talking Heads, who debut songs from their upcoming album, Remain In Light, and introduce a new touring band that includes keyboard player Bernie Worrell and guitarist Adrian Belew.

August 26, 1978 The Canada Jam festival goes down in the Great White North (Bowmanville, Ontario), with The Doobie Brothers, The Village People, Triumph, and Kansas on the bill.

March 18, 1978 Cal Jam II takes place at Ontario Motor Speedway outside of Los Angeles. The largest festival of the late '70s, performers include Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Foreigner, Santana and Heart. An estimated 350,000 fans attend; the Los Angeles Times reports that 700 of them were treated for overdoses of Angel Dust.

August 5, 1977 The Police, The Damned and The Clash play the second Mont de Marsen Punk Festival, held at a bullring in France.

August 21, 1976 The first punk festival in Europe takes place at a bullfighting ring in the small town of Mont de Marsen in France. Acts include Eddie And The Hot Rods, The Damned, and Brinsley Schwarz.

September 24, 1974 James Brown plays to 80,000 in Zaire, closing out a festival timed to coincide with the Ali-Foreman "Rumble In The Jungle," which has been postponed.

July 27, 1973 Thousands of people hit Watkins Glen, New York, for the "Summer Jam" one day before the music festival is scheduled to begin. The crowd is already so large and so raucous that The Band turn their sound-check into a mini-set. The Allman Brothers Band follows in similar character by rocking through "One Way Out" and "Ramblin' Man." The Grateful Dead come next with a two-set explosion. This impromptu jam tires them not at all, and the next day they still scramble psyches with two long sets.

June 17, 1972 "Jesus Music" (later known as Christian contemporary) takes center stage at Billy Graham's Explo '72 in Dallas, where acts like Larry Norman and Love Song perform along with Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, and Andrae Crouch. Graham calls it the "Christian Woodstock."

August 29, 1970 The Isle of Wight Festival hits its stride on Day 4 (of 5), with performances by Miles Davis, The Doors and The Who. Joni Mitchell's set is interrupted by a hippie named Yogi Joe who has to be removed by security. It also features Emerson, Lake And Palmer in only their second live performance, which is later released as the album Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970.More

August 28, 1970 The third day of the Isle of Wight Festival includes performances from Procol Harum, Rory Gallagher's trio Taste and Chicago. Although appearing on the bill and in the programme, Mungo Jerry decide not to play when the show overruns to such an extent they would be playing in the early hours of the morning.

August 27, 1970 The second day of the Isle of Wight Festival is notable primarily for its lack of big names. It does see an early appearance from Supertramp, whose debut album was released just four weeks earlier.

April 15, 1970 Michael Wadleigh's Woodstock, a film chronicle of the famed 1969 counterculture festival, wins the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

August 30, 1969 It's the first day of the two-day Isle of Wight Festival. Performers include Bob Dylan, the Moody Blues and The Who. This is the second Isle of Wight Festival - it goes on again next year, but doesn't return until 2002.