Woodstock Reunion - Parr Meadows 1979

I went to this show and I have to say, the passage of time has been kinder to the recordings than my memories of the show had been. To me, it was a pale imitation of the original Woodstock with Steven Stills instead of CSNY, Leslie West instead of Mountain, Jorma instead of Jefferson Airplane, etc. Plus the ticket cost an unheard-of $35 (I smirk to myself as I write this).

In the "Spirit of the Original Woodstock," my friend GH and I were determined to get in free. We climbed the fence and ran in, under the nose of at least a squad of disengaged Suffolk Co. cops who barely looked up from their donuts.

Canned Heat's set was one of the highlights.

The show itself was mixed. I arrived at the end of John Sebastian's set.

Jorma Kaukonen had recently been estranged from Jack Casady so he and drummer Bob Steeler were playing Hot Tuna gigs as a duo. He'd gotten this Punk haircut and dyed his hair platinum blonde. Fans yelled "WHERE'S JACK?" through the whole set. They felt cheated, and rightfully so, that only 2/3 of Hot Tuna had shown up.

Michael Shrieve played this incomprehensible percussion/synth jam with synth genius Larry Fast. Technical difficulties kept several other members of the band from playing.

Many highlights, though. Stephen Stills played an impeccable set that made everybody forget about CSNY and focus on what a great guitarist and dynamic solo performer he was in his own right.

I remember being real impressed with Paul Butterfield, who was playing with Rick Danko of The Band. They played a mixed bag of Band songs and Blues, as I recall. They did a lot better with the Blues standards.

Paul Butterfield's playing really impressed me.

Leslie West solo wasn't Mountain but still damn good, although his set was not included in the King Biscuit recordings. I forget who he was playing with. I remember seeing him during this period at another gig at Ubie's OTJ (a local Rock club) with Busta C. Jones (later of Talking Heads) on bass and Dino Danelli from The Rascals on drums. He was a guitar god then, and remains so today.

Canned Heat really tore it up, as you can hear on the King Biscuit tapes. They were a band that were just consistently great whenever they played. They really don't get the credit they deserve and should be more popular than they are now. I think they're still playing gigs...?

But by far the best set of the day was by Johnny Winter who at this time was a headliner, at the peak of his popularity and his playing. He had the crowd eating of his hand and enjoyed interacting with them. When I recall how good Johnny was that day I have to smile, even so many years later.

Johnny Winter's set was easily the best of the day.

There were zero amenities or vendors that day at Parr Meadows, an unused, forgotten attempt at a racetrack in Suffolk County. It had never hosted a concert before and as far as I know, never did again. No food for an all-day show was not fun!

By the time the evening came most of the crowd had been without food and water for quite some time and were in an ugly mood. This was not helped by the obviously amateur concert Security staff, who roughly shoved people off the stage.

During Johnny Winter's set I had my elbows on the stage and some security goon roughly threw me off and I hit the ground with a loud, painful THUD! I got back up and latched on to the guys leg, fully intending to pull him off the stage and beat him. In hindsight I'm glad I didn't succeed.

By the time Michael Shrieve came on, the security staff and the audience were clearly at odds. There were significant technical difficulties during the transition and the crowd was close to open rebellion. Eventually they decided to start playing without guitar, bass and whoever else didn't play. As documented on the tapes it turned into this annoying free-form synth and percussion jam that did nothing to calm the crowd.

I guess a quick deal was made because by the time Shrieve had gotten three songs into his set there were members of the Pagans motorcycle gang lining the stage, replacing the concert security. They were the baddest guys going in those days and nobody with a lick of sense wanted to mess with them. My friend GH said that it looked more like an Altamont reunion than an event comemorating Woodstock.

Peace and love to all of you who were there. - GG