The above video is from an 8mm film transfer shot by a fifteen year old South Florida kid on May 18, 1968. The images come from the Miami Pop Festival, which featured The Mothers Of Invention (Frank Zappa's band), Chuck Berry, Steppenwolf, Three Dog Night, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and more. The Miami Pop Festival took place at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale. According to a Wikipedia entry on the subject, bands played on stages built on flatbed trailers.
The concert was put together by a dude named Michael Lang who had a head shop in Coconut Grove. A year later Michael Lang went on to put together the Woodstock Music Festival.
According to an old New Times article, he also played a role in putting together the Altamont Music Festival.
The Oakland chapter of the Hell's Angels hired to run security ended up
stabbing and killing a black kid and beating a lot of hippies with pool
cues. Scenes from that concert are in the Rolling Stones documentary
Gimme Shelter.
But before Michael Lang marked his place in the legends of musical history he got inspired to do so in South Florida. According to a quote
attributed to audio engineer Eddie Kramer, yhe Miami Pop Festival ended
in a torrential downpour that had Jimi Hendrix writing the song "Rainy
Day, Dream Away" in the back of a car as it left Gulfstream Park. Guess
it inspired him too.
Here's the Hendrix song that South Florida inspired and some more images and some audio from the Miami Pop Festival.
