23. Promoters
Still pals | ampthemag.com
Two promoters, Shelly Finkel, and Jim Koplik dreamed up the idea of Summer Jam before they knew which bands they wanted. They imagined a great lineup, but who? When they saw the chaos of fans surrounding the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers at Roosevelt Stadium in 1972, they knew the answers to that question. Little did they know they’d set into motion the making of a Guinness Book of World Records event.
22. Endless Attendees
Held at the Watkins Glen Raceway, in Watkins Glen, New York, the event quickly swelled out of control. “When we first got there we were able to drive in and out of the site,” said the Allman Brothers’ tour manager Willie Perkins, “but the road became like Armageddon overnight,” he says. “It was like there had been a nuclear attack and people had just abandoned their cars.” Fans drove towards the stadium until they couldn’t drive, abandoning their cars to go the rest of the way on foot.
21. $10 Tickets
Compared to today’s ticket prices to see only one band, the cost of $10 sounds like the easiest decision since chips or fries with that? (Fries, of course.) Organizers planned to sell 75,000 tickets, but when they sold out, they upped that limit to 100,000, then 150,000. Music fans who failed to get tickets in time hopped in cars with friends assuming they could buy a scalped ticket outside the venue. Nobody considered how many other people would try the same move. Also, nobody could have imagined concert organizers would simply throw open the gates.