Monterey's bill boasted a lineup that put established stars like the Mamas and the Papas, Simon & Garfunkel and the Byrds alongside groundbreaking new acts from the UK and the U.S.[14], Crowd estimates for the festival have ranged from 25,000 to 90,000 people, which congregated in and around the festival grounds. Monterey affected his career intensely as later captured in the song he wrote about it. Ravi Shankar was another artist who was introduced to the U.S. at the festival. The festival’s office had a real buzz going through it … David Crosby and Stephen Stills hanging out…Procol Harum’s yet to be released ‘Whiter Shade Of Pale’ being played over and over…Michelle Phillip’s was on the phone selling ads…John and Lou on the telephone talking to managers and potential acts … A whirlwind of excitement, of gentle strong-arming, calling in every chip imaginable, dealing with the concerns of the San Francisco group’s managers, charming the Monterey City Council and Police Department and getting it all done… for charity…giving something back. Jimi Hendrix's use of extremely high volumes, the feedback this produced, and the combination of the two along with his dive-bombing use of the vibrato bar on his guitar, produced sounds that, with the exception of the British in attendance, none of the audience had ever heard before. Sound was captured by Wally Heider's mobile studio on a then state-of-the art eight-channel recorder, with one track used for the crystal-sync tone, to synchronize it with the film cameras. [24], Interestingly, an early draft of the line up had the Experience scheduled to play on the Friday night bill, rather than Sunday.

I have never heard anything in music that could be said to be qualitatively better than the performance of the Dead, Sunday night. Sometimes it’s just better not to think about it too long, in two months, a three-day music festival with the most established, the up and coming and the unknown…Thirty-two acts representing contemporary American rock, British rock, folk rock, progressive, jazz, African, torch songs, East Indian, and the blues…and they would all perform for free.

John Phillips and Lou Adler were approached by Alan Pariser and his partner, Ben Shapiro who wanted to hire the Mamas and The Papas to headline a blues and rock concert at the Monterey Fairgrounds…and as the story goes … later that night actually three o’clock in the morning John and Lou had decided, influenced by some heavy California Dreamin’ that it should be a charitable event…and with six weeks to go the Monterey International Pop Festival; a three-day non-profit event was about to become a reality. This quickly built into a steady stream of business, and the eccentric Beaver was soon one of the busiest session men in L.A. ", This page was last edited on 15 October 2020, at 05:51. Shankar's set began in the afternoon following a rainy morning, and the audience filled the arena to about 80% capacity. Pennebaker was assembling an expanded release of the film and reviewed the Nyro footage for inclusion. It was also reported locally that Eric Burdon had checked out the provisions and healthcare facilities.

Electronic music pioneers Paul Beaver and Bernie Krause set up a booth at Monterey to demonstrate the new electronic music synthesizer developed by Robert Moog. He and Krause earned a contract with Warner Brothers. 1 interchange), where Jimi Hendrix, flanked by Jorma Kaukonen and John Cipollina, played for an enthusiastic audience.

Through their demonstration booth at Monterey, they gained the interest of acts including the Doors, the Byrds, the Rolling Stones, Simon & Garfunkel, and others.

Eric Burdon and the Animals later that same year, in their hit "Monterey", quoted a line from the Byrds' song "Renaissance Fair" ("I think that maybe I'm dreamin'") and mentioned performers the Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, Ravi Shankar, Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Hugh Masekela, Grateful Dead, and the Rolling Stones' Brian Jones ("His Majesty Prince Jones smiled as he moved among the crowd"). Browne, David. (2014-06-05). [40] Beaver and Krause had bought one of Moog's first synthesizers in 1966 and had spent a fruitless year trying to get someone in Hollywood interested in using it. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Because Monterey was widely promoted and heavily attended, featured historic performances, and was the subject of a popular theatrical documentary film, it became an inspiration and a template for future music festivals, including the Woodstock Festival two years later. I sat there gape-jawed. The festival did not become an annual event. "The Summer of Love; It was a time of peace, love and flowers in your hair. As Andrew Oldham recounted, “The Monterey Pop Festival was the “first major rock festival” and the beginning of the future and potential of our music. Site © 2017 Monterey International Pop Festival.