From the collection of KNEES (who works tirelessly to collect and share treasures like this one).

~*~VARIOUS ARTISTS~*~
June 24-26, 1971 ::: "FESTIVAL OF LIFE" ::: (excerpts of MAIN stage sets from 1st 3 nights)
Cypress Pointe Plantation ::: along the Atchafalaya River in the unincorporated community of McCrea
Northwestern portion of Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, USA ::: M2-AUD (48kHz/24bit files)
~*~FESTIVAL OF LIFE~*~FESTIVAL OF LIFE~*~FESTIVAL OF LIFE~*~FESTIVAL OF LIFE~*~

~*~ Quickly remastered fixing some of its issues, without EQ or NR ~*~

John Sebastian ::: 1971-06-24 (6PM - 1st festival performance on MAIN stage) ::: (9:22)
01. I Had A Dream
02. ...Lovin' You
03. ...She's A Lady
04. ...Nashville Cats
05. ...Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?

WAR ::: 1971-06-24 ::: (19:02)
06. Sun Oh Son ->
07. Sun Oh Son -> Lonely Feelin' -> Get Down

Chuck Berry ::: 1971-06-24 ::: (33:27)
08. ...Nadine
09. Memphis, Tennessee
10. ...Sweet Little 16
11. ...School Day (Ring Ring Goes The Bell)
12. ...Around & Around
13. Oh Louisiana
14. Promised Land (->// segue? immediately cuts)
15. Reelin' & Rockin'
16. My Ding-A-Ling// (lyric singalong intros, then cuts)

Stoneground ::: 1971-06-25 ::: (21:16)
17. ...Looking For You
18. ...Great Changes Since I've Been Born
19. Rainy Day in June
20. Bad News
21. Passion Flower
22 ...Total Destruction To Your Mind

Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes ::: 1971-06-25 ::: (10:02*)
23. ..."Cannon Balls" -> guitar jam (->)
24. Prodigal Man(?)// (1:16 fragment only/cuts)
(*UPGRADES previously circulated version, which wrongly includes some Stoneground!)

Fire Wind ::: 1971-06-26 ::: 5:31
25. "Coming Together"(?)

Country Joe McDonald ::: 1971-06-26 ::: (22:15)
26. "It's Been A Long, Long Time"(?)_(ONLY known version!)
27. Entertainment Is My Business
28. ...Kiss My Ass
29. ...Red Hot Mama
30. ...Freedom Is A Constant Struggle
31. ...Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine
32. ...The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag
33. ...Janis

Potliquor ::: 1971-06-26 ::: (2:18)
34. ...Riverboat

Black Oak Arkansas ::: 1971-06-26 ::: (1:21)
35. ...Jailhouse Rock (fragment)

Arlo Guthrie ::: 1971-06-26 ::: (5:45)
36. ...Rosie Rag
37. ...Hobo's Lullaby//

Chambers Brothers ::: 1971-06-26 (likely after midnight, so actually the 27th) ::: (19:17)
38. Love Peace & Happiness (MAJOR sound issues after 1:20)

Total Time ::: 2:29:34

::: Collector-only quality but stereo & fascinating moments! Check samples to exit forthwith, dew dabble', whet appetite.
::: Warts (lots): MANY songs start late&have fast fades as taper cut off deck 'tween songs. Few quick cuts/splices in songs. All sets incomplete. Lot o' clappin'&whistlin'&rowdiness. Minutia repairs not attempted. #38 serious playback issues on reel. 'Tis what it is.
::: COMPARISON CLAUSE (Amboy Dukes ONLY): Amboy Dukes circulated before BUT old version is unknown gen/clipped/offspeed/says it's the 24th +incorrectly included 2 Stoneground songs #21end+#22). This is an upgrade with the correct info.
::: EXCEPT for Amboy Dukes as noted above, these tapes seem to be new to common online circulation as of April 2021.
::: Taper noted excerpts of 1st 2 nites MAIN stage sets (Thurs24th/Fri25th_NOT all performers taped)_BUT_as noted below, The Rag review indicates these recordings were over 3 nites.
::: TAPER noted #01-16 as 24th(correct), #17-24 as 24th (incorrect, actually 25th), #25-38 as 25th (incorrect, actually 26th).
::: #01-16"24th"(overnight ended 6am 25th)//#17-24"25th"(overnight ended 6am 26th)//#25-38"26th"(overnight ended 6am 27th).
::: Tape performance order verified by newspaper reviews&documentary (including Sebastian opening festival MAIN stage 24th).
::: Cypress Pointe Plantation was a 500-acre soybean farm in a very rural area, 60 miles north of Baton Rouge.
::: ARTICLE: www.rollingstone.com/feature/disastrous-1971-rock-fest-celebration-of-life-705192
::: WEBSITE on festival (by student filmmakers who shot documentary): www.mccrea1971.com
::: DOCUMENTARY (2013) 32mins (mostly interviews&NO live concert music): www.mccrea1971.com/watch
::: DOCUMENTARY (2013) 32mins also watchable at www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlvMH42r4vg
::: AD (Most bands did NOT play) www.festivival.com/media/reviews/photos/original/df/cc/96/1532-celebration-of-life-1971-55-1527371734.jpeg
::: PRE-GIG FLYER (Most bands did NOT play) 3pages (click images to open): www.festivival.com/history/celebration-of-life-1971
::: TICKET SCAN: https://www.rockinhouston.com/images/celebration-of-lifejpg/32783?type=performers&subtype=Years&typeUnid=583&page=1
::: PRESS PASS (button) SCAN: https://www.rockinhouston.com/images/celebration-of-life-passjpg/32784?type=performers&subtype=Years&typeUnid=583&page=1
::: SILENT MOVIE super-9 color FILM: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBtSyVC3VT4
::: N.Y.Times ARTICLE: www.nytimes.com/1971/07/11/archives/a-festival-of-life-that-didnt-live-the-festival-didnt-live.html
::: NEWSPAPER REPORTS/REVIEWS: Several scans in documentary&more around online, plus NY Times one above.
::: $28 advance tix ($180 in 2021 dollars). 60,0000+ people attended this "week in the country, summer solstice" festival.
::: Advertised 8day festival June 21-28,1971, to start Monday nite(21st) but MAIN stage started 3 days LATE Thurs nite(24th).
::: Bands played MAIN stage 6pm to 6am to "beat the heat". In total, bands played MAIN stage for 4 nights (Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun).
::: NO tapes recorded by this source from Sun nite 27th into festival end sometime mid-morning (or later) Monday 28th.
::: A promoter arrived Sun AM, saw the chaos & shut it down the next day, Monday 28th.
::: A drunk Stephen Stills flew in w/band&played free to help the ailing festival&announced early closure&was roundly booed.
::: Stills said after his set, the Chambers Bros would play a 2nd time to close festival, but after them, 3-4 more acts appeared.
::: Music ALSO played Weds nite(23rd) on Rainbow People's stage (2nd,smaller stage) including Fire Wind (more info below).
::: Country Joe EXC set! #29&30 non-LP trax&few versions around. #26"It's Been A Long,Long Time"(title?) ONLY known version.
::: RStone said contrary to opportunities in ads to“frolic in fields of clover”,“each morning renewed a personal battle for survival"!
::: RS"Hard drugs reigned/signs identified'Smack Street'&'Cocaine Row',syringes$1apiece""Acid&mescaline$1"signs seen in doc.
::: The drug of choice for many concertgoers according to comments on YT, would seem to have been Boone's Farm wine.
::: Despite LOTS of bad press, MANY folks in documentary,online&underground paper reviews assess festival as a huge success.
::: Many bands played that are otherwise unconfirmed, with some only according to decades-old eyewitness accounts.
::: NTTimes says Melanie spent several hours in the medical tents, talking&singing to kids on bad acid trips.
::: A YTube commenter, for what it's worth, says he worked "the light show&live tv projector on 3 screens".
::: Surprising number of YTube comments by concertgoers who claim they made their own festival movie footage.
::: Possibly some acts were taped from at soundboard (by Delta Sound?). 50 years on, no sign of any of the tapes.
::: Was reminded that Potliquor spun off of the EXC TX psychsters, The Basement Wall. What happened?
::: Damn, thought I'd keep the notes easy, but 4 full days later, still researching, while the world burns. Oh well!

Recording Information ::: unknown stereo reel-to-reel recorder/microphones -> master stereo reel(s) -> 1st generation stereo VHS HiFi audio tape -> 2nd generation Maxell XLII-90 cassettes, Dolby B on.

Playback 2021-02-xx ::: 2nd generation Maxell XLII-90 cassettes on Nakamichi 680ZX cassette deck, Dolby B on, azimuth adjusted for individual tape, heads cleaned & demagnetized -> Sony Linear PCM Recorder PCM-M10 (48kHz/24bit wav file) -> computer -> Audacity [normalisation to remove DC offset, channel/phase alignment, fades, manual one-at-a-time glitch, bump, clap, pop, click, dropout & dullspot repairs, volume adjustments, +1.5% averaged pitch (speed) correction with single pass after frequency analysis & with album pitch/pitchpipe verification, NO equalisation or noise reduction] -> CD Wave (track splits) -> 48kHz/24bit flacs (Trader's Little Helper) -> yr ears. Freed 2021-04-xx.

Line-up ::: Didn't attempt to list individual musicians in each group for these dates. Starters... Did Chuck Berry have his own band or was he already using whatever local band wanted the glory? MOST artists/bands advertised before event did NOT play! In addition, the smaller 2nd (Rainbow) stage acts weren't advertised, so only a few of them are known.

CONFIRMED as actually having performed on "Rainbow Stage"(smaller, second stage) ::: Fire Wind (23rd +1or 2 other days/sets on this stage +main stage 1or2 times) // Awesome Thunder (Hollywood,FL) // Ejaculation (New Orleans)//Junk (presumably this stage but maybe main stage)//High Voltage (presumably this stage but maybe main stage)/// (Many other lesser known artists/bands played this stage that we do not have names for "yet"). ::: The Rag review says "On Saturday (26th) a 2nd, Jam Stage opened&ran 24 hours, at the opposite end of the 700 acres". The Rainbow Stage apparently had sporatic performances from Weds nite (a day before the Main Stage performances started) thru Monday morning.

CONFIRMED as actually having performed or "almost certainly" did on MAIN Stage (dates if noted are the nites played & in some cases were actually the following mornings!) ::: John Sebastian (24th opened festival on MAIN stage)//WAR (24th_advertised as "Eric Burdon&War" but Eric left WAR spring '71//Chuck Berry (24th)//Jimmy Witherspoon & Eric Burdon (24th says The Rag)//Stoneground (25th)//Ted Nugent&The Amboy Dukes (25th_probably night's closing set so likely actually morning 26th)//Potliquor (26th)//Bloodrock (26th)//Fire Wind (25th 1st act, PLUS The Rag says they were 1st act on 27th)//Country Joe McDonald (26th)//Black Oak Arkansas (26th)//Arlo Guthrie (26th)//Chambers Brothers (26th after midnight_1st appearance PLUS 2nd appearance, after Stills, early morning 28th//Melanie (27th The Rag says 2nd act)//Delaney&Bonnie&Friends (27th The Rag says 3rd act,NOLA says 4th)//Boz Scaggs (27th The Rag says 4th act,NOLA says 3rd)//Stephen Stills Band (27th)//It's A Beautiful Day (after Chambers Bros, morning sunrise 28th)//Brownsville Station (after IABD, morning 28th)//Ruth Copeland (after Brownsville Station, morning 28th, possibly final MAIN stage act, but unclear, as both reviewers left festival)//Glass Harp (played!/date?)//Ike&Tina Turner Review (supposedly played/date?)//Ballin' Jack (played!/date?)//Tony Joe White (played!/date?).
NOTE: The Rag review says ONLY 3 bands played MAIN stage night 25th - Bloodrock (not taped by this source)//Stoneground//Amboy Dukes. Apparently but a thunderstorm ended performances early that night. BOTH sides of PA were working Fri, whereas Thurs only left PA stack was functioning! Taper wrote Melanie&Boz Scaggs on the tape label but nothing by them was on the tape (tho' they did both perform).

ADVERTISED or mentioned but mostly DID NOT APPEAR (a few are just from people's 40+ year old fickle memories!) ::: Alex Taylor//Allman Brothers Band//American Rock Opera Company (playing"Jesus Christ Superstar"material)//B.B. King//Beach Boys//Buddy Miles//Butterfield Blues Band//Canned Heat//Cat Stevens (apparently attended but didn't perform due to late festival start)//Edgar Winter's White Trash//Flying Burrito Brothers//James Gang//Joe Cocker//John Hartford//John Lee Hooker//Johnny Winter//Kate Taylor//Leon Russell//Mandrill//Miles Davis//Neil Young//Pink Floyd//Quicksilver Messenger Service//Ravi Shankar//Richie Havens//Roland Kirk//Seatrain//Sly&The Family Stone//Taj Mahal//Moody Blues//Rolling Stones//Voices Of East Harlem//A seemingly less than intact survivor reports being there with the Children of God w/Jeremy Spencer of Fleetwood Mac, but it's not clear if they supposedly played or were just recruiting new members! The Allman Brothers Band "appearance" seems unlikely tho' 2-3 people report having seem them, or seeing Duane at the festival... but then one person says they sat on the stage while Janis performed, which given the date, would have been a remarkable resurrection, so there you go! (Also an underground newspaper review says Neil Young was to fly in, but nothing indicates it happened).

ADVERTISED or MENTIONED & SOME TOOK PLACE: African Dance Band(?)/Dixieland Jazz Band(?)//Symphony Orchestra(?)//Fireworks (happened 2 nites)//Ferris wheel(?)//tightrope walkers&trapeze artists (apparently so!)//circus animals (at least 1 elephant did attend!)//yoga (yes)//workshops&seminars (yes)//lecture by Peter Max(?)//large spiritual center w/meditation/chants/exercises/sitar jams led by 'teachers from all over the world.'(some of them, yes!)//stage manager mentions Linda Ronstadt but maybe mixing up festivals. Yogi Bhajan attended&said some words to open MAIN stage before John Sebastian crooned.

FIRE WIND (in this era the band name was officially "Fire Wind" but some ads/reviews have "Firewind"&"Fire And Wind". Apparently a couple of years later they did change their name to "Firewind" or "FireWind"). M2 tape label caused much confusion as someone had written "Earth,Wind&Fire" (who weren't scheduled & didn't play). But finally, after several people tried to identify the song, DIMER gv0000 found a review & we sorted out #25 is "Fire Wind", who played both stages & probably played 4 times in total at the festival. Another Oklahoma musicologist hooked me up with a couple of further articles. This song was apparently written for the festival (which makes sense if you listen to the lyrics). I REALLY enjoy this song, IMO a highlight of the taper's captures, hands down, a somewhat West Coast sounding heavy rock like a mix of Jefferson Airplane & Farm Band, with a touch of gospel rock influence ala Delaney&Bonnie, several vocalists, excellent guitar, extremely accomplished (note the intense ending for a live song). They must have gone down well at the festival since they played multiple times & were invited to play the main stage, perhaps twice. Nice the audience really gets off on them as you will hear, including the guy who yells "far out!". Fire Wind was orignally scheduled to go on after the Amboy Dukes on the Main Stage on the night of the 25th but a thunderstorm brought things to a halt, so they opened that stage the next day. An Oklahoma band whom maybe we'll hear more of if we get lucky.

Nothing here ever commercially released to my knowledge. If I'm wrong, please advise & I'll take the offending trax offline.

DimeTravel 800 ::: Thanks to the original taper (Fred?) & trader (GS, Doors expert!). Thanks to DIMER gv0000 for lending his ever-welcome expertise. Thanks all the other DIMERs who assisted with a couple of song titles or pushed a button here or there, plus all those spacey YTubers who shared their memories...ouch! Sincere thanks to whomever uploads this for me. ::: Corrections welcome ::: Roughly 50 YEARS after the event as I type this. Time for the tapes to hit the DIMEwaves. The only bit that has circulated from these Festival tapes in the digital world as of 2021 AFAIK is the Amboy Dukes, but in lesser quality & mistakenly including the end of the Stoneground set as The Dukes! SET & SETTING ~ Vietnam and the draft loomed over a lot of HeAdS - some online stories about heading to festival from nearby base a week or so before shipping off. Country Joe was singing to his audience. VERY interesting (probable) set opener from Joe, "It's Been A Long, Long Time"(?) - a song he doesn't remember at all or recognize the lyrics for & we don't have him playing anywhere else, but it sure has a familiar sound & is followed by "Entertainment Is My Business" which is the song a couple of us think is the most similar to it. The F*CK Cheer goes down WELL! As for taper efforts, running a tape deck for 3 nights in mosquito-infested heat - or early AM after no sleep... The 1st nite he captured several artists/bands with an OK degree of success, pretty cool as apparently ONLY THE LEFT SIDE of P.A. system was actually functioning for all of Thurs nite! Festival's GRIM SIDE: June in southern Louisiana was, "painfully hot, compounded by tropical humidity, lots of mosquitoes". There were almost no trees/shade on site & an exteme(!) shortage of water, food, toilets & medical facilities. Promoters only began setting up site 3 DAYS beforehand (a joke), in part because it was the THIRD location they tried establish a site, the first 2 shut down at the last moment by authorities. The Galloping Goose Motorcycle Club (aka "gang") was hired for security - but for them it was more a shakedown opportunity, some were armed with "chains, swords&shotguns". After a couple of days of mayhem, they were run off by armed police. As for concertgoers, there were supposedly 3 or more drowning deaths, others were shot(!) or shot at (some while swimming), 100+ busted mostly by undercover cops (some in traffic jams before concert, or when leaving!), many OD's (1-2 died), 1 or more persons permanently "disappeared", 1 was "run over by car while sleeping"&others run over by motorcycles, some were beat up by motorcycle gang members & police, rapes were reported, there were robberies, 1 reported a bottle rocket "blew up in my lean-to (shelter), bringing me out of my LSD-instilled stupor", 1 worker was speared by metal pole when stage collapsed in thunderstorm&2 others badly injured, the locals were paying(!) to come in to watch the nudies...,etc,etc. POSITIVE SIDE _ 60,000 mostly peaceful hippies lived thru & enjoyed their intentional music-based community for many days, and in the hardcore south, at that. While the recordings are sub-par, it was a very interesting collection of bands overall & the music was undoubtably enjoyable. Sounds like it was a staggeringly heavy RIPPIN' Stoneground performance! WAR sounds full-bore. Chuck Berry sounds VERY energetic & into it - not always true with Chuck (tho' I could pass on the "My Ding-A-Ling"). Wish we had a full Black Oak Arkansas set from this era, must be fascinating, I dug this Southern communal hippie band circa '70-71 before "raunch'n'roll" - where the hell are the tapes? Most people left this in a happy, dazed blur - many made friends for life, some met their life partners - after all, it was ALL just a dream some of us had. Enjoyed hearing these tapes again after about 20 years of storage - glad they survived. Kind of fitting for them to appear right after we were finally gifted with the Atlanta Pop recordings: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=703015
Listen, enjoy, show appreciation, share, give, spread peace. Yrs truly, Knees

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