Woodstock & Crater Festivals
Today is the 34th anniversary of Woodstock. Although I was a rock-n-roll baby, I didn’t attend the Woodstock concert. However, I did make it to three Diamond Head Crater festivals, which were concerts held inside of the Diamond Head Crater.
The crowds that gathered at each of these festivals were enormous. A sea of people sitting on blankets, mats and lawn chairs, grooving to a variety of musical sounds from rock-n-roll to folk to the local music of the islands. Fleetwood Mac, the Grateful Dead, Santana, and the Little River Band are just a few of the bands that came to play. The Rolling Stones played at three of the festivals as well.
But the Crater Festivals were much more than just music. There were craft booths that sold everything from tie-dye clothing to roach clips, vegetarian food booths that prepared avacado with tofu and alfalfa sprout sandwiches, and booths that provided literature on the activist issues of the time. Beer was also sold, but no one seemed to mind if you brought your own cooler.
It was not unusual to see naked people walking around the crater, or to see someone smoking a joint or tripping out on something else. Everyone did their own thing and no one seemed to mind. It was a very different time.
* The first Diamond Head Crater festival was held on New Year’s Day 1969. The last of these festivals was held in 1979 after a state-appointed citizen’s task force demanded that the state ban the event.
September 19th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
I was in the Army and stationed at Schofield Barracks 70-71 and attended the New Years Day Sunshine Music Festival. The only band I can remember playing is Santana but I know there were a lot of others. That was one of the highlights of my life, and what a party!! My only regret is that for some disremembered reason, I missed Janis Joplin`s concert which was obviously before October of 70. I have been trying for a couple years to remember what other bands were at Diamond Head at that memorable concert. Can you help me out? Thanks, Mike
September 19th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
I was in the Army and stationed at Schofield Barracks 70-71 and attended the New Years Day Sunshine Music Festival. The only band I can remember playing is Santana but I know there were a lot of others. That was one of the highlights of my life, and what a party!! My only regret is that for some disremembered reason, I missed Janis Joplin`s concert which was obviously before October of 70. I have been trying for a couple years to remember what other bands were at Diamond Head at that memorable concert. Can you help me out? Thanks, Mike Wow, just looked at the date of this post……are you still around? Ooops, forgot to mention it was New Years Day of 71.