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The 1970 festival hoax that fooled 30,000 fans
In 1970, the Powder Ridge Music Festival promised fans Woodstock 2.0. But there was a catch: it never happened.
You've heard of Woodstock 1969. In fact, it's gone down in history as one of the greatest music festivals ever to take place. Headliners included Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Santana.
As well as the incredible music, Woodstock was the climax of the hippie movement: peace and love, dude. Rampant psychedelic drug use, a culture of sharing and a strong anti-war sentiment made the whole thing extra special. Although, apparently, there's a saying that if you remember Woodstock '69, you weren't actually there.
So it's no surprise that, the following summer, in 1970, music fans were desperate to recreate it. That's where the Powder Ridge Music Festival comes in.
Scheduled for 31 July in Middlefield, Connecticut, the festival's line-up looked incredible. It was meant to include Janis Joplin, Neil Young, Sly & The Family Stone, the Allman Brothers and Little Richard. You can see why it was referred to as 'the greatest non-festival of all time'.
Rock and roll fans across America were scrambling to get tickets, with the promise that the event would be an unforgettable experience. I even found a poster showing the ticket price: $20. That's about $175 in today's money – not bad for an entire weekend of insanely good music.
So what could possibly go wrong?
Well, one major problem was that the local authorities didn't want the festival to happen in Middlefield. It was a small town of just over 4,000 people, many of whom also opposed the event.
The usual concerns were raised: traffic jams, noise and, of course, the fact that many Americans turned their noses up at hippie culture in general, particularly because of its association with drug use and sexual freedom. While young music fans had seen Woodstock '69 as a major success, many conservative Americans viewed it as a moral disaster and didn't want a festival like it anywhere near them.
At first, the organisers saw the local protests as little more than a bump in the road. It turned out to be a much bigger problem – the biggest problem of all, actually.
Just a couple of days before the festival was due to take place, the local authorities managed to obtain an injunction against it. The event had to be officially cancelled.
The promoters took the ticket money and disappeared without ever issuing refunds or rescheduling the festival.
So that's where the story ends, right?
Well, no.
Despite the cancellation, thousands of festival-goers still turned up. About 30,000 people, to be exact.
Police blockades had been set up, and signs were posted on all the roads leading to the festival, telling people to turn back because the event had been cancelled. But, for whatever reason, 30,000 people ignored them and kept going anyway.
They broke through the blockades, set up camp on the ski slopes of the resort and essentially threw one gigantic party.
Try to imagine what a logistical nightmare that must have been for the local authorities. Thirty thousand hippies. No music. No food. No fresh water. No toilets. And a mountain of drugs. It was surely a recipe for disaster.
Local authorities even cut off the ski resort's water, electricity and basic services in an attempt to force people out. But it didn't work.
To their credit, the police decided not to intervene. The Kent State shootings had occurred just three months earlier, and the police had no intention of antagonising the crowd if they could help it.
Think about Woodstock '99, when there weren't enough resources for everyone, or the 2017 Fyre Festival, where the event was completely mis-sold to punters. Both festivals descended into disaster, with looting, violence and chaos. I'm sure you've seen the documentaries.
But Powder Ridge was completely different.
According to reports, the festival was incredibly peaceful. There was no violence, no altercations and no looting. Instead, people embraced the culture of sharing and caring for one another that had characterised Woodstock '69, building a peaceful community.
There was an obscene amount of drug use, though. I mean, what else were they going to do with no entertainment?
Reports describe the gathering as one massive open-air drug market. Water barrels were apparently spiked, cheap LSD was doing the rounds and, according to people who were there, volunteer doctors treated around a thousand people experiencing hallucinogenic freakouts.
Amazingly, however, there were no serious incidents and no deaths were reported.
Of course, none of the acts on the line-up turned up. Apart from one: singer-songwriter Melanie.
Born in Texas, Melanie had performed at Woodstock '69. She dressed like the ultimate flower child, and her distinctive folk-rock music set her apart from her peers.
However, by this point, she wasn't yet a major commercial success. She was the kind of underground artist that, if you knew, you knew.
In March 1970, she scored her first commercially successful song with Lay Down (Candles in the Rain), which she had written about her experience at Woodstock.
By the time Powder Ridge came around, she was becoming much better known.
Melanie heard the news that the festival had been cancelled on the radio just as she got into her car to go there. Even so, she was convinced that the event would go ahead at the last minute.
In a 2016 interview, she explained:
"I said I've just got a feeling that the court in Junction will be lifted and everybody's gonna have a concert because how can they do that, you know, after they take the money and the people are there already anyway."
Melanie headed to the festival grounds, fully expecting an announcement that the event was back on. However, alongside the news of the cancellation, there were also reports that any artist who turned up and tried to perform on the main stage would face serious legal trouble.
As Melanie recalled:
"They said any performer who showed up was going to be arrested, you know, and with a possible 10-year sentence. 'Oh they can't arrest singers', I said to myself, 'because that's ridiculous you know they won't do that.'"
Everyone tried to warn her not to go. A ten-year prison sentence was definitely not worth the risk.
But, luckily for everyone there, Melanie was feeling confident.
At first, the local authorities wouldn't let her in because they recognised her as an artist. But that didn't stop her. She combed her hair over, hid her guitar in the boot of her car and sneaked in alongside a news team heading to cover the non-festival. Very rebellious.
Once inside, she took it upon herself to entertain the crowds. She knew she had good projection and could reach around 500 people without a sound system, so she picked several different spots to perform, giving as many people as possible the chance to see her.
Word of her presence eventually reached a Mr Softee ice cream van, which was the only vehicle with an electrical connection that had managed to enter the grounds.
The Mr Softee team got to work creating a makeshift sound system for Melanie so she could perform to a larger audience.
As she explained in the 2016 interview:
"What happened was they heard I was there and I had gotten in and the Mr Softee people had the only electric of any kind that had gotten in, so they hooked me up to it. They hooked up a makeshift kind of sound system to a Mr Softee generator."
Incredible stuff.
Melanie, the Mr Softee team and the crowd had taken the threats from the local authorities seriously. Remember, they had said that any artist who performed on the main stage would be arrested.
So, naturally, the logical solution was to have Melanie perform beside an ice cream truck rather than on the main stage.
She performed for as long as she thought people would stand there, and the crowd loved it. That spirit of DIY rebellion and celebrating together, despite what they had been told they could or couldn't do, meant that many of those who attended still look back on Melanie's set as a highlight.
Even today, the cancelled Powder Ridge Music Festival, which should have been an absolute disaster, is remembered fondly by many music fans.
I guess it was more about the culture than the music. It was about the idea that 30,000 people could spend time together and practise peace and love.
The gathering became a symbol of resistance at a time when people were growing tired of war and social injustice. It was young people saying, 'Hey, look how great things are when we all just get along.'
Of course, there was a bit of a mess left behind afterwards. But reports suggest that, by the end of the weekend, everyone packed up and left relatively peacefully.
It wasn't quite the festival they had in mind, I'm sure, but it was a pretty memorable weekend nonetheless.
I still can't believe the promoters took the money and ran. What a hoax!
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