Motor City music fans will have plenty of places to hang out, lay up and get down this summer—and many will be free.
WABX-FM will again sponsor their series of free rock concerts.
This summer, they will all be at Wayne State University’s old Tartar Field. Each will begin at 1 p.m. The dates are: June 21; July 19; and August 23.
The July 19th concert is scheduled to be videotaped by WTVS, Channel 56, for use as a special to be aired some time in the fall.
Another series of free concerts is set to begin Sunday, June 14, at Gallup Park in Ann Arbor. The first concert will feature the Up, Catfish and the SRC. The park opens at 2 p.m., and the music is due to be from 3 to 6 p.m. The park is at Geddes and Fuller, in A2.
Motor City folks can reach the park from the Geddes Rd. exit on US-23. The concerts have been planned for every Sunday during the summer, and will feature bands like Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, Mitch Ryder, Savage Grace, 3rd Power, Brownsville Station, the MC5, Stooges. Alice Cooper and the Rationals. If it rains, the concerts will be at the Big Steel Ballroom in A2.
For you good music fans, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra will be performing at the State Fairgrounds, at Woodward and 8 Mile, at 8:30 p.m., June 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20 and 21. Later on in August, they’ll switch to Belle Isle for 8:30 p.m. concerts on August 18, 19, 21, 22 and 23. And symphonies will be played from the steps of the Rackham Bldg., again at 8:30 p.m., on August 25, 26, 28, 29 and 30.
The orchestra will be out at Meadow Brook, in Rochester, starting June 25. This year, Meadow Brook will feature a broad program of classical, jazz and rock music. It costs something like $2 to lay up on the lawn out there, a bargain…
It will also cost money, $3.50, to attend the Midsummer Night’s Rock series, at the State Fairgrounds beginning June 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Sponsored by the Detroit Association for the Performing Arts, a group claiming to be a non-profit organization to promote culture, the series will begin with a show featuring the MC5, Tackle Box and Brownsville Station. They plan a summer-long series of shows, and a 12-hour festival July 4. That one will cost $5.
It will cost you $10 for all five concerts at the second Ann Arbor Blues Festival, August 7-9. Last year’s blues fest drew 12,000 persons for Sunday’s performances. This year, 31 acts will be featured, with names like John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf, Albert King, Joe Turner, Bobby Bland, Big Mamma Thorton, Son House and Lonnie Johnson. Still a mystery why they don’t have Detroit bluesmen other than Johnny Lee appear.
It will be held at the newly-named Otis Spann Memorial Field, next to Huron High School, in A2. Spann was a blues pianist who died last month. Tickets or further information can be obtained from: Ann Arbor Blues Festival, Michigan Union, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48104.
On the same weekend, for some odd reason, Goose Lake Park Inc. has set a pop festival for Goose Lake, near Jackson. They promise swimming, camping and anything else you can get away with, in addition to three days of rocknroll—for a price, of course.
But, if you work it right, you can have a summer of music at no cost. It ought to be that way anyhow.