The first Atlanta International Pop Festival was a

rock festival A rock festival is an open-air rock concert featuring many different performers, typically spread over two or three days and having a campsite and other amenities and forms of entertainment provided at the venue. Some festivals are singular eve ...

held at the

Atlanta International Raceway Atlanta Motor Speedway (currently known as EchoPark Speedway for sponsorship reasons, formerly known as the Atlanta International Raceway from 1960 to 1990) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Hampton, Georg ...

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia * Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria ** Hampton railway station, Melbour ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, twenty miles south of Atlanta, on the July Fourth (Friday) weekend, 1969, more than a month before

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

. Crowd estimates ranged from the high tens of thousands to as high as 150,000, with few problems reported other than those related to the hot weather. The second Atlanta International Pop Festival was held in a soybean field adjacent to the Middle Georgia Raceway in

Byron, Georgia Byron is a city located primarily in Peach County, Georgia, United States. A small portion of the city also extends into parts of Houston and Crawford counties. The population was estimated to be 5,149 in 2019 by the Census Bureau, an incre ...

, south of Macon, from July 3–5, 1970, although it did not finish until after dawn on the 6th.West, Kirk (11 September 2002), Liner notes, '' Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival: July 3 & 5, 1970'' As in 1969, high temperatures were an issue, and nudity and drug use were widespread. The festival became a free event after promoters opened the gates when crowds outside threatened to overwhelm security and eventual estimates of the crowd ranged between 150,000 and 600,000. The festival saw rock icon

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

perform before his largest American audience ever and featured the up-and-coming Macon-based

Allman Brothers Band Allman may refer to: Music *The Allman Brothers Band, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame southern rock band, formed by Duane and Gregg Allman *The Allman Joys, an early band formed by Duane and Gregg Allman *The Gregg Allman Band People *Allman (surnam ...

. The 1970 festival would end up being the final Atlanta International Pop Festival, with Georgia authorities passing legislation to make it more difficult for anyone to organize another such rock festival in the state. It remains one of the largest public gatherings in Georgia history and one of the largest music festivals of its era. Recordings of some of the performances have been released by some of the performers involved (e.g.

Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

and the Allmans) and seven songs were included on the 1971 album ''The First Great Rock Festivals of the Seventies: Isle Of Wight / Atlanta Pop Festival''.

1969 festival

The festival was organized by a seventeen-member promotional team that included Chris Cowing, Robin Conant and Alex Cooley. Cooley was also one of the organizers of the

Texas International Pop Festival The Texas International Pop Festival was a music festival held at Lewisville, Texas, on Labor Day weekend, August 30 to September 1, 1969. It occurred two weeks after Woodstock. The site for the event was an open field just south and west of th ...

a few weeks later on Labor Day weekend, as well as the second, and last, Atlanta International Pop Festival the following summer, and the Mar Y Sol Pop Festival in Puerto Rico from April 1 to 3, 1972. The sound system for the 1969 Atlanta festival was supplied by Hanley Sound of Medford, Massachusetts, and the light show was provided by The Electric Collage of Atlanta, both of which would return for the second Atlanta Pop Festival. Although his name appeared on the promotional poster,

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

did not perform at the festival. With temperatures nearing a hundred degrees (), local fire departments used fire hoses to create "sprinklers" for the crowd to play in and cool off. It was a peaceful, energetic, hot and loud festival with few (if any) problems other than heat related. Concession stands, however, were woefully inadequate, with attendees frequently standing in line for an hour to get a soft drink. On the Monday following the festival, July 7, the festival promoters gave Atlanta's music fans a gift: a free concert in Atlanta's

Piedmont Park Piedmont Park is an urban forest and park in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, located about northeast of Downtown, between the Midtown and Virginia Highland neighborhoods. Originally the land was owned by Dr. Benjamin Walker, who used it as ...

featuring Chicago Transit Authority, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, and Spirit, all of whom had played at the festival, and

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

, who had not. According to the ''

Atlanta Journal and Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...

'', the free event was the promoters' way of showing "their appreciation for the overwhelming success of the festival", although Alex Cooley has also described their motivation as simple hippie guilt at making a few-thousand-dollar profit. Piedmont Park had by then become the location of regular, free, and often impromptu rock concerts by mostly local Atlanta bands, and, beginning in mid-May 1969, by Macon's new

Lineup

Over twenty musical acts performed at the event: *

Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is an American jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. BS&T has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and ...

* Booker T. & the M.G.'s * The

Butterfield Blues Band The Paul Butterfield Blues Band was an American blues and blues-rock band from Chicago. Formed in the summer of 1963, the group originally featured eponymous vocalist and harmonicist Paul Butterfield, guitarist Elvin Bishop, bassist Jerome Arn ...

Canned Heat Canned Heat is an American blues rock band that was formed in Los Angeles in 1965. The group has been noted for its efforts to promote interest in blues music and its original artists. It was launched by two blues enthusiasts, Alan Wilson and ...

Chicago Transit Authority The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of public transport, mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago "L" and List of Chicago Transit Authority bus routes, CTA bu ...

Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances featuring expressive body movements. Most of his best-known singles, such as "Feelin' Alright ...

Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly abbreviated as CCR or simply Creedence, was an American Rock music, rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, h ...

* The

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

Trio w/

Gerry Mulligan Gerald Joseph Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996), also known as Jeru, was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, pianist, composer and arranger. Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing t ...

Delaney and Bonnie and Friends Delaney & Bonnie was an American duo of singer-songwriters Delaney Bramlett and Bonnie Bramlett. In 1969 and 1970, they fronted a rock/soul ensemble, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, whose members at different times included Duane Allman, Gregg A ...

Grand Funk Railroad Grand Funk Railroad (often shortened to Grand Funk) is an American rock band formed in Flint, Michigan, in 1969 by Mark Farner (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), Don Brewer (drums, vocals) and Mel Schacher (bass). The band achieved pea ...

Ian & Sylvia Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson. They began performing together in 1959 (full-time in 1961), married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975. History Early ...

Tommy James and the Shondells Tommy James and the Shondells is an American rock band formed in Niles, Michigan, in 1964. The band has had two No. 1 singles in the U.S.: " Hanky Panky" (1966), the band's only RIAA Certified Gold record, and "Crimson and Clover" (1969). The ...

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and songwriter. One of the most iconic and successful Rock music, rock performers of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and her "electric" ...

Al Kooper Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician. Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s he was a prolific studio musician, including playing organ on the Bob Dylan song " Like ...

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

Pacific Gas & Electric The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered at Kaiser Center, in Oakland, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 million households in the norther ...

Johnny Rivers Johnny Rivers (born John Henry Ramistella; November 7, 1942) is a retired American musician. He achieved commercial success and popularity throughout the 1960s and 1970s as a singer and guitarist, characterized as a versatile and influential art ...

* Spirit *

The Staple Singers The Staple Singers were an American Gospel music, gospel, soul music, soul, and Rhythm and blues, R&B singing group. Pops Staples, Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group w ...

* Sweetwater *

Ten Wheel Drive Ten Wheel Drive was an American rock band which existed from 1968 to 1974. History In 1968, after the break-up of the all-female rock band Goldie and the Gingerbreads, Genya Ravan was looking for a new band, as were two New Jersey musicians and ...

Johnny Winter John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums, live performances, and slide guitar playing from the late 1 ...

1970 festival

Like 1969's

Woodstock festival The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

, the event was promoted as "three days of peace, love and music." Tickets for the festival were priced at $14. Also like Woodstock, it became a free event when the promoters threw open the gates after large crowds outside began chanting "Free, free, free. Music belongs to the people" and threatened to overwhelm even the biker security crew the promoters had hired.Abram, Malcolm X. (Summer 2000). "Byron Pop, 1970 – Woodstock, Middle Georgia Style". ''Hittin' the Note'' – Issue #29.Alvarez, Eugene. (Summer 1992). "Byron, Ga., Became 'The Woodstock Of The South'". ''Georgia Journal''.Beeman, Paul. (1970-07-05). "Byron Festival Free To Most Of 200,000". ''Atlanta Journal and Constitution''. Crowd estimates for the festival varied widely at the time, and still do, ranging from 150,000 to 600,000.Beeman, Paul. (1970-07-05). "Byron Festival Free to Most of 200,000". ''The Atlanta Journal and Constitution'', pp. 1A & 10A.Richard L. Eldredge FOR THE JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, Arts & Entertainment
"What a splash: Recalling Georgia's 'Woodstock'"
, ''The Atlanta Journal and Constitution'', 07-04-1995, pp E/07. Construction crews worked at the festival site for over a month prior to the event's opening day building the main stage, two spotlight towers atop soaring tree-trunk tripods, an eight-foot tall plywood fence surrounding the entire 11.7-acre audience seating area, and other facilities.Beeman, Paul. (1970-06-28). "Hippies Working? And They Don't Bite! – Mid-Georgia Prepares For Festival". ''The Atlanta Journal and Constitution''. A separate, much smaller stage – the "Free Stage" - was also built some distance away in a wooded camping area to accommodate impromptu performances by mostly local Georgia musicians who wanted to play during the festival, and many did - including

The Allman Brothers Band The Allman Brothers Band was an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969. Its founding members were brothers Duane Allman (slide guitar, lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, keyboards), as well as Dickey Betts ( ...

. During the construction phase, the band

Wet Willie Wet Willie is an American southern rock band from Mobile, Alabama. Their best-known song, " Keep On Smilin'", reached No. 10 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in August 1974. Several other of the group's songs also appeared on the single ...

performed for the construction crew but did not perform during the festival itself. The festival sound system was supplied by Hanley Sound of Medford, Massachusetts, and a rear-projection light show was provided by The Electric Collage of Atlanta, both of which had provided similar services at the first Atlanta Pop Festival the previous summer. Temperatures at the festival were sweltering, surpassing 100 degrees Fahrenheit () every day. Although nudity and drug use were widespread, local law enforcement officials, who knew they were vastly outnumbered, stayed outside the festival gates and employed a general hands-off policy towards most festival-goers during the event's duration. However, Georgia's colorful governor,

Lester Maddox Lester Garfield Maddox Sr. (September 30, 1915 – June 25, 2003) was an American politician who served as the 75th governor of Georgia from 1967 to 1971. A populist Southern Democrat, Maddox came to prominence as a staunch segregationist, when ...

, who had tried repeatedly to prevent the festival from taking place, vowed that he would do whatever it took to block any similar event in the future. The state legislature willingly complied and enacted sufficient restrictions to make it much more difficult for anyone to organize another rock festival in the state. A third Atlanta Pop Festival never took place.

Performers

Over thirty acts performed on the main stage during the course of the event: *

* Ballin' Jack *

Bloodrock Bloodrock was an American hard rock band based in Fort Worth, Texas, that had success in the 1970s. The band emerged from the Fort Worth club and music scene during the early to mid-1970s. History The Naturals, Crowd + 1 (1963-1969) Bloodrock ...

* Bloomsbury People *

Cactus A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys was an American musical group originally formed in New York and later based in Mendocino, California, most active in the late 1960s and early 1970s. History Cat Mother and The All Night Newsboys was co-fo ...

* Chakra *

The Chambers Brothers The Chambers Brothers are an American psychedelic soul band, best known for their eleven-minute 1968 psychedelic soul hit " Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions ...

Goose Creek Symphony The Goose Creek Symphony is an American rock band with roots in Arizona and Kentucky. It was formed in 1968 in Phoenix, Arizona, as an outlet for the songs of Charlie Gearheart (aka Ritchie Hart). It was best known for its 1972 cover of the Jani ...

Gypsy {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...

* Memphis State University cast of "Hair" *

Hampton Grease Band The Hampton Grease Band was an American rock band, beginning as a blues rock group in the late 1960s in Atlanta, Georgia. They performed with several major bands in this period, including Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers. The band gained a r ...

* Handle *

Richie Havens Richard Pierce Havens (January 21, 1941 – April 22, 2013) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music encompassed elements of folk music, folk, soul music, soul (both of which he frequently cover song, covered), and rhythm and b ...

* Hedge & Donna *

The Jimi Hendrix Experience James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

It's a Beautiful Day It's a Beautiful Day is an American band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1967, featuring vocalist Pattie Santos along with violinist David LaFlamme and his wife, Linda LaFlamme, on keyboards. David LaFlamme, who as a youth had once p ...

Johnny Jenkins Johnny Edward Jenkins (March 5, 1939 – June 26, 2006) was an American left-handed blues guitarist, who helped launch the career of Otis Redding. His flamboyant style of guitar playing also influenced Jimi Hendrix. Biography In the 1960s, J ...

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...

Lee Michaels Lee Eugene Michaels (born Michael Lee Olson, November 24, 1945) is an American rock musician who sings and accompanies himself on organ, piano, or guitar. He is best known for his 1971 Top 10 US hit single, " Do You Know What I Mean". In 1988 he ...

* Mott the Hoople *

Mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

Poco In software engineering, a plain old CLR object, or plain old class object (POCO) is a simple object created in the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR) that is unencumbered by inheritance or attributes. This is often used in opposition to the comp ...

Procol Harum Procol Harum () were an English rock music, rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single "A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold more than List of best-selling si ...

* Radar * Rare Earth *

Terry Reid Terrance James Reid (born 13 November 1949), nicknamed "Superlungs", is an English rock vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist best known for his emotive style of singing in appearances with high-profile musicians as vocalist, supporting act and s ...

* Rig *

Savage Grace ''Savage Grace'' is a 2007 drama film directed by Tom Kalin and written by Howard A. Rodman, based on the book ''Savage Grace'' by Natalie Robins and Steven M. L. Aronson. The story is based on the highly dysfunctional relationship between hei ...

John Sebastian John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter and musician who founded the rock band the Lovin' Spoonful in 1964 with Zal Yanovsky. During his time in the Lovin Spoonful, Sebastian wrote and sang some of the ban ...

Bob Seger Robert Clark Seger ( ; born May 6, 1945) is a retired American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded with the groups Bob Seger and the Last Heard and the Bob Seger System throu ...

System * Spirit *

Ten Years After Ten Years After are a British blues rock group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, the band had eight consecutive Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. In addition, they had twelve albums enter the US ''Bi ...

* U.S. Kyds *

Jimi Hendrix performed at around midnight on the

Fourth of July Independence Day, known colloquially as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States which commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing th ...

to the largest American audience of his career, presenting his unique rendition of the "

Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of For ...

" to accompany the celebratory fireworks display. The Anunga Runga Tribe of the musical

HAIR Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...

, which had performed for two weeks in April 1970 on the campus of Memphis State University, were the last act to perform, following Richie Havens, who opened his set at dawn on Monday morning (July 6) with his version of "Here Comes the Sun." Among the artists billed in various promotional materials and programs but who did not perform at the festival were:

Captain Beefheart Don Van Vliet (; born 'Don Glen Vliet'; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the M ...

Ginger Baker's Air Force Ginger Baker's Air Force was a jazz-rock fusion supergroup led by drummer Ginger Baker. History The band formed in late 1969 upon the disbandment of Blind Faith. The original lineup consisted of Ginger Baker on drums, Steve Winwood on organ ...

, Taos, Jethro Tull,

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitar, sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known expert of Hin ...

Country Joe and the Fish Country Joe and the Fish was an American psychedelic rock band formed in Berkeley, California, in 1965. The band was among the influential groups in the San Francisco music scene during the mid-to-late 1960s. Much of the band's music was writ ...

Judy Collins Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning nearly seven decades. An Academy Awards, Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Awards, Grammy Award-winning rec ...

Rotary Connection Rotary Connection was an American psychedelic soul band, formed in Chicago in 1966. In addition to their own recordings, including their 1967 debut album '' Rotary Connection'', the band backed Muddy Waters on his 1968 psychedelic blues album ...

, and

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band formed in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1966 and active until 1983. Their work, which blended elements of funk, soul music, soul, psychedelic rock, gospel music, gospel, and R&B, becam ...

Audio recordings

Not long after the 1970 festival, little-known country singer Paul Wilson recorded a song called "Hippie Invasion" about what he considered to be the seamier side of the festival crowds, which was released on a 45 rpm record by Country Town Records. In 1971, Savage Grace, one of the bands who performed at the festival, released their second album, ''Savage Grace 2'', which contained "Macon, Georgia", a song they had written about some of their festival experiences. Also in 1971, Columbia Records released a triple-LP record album called ''The First Great Rock Festivals of the Seventies'', featuring tracks by numerous artists recorded live at both the Second Atlanta International Pop Festival and the

Isle of Wight Festival The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport, Isle of Wight, Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970. Th ...

. The album went on to reach number 47 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart that same year. Jimi Hendrix's Atlanta Pop Festival performance was recorded and eleven songs from his set were later released as one of the four CDs in a 1991 box set called ''

Stages Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...

,'' a release featuring one live performance from each of the four years of Hendrix's short but high-profile career. In 2003, The Allman Brothers Band released a recording of their festival opening and closing performances, '' Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival: July 3 & 5, 1970''. In February 2014, Columbia/Legacy released a 4-CD box set, ''True to the Blues: The Johnny Winter Story'', which features three tracks recorded live at the festival, two of which were previously unreleased. In 2015, a more complete recording of sixteen of the songs in Jimi Hendrix's set, with improved audio quality, was released as a double CD and a separate double vinyl LP package called '' Freedom: Atlanta Pop Festival''.

Festival poster

The promotional poster for the festival was one of three such posters created by artist Lance Bragg, all featuring a similar design motif, to advertise the three successive pop festivals in which promoter Alex Cooley had been involved: the first Atlanta Pop Festival and the Texas International Pop Festival, both in 1969, and the Second Atlanta Pop Festival in 1970. The posters for both Atlanta festivals are featured in the book ''The Art of Rock'', which states, "The success of large-scale festivals, like the two Atlanta International Pop Festivals… helped create a new image for Southern rock."

Historical marker

2nd Atlanta Pop Festival Historic Marker

On September 15, 2012, a ceremony was held near the site of the second festival to unveil and dedicate an official historical marker commemorating the event. The marker text reads: "In the 1960s, as American culture changed rapidly, new forms of music and performance emerged, including large outdoor rock festivals. From July 3–5, 1970, the Second Atlanta International Pop Festival, one of the largest such events anywhere in the world during that era, took place in a field 600 yards west of here. Over thirty musical acts performed, including rock icon Jimi Hendrix playing to the largest American audience of his career, and Macon's Allman Brothers Band on their launching pad to national fame. Officials estimated that the festival drew several hundred thousand young people to Byron that weekend. Organized by renowned Atlanta concert promoter Alex Cooley, it remains one of the largest public gatherings in state history."Kulkosky, Victor. (2012-09-19). "Byron Pop Festival Gets Historic Marker". ''The Leader Tribune'', Peach County, GA. Official sponsors of the marker were the

Georgia Historical Society The Georgia Historical Society (GHS) is a statewide historical society in Georgia, United States. Headquartered in Savannah, Georgia, GHS is one of the oldest historical organizations in the United States. Since 1839, the society has collected, ex ...

, the Byron Area Historical Society, the Georgia Allman Brothers Band Association,

The Allman Brothers Band Museum The Allman Brothers Band Museum, also known as The Big House, is a museum in Macon, Georgia, United States. It was the home to The Allman Brothers Band's original members, their families, and various friends from 1970 to 1973. The Big House was r ...

at the Big House and ''Hittin' the Note''. The marker dedication ceremony was hosted by festival site landowner Tim Thornton, and featured Cooley, Byron Mayor Larry Collins, officials of the sponsoring organizations, and a crowd of festival attendees and fans.

Documentary film

Also on September 15, 2012, the first audience test screening of a full-length documentary film on the festival was held in Macon, GA, by the film's director,

Steve Rash Steve Rash is an American film director and producer best known for directing such films as '' Son in Law'', '' The Buddy Holly Story'', ''Can't Buy Me Love "Can't Buy Me Love" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released i ...

. A second test screening was held two nights later in Atlanta. On July 30, 2014, two more test screenings were held at the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...

in Cleveland, Ohio. The film features performances by most of the major musical acts appearing during the festival, as well as significant coverage of festival attendees, local residents, and the many other activities that swirled around the festival. Rash is re-editing the film based on feedback received during the screenings and plans an eventual public release.Thornton, Tim. (2012-09-05). "Marker, Film to Honor Byron Pop Festival". ''The Leader Tribune'', Peach County, GA. On September 4, 2015, a feature-length documentary on Jimi Hendrix's Atlanta Pop Festival performance, "Jimi Hendrix: Electric Church", was aired on the US cable TV channel

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

. The film not only featured substantial live footage of the performance, but interviews with Hendrix's bandmates, other musicians, those who organized the festival and shot the film, and residents of Byron, Georgia. The film was released on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

on November 6, 2015.

References

External links

The festival
as chronicled by

The Strip Project Tenth Street is a street in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia. Route and Points of Interest History Tight Squeeze The area around what is now Tenth and Peachtree Streets began as Tight Squeeze, a lawless shantytown during the period following the America ...

Alex CooleyThe Electric Collage light showEarl McGehee's photos of the Atlanta Pop Festival - 1970Dennis Eavenson's photos of the 2nd Atlanta Pop FestivalFacebook group on both Atlanta pop festivals
{{Rock festival Folk festivals in the United States Rock festivals in the United States Hippie movement Pop music festivals in the United States Music festivals established in 1969