By Chuck Darrow
By any metric, the biggest rock-music event in the history of the now-closed Atlantic City Race Course in Hamilton Township was the Atlantic City Pop Festival, which took place Aug. 1-3, 1969. Staged exactly two weeks before the epochal Woodstock Music & Arts Festival in Bethel, NY, it has long been argued in some quarters that both the weather and talent roster (which included an eclectic group of artists, among them The Byrds, Chicago, Little Richard, Janis Joplin, Iron Butterfly, Buddy Rich and Joni Mitchell) were superior to the more famous gathering of the tribes.
But a little more than five years later, the race track hosted another show of note: On Aug. 9, 1974, the “supergroup” comprised of David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young—which had not toured as a unit since 1970—took the stage there.
Although I desperately wanted to go the show (especially because Santana, one of my favorite bands even then, was the opener), I had to pass because I agreed to sub for a co-worker who wanted to go even more than I did, even though it was my day off. But among the thousands who did make it to the gig was Andy Clearfield. A half-century later, the 68-year-old Cherry Hill resident retains vivid memories of that day.
“The stage was positioned on the infield of the racetrack, and there were probably about 50 yards between the band and the audience,” recalled Clearfield, who has always considered CSNY his personal version of The Beatles.
While it was raining lightly when Clearfield and his buddies arrived that day, “the rain got worse and worse as the afternoon went on,” he said. “And by the time [CSNY] hit the stage, it was just a lightning-and-thunder rainstorm of epic proportions. Everybody was soaked, although there was an overhang [in the grandstand] that shielded some lucky souls from getting thoroughly drenched.” He added the rain was so bad it rendered his glasses useless and he couldn’t see the stage.
Santana, continued Clearfield, kicked off the festivities with a “set of bongo and drum solos and their big hits like ‘Evil Ways’ and ‘Soul Sacrifice,’ and played for about 90 minutes [singer-songwriter Jesse Colin Young was originally announced as the bill’s third act, but for unknown reasons, he was a no-show]. Then there was a 45- minute set change. And when [CSNY] finally hit the stage, people were overjoyed.”
According to setlist.fm—the exhaustive online archive of concert repertoires dating back decades – while such collectively recorded songs as “Helplessly Hoping,” “Almost Cut My Hair,” “Carry On,” “Ohio” and, of course, “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” were performed, 12 of the show’s 21 tunes were culled from the members’ solo and duo albums, among them Stills’ show-opener, Nash and Crosby’s “Immigration Man,” and Young’s “Sugar Mountain.”
“Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” is one tune that stood out for Clearfield. He explained that the four singers performed it on acoustic guitars until the final section (with its “do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do” refrain), at which point the quartet was joined by bassist Tim Drummond and drummer Russ Kunkel.
Interestingly, although this was the first time Clearfield saw his heroes performing collectively in person, a half-century later, he doesn’t place it among the best concerts he ever attended.
“The experience was for me, good at times, but ultimately very frustrating because of the rain and thunder and lightning,” he reasoned. “And the sound system was inadequate for the racetrack in terms of acoustics, although the volume was fine. But ultimately, it just didn’t meet the expectations I think I had in my head of what it would be.”
Of course, as bad as conditions were for those in attendance, it was tragically worse for a 22-year-old man from Michigan who was electrocuted by a bolt of lightning as he walked to his car after the show.
“A friend of mine saw the body in the parking lot right after he had been killed,” offered Clearfield. “He said the body was just blue.”
Speaker 1: (07:27)
Right. Um, and, and because of the weather, the day sort of ended in tragedy.
