As we celebrate Winnipeg’s 150th birthday, each month music historian and author John Einarson will share stories from our city’s rich and colourful music history. Enjoy.
Manitoba’s centennial year, 1970, was marked throughout the year by community events across the province. For young people, the year became our very own Summer of Love with a series of major music festivals.
On Sunday, May 24, 1970, Manitoba experienced its very own Woodstock complete with torrential rain and mud, lots of it. Billed as the Niverville Pop Festival, the multi rock band event was staged in a farmer’s field near the quiet rural community of Niverville, 25 km south of Winnipeg. What began as a sun-filled, fun-filled day of music and hippie ambiance (and all that went with it) turned into a mud bath of epic proportions after torrential rain brought the event to a hasty end, giving rise to a now legendary muddy experience. Attendees spent long hours pushing cars out of the mud. For Manitoba’s budding hippie community, it was their coming-of-age moment.
The second annual Love-In was presented at Assiniboine Park on June 1 when hundreds of colourfully-garbed young people sat on the grass enjoying the music of several local bands. Impromptu music performances took place at Memorial Park throughout the summer.
On July 1, the Winnipeg football stadium played host to Festival Express, a rolling thunder revue of some of the biggest artists in pop music at the time travelling by an exclusive train from gig to gig. Featuring the queen of the hippies, Janis Joplin, The Band, The Grateful Dead, Delaney & Bonnie plus more, the festival was a bargain at $10 a ticket. Nonetheless, protesters outside the entrance decried what they deemed an excessive ticket price. Beginning around noon, the event was a non-stop cavalcade of music running well past midnight. Joplin didn’t take the stage until 2:00 AM.
Arriving the day before, Joplin visited Memorial Park and waded into the fountain. Oddly, few took notice despite Joplin being festooned in feathers and scarves.
Saturday, August 29, was billed as the ultimate music event of the centennial year. ManPop 70 was a rock festival sponsored by the provincial centennial committee under the direction of local entrepreneur Maitland Steinkopf. Months earlier, the public was asked to name their favourite acts for the event. Led Zeppelin, riding on the strength of their second album, and heavy rockers Iron Butterfly topped the list followed by the peace and love Youngblood, Chilliwack, and Ides of March, riding high with their hit single “(I’m Your) Vehicle”. Several local bands (including my band, Euphoria) filled out the bill.
It started out sunny as 14,000 people filled the football field. The music began at noon with my band Euphoria. But by late afternoon, however, the skies turned cloudy and soon after, the rain came. Like Niverville months earlier, this was rain of Biblical proportions. Yet the rain-soaked crowd stayed.
Working furtively behind the scenes, around 7:00 PM Steinkopf returned to the outdoor stage to announce that the concert was moving into the Arena across the road. What transpired next was a stampede to get into the Arena and claim a seat. It was a simple question of arithmetic: 14,000 people would not all get into the 10,000 capacity Arena. Hundreds who held tickets were ultimately shut out.
Inside, the concert picked up where it left off with The Youngbloods, Ides of March, and Iron Butterfly who played their signature number “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” for the elated audience. But would Led Zeppelin appear? It took local singer Dianne Heatherington’s hectoring to convince the band to take the stage close to 2:00 AM, giving the weary crowd what they had been waiting and hoping for. Even the transit buses stayed well past midnight to make sure everyone made it home safely.
