It's been one of the big hits of the summer, Fremont Street Experience's Salute to 1969, Summer of Love. With tribute bands and rock and roll bands from back in the day performing on the weekends, crowds under the canopy have been plentiful, sometimes elbow to elbow.
With the Woodstock anniversary approaching and Ang Lee's new movie, "Taking Woodstock" about to open, the FSE gets on the band wagon with a salute to Woodstock all its' own.
From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
In honor of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, the Fremont Street Experience is hosting its own three days of music and peace Friday through Sunday. "Woodstock TributePalooza" will feature a variety of musical acts representing some of the more iconic performers that graced the stage during the concert that became a touchstone for a generation.
"I don't think anyone can doubt the importance of that event," says Jeff Victor, president of the Experience. "There were half a million people in that field for three days, and for that many artists to come together, I'm not sure it could happen today." Victor, 45, knew Woodstock was a major event for its time, but when he started researching in preparation for the tribute, it took on a whole new level of significance for him. That year, 1969, was a volatile year in American history and it shares some parallels to the present-day climate, he says, including a bad economy, a deep concern over the environment and a very unpopular war. "You had the lofty achievements of putting a man on the moon four weeks before this giant concert on the ground happened," Victor says. "At the same time, there were Manson murders. We had a new president who vowed to get us out of Vietnam. It was a very iconic year that had all these amazing ups and downs. Woodstock was one of those amazing things." Some of the Woodstock performers -- Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, The Grateful Dead -- became the faces of that era. Victor's idea for the tribute was to find artists who could perform the more well-known music from Woodstock. Among the performers will be Dead Ahead, a band that performs the music of the Grateful Dead; Randy Linder, performing Credence Clearwater Revival; Byron Bordeaux playing Jimi Hendrix music; Alan Kaye doing Joe Cocker's music; The Wholigans performing music from The Who and Cara Lee, who will pay tribute to Janis Joplin. A movie, "From Havens to Hendrix," will play on the lighted canopy. Music and performances are scheduled to start every day of the tribute at 6:30 p.m., with acts planned through midnight. For a full schedule of events, visit vegasexperience.com or call 678-5777.