After a couple of tense weeks anticipating mass protestation of RockFest '99, it turned into much ado about nothing for the dozen bands and estimated 125,000 fans who showed up Saturday (June 5) at the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the all-day-and-most-of-the-night Hard Rock-sponsored radio festival.

The event had garnered headlines nationally not because is was the biggest music show to hit Georgia all summer, but because a collection of right-wing zealots called for its cancellation, citing violent lyrics "that promote death, despair and degradation ... harmful to your soul." Lyrical content from featured acts like the Offspring, Silverchair and even Better Than Ezra were cited as potentially inflammatory.

In reality, the lineup -- featuring the aforementioned and other white-bread alternative acts such as Third Eye Blind, Sugar Ray, Live and Collective Soul -- could only sound threatening to someone raised on a steady diet of Pat Boone or Boxcar Willie. The closest thing to a "dangerous" act was eclectic folk-rapper Everlast, who once made headlines for carrying an unloaded handgun into New York's Kennedy Airport.

Still, with the shooting of four students at Heritage High School in nearby Conyers still fresh in the public's mind, and the Columbine tragedy still searching for an easy scapegoat, large numbers of protesters were expected to chasten the so-called "devil's music." Additional police were called in from surrounding counties and organizers were nice enough to designate a specific area for protesters -- complete with port-a-potties for those with strong opinions but weak bladders.

Then nobody showed up. The port-a-potties went unpottied and salivating camera crews drove home without too-hot-for-TV footage. "I'm pretty surprised we didn't see anybody," said Sheriff Deputy Ray Cromwell, on loan from Rockdale County, where the Heritage High shooting took place. "They sure made a big deal about it."

"I think all this attention backfired on the people trying to get the protest going," said Better Than Ezra frontman Kevin Griffin. "I think it was just a small percentage of people to begin with, and once everybody started talking about the bands that were playing here, they probably realized they needed to back off."

"I'm a little disappointed," said Everlast. "At least have the conviction to show up, people ... I think when this didn't blow up right away, they didn't want to turn out."

The Speedway's chaplain Bill Brannon said, "We offered [protesters] a presence here, [but] we weren't going to let them on the grounds and hand out anti-rock literature," because that would only incite conflict.

Brannon said that in the final week before the concert, with the protesters' efforts flagging, rumors became increasingly ridiculous. He said that at a church service he attended the Wednesday before the show, a woman stood up to say that Marilyn Manson was planning to parachute into the concert after sunset for a surprise set, presumably to lead the crowd into Satanic revolt.

"I had to set her and everybody straight," said Brannon. "That wasn't going to happen. These bands aren't Marilyn Manson kind of bands. I think the heat will do more damage to the kids here today than any of these bands every will."

T.W. SIEBERT
(June 7, 1999)