It wasn't quite Woodstock, but nearly 110,000 people turned out at Englishtown Raceway in Old Bridge, New Jersey, on Saturday, September 3rd to hear a season-ending, old-fashioned, outdoor concert -- eleven hours of music from the Grateful Dead, the Marshall Tucker Band and the New Riders of the Purple Sage. The concert was the largest ever in New Jersey and one of the largest this summer in the U.S.

As usual, area officials were unhappy about thousands of young persons invading the quiet rural town (where the police department closes at 4 p.m.) for an outdoor rock concert. Middlesex County Prosecutor C. Judson Hamlin had warned that the Hell's Angels and other motorcycle gangs were planning to attend, and that because of lack of police protection, "if anything breaks out, we would have to assume it would run uncontrolled over a period of time." The Angels, however, didn't show, and violence was kept to a minimum. Only two persons were arrested, and area hospitals treated about 30 persons for overdoses.

The atmosphere at the concert was described as "incredibly calm" by promoter John Scher, who drew cheers from the crowd when he announced midway through the concert that a baby had been born in one of the first-aid sections, and "we're all godparents." Unfortunately, rumors of the birth turned out to be false.

[From Issue 250 — October 20, 1977]