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- August Jam was a huge outdoor concert held Saturday August 10, 1974 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway outside Charlotte, North Carolina in the United States. The concert promoter was Kaleidoscope Productions and was sponsored by radio stations WAYS and WROQ The concert featured the Allman Brothers Band, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Foghat, Black Oak Arkansas, the Marshall Tucker Band, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Grinderswitch, PFM and others. The Eagles were booked to play but cancelled. It was the largest concert ever held in the state of North Carolina and one of the largest in the U.S. at that time, with an estimated attendance in excess of 200,000. There were a limited amount of tickets sold prior to the concert, and when many thousands of additional fans showed up on the day of the performances, those thousands proceeded to crash the fences and rush to the infield. Many of the facilities were overwhelmed due to the crowds, and the weather did not cooperate either, producing a sporadic rain that drenched the concert goers, and turned the infield into a muddy quagmire. However, the music went on as scheduled, the fans helped each other stay moderately comfortable, and to many it turned out to be an unforgettable experience. The November 1974 issue of Circus magazine had this to say about Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's performance: "ELP - ON TOUR WITH THE SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS "Emerson, Lake and Palmer performed an operation on the U.S. this summer! It was heavy Brain Salad Surgery and America responded to the treatment by flocking to gigantic concert arenas from coast to coast to undergo the knives of Emerson, the pulsating percussion of Palmer, and Lake's soothing lyrics. With a road crew of 26, plus the band and friends, synthesizers, Moogs and Persian carpets, the traveling satrapy visited 16 cities and played over 10 outdoor venues. In Charlotte, North Carolina, the feedback fiends caused double-trouble with the hot boogie chefs, The Allman Brothers, in what was billed as an August Jam. The fans were so blitzed by the groups' powerhouse sets they sat dazed in their automobiles after the show and jammed Charlotte traffic for hours. The cybernetic soul band, heavier than a 747 full of tanked tourists, hopped from one gig to another with 36 tons of equipment, a true quad P.A. system, dozens of lights and an incredible array of oscillators, gongs, alternating current servos, and hydraulic lifts, plus several pairs of tailored silk coveralls for the madman of the keyboards. ELP celebrated their fourth anniversary as a group in August by releasing their live LP, 'Ladies and Gentlemen, Emerson, Lake and Palmer,' an amazing vinyl capsule of the unparalleled ELP concert experience. " I was there with a couple of friends. One of which made the front page as he was helping tear down the fence.... and we had tickets. We drove down from Dayton, OH and I remember the accelerator cable broke when we were in the mountains of TN. We got all the way there and back by tieing a string to the carburetor and running it through the window. When we got there, it was total chaos and almost near riot. I remember the cops gave up trying to "control" the masses and basically stayed in the outer perimeter of the Speedway. Then it became a free for all inside. There were people walking around with ounces of pot for sale in their headbands, tents with signs "acid", "pot" and just about every drug imaginable. Of course I didn't indulge .... The Eagles were a no show but there was a band from Italy (?), "PFM" nobody heard of and they were awesome as was all of the bands. "Foghat", "Marshall Tucker", "Ozark Mountain Daredevils", "Emerson, Lake and Palmer" were next to last and blew everybody away for 3 hours, then the Allman Brothers played for 4 hours with what seemed a half hour of drum solo as intermission. It was kind of a strange mix of venue, but it worked! There were so many people, not enough johns, not enough food, no water (except from a brief downpour) and plenty of mud!! Once "the System" surrendered the Speedway and the chaos from their intervention subsided, it became the most peaceful, non-violent, atmosphere of fun, music and brotherhood I've ever experienced. Everybody got along and did help each other and basically sat back as band after band performed with very little downtime, so there wasn't really a chance for the natives to get restless. It was the best concert I've ever been to and it was an unforgettable experience. I was 19 at the time. Other bands included Grinder's Switch and Black Oak Arkansas. The minimal downtime between acts was due to a dual stage system that was set up on a parallel set of railroad tracks. The stages were essentially two flatbed rail cars. While one act was performing, the other rail car was being set up for the next act. Helicopters ferried in the bands as well as the food for the concessions. The infield of the speedway was essentially a campground with hundreds of tents amidst the massive crowd. The grandstand was also packed. The brotherhood cited in the previous entry was exemplified in one incident in which a spectator had climbed the 50 foot high fencing along the edge of the racetrack. At the top, he spread a blanket on the fence overhang and made himself at home for most of the day. Tragically, near nightfall, he fell to the ground. Two other spectators immediately set out with the fallen fan toward the medical tent set up to the left of the stage area.
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- August Jam was a huge outdoor concert held Saturday August 10, 1974 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway outside Charlotte, North Carolina in the United States. The concert promoter was Kaleidoscope Productions and was sponsored by radio stations WAYS and WROQ The concert featured the Allman Brothers Band, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Foghat, Black Oak Arkansas, the Marshall Tucker Band, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Grinderswitch, PFM and others. The Eagles were booked to play but cancelled.
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