People came from all over the country to experience rock and roll at the Lake Amador Gold Rush Festival held on October 4, 1969. An estimated 40,000 people flocked to the small county of Amador in central California to visit Lake Amador and its surrounding hills for this event.
Performing at the concert were:
Santana
Bo Diddley
Taj Mahal
Albert Collins
Kaleidoscope
Al Wilson
Southwind
Ike and Tina Turner
Sons of Champlin
Country Weather
Linn
Cold Weather
County Daybreak
Lake Amador, CA
i was there and don’t remember much. i got high on mushrooms and one of the guys took some reds and we all had to baby sit this idiot. i do remember what a dust bowl it became. but the music that i do remember was outstanding. Tina Turner was smokin hot and the Ikeets. SMOKIN HOT. I think i was like 16. and there you go.
My experience was very similar. I had just turned 20. It was not just a dust bowl, but without enough food, water, etc. Luckily we didn’t have to babysit anyone else. We eventually fell asleep on the hillside under the stars. But not before being blown away by Tina Turner. I agree, she was the high point among some other really good performances.
Correct about situation. I was one of the students in “Doc Davis’s botany class at SJDC. We all got an A in botany for helping him put it on that fall. Apparently the word on the street was after the concert,the $$ got stolen and he moved to Hawaii. I remember being on stage when Santana played and it was rockin man, figuritly and literally.
No mention of Jimi Hendrix at this concert. I was there and Hendrix closed the show.
I was there and saw a guy water skiing nude. At least I think I saw it, I had purchased some orange sunshine acid on the way in. Ike and Tina and the Ikettes killed it and Bo Didley was awesome as well. Santana closed out the show. There was skinny dipping up the hill in a pond. The crowd was mellow and I didn’t notice any drama. Good times….
Kenyatta, Yes, I do remember Hendrix did show up and play a set.
We had met the Sons of Champlin 2 weeks after my coming to the westcoast as they picked us up hitchhiking in Santa B took us to a wild week in Yosemite and then out to Marin where we met members of Quicksilver Santana the Dead and various hangers-on at the heli hanger used as a recording studio in Sausalito. then those boys shuttled us neophyte west coasters to Lake Amador for backstage madness and fun. The hottest groupies seemed intent on the Santana boys, Jose Chepito Aries in particular.I vaguely remember Jimi but don’t quote me. I did see him earlier with the Experience in Cincinnati and later for his tour-de-force Star spangled Banner at Woodstock, as I followed music around the country that summer. Lake Amador was a real eye opener for us east coasters naked hippies swimming open pot smoking
Yep. I was 29.
My wife and I left our three-year old with grandma.
When we got back she was furious! The Tribune’s headlines read-
“NAKED GIRLS DANCING IN CLOUDS OF MARIJUANA SMOKE!”
The whole thing was awesome!
Got to actually meet Bo Diddley!
Ike and Tina and the Iketts were amazing!