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.
Does anyone know the album that had people walking over the hills to get there on the cover???
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.
Believe me Jimi did not play at the show!!
Nope he was not there. I was straight did no drugs and it was one hella concert but absolutely NO HENDRIX.
aaahh no…Santana closed the show. Hendrix was nowhere to be seen, wasn’t expected to be there.
Yep. Hendrix was NOT there. Look at the poster above, he is not listed.
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!
Well it was 50 years ago this week!!! Hard to believe!!!
Yeah, I’ll never forget being down in front of the stage looking up at Tina Turner pumping her hips in that skimpy dress. I don’t think she was wearing anything underneath it. Taj Mahal was my favorite next to Ike and Tina. But it was all “far out.”
The weather was perfect and all was well except for some bikers that crowded the trip. They stomped a poor guy into the dirt for trying to defend his girlfriend’s honor. Bastards. I was at Altamont too but my friends and I left before the violence started.
Anyway, I don’t think there’s any film of the event but a news crew from Sacramento filmed me rolling a joint under an oak tree. It was on the evening news and my dad saw it. Ha. What could I say?
…I was there also..I was enjoying the show when a girl tapped me on the shoulder and as I turned to her she put a sugar cube into my mouth and she said ”have fun”. Two mins later the promoter said over the pa system ”Attention! Someone is handing out bad LSD on sugar cubes so don’t take it”. NOT what I wanted to hear. Just then Tina Turner came on and I danced like no one was looking, went skinny dipping, met a beautiful girl from Santa Cruz and had a great trip, turns out it was just good acid that some people couldn’t handle…
I don’t remember ever seeing anything about this back then but sure would have loved to have been there. I fish at this lake and can’t imagine where the stage would have been. Wish there was film.
I was 16 and went with some friends. No drugs for me! I remember being up close to the stage when Tina and Ike were on. I saw other performers but dont remember much about them. It got so cold at night so I curled up in a sleeping bag and i remember hearing Santana. Wish i could have watched them and not just hear him. Glad my mom let me go to this concetand not The Altamont Concert.
I was there…16 years old with my girlfriend, Jeannie. I had seen the Sons before a few times and loved them. I remember Ike and Tina…her energy was amazing. But what stuck with me was Santana…they came on just after it got dark, and I think they opened with Black Magic Woman. That guitar echoing through the hills was pretty amazing. These bands were at the top of their creativity at that time.