Shea Stadium Peace Festival 8/06/70
POCO
Jim Messina, Richie Furry, Timothy B Schmidt, Rusty Young
Janis Joplin, Johnny Winter, Sha Na Na, Richie Havens, Herbie Hancock
Shea Stadium Peace Festival by Ken Davidoff
I was going to school in N. Y. C. at The School of Visual Arts in 1970, and as luck would have it, I was able to go to this amazing event with a couple of friends I had in the City. Using my press pass I had from Florida I gained access to the backstage area. I was looking for my friend Teddy, who was Johnny Winter's manager. The first person I saw when I entered the dressing room was Janis Joplin, I walked up to her and re-introduced myself from the Palm Beach Pop festival. Now you have to remember this was 1970, I am not going to lie, I was a pot smoker back then, so I said to Janis, " would you like to smoke a joint ? " " No " she replied, " that stuff just makes me crazy" and with that remark she pulls out a brown paper bag with a bottle At that moment Johnny Winter entered the dressing room and shortly after the bottle was gone. This was to be one of Janis's last performances, and it was a reunion with her band, Big Brother and The Holding Co., she passed away just two months later. The bill also included Paul Simon, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Steppenwolf, The James Gang, Miles Davis, Johnny Winter, Herbie Hancock, Sha Na Na, Poco, Richie Havens, the Turtles and a dozen other important acts of the period, John Sebastion was the M.C.. The Festival for Peace was the first major concert at Shea Stadium since the last performance of The Beatles in 1966.
Johnny Winter and Rick Derringer BackStage at Shea
Photos by Ken Davidoff
Shea Stadium Peace Festival in 1970 photographed by Ken Davidoff of Johnny Winter, Janis Joplin, Poco, Richie Havens, Rick Derringer, Sha Na Na, and More.