On May 1 and 2, 1971, the Mayday Tribe staged a rock concert in D.C.’s West Potomac Park, to get people charged up for the mass civil disobedience in the streets of Washington on Monday, the third of May. This stage pass was contributed by music journalist Richard Harrington.
Among the musical artists who played during this all-day, all-night concert were the Beach Boys (who opened the show), Linda Ronstadt, Jonathan Edwards, Elephant’s Memory, Charles Mingus, NRBQ, Phil Ochs, Mother Earth, Mitch Ryder and Claude Jones.
I was there. I was involved in bringing the Beach Boys there; they had a show that night in, I think, Baltimore, so that’s why they appeared there so early. I was working with both Elephants Memory and Mitch Ryder’s Detroit. I thought Catfish/Catfish Hodge also appeared. Chatting with Linda off to the side of stage right was memorable – she was so articulate, so knowledgeable, so aware.
Fascinating. According to Mike Love’s autobiography, he insisted that the Beach Boys open the show because he feared that the event might deteriorate into a riot later… of course, it was the police who eventually caused the trouble, not the peaceful crowd.