Title Unknown
Milford, Conn. Citizen
July 14, 1969

This is a rare article which was published shortly after the Newport Jazz Festival of 1969. It was donated to the web site by David Kapralik, the group's manager. Enjoy. Saturday night could have destroyed the (Newport) Jazz Festival and others like it, but discounting the behavior of a few hundred children who trampled small fences and scaled larger ones to be near Sly & the Family Stone, it was a beautiful display of mass delight. In case "Dance to the Music," "Everyday People," and "Higher" don't ring any bells, Sly give out compelling, enveloping, funky rock that may not move you on records, but their live performance makes you want to stand on your chair, clap, sing and dance, and the whole field did just that. The no-holds barred atmosphere of their show was aided (or hindered, depending on whether you're hung up about controlling your emotions) by a heavy, soft rain that contributed to the what-the-heck atmosphere, and when the crush of people in the aisles threatened to overturn the wooden chairs we were sitting on, the only retaliation was to mount the chairs, clap, sing and enjoy ourselves. One radio news report said that security guards were using clubs "as big as baseball bats" to keep back the crowds, but the only sticks I saw were those pounding drums. The media said that the concert caused a near riot, which is true, but they failed to give the reason for all that "exuberance." Granted, some just wanted to crash the gates because it's one of those things you're not supposed to do, but many tried to rush the stage because they were so grabbed by the music that they had to do something besides stand there and dance. Mr. Wein took over the microphone to warn the crowd that the concert would be stopped if they didn't behave, and Sly repeatedly told everyone to "Keep it cool."