We had to report to the main stage at 7:00am at Golden Gate Park. Keep in mind that Golden Gate Park is bigger than Central Park. We elected to take a cab and thankfully we found a good one. He weaved his way through town and then found a way to get through the park. Golden Gate Park has many entrances that are closed to cars on Sundays as it is kept free for pedestrians and cyclists. We finally arrived at a drop off point that was close to the concert venue.
As we walked, we met another guitarist that had flown in from Austin, Texas. He was classically trained, but said he had to come to this as it was a once in a lifetime chance. Ironically, out of over 70,000 people, we saw him heading out at the end of the day...
I'm not sure if they achieved their goal of 3,000 guitarists, but there were A LOT of guitarists. We all had to register and then everyone milled around and talked. I brought a silver sharpie and had everyone I talked to sign my guitar (pics to follow). It was great. Everyone thought it was cool to be able to autograph someone's guitar. There we a lot of very nice people having a good time.
At 9:30 the concert opened with an American Indian prayer. After that, it was our time to play. We were all gathered around the front of the stage. There were acoustic guitars, electric guitars, ukelele's and a variety of amps. Several brought amps that required a car battery to operate. Jimi Hendrix' brother and cousin were on stage along with several other musicians and off we went. Three thousand guitars playing Purple Haze. It was loud. It was chaotic. And it was a BLAST! We jammed for quite a while and then it was over... we packed up our gui tars and amps and enjoyed the rest of the day.
The music was great. The people watching was even better. Attire ranged from fur coats (it was a warm beautiful day) to nothing. Tie dye was the choice for most - including us. There had to have been over 100 vendors selling everything from tie dye to gathering signatures for the legalization of pot. But, from what we saw and smelled, I'm not sure what the point of legalization would be...
The two musical highlights for me were the Alameda All-Stars with Leslie West and Ronnie Montrose. They really rocked.
After the concert, we hiked through the park to a bus stop and bussed it back to Haight-Ashbury and had beer and pizza in a great little restaurant. The Haight is a great place. People are warm and friendly and eklectic. The restaurant could best be described as Findlay's Dark Horse - on acid.
All I can say is it was an amazing time. San Francisco is a fantastic place. We'll be coming back - and I can't wait for the 50th Anniversary of Woodstock!