1972 North Carolina Speedway

[michelej1]

The Fayetteville Observer, by Catherine Pritchard, September 6, 2009

http://www.fayobserver.com/Articles/2009/09/06/931184

Question from Reader: There was an outdoor concert at North Carolina Motor Speedway on Aug. 18, 1972. Who performed at that concert? - J.S., Hope Mills

A: Lots of people, including Alice Cooper, Three Dog Night and the James Gang, who were the biggest acts of the all-day show.

Alice's album "School's Out" had just come out and was hugely popular. Three Dog Night, which played a softer style of rock, had released seven hit albums in a row. And the hard-rocking James Gang had recorded a number of classic songs - though key member Joe Walsh had departed by then.

Also on the bill: Fleetwood Mac, which was then a blues-rock band with Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer on guitar; Poco, the country-rock group; Bloodrock, a hard rock band; and Black Oak Arkansas, the southern rock band that did "Jim Dandy to the Rescue"; blues rockers Savoy Brown; and country rockers Goose Creek Symphony.

And: the Dillards, who fused bluegrass, country, folk, rock and pop; the Fabulous Rhinestones, an R&B group; Irish blues-rocker Rory Gallagher; and Birtha, a short-lived hard-rocking all-girl group.

Note: Faces, led by Rod Stewart, was to be the show's biggest act, but the group canceled and Alice Cooper was booked instead.

The daylong event, called Peachtree Celebration, drew a staggering 80,000 people to the racetrack in rural Richmond County, with many arriving days in advance and camping nearby.

The show started at 1 p.m. that day and was slated to go "until ..." It ended about midnight.

What may be as surprising to some as the mere fact of the show in Rockingham is who helped put it on - lawyer Tony Rand and accountant Lyndo Tippett. Rand hadn't entered politics then. He's now the majority leader of the N.C. Senate and has served more than 11 terms there. And Tippett had no idea he'd one day be the state's secretary of transportation (under Gov. Mike Easley).

Rand and Tippett said they didn't book the acts or even get to pay that much attention to the show - though they were there. They were involved on the business end. But they remember it well.

"It was a time, I tell you," Rand said, laughing. "It was really something."

If you want to know more about the event, check the Live Wire blog. - C.P.