California Jam was a famous rock music festival concert held at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California on April 6, 1974 infamous for the spectacular and fiery performance by headliner Deep Purple, the biggest selling band in the world since 1972, who arrived in their own jet, The Starship. The virtuouso Deep Purple performance in front of an awestruck audience close with guitar and TV camera smashing and the stage exploding in flames, all of which is captured in Live in California 74. The group escaped possible arrest by helicopter from angry fire marshals and ABC executives. The monster PA system was then the largest ever assembled in the United States and the World, befitting Deep Purple who had earlier created a new music record category for the "Loudest Band in the World" in the Guinness Book of World Records. It attracted over 200,000 fans and tens of thousands more unaccounted for that "broke in", and was the last of the original wave of rock festivals, as well as the first of the most well-executed and financially successful, and presaged the era of media consolidation and the corporatization of the rock music industry. The Goodyear blimp makes its first appearance at rock festival. Unlike previous shows at the "Speedway" no overnight camping was allowed. There was a small group of protesters refusing to attend the concert because of the "No Camping" position. The traffic to the concert snarled freeways and led many motorists to find creative parking alternatives. Cars were parked in the center strip of the freeway and in local farmers fields. Deep Purple finally arrived at the concert. They were to take the stage after Black Sabbath, which had given the crowd all the power chords and heavy bass lines they craved, but decided they wanted to wait for the sunset to be directly behind the stage before coming on. Now to not mention ELP's amazing performance would be a mistake. The highlight of their show for many was Keith Emerson all in white sitting at the grand piano and slowly lifting off the stage. Then it began to roll over and over while Emerson pounded out "Karn Evil 9 3rd Impression". Unlike other rock festivals such as Woodstock, the concert was not planned for release as a film or sound recording, however several portions of it were broadcast live on the ABC television network, which was also a sponsor of the show. The audio portion of the show was also broadcast in stereo on FM radio stations, an early example of simulcasting. Extensive bootlegging and demand by fans led to the official release of Deep Purple's legendary set on CD and Video. Several other performances from the show were eventually released on CD and Video, both in bootleg and authorized form. Visit www.rockshowvideos.com for more information on videos. A sequel concert, California Jam II, was held in 1978.
Acts that performed at the festival included:
- Black Sabbath
- Black Oak Arkansas
- Eagles
- Deep Purple (See Live in California 74)
- Emerson, Lake and Palmer
- Earth, Wind and Fire
- Rare Earth
- Seals & Crofts
Set Lists:
Tocata
Still You Turn Me On
Lucky Man
Piano Improvisations
Take a Pebble
Karn Evil 9 1st Impression
Karn Evil 9 3rd Impression
Great Gates of Kiev
