Willie Nelson July 4th Picnics

[conched]

Enjoyed reading this article about the where-abouts of Willie on July 4th!

Tracking Willie's whereabouts on July 4 through the years ain't no picnic

It hasn't always been on the Fourth or in Texas, but it's always created memories
By Dave Thomas
AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Sunday, April 06, 2008

http://www.austin360.com/music/content/ ... icnic.html

Photo gallery: Through the years
http://www.austin360.com/music/mediahub ... ?tId=98086

[Big Phan]

Oh the stories I'm sure Willie could tell! Interesting read.

[Elrod]

Tulsa 1977.

(Tulsa banned outdoor concerts afterward. The ban lasted until 1984.)

[conched]

Tulsa 1977.

(Tulsa banned outdoor concerts afterward. The ban lasted until 1984.)

While reading that article I also saw that Gonzales, TX fought like crazy to keep the festival away in 1976 and it drew 80,000 and a wee bit of TROUBLE.

What was the most disastrous picnic?

Easily a choice between two wildly different picnics: Gonzales or Carl's Corner. Residents in Gonzales had fought hard to block the 1976 show, or at least limit it to one day. Didn't happen. More than 80,000 came to the picnic, some with more intentions toward mayhem than music. More than 140 were arrested, at least three rapes were reported and one man drowned in a stock tank. At Carl's Corner, 11 years later, there was almost no trouble at all. There also was almost no crowd. Promoters had hoped for up to 80,000. About 8,000 showed up and Willie lost a huge amount of money.


I've never been to a Willie Picnic.

[dnw]

Interesting - thanks, Nancy, for sharing.

[z-man]

I've never been to a Willie Picnic.

I lived in Texas from 1980-1997, but never made it to a Willie picnic.

We did make it to Lukenbach though, and still have t-shirts from there!

[Goodman]

Was this the Willie show REK talks about as an intro for "The Road Goes on Forever" on Number 2 Live Dinner?

Scamp