Phil Luciano| pluciano@pjstar.com
Forty years ago, the heart of rock and roll found a home in the heart of Peoria.
In the latter half of the 1970s, the Glen Oak Amphitheatre enjoyed brief, meteoric renown as a festive, bustling concert venue. Thousands upon thousands of music fans flocked to see some of the biggest touring acts of the time — Fleetwood Mac, Nazareth, The Beach Boys — with attendance often flirting with the 10,000 mark.
The events thrived — maybe too much so. After City Hall kept getting pelted with noise complaints from the surrounding neighborhood, the promoter finally pulled the plug.
“We had huge crowds for all of them, in the 7,000 range,” says Jay Goldberg, 65, who still promotes shows in Peoria and elsewhere. “The only issue we have was the nervousness of the neighborhood.”
Earlier, at the onset of the 1970s, Goldberg often brought up-and-coming acts — Allman Brothers, Uriah Heep, REO Speedwagon — to The Barn, north of Peoria. But capacity was just 3,000 spectators, and Goldberg’s vision was growing. At the time, bigger names typically appeared at the Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse on the Bradley University campus. But the place got hotter than an oven in the winter, let alone during the dog days of summer.
So Goldberg eyed the Glen Oak Amphitheatre. From the 1896 construction of the original bandshell, the park long had hosted concerts. However, even after a replacement bandshell was built in 1960, acts traditionally tended toward docile and local. The summer of 1974 saw perhaps the most rollicking acts there to date in Charlie Rich and Andy Williams.
Goldberg thought the site could support rock shows, but only with a lot of elbow grease. Then as now, the amphitheater allows little access for load-in, meaning heavy equipment would have to be trundled in by dolly. Plywood was laid atop grass to prevent the little tires from sinking into the lawn. Portable toilets and vendors had to be brought in. Makeshift dressing rooms and office space was created in the park’s administration building. And the bandshell’s brief roof had to be temporarily augmented with a longer overhang so rain would not damage the electronics — or electrocute the musicians.
“The production of the shows was especially hard,” Goldberg says. “It took an army.”
Why would a big act take a detour to Peoria to play such a small venue? The visitors’ tour buses were accustomed to parking at big-city sports stadiums and outdoor arenas. For example, during a 1976 tour that included Peoria, Fleetwood Mac played the likes of Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh and Busch Stadium in St. Louis. So, in talking contract, Goldberg never tried to oversell Glen Oak Park.
“We let them know what they were getting into,” he says. “There were no surprises.”
Further, back then, bands were eager to hit the road as a promotional vehicle to sell albums. Tickets were relatively cheap, as way to lure in new fans who might buy tapes and records. Back then, an act like Fleetwood Mac would be paid a flat fee of $5,000 to $7,500 to play Glen Oak Amphitheater. Adjusted for inflation, the high end of that range would be $31,000 today. However, today — in an era driven not by album sales but ticket sales — Fleetwood Mac likely could command about $300,000 to play the Civic Center Arena and $500,000 to appear at Summer Camp, plus a potential for gross receipts, Goldberg says.
“The bands were more hungry for playing than today,” he says.
Plus, it didn’t hurt that in the ’70s Goldberg co-owned a record chain — Budget Tapes & Records, later Co-Op Tapes & Records — that sold those bands’ albums. Moreover, Goldberg knew how to treat his guests right: As soon as the bands rolled into Peoria, Goldberg rolled out the red carpet. The acts stayed at the Hotel Pere Marquette, and he always tried to cater to their food tastes.
Goldberg says, “We were really good at making them feel great about playing there.”
Well, except once. When Goldberg inked Fleetwood Mac, he was especially tickled about the opener, British guitar whiz Jeff Beck.
“I mean, Jeff Beck,” Goldberg gushes. “He was one of my heroes.”
In his contract rider, Beck specified that he wanted a fish dinner before performing. Seeking to impress, Goldberg sent a go-fer to King’s Restaurant, north of Peoria on Galena Road and renown for its deep-fried catfish.
“I was so proud that I took it to Beck myself, into the dressing room,” Goldberg says. “He looked down at it, then looked up at me, then looked down at it again — then threw it across the room.”
Goldberg scrammed, but later asked Beck’s manager about the catfish reaction. Huffy, the manager explained that Britons view catfish as beneath them: “Jeff was insulted. We don’t eat catfish in England.”
Laughing now, Goldberg said the experience taught him to be more specific with contract riders. “I learned my lesson on that one,” he says.
But otherwise, business went smoothly regarding the shows. One of the first — and one of Goldberg’s favorites — happened in August 1975. Peoria-born Dan Fogelberg, whose “Souvenir’s album the previous year had spawned the hit “Part of the Plan,” appeared before 5,000 fans.
“It’s good to be back in the old home town again,” Fogelberg told the crowd.
The high point came when Goldberg came out to tell Fogelberg and fans that the backstage crew had been watching the Rock Music Awards, a fledgling Grammy alternative being broadcast nationwide. Goldberg handed Fogelberg a congratulatory bottle of Heineken, then revealed the singer had just been named Best New Artist. The crowd, including Fogelberg’s parents, roared in approval, and the pumped-up artist played two more hours.
The next summer, Goldberg expanded the Glen Oak season to several shows, dubbed River Jam. The first, Nazareth, sparked multiple noise complaints. So when Fleetwood Mac arrived for a show June 25, the Peoria Park District was nervous. The Journal Star showed more interest in coming out to check for trouble than in reviewing the show; as such, the next-day’s account foremost noted the good behavior.
“It was orderly,” a park district official said with relief. “A very good concert.”
As far as the show, the crowd mostly ignored opener Beck, who was playing with the Jan Hammer Group. John Goldsmith of Mapleton recalls moving up close to watch Beck’s fast fingers.
“Beck played for what seemed like only 20 to 25 minutes, and then evidently noticing the lack of crowd enthusiasm made the comment that he wouldn’t keep the audience any longer from seeing Fleetwood Mac,” Goldsmith says. “At the time I remember feeling a little ripped off, but I could understand Beck’s point. Most everyone was there to see Fleetwood Mac.”
Indeed, the Journal Star said the crowd received Fleetwood Mac favorably. Included in the setlist was the band’s current single, “Rhiannon,” which that month peaked at No. 11 nationwide.
“Vocalist Stephanie (Stevie) Nicks kept the members of the audience spellbound with her powerful growl of a voice,” according to the paper.
The story didn’t note an attendance figure. But, like many of the shows there, the amphitheater filled up, prompting an overspill to stand outside the surrounding chain-link fence. Tim Osborn of Washington recalls his appreciation for what ended up as free events for many.
“Eight friends and I jumped in my Volkswagen Beetle and headed for the Glen Oak Amphitheater, but didn’t have money to get in,” he says. “There were probably more people partying outside the gates then actually went in. We could clearly hear the music, just couldn’t see anything.”
The same scenario greeted what likely was the biggest show ever at Glen Oak: an Aug. 9 appearance by The Beach Boys. By the time the band opened with “California Girls,” 8,200 fans had jammed into the venue, with another 2,500 on the other side of the fence.
Despite the docile nature of the music, that show prompted the highest number of complaints, Goldberg said. A bigger crowd was expected the next summer, when Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band came to play the amphitheater. But, because of impending rain storms, the show was moved to the Fieldhouse.
Over the next two years, Goldberg promoted just a smattering of shows, including a Charlie Daniels Band performance in July 1979 that drew 9,000 fans. But not long after that, Goldberg grew weary with noise complaints and set-up challenges. With the Peoria Civic Center already under construction and set to open in 1982, he pulled the plug on rock shows at the Glen Oak Amphitheatre.
The venue still hosts performances (such as the Peoria Municipal Band) and events (like kiddie movies). And every July 3, it holds an impressive fireworks display.
But as far as rock, Glen Oak Amphitheater rolls on only as a memory.
“It was cool,” Goldberg says.
PHIL LUCIANO is a Journal Star columnist. He can be reached at pluciano@pjstar.com, facebook.com/philluciano or (309) 686-3155. Follow him on Twitter @LucianoPhil.
