On This Day in 1967, the Summer of Love Began With Star-Studded Monterey Pop Festival

Before Woodstock, Lollapalooza, or Coachella, there was the Monterey Pop Festival, which kicked off the Summer of Love movement on June 16, 1967. The event’s cultural significance is almost impossible to encapsulate. From the logistics of the event itself to the performers who appeared on the three-day lineup, countless musicians, artists, cultural movements, and events stemmed from that fateful weekend. 

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We so often associate the 1960s with the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in mid-August 1969. But without the 1967 festival, one could argue that Yasgur’s farm would never have become the epicenter of this decade-defining moment.

The Summer of Love Began on June 16, 1967

The Monterey International Pop Festival opened on Friday, June 16, 1967, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. Los Angeles band, the Association, kicked off the three-day festival, followed by the Paupers, Lou Rawls, Beverley Martyn, Johnny Rivers, the New Animals, and the headlining act, Simon & Garfunkel. The opening night of the festival was almost like a sonic bridge between the first and second halves of the 1960s. Folk music was around, of course. But rock music was slowly edging out the acoustic genre’s dominating influence.

The rest of the weekend was full of notable performances by Canned Heat, Laura Nyro, Jefferson Airplane, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, and the Grateful Dead. Monterey’s multi-genre bill offered the best of what the 1960s had to offer: sentimental folk, experimental psychedelia, and straightforward rock ‘n’ roll. In addition to the music, the festival’s social attitude, artistic style, and general “vibe” helped define the ethos of the Summer of Love. West Coast was a musical mecca, and the Monterey Pop Festival was the world’s journey to this central point.

Roughly 200,000 people attended the Monterey International Pop Festival. Compared to Woodstock’s approximately 400,000, the 1967 festival seemed somewhat small. But at the time, it was one of the largest and most significant musical events the U.S. had ever seen. Fortunately for many of the artists involved, this impressive accolade meant that their inclusion on the lineup caused their careers to skyrocket practically overnight.

The Monterey Pop Festival Kick-Started Countless Careers

The Monterey International Pop Festival did more than kick off the Summer of Love on the West Coast. It also boosted the careers of several artists who would go on to become some of the most prominent musicians of the decade. The festival put these artists in front of hundreds of thousands of people, which was especially helpful for artists from outside of the U.S. who greatly benefited from the sudden boost in their global audience.

Such artists included Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, the Who, and Ravi Shankar. Their performances would go down in history as some of the most memorable of their career, some of which, like Joplin’s and Hendrix’s, were tragically cut short not long after. But for a brief moment that weekend in 1967, there was no fear of impending tragedy or doom. There was only music, art, love, and celebration of the best parts of our creative selves. This attitude would carry on into the final years of the ‘60s, culminating with Woodstock in August 1969.

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