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Chapel Hill's Jubilee Music Festival at UNC (1963 - 1971)
by Charly Mann
Woodstock was not the first great three day music festival; it was the University of North Carolina's Jubilee. Beginning in 1963 and continuing through 1971, Jubilee was a spectacular marathon of music, joy, and love that featured the top musical acts in the world at the peak of their popularity.
Crowd on McCorkle Place watching the second Jubilee, April 1964
It all started in the spring of 1963 when the Student Union wanted to bring the Four Preps, one of most popular groups on college campuses at the time, to perform free for the entire student body at Memorial Hall. The problem was Memorial Hall only held 1600 people and was way too small to accommodate everyone. The idea was hatched to have the concert outside under the trees on a stage in front of Graham Memorial. Soon the concept was expanded to become a three day open air party of music, dance, and film called Jubilee, with the slogan "A Salute Spring." The festival was held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 26-28. The stage was placed at the center of McCorkle Place not far from Franklin Street. Students and their dates were the only people that were supposed to attend, but there were no gates, security, or ticket takers, and many townspeople, including myself, then a 13 year-old boy with a passion for music, were also there. (I attended all but one of the nine Jubilees)
The Four Preps performing the first night of the first University of North Carolina Jubilee
From 2PM to around 10PM folk and pop-jazz groups performed on the main stage. The Four Preps concert on Friday attracted more than 5,000 people sitting on blankets almost as far back as the Old Well. On each day of Jubilee major motion pictures were shown for free at 6:30, 8:30, and 10:30 at Graham Memorial. At the close of performances on the main stage, the party simply got larger and expanded into five separate stages around campus where rock combos (a term used to refer to rock bands in the pre-Beatles days) performed almost until dawn. Those stages were in the Planetarium parking lot, in Y-Court, behind the Ackland Art Museum, in Steel Hall's parking lot, and directly in front of Graham Memorial. The headline act for the closing night was The Chad Mitchell Trio whose repertoire contained several songs that mocked right-wing thought and promoted integration. This was at a time when many businesses in Chapel Hill did not allow blacks, and the majority of the state and much of Chapel Hill was politically conservative.
Politcally irreverent folk group The Chad Mitchell Trio, final act of the first Jubilee
Beautiful coed enjoys Four Preps singing their hit song 26 Miles to Catalina
The first Jubilee at UNC was a huge success, and by the following Monday as bleary eyed students returned to classes, the student union began plans for a second Jubilee in 1964. Amazingly, the total cost for the first Jubilee was only $4,000. Jubilee become an annual tradition until 1971. For the next four years the concert continued to be held in McCorkle Place, and headline acts included The Serendipity Singers, Flatt and Scruggs, and Petula Clark in 1965, who chose Chapel Hill as the first place in America to perform her #1 song, Downtown.
James Taylor sings Carolina in My Mind, UNC Jubilee April 1970
As the University's enrollment increased and rock replaced folk as the preferred music on campus, UNC's Jubilee expanded into a major rock festival. In 1970 the event was held at Kenan Stadium and featured, Blood, Sweat, and Tears, then the biggest act in America with three top ten hits, as well as Grand Funk Railroad, Sweetwater, the Bar-Kays, Pacific Gas and Electric, and James Taylor, just months after the release of his Sweet Baby James album. The crowd particularly enjoyed his renditions of Fire and Rain and Carolina in My Mind. The highlight act though was Joe Cocker with his huge Mad Dogs and Englishmen ensemble that featured Leon Russell and Rita Coolidge. That year's crowd was far different than in 1963. Almost everyone was on some mind altering substance especially pot which permeated the air. LSD was also a popular drug of choice. The group that surrounded me enjoyed some amazing marijuana brownies. The UNC athletic department was unhappy with their football stadium being used in this manner, and in 1971 Jubilee was moved to Navy Field (which sits below Fetzer Field). That was the final year of Jubilee, and featured the Allman Brothers with Duane on lead guitar, Alex Taylor, Chuck Berry, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Spirit, and the J Giles Band.
Crowd at Kenan Stadium UNC Chapel Hill Jubilee 1970
By 1971, I recall many of those in attendance looked more like members of a motorcycle gang than UNC students or Chapel Hill hippies. This group was responsible for a number of fights, vandalism, and the serious injury of a security guard. That was enough for the administration and the Student Union, and Jubilee Music Festival at the University of North Carolina, perhaps the best outdoor music celebration of all time, came to an end.
Duane Allman performing as the last act of the final UNC Jubilee May 1, 1971 (photo by Ric Carter)
Comments:
Billy Sneeden
11:18 AM Tue 4/13/2010
Was really nice to find this site....been looking for some info on that concert for years.
I live in Germany now....And tell people here and back home about the Chapel Hill festival that Muddy Waters John Lee Hooker and ya I agree with the other guy that said he was so into Duane Allman so was I, sooo Proud, that he came from the South.....
Yes good stuff miss it soooooo
Patricia Fields Neubert
7:56 PM Mon 3/8/2010
Remember that old Chuck Barry song? Referring to Chapel Hill's Jubilee..
...way down South they had a Jublilee
The countryfolks they had a jamboree,
They're drinkin' homebrew from a paper cup,
The folks dancin' they all shook up
And started playin' that
Rock and roll music...
Etta james and Chuck Berry: http://www.lyrics.com/rock-and-roll-music-lyrics-chuck-berry.html
As my dad used to say, "If you can survive Chapel Hill in the 60's, nothing will stop you".
Debbie Shoop
1:36 PM Mon 2/15/2010
This was one of the most fantastic memories of my adolescence. I was 17 and my best friend, Tony, was in his first year at Carolina -- he was dating one of my friends and we all (along with her cousin) spent several nights and days on the ground, on blankets, grooving with Grand Funk and PG & E. Even though my band new beaded purse was stolen it was a great time. It's sad that, because of the violence of people now, these times cannot be repeated. Just one more loss for the kids of today.
Eddie
6:41 PM Sat 2/6/2010
OK, I can't edit my typos like Navy for Navey, there for ther but oh well, It may have been the effects of having been there in the day!;~))
Eddie
6:37 PM Sat 2/6/2010
I was ther in 69 (as a high school senior and that SOLD me on what had always been my dream school, and I grew up in a NCSU rural family;~), 70 and the grand finale in 1971 which I am pretty sure was at Navey Field not Kenan as someone remembered earlier. I recall that is 1971 there was a huge crowd (of non students that had traveled from all over to get in to the before Woodstock, Woodstock)outside the fence at Navey Field. I remember that they pushed until they knocked down the chain link fence and there were injuries. That is what I remember killing the festival. What a shame!!
Debi Jacobs
2:33 PM Sun 12/6/2009
Ah yes, the Jubilee of 1971! Mind altering substance or not I'll never forget my first Allman Brothers concert!! I was 20 years old. The first of many in the early 70's. I ended up living with one of their roadies. If they were playing within a 150 mile radius, I was there!
Ric Carter
6:05 PM Wed 10/28/2009
What great days they were.
That's my picture of Duane seen above. If you're interested, I've posted some more pictures of Jubilee and Joe College over at <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/ricc/rockcollection/>. It is still growing.
There are other events and times included there, but still, if you like old rock, you may enjoy a visit.
Charly Mann
1:31 PM Tue 10/20/2009
You are correct the Chambers Brothers did perform in the mid afternoon. I was there and recall the crowd was more than 6000 at that time. As you may recall spectators filled about half the field of Kenan stadium, as well as the seating on the south side of the stadium.
They did their classic song - "Time has come Today", as well as "People Get Ready".
Mary Hall Rodman
12:46 PM Tue 10/20/2009
I saw The Chambers Brothers perform an afternoon concert at Kenan in 1969. The crowd was small but enthusiastic. Surely that was part of Jubilee that year.
Phil Hawkins
12:23 AM Thu 7/30/2009
Correction; Blood Sweat and Tears played in 1970. Tolly was still bored.
Phil Hawkins
12:21 AM Thu 7/30/2009
I went to the last Jubilee held at Kenan Stadium in 10971, although no one at the time knew it was the last one. Blood Sweat and Tears played, and I couldn't see a thing. I went with my girlfriend at the time, Tolly Hyre. I suspect she could not have been more bored.
Bruce Roberts
11:50 AM Tue 7/14/2009
Every couple of months I search Google for anything on Jubilee, and I have never found a single piece about it. This is a goldmine with the songs. Thanks. I only went to one day of the actual Jubilee, but always wanted to know about its history.
Bobby Neuruth
3:35 PM Sat 7/11/2009
It saddens me that Chapel Hill lost both the Jubilee and Apple Chill Festival because of a few violent motorcycle gang members.
Little Ray
4:04 PM Fri 7/10/2009
I love the sparse rendition of Carolina in My Mind. Everytime I've seen Taylor he has had a backup group of at least eight other people.
Al Percy
11:31 AM Fri 7/10/2009
I only made it to one Jubilee, and that was the last one in 71. Seeing Duane Allman play there just a few months before his untimely death was the musical highlight of my life.
James Clark
10:12 AM Thu 7/9/2009
I was one of the students in the crowd at the first Jubilee in 1963.
It was a great time to be alive. President Kennedy was President and our nation had not become very involved in Vietnam. By the
next Jubilee folk music was dead, Johnson was President, and the civil right movement was at its height in Chapel Hill.
Cindy Forbert
8:43 PM Wed 7/8/2009
This was way before my time at UNC, and I think it unfair that we did not get something comparable when I was in school (1991 to 1994).
Joe Clark
1:14 PM Wed 7/8/2009
It is wonderful coming home to Chapel Hill by way of the Internet. I live in Portland, Oregon now, and my sister told me about Chapel Hill Memories last night. There are so many great sights, stories, and sounds that take me home again.
I hope you do a story on the Ken Willard era UNC football team that crushed Air Force 35 - 0 in the 1963 Gator Bowl.
Edward Traub
11:03 AM Wed 7/8/2009
Another almost forgotten event is Duke's JOE COLLEGE weekend. Just a few days before the last Jubilee on April 24, 1971, The Grateful Dead, The Beach Boys, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Buddy Guy, and The New Riders of the Purple Sage played at an all day event at Wallace Wade Stadium. If my memory is correct, The Dead and The Beach Boys even played some together.
Nancy Stewart
9:02 AM Wed 7/8/2009
The highlight of my four years at Carolina was the 1970 Jubilee. Thanks for sharing the photos and JT singing his anthem to Chapel Hill.
Chapel Hill is located on a hill whose only distinguishing feature in the 18th century was a small chapel on top called New Hope Chapel. This church was built in 1752 and is currently the location of The Carolina Inn. The town was founded in 1819, and chartered in 1851.
What is it that binds us to this place as to no other? It is not the well or the bell or the stone walls. or the crisp October nights. No, our love for this place is based upon the fact that it is as it was meant to be, The University of the People.
-- Charles Kuralt
Dark Side of the Hill -- Pink Floyd, the creators of the most popular album in history, Dark Side of the Moon, took the second half of their name from Floyd Council, a Chapel Hill native, and great blues singer and guitarist. He once belonged to a group called "The Chapel Hillbillies".
Check out Charly Mann's other website:
Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies
http://oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com
Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies
http://oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com
There would probably be no Chapel Hill if the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees in 1793 had not chosen land across from New Hope Chapel for the location of the university. By 1800 there were about 100 people living in thirty houses surrounding the campus.
The University North Carolina's first student was Hinton James, who enrolled in February, 1795. There is now a dormitory on the campus named in his honor.
The University of North Carolina was closed from 1870 to 1875 because of lack of state funding.
William Ackland left his art collection and $1.25 million to Duke University in 1940 on the condition that he would be buried in the art museum that the University was to build with his bequest. Duke rejected this condition even though members of the Duke Family are buried in Duke Chapel. What followed was a long and acrimonious legal battle between Ackland relatives who now wanted the inheritance, Rollins College, and the University of North Carolina, each attempting to receive the funds. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, and in 1949 UNC was awarded the money for the museum. Ackland is buried near the museum's entrance. When the museum first opened, in the early sixties, there were rumors that his remains were leaking out of the mausoleum.
The official name of the Arboretum on the University of North Carolina campus is the Coker Arboretum. It is named after Dr. William Cocker, the University's first botany professor. It occupies a little more than five acres. It was founded in 1903.
Chapel Hill's main street has always been called Franklin Street. It was named after Benjamin Franklin in the early 1790s.
Chapel Hill High School and Chapel Hill Junior High were on Franklin Street in the same location as University Square until the mid 1960s.
The Colonial Drug Store at 450 West Franklin Street was owned and operated by John Carswell. It was famous for a fresh-squeezed carbonated orange beverage called a "Big O". In the early 1970s, I managed the Record and Tape Center next door, and must have had over 100 of those drinks. The Colonial Drug Store closed in 1996.
Sutton's Drugstore, which opened in 1923, has one of the last soda fountains in the South. It is one of the few businesses remaining on Franklin Street that was in operation when I was growing up in the 1950s.
Future President Gerald Ford lived in Chapel Hill twice. First when he was 24, in 1938, he took a law couse in summer school at UNC. He lived in the Carr Building, which was a law school dormitory. At the same time, Richard Nixon, the man he served under as Vice President, was attending law school at Duke. In 1942, Ford returned to Chapel Hill to attend the U.S. Navy's Pre-Flight School training program. He lived in a rental house on Hidden Hills Drive.
I was at the last Jubilee in 1971. It wasn't at Kenan Stadium, but on the practice football field next to Fetzer Field (the outdoor track). The day I went, they had Spirit, the Flying Burrito Brothers, the Allman Brothers, and Chuck Berry, among others. Chuck did the original version of "My Ding-a-Ling", which was "My Tambourine" . I saw the incident that led to the demise of Jubilee. About 10 minutes before the gate between Fetzer Field and the practice football field was set to open, the crowd rush the gate forcing it open. The was a Pinkerton security guard at the gate, who was knocked over backwards down the incline he was standing on, and seriously (and according to the papers, permanently) injured both wrists as he tried to break his fall. That unfortunately is a more powerful memory than the music.