The festival was the brainchild of Angus G. Wynne III, son of
Angus G. Wynne, the founder of the
Six Flags Over Texas Amusement Park. Wynne was a
concert promoter who had attended the
Atlanta International Pop Festival on the
July Fourth weekend. He decided to put a festival on near Dallas, and joined with the Atlanta festival's main organizer,
Alex Cooley, forming the company Interpop Superfest. Artists performing at the festival were:
Canned Heat,
Chicago (then called Chicago Transit Authority), the
James Cotton (Blues Band),
Delaney and Bonnie and Friends,
Grand Funk Railroad,
The Incredible String Band,
Janis Joplin,
B.B. King,
Freddie King,
Led Zeppelin,
Herbie Mann,
Nazz,
Rotary Connection,
Sam and Dave,
Santana,
John Sebastian,
Shiva's Headband,
Sly and the Family Stone,
Space Opera,
Spirit,
Sweetwater,
Ten Years After,
Tony Joe White and
Johnny Winter. North of the festival site was the campground on
Lewisville Lake, where hippie attendees
skinny-dipped and bathed. Also on the campground was the free stage, where some bands played after their main stage gig and several bands not playing on the main stage performed. It was on this stage that Hugh Romney, head of the
Hog Farm commune of
Woodstock fame, was given his sobriquet,
Wavy Gravy, by King. (At , he was .)
The Merry Pranksters,
Ken Kesey's group, were in charge of the free stage and camping area. While Kesey was neither at the Texas event nor at Woodstock, his right-hand man,
Ken Babbs, and his psychedelic bus
Further were. The Hog Farm peacefully provided security, a "trip tent," and free food. Attendance at the festival remains unknown, but is estimated between 120,000 and 150,000. As with Woodstock, there were no violent crimes reported. There was one death, due to
heatstroke, and one birth. High-quality soundboard
bootleg recordings of almost the entire festival are circulated on the internet. Led Zeppelin's set is one of the most popular
Led Zeppelin bootlegs due to the high technical and musical quality of the performance. ==Schedule==