04-14-2022 Howard Magazine - Flipbook - Page 58
RETRO HOCO
BY MIKE KLINGAMAN Howard Magazine
When The Who
stopped traffic
In 1970, a crowd of 20,000 fans jammed into the pavilion for the concert
The Who played Merriweather Post Pavilion June 29, 1970. FILE PHOTO BY GORDON SNYDER
O
f all the artists to play Merriweather Post Pavilion through
the years, one brought concert
traffic to its knees. In 1970, a performance by a British rock group snarled
roads and triggered 6-mile backups of
anxious fans on Route 29 near Columbia.
The group? The Who. On June 29, a
young, free-spirited crowd of 20,000 —
nearly twice capacity — jammed the
pavilion to hear The Who, a storied act
led by Pete Townshend and Roger Daltry
and known for hits like “Magic Bus,” “I
Can See For Miles” and the rock opera,
“Tommy.” Those without tickets were
admitted for free.
58 | SPRING 2022 | howardmagazine.com
The Washington Post called the concert “a mini-Woodstock” peopled by “an
incredible mass of flesh.” Just reaching
the site by car proved a challenge.
“Somewhere around the Scaggsville
Super Market [6 miles away], you could
catch second gear; otherwise, just a few
miles off the [Capital] Beltway, it was first
gear only,” The Post reported. “Campers,
panel trucks, bikes, muscle cars and the
ubiquitous [Volkswagen] Beetle stood
bumper to bumper … along the road to
the entrance.”
Some folks gave up, ditched their cars
3 miles away and hoofed it.
“People were still trying to get in as
[others] drove out [to beat the crowd] a
few minutes before the concert ended,”
The Post reported. Three hours later, at
1:30 a.m., the last cars departed. Despite
the numbers, there had been no arrests.
Musicgoers “even left their trash in neat
piles,” a concert spokesman said. Law
enforcement officers were less effusive.
“If they [pavilion brass] want to make
a chicken coop out of their theater, that’s
their prerogative,” a Maryland State
Police official said.
Fifty-two years and 100 million record
sales later, The Who is still touring and
will perform May 23 at the Capital One
Arena in Washington.