Forty-nine years ago tonight was pretty special. We were at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. So not to keep you in suspense, it was our first date — we went to Merriweather Post to see Blood, Sweat and Tears.
Initially, the Pavilion was meant to be a summer home for the National Symphony Orchestra, but it soon transformed into a host for popular live event performances by lots of well-known artists.
In 1971, the Nation’s Capital was a city in the throes of tremendous turmoil. The anti-war movement was in full-swing, the Weathermen bombed the Capitol Building and the May Day Protests — a series of large-scale civil disobedience actions in Washington in protest of the Vietnam War caused disruptions and garnered a lot of publicity.
In 1971, the Merriweather Post Pavilion was also concerned with the violence in nearby Washington and the music tinged by the progressive public’s discontent due to the Vietnam War. Until 1971, Columbia’s city manager was Merriweather Post’s overseer and in 1970 stopped the booking of rock music there after a mayhem during a Steppenwolf concert. But in 1971, the Nederlander Organization assumed management duties of the venue and pushed forward a slate of rock events by performers whose shows were not accompanied by a history of violence. Among the groups booked was Blood, Sweat, and Tears on August 13, 1971.
Columbia, Maryland was only about 30 miles away from the District, but that distance was enough to provide a safe, and at the time, rather spectacular setting for entertainment.
So here we are, 49 years later and Washington is still a mess, we don’t listen to Blood, Sweat, and Tears much anymore and we haven’t been back to the Merriweather Post Pavilion…. but it’s still been a pretty good 49 years — Cheers to us!
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