To hear from past organizers, the World Series of Rock concerts at Cleveland Stadium that ran across multiple summer dates most years (more on that below) from 1974-1980 were nothing short of rousing and historical successes.
To learn about the all-day rock fests held on the shores of Lake Erie from Wikipedia, you’d think the shows were debaucherous affairs jam-packed with danger.
To those who were lucky enough to catch the biggest acts of the day at what the time was the largest enclosed rock fest in the country, they are cherished and irreplaceable memories.
The truth? All of it, of course.
Created 50 years ago by Jules and Mike Belkin, whose Belkin Productions became a powerhouse of the industry in the ’70s before selling to Live Nation, the World Series of Rock debuted in June 1974 with a lineup of The Beach Boys, Joe Walsh and Barnstorm, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and REO Speedwagon.
Jules Belkin, reflecting on the legacy of the concert series with Scene years ago, said: “That was one of the best things we were known for. We made sure the bills were strong and that everyone sold a lot of albums and had lots of press prior to being booked. They were great shows. Fortunately, we never had any major problems. One time, there was a fight outside the stadium, but it was minor. People still talk about those shows today. Would I do it again? Absolutely.”
Wikipedia, for what it’s worth, includes this additional bit of context, pulled from newspaper accounts: “The World Series of Rock was known not only for its arena rock spectacle, but was also notorious for the rowdiness, rampant drug use and drunkenness of the crowd. As a result, concertgoers occasionally fell—or jumped—off the steep stadium upper deck onto the concrete seating area far below, causing serious injury.”
So, a little rougher than some remember.
Following shows over the years included a Who’s Who of the charts, including Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Santana; The Band; Chicago; The Rolling Stones; The J. Geils Band; Yes; Rod Stewart and Faces; Aerosmith; Ted Nugent; Pink Floyd; Peter Frampton; Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band; Electric Light Orchestra; Foreigner; AC/DC and more.
Navigating the egos of the biggest A-list rock stars of the day all in one venue was something that took Jules some getting used to.
“You know, when you’re dealing with four or five bands, first of all, even before you did the show, you had to try to make sure that all of the egos were satisfied, relative to where they were in the lineup,” he once told Scene. “Were you going to be first, second, third, fourth or fifth? It took negotiating with their agent and then sometimes, it was so important their management would come to us and say, “You know what, I think that I’m better than X, and I should be fourth, and he should be third.” Because number one was really the low man on the totem pole, and number five was the headliner. So you played that game.”
As WMMS’s legendary John Gorman told Scene, it was Belkin’s skillful booking that helped propel the series to regional popularity.
“What really made those World Series of Rock shows work was that it was a mix of superstars, mid-level acts and up and coming,” he said. “Jules would say, ‘Okay, these are the bands that we can get.’ He’d ask about certain other new bands to fill in the blanks. Def Leppard was one of those cases. It was Def Leppard’s first album and I think they were only 16 year old kids then. I remember that they were the youngest band I’d ever seen. Scorpions was another and it was the first date they played in the U.S. When I met the band, they couldn’t speak English. They could sing in English, but they couldn’t speak it.”
And Gorman explained how the series came to find a home at Cleveland Stadium.
“I remember the first time when Jules [got in touch with us], he said, “Art Modell just cut the new deal with the city for the Stadium and he was looking for any way he could make some extra money besides the football games. Jules proposed doing [these shows].”
Of course, the shows ended up ruining the grass on a couple of occasions, which led Modell to scuttling some of the concerts.
Did it end up being too much? Are the historical anecdotes of widespread bacchanalia accurate?
“I think the reason that it ran its course is that it got too successful and [the thought was,] let’s stop it while it’s successful,” Gorman said. “Because the World Series of Rock wasn’t just attracting greater Cleveland, it was attracting Detroit, Buffalo, Erie, Indianapolis, you name it. There were a lot of people and the Cleveland audiences were great. There was very little problems at most concerts. I don’t care how hard rock they were, you know, most concerts went off without a hitch. I think as the World Series of Rock shows evolved, you did have a lot of people coming in from other cities that were a little rowdier and a little crazier. I think it was probably a good idea to end them before something bad happened.”
Below, scenes from those World Series of Rock shows from 1974-1980 and Scene’s original review of the very first iteration.
