Goose Lake

A LOOK BACK AT THE 1970 GOOSE LAKE INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL!

The Stooges, MC5, Bob Seger, The Faces, Jethro Tull and Chicago all played at the Goose Lake International Music Festival in Jackson County, Michigan, about 40 miles west of Ann Arbor.

Billed as a better-equipped version of Woodstock (which was held exactly one year earlier), the Goose Lake Festival included showers, restrooms, kitchens and strong fences to keep out those who might bum rush the show. Tickets for the 3-day event were $15 and if you didn’t have the bread, you could work in the park for admittance.

Cops kept their distance, handing over security to members of John Sinclair’s White Panther Party along with a “Youth Patrol” made up of local hippie peacekeepers. LSD, pot and mescaline were sold openly and nudity reigned, but there were no acts of violence reported.

Detroit-based acts including The Stooges, MC5, Bob Seger, Mitch Ryder and Brownsville Station tore it up, as did The Faces, Jethro Tull, Chicago, Ten Years After and The Flying Burrito Brothers, among others. (Savoy Brown, Joe Cocker and Alice Cooper were announced but did not perform).

As usual, The Stooges brought the chaos:




Iggy Pop at Goose Lake

Check out some rare photos, seen here in mind-blowing color! You can almost smell the hash….

Not everyone was happy about it, however. Listen to Goose Lake residents react to the music festival.

Here’s a good look back from Michigan Radio’s Stateside and Michigan History Center’s Mark Harvey: Goose Lake: The music festival that didn’t lay the golden egg