Jethro Tull Tear Gassed in Denver
“… Well, the embarrassment of stopping is far worse than the mild pain of having a bit of tear gas down your lungs. That’s just uncomfortable for a few minutes. If you suddenly stopped or something, that would be something you’d have to live with for weeks afterwards — the embarrassment of it …” – Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, 1971
And so the mighty Jethro Tull managed to quell a riot at the Red Rocks Amphitheater near Denver, Colorado, 38 years ago to this day (June 10th).
Following a surge of people “jumping the fence”, so to speak, to get closer to the show, trouble flared when the Denver police swooped down in helicopters and proceeded to drop tear gas into the audience. With bottles, rocks and other items being hurled about and people needing medical assistance outside, Jethro Tull stepped into the throng and began to play, Ian Anderson finishing the first song with the words: “Welcome to World War Three”.
Through the steadily building clouds of tear gas they finished their set, restoring an edgy peace to what was a maelstrom of panic and confusion. The promoter, Barry Fey said of the band: “God bless those guys… I don’t know anybody else that would have stayed on through all that.”
Read the original Los Angeles Free Press article from 1971 at Tullpress.com
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I was there at the so called “Jethro Tull” riot so let’s get the facts straight.We ended up at a hill north of the ampitheater with a few hundred other people mainly because of advertised tickets available at the gates that turned out to be bull shit. That was just B. Fays way of maxing profits for no shows.Everything was cool until some rowdies got into it with the biker security and Sheriffs Posse guys.That is understandable but then this posse guy on horseback charged the people peacefully gathered on the hill.Remember?Then we fought back. Mike
There were some rowdies there that day. Most of the people,like us,however, were just there for a good night of music even from afar. At first it seemed okay and everyone was passing joints and enjoing the scene. The first sign of trouble I saw was a few guys running with a cop on horseback after them.He didn’t catch them but turned and charged up the hill at the people there.People started throwing rocks at him.He was knocked off his horse.Then the tear gas started.Bad scene, Mike Remember?