Crowds turned out this past weekend for the Chicago Blues Festival in Millennium Park, braving the occasional rain for a tribute to Alligator Records, a performance by some self-described divas honoring Mama Yancey and Big Mama Thornton, and at the top of the bill, the legendary Taj Mahal.
Forty years ago last weekend, crowds also turned out for the Chicago Blues Festival — then only in its third year as an annual event, and studded with a roster of stars for a spectacle that’s still talked about today. Chuck Berry took the stage and Keith Richards joined him in a surprise appearance.
The Chicago Blues Festival: Since 1984, with roots going back to 1969
The first blues festival on the downtown lakefront was held on Aug. 30, 1969, in the first Petrillo Band Shell — then known just as the Grant Park Band Shell — located at the south end of Hutchinson Field south of Buckingham Fountain and facing south toward what we now call the Museum Campus.
As recalled by WDCB, the 1969 concert was produced by Willie Dixon and George “Murphy” Dunne, later known as the keyboardist for the Blues Brothers. It featured an all-star lineup that included Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Big Walter Horton, Koko Taylor, Big Mama Thornton, and Muddy Waters, who closed the festival with “Got My Mojo Workin’.”…