Remember when Tom Petty played near Modesto? A look back at rockers who have visited the area
Uniquely is a Modesto Bee series that covers the moments, landmarks and personalities that define what makes living in the Central Valley so special.
In June of 1983, I hopped in car with a couple of friends and headed out of town to a big rock festival headlined by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
But we didn’t have to drive to the Bay Area or Los Angeles. This festival was in Modesto’s Mother Lode backyard, the Calaveras County Fairgrounds.
It was at one of the Mountain Aire music festivals held over two days from 1974 to 1987, featuring a name-dropping slate of bands, many in their hit-making primes.
Along with Tom Petty, The Stray Cats, Men At Work and Night Ranger also played that day.
I only vaguely recalled that Night Ranger was on the lineup, and the band isn’t listed on the Mountain Aire page from the fairground’s website (see below).
Let’s just say my memories of the day are a bit hazy, which hypothetically could be attributed to a plastic bag of vodka in a jug of lemonade.
Hypothetically.
I do remember it as a hot day and being really thirsty.
I probably thought of Night Ranger because it seemed like the “Sister Christian” band played at pretty much every rock festival I went to in the 1980s. The band was, indeed, on the 1983 Mountain Aire roster, according to the Concert Archives website.
It’s kind of amazing to think about the big names who played in the Mother Lode over those years. Names like Linda Ronstadt, Journey, the Cars, Jackson Browne, ZZ Top, Grateful Dead and Santana.
Started by Bill Barr and his Rockin’ Chair productions, the concerts later were presented by Bill Graham, according to the Frogtown, USA website.
And there you can find that list of Mountain Aire performers over the years. Note that not every band that played in a given year might be listed (see Night Ranger 1983, above):
1974: Dave Mason, Elvin Bishop, Livingston Taylor, Dan Hicks
1975: Festival not held
1976: Poco, Seals and Crofts, Pure Prairie League
1977: Doobie Brothers, Pablo Cruise, Little River Band
1978: Jimmy Buffett, Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon
1979: Eddie Money, Linda Ronstadt, Orleans
1980: Toto, the Doobie Brothers, Huey Lewis and the News, Ambrosia
1981: Journey, Billy Squier, Hall and Oates
1982: Foreigner, Loverboy, Quarterflash, Eric Martin Band
1983: Stray Cats, Men at Work, Tom Petty
1984: R.E.M., Berlin, Ratt, The Motels, Cars, Huey Lewis and the News, The Plimsouls
1985: Foreigner, Night Ranger, Glen Frey, Katrina and The Waves
1986: Journey, Andy Taylor, Honeymoon Suite, The Outfield (two concerts held in 1986)
1986: ZZ Top, Night Ranger (two concerts held in 1986)
1987: Grateful Dead, Santana
If you’re of a certain age, that’s a pretty impressive set of names to have taken the stage in our humble Angels Camp.
Mountain Aire had a resurgence when Bill Graham Presents brought concerts back to the Calaveras County Fairgrounds in 1998, according to Bee archives. Its existence then and into the 21st century is fuzzy and may have ended in 2002, when performers included Elvis Costello and the Imposters, the Trey Anastasio Band and Cornershop.
But for me — and others of that certain age — the golden years of Mountain Aire were the original ones.
Surely some of you were out there all those decades ago in the heat, happily rocking out, as well.
