1968 Conqueror of American Rock - Chapter 181



Only Krnovel

181. Again, Summer of ’69 (5)

The intro to ‘I’d Do Anything For You’ performed by Freddie Mercury had a different charm from Angela’s. Since he also did not use the traditional classical technique, it was free-spirited and powerful.

“Freddie, this is the Beast part. Can you sing it while playing the piano?”

“I always practice singing while playing the piano.”

Annie placed the piece of paper with the lyrics on Freddie’s piano stand.

“This is the part where the melody becomes······.”

– I’m so lonely.

I’m so lonely.

– I don’t know what true love is.

(I don’t know what true love is.)

-Should I continue to live like this.

(Should I continue to live like this?)

– Fate is cruel.

(Fate is cruel.)

Before Annie could even demonstrate, Freddie sang while playing arpeggios on the piano. The Beast he interpreted was different from Jack’s. While Jack’s tone was a bit rough, Freddie expressed the Beast’s introverted and sad emotions more delicately.

“Wow… That gave me goosebumps, Freddie. What do you think, James? I feel bad for Jack, but Freddie seems to be doing much better.”

I’m sorry, Jack. But Freddie Mercury was a world-class singer. But Jack was a much better actor.

“I have nothing to say but that you are the best. How can your emotions be so delicate······.”

“I was also teased a lot because of my appearance when I was young. I learned boxing and tried to become stronger, but my mind became more and more introverted. I liked writing novels on my own, creating fantasy worlds, and playing in them. Then I met music and was able to turn fantasy worlds into songs. I understand the mind of a beast so well.”

Freddie confessed his past, saying that he liked the character of the Beast in the song he wrote much more than in the original novel, ‘Beauty and the Beast’.

“Then, can Freddie play the piano and the beast as well?”

Annie approached Freddie and leaned forward, resting her chin on the grand piano, smiling charmingly.

“I love it. Miss Annie, you’re just like my cat, haha.”

Freddie, Annie is not a cat, she’s a lynx.

“Yahoo! Then we can do this song live. Brian, will you help us sing along?”

“Yes, but there is a condition.”

“What are the conditions······?”

“yes.”

Everyone’s attention was on Brian.

“Sparkling Ripple should also help us with the opera part of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ haha.”

“Of course!”

Annie was dancing around in the middle of the practice room, singing Galileo with all her might.

“Oh, that’s right. There’s also a part about the prince in the song······ Is there anyone who can sing a low-mid range······?”

Annie looked around, scanning the men’s faces, then stopped looking at me.

“Ah, James is the one who fits the bill. You may be okay with the chorus, but you’re worried about the solo. You also have to play the guitar.”

“Jakoop can do it.”

“Ah, there’s Jacques! He may not be as good as Andrew, but he’s good enough. I’m so excited that we get to sing this song live, hahaha!”

Now, instead of an orchestra, it’s just me, Jake, and Brian May, just trying to create as many elaborate guitar chords as possible.

* * *

Time really flew by while we were having fun practicing with Queen at Rockfield. Before we knew it, the festival rehearsal was just around the corner.

This year too, rehearsals took place over three days.

Unlike the chilly September of last year, the weather in mid-June was warm. It was quite hot during the day. People who gathered early to watch the rehearsal began setting up tents to secure good spots around the stage.

The grandeur of the pyramid stage conceived by David Bowie was truly astonishing. It stood tall in the middle of a vast lawn that stretched out endlessly, so the stage could be seen from quite a distance.

This time, I recommended to Mr. Ibis that the number of people be limited to ten thousand.

‘James, if people are going to come over the fence like they did last year anyway, what’s the point of having ten thousand?’

‘Yes, of course. But if we don’t put limits in place from the beginning, there will be an unmanageable amount of people. I think this place has an unbelievable amount of land, but the facilities are woefully inadequate. There will definitely be problems.’

Mr. Ibis will also know that last year, when more than ten thousand people flocked, they barely managed to solve the problem of drinking water and toilets. However, it has not even been a year since the event was held in September last year. Currently, apart from increasing the number of public toilets, not much has changed.

All ten thousand tickets were sold out on the first day of opening, much faster than last year.

Woodstock 1969 was nothing short of miraculous. It was not without incident, but it ended peacefully without any deaths or serious injuries to the crowd of over half a million people.

There is absolutely no guarantee that a miracle will happen again, so I have been steadily increasing the number of sanitary facilities for two years.

I felt nostalgic for 69 at last year’s Pilton Festival. Watching the rehearsal in front of the tent village this year made me miss the summer of 69 even more.

The current farm facilities will be able to accommodate about 50,000 people. About two months until mid-August. It is quite possible. If you have the CW band, the band performing at The Age of Rock, and the Kings band, you don’t need to hire other musicians. There was no need to worry about promotion because there was KMTV.

Once again, I wanted to feel the summer of ’69.

Yes, we can do it small. If we start with 50,000 and increase it little by little, there will come a day when 500,000 people can safely enjoy the festival.

Just imagining it made my heart warm.

“James Choi, next up is Sparkling Ripple rehearsal. Please get ready.”

“Oh, yes. I understand.”

* * *

Last day of rehearsal.

Finally, the killing machine appeared. And of course, Michael Lang was with them. Dark brown curly hair, leather vest on bare skin, bell-bottom pants and slippers. He was wearing the same fashion as the summer of ’69.

The vocalist was a young white boy who looked to be about fifteen years old.

“See, am I right? But there are more kids than I thought.”

Annie’s prediction was correct. The boy holding the microphone had a sharp gaze that was unusual for his age. He had short blond hair, a snapback hat turned backwards, and was wearing baggy jeans and sneakers, a typical black fashion.

– What’s up! Bros!

As soon as the boy came on stage, he grabbed the microphone and shouted.

“Your voice is amazing. You’re screaming so loudly, but your voice doesn’t hurt.”

Hearing the boy’s screams, people from the tent village gathered around the stage.

Jigging, jigging, jigging, jigging!

The guitar and bass spit out heavy riffs to the rhythm of the drums.

– My name is MLK! From the New York city!

(My name is MLK! I’m from New York!)

The first song was almost like a freestyle song, introducing himself and the members. The people gathered started to sway their bodies to the heavy groove that resonated throughout the venue.

The song they started playing in earnest was a song they had never heard on the radio. The vocals, guitar, and bassist showed off an aggressive performance, bending their waists more than 90 degrees to the rhythm.

Although it was a rehearsal, the audience’s reaction was explosive.

“If you keep doing that, your back will break······.”

Annie’s reaction was just so-so. I also didn’t really enjoy listening to hardcore, so I wasn’t very impressed. But there was no genre better than hardcore to excite the audience. The young men who had already had a few drinks started running around with their arms around each other.

“Wow! This is killer!”

“As expected, it’s even better than what I heard on the radio!”

“Killing machine, so cool!”

Most of the people jumping excitedly were men in their late teens to early to mid twenties.

By the time the three-song rehearsal was over, quite a few spectators had gathered in front of the stage and were slam dancing wildly, but fortunately no injuries or other accidents occurred.

“Annie, I need to talk to Michael Lang. You go ahead.”

“Okay, I got it. But is that guy’s only got those clothes? He’s been wearing the same clothes for two years now. Hehe.”

I walked towards the pyramid stage steps and said hello to Michael Lang.

“Hello, Michael.”

“Nice to see you, James. It’s nice to see you again.”

He was a man with a smiling face all the time, but his true feelings were hard to read. Was he happy or wary?

“It’s cool that you’re incorporating rap into rock music.”

“Thank you. I have high expectations for these guys. They created a new genre that never existed before, haha. They’re rookies who haven’t even released an album, but did you see people’s reactions earlier?”

It was neither welcoming nor wary.

It was a pride.

“Yes, I was so excited that my whole body was shaking, haha. But when I listened to it, I think it would sound heavier if you put a booster on the bass.”

He lost his smile for a moment and then regained his original expression. I was serious. The band’s chemistry was good, and although it wasn’t the future nu-metal sound I knew, it had a pretty hardcore vibe. The only thing I was a little disappointed with was the sound.

“Killing Machine is the opening act, so today is the last day of rehearsal. So, James, would you please take a look?”

I followed him up onto the stage.

“Wow, that’s James Choi!”

My friend who was playing the guitar recognized me and shouted.

“Hello, sir! My name is Danny Sanders and I play guitar in Killing Machine!”

“Nice to meet you, Danny. I really enjoyed your guitar. The sound was really good.”

“This is all thanks to the booster pedal you made!”

Danny held up a yellow pedal. It was a Garage Brew LA Metal V2.

“Next time, try using a splitter to connect two amps in parallel. Set one to emphasize the bass, and the other to emphasize the treble.”

“Wow······ That’s the way. Yes, I understand!”

“It’s not the right answer, but if you keep researching this way and that way, you’ll be able to find your own good tone.”

“thank you!”

He was a much more polite friend than I thought.

“Anyway, James, you mentioned the bass earlier, right? You want me to put the booster on the bass too?”

“yes.”

Danny hooked up the booster he had used to the bass, and the boy who played the bass played a riff.

Heavy heavy heavy, boom boom, boom boom!

The boy who was playing, the band members, and Michael Lang all looked shocked for a moment.

“If it’s okay, would you like to try playing other instruments as well? An instrument can’t sound good on its own; it has to sound good together. What sounds good now might not sound good when combined with other instruments.”

“Guys, let’s try again like James said.”

At Michael’s direction, the boys returned to their positions and took up their positions.

– One! Two! Three! Four!

Weekdays, weekdays, weekdays, weekdays!

Yeah, that’s the sound.

“Oh, it’s James. Thank you.”

The boys were all high-fiving each other, pleased with the new sound. I borrowed a splitter from the sound staff and showed them how to connect two amplifiers in parallel.

“Wow, Senior James is truly my idol! Thank you!”

So after the rehearsal, I came down and talked to Michael. Michael told me a heroic tale of how he took a risk and wandered around Harlem in New York to start a new band.

“And then Jerry. I met that guy, haha. Fate is really strange.”

For a moment, another horrific memory of the future flashed through my mind, but I tried hard to erase it.

It’s 1971 now, not 1999. And those boys, they all look innocent, except their music is a little more extreme.

Yeah, it’ll be okay.

“Hey, Michael. Don’t you miss Woodstock in ’69?”

“James too. I also, strangely, whenever I do a show or a festival these days, I think back to the summer of ’69. We were really great back then, haha.”

“So, what do you think? This time, how about we gather about 50,000 people and hold a Woodstock together?”

“Only 50,000 people? We are the ones who gathered 500,000. Only 50,000 people?”

“It was a miracle that there were no accidents at that time······.”

I explained about the facility, but Michael just chuckled and seemed to take it lightly.

“James, if you look at all the different things, it’s hard to have an event like Woodstock in ’69. You have to take some risks.”

Michael and I disagreed on almost every aspect, from the list of bands to be booked to the screening of attendees to the scale of the festival.

“James, there are plenty of places that could draw hundreds of thousands of people, even if it weren’t for the farm. I don’t think I could plan a festival with such stringent criteria. I’m sorry. I don’t think we can work together. Thank you for the offer. I’m sorry, too.”

His words were not wrong. But the basic spirit of Woodstock is ‘freedom, peace, love’. I just wanted to continue that spirit. A festival where everyone becomes one without any accidents.

Am I too idealistic······.

“······Then Michael will continue to use the name ‘Woodstock Festival’?”

“Of course. Because we registered the trademark.”

As Kevin and Brian said, a trademark using a place name can be invalidated by a court. But I didn’t want to do that.

“I’m sorry, James. I appreciate what you said today, but that’s a different story.”

“I didn’t come here to help you with this story. Don’t worry about it. And I understand Michael’s opinion.”

Well then, I’ll do it my way.