When Otis Redding Delivered the 20 Best Minutes of Pop Music Ever
EXCERPT
A half century ago, the Monterey Pop Festival showcased the rock bands of San Francisco and Los Angeles, but the man who stole the show was Macon, Georgia’s Otis Redding.
Bob Buchanan/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
“I was pretty sure that I’d seen God onstage.”
—BOB WEIR
Late on the evening of June 17, 1967, as Saturday night turned to Sunday morning, the San Francisco–based rock group known as the Jefferson Airplane concluded their 40-minute set to rousing applause from the 7,500 fans who filled the fairgrounds arena in the resort town of Monterey, California, on the second night of an event billed as the First International Pop Festival.