The The Mar Y Sol Festival opened on this day in 1972. The 3 day event was staged near Manati in Puerto Rico and drew around 35,000 fans. The biggest names on the bill that actually played included the Allman Brothers Band, Billy Joel, Alice Cooper, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the Faces, the J Geils Band, and BB King.
Black Sabbath, boldly highlighted on the poster, was a no-show. Others that were promoted but cancelled included Fleetwood Mac. Agitation over the absence of several of the promoted bands and accidental deaths, some by drugs, some by drowning at the adjacent beach, marred the festival. The promoter to fled the festival site early after reports emerged that police planned to take him into custody.
Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 1 include...
1946 Ronnie Lane of the Faces born.
1948 Reggae great Jimmy Cliff born.
1954 Jeff Porcaro of Toto born.
1961 The Beatles open a 91 consecutive night stand at the Top Ten Club in Hamburg, Germany.
1966 The Troggs record Wild Thing.
1969 Slade (Ambrose Slade at the time) made its live debut in Walsall, UK.
1969 The Beach Boys go public with news they plan to sue Capitol Records for overdue royalties.
1969 Four studio musicians at FAME Studios in Alabama defect to form Muscle Shoal's Sound Studios.
1974 Tom Petty's Gainesville band Mudcrutch relocates to southern California.
1975 Journey releases Journey.
1976 Rush releases 2112.
1976 Thief steals David Gilmour’s guitars from his London home.
1976 AC/DC does first British concert.
1979 Elvis Costello plays three cubs in New York City in one night.
1980 Brian Johnson announced as Bon Scott's replacement in AC/DC.
1981 Grateful Dead release Reckoning.
1983 Kirk Hammett joins Metallica.
1985 Van Halen parts with David Lee Roth.
1992 Billy Idol slapped with a $2,000 fine for hitting a woman in 1991.
2005 U2 opens Vertigo tour in Anaheim, California.
2005 Paul Atkinson of the Zombies dies of liver and kidney diseases at 58.
2008 Rolling Stones movie Shine a Light gets released.
2008 Scott Weiland quits Velvet Revolver.
2009 Bruce Springsteen opens Working On A Dream tour, San Jose, California.
2015 John Lennon's first wife Cynthia Lennon (Powell) dies of cancer.
2016 Guns N' Roses announce Slash and Duff McKagan will rejoin the band.
2016 Guns N' Roses does warm-up show for reunion tour at the Troubadour in LA. Axl breaks his foot.
2017 Bob Dylan accepts his Nobel Prize in Literature announced in 2016.
