- John F. Kennedy Stadium -

 
 

Judy Garland Establishes Rapport 
With 15,000 at Kennedy Stadium
By Bert Schwartz - Philadelphia Bulletin  07/21/68

Judy Garland gave two shows last night at John F. Kennedy Stadium - one for the people in the stands and another for the fans at her feet.  Miss Garland showed up as expected, giving a fine performance singing all of the songs that have become attached to her name over the years since she grew up.  At the end, she did the song that everyone remembers her for, OVER THE RAINBOW.   About 15,000 fans attended for the latest edition of the Philadelphia Music Festival for a program that was rained out Friday night.  Along with Miss Garland was Count Basie and his band, rock-and-roll singer Jackie Wilson and the New York Electric String Ensemble.

The special group of fans that stood at Miss Garland's feet seemed to carry out a special communication with her.  Alternately standing, sitting and walking along the runway, which had blinking light bulbs, Miss Garland sang ballads like THE MAN THAT GOT AWAY, Dixie tunes like ROCK-A-BYE.  She did only one encore, but that was after two minutes of standing applause.  She came back time and again after singing her last song.  The audience kept cheering after she disappeared.

A warmly affectionate Judy Garland was her old self at the Philadelphia Music Festival on Saturday night, which means that she held the audience in the palm of her hand from her first entrance.  The crowd of nearly 20,000 at John F. Kennedy Stadium gave her a standing tribute on her entrance and an ovation at the close of the her program.  The affection extended to everybody within visual or ocular range.

Her voice had that distinctive throb and resonance, and she sang with her practiced ease.  Only on an occasional high note was there any tightness of tone.  The star was attired in a bright red gown that she herself designed for this concert.

Judy sang more than a dozen numbers of all kinds, ranging from her hits over the years to rock-n-roll.  She would try to sing numbers requested by the audience that surrounded the stage or were yelled from the stadium reaches.  Audience response was always affirmative.  It was a love affair from first to last.  This was not the longest show of the series, but it was probably the best.

It was sometime after ten o'clock last Saturday night that Judy Garland spread the glow of her ageless rainbow over South Philadelphia.  Musically, the Philadelphia Music Festival had been inconsistent prior to that moment.  A relatively small crowd rattled around in the big barn like surroundings that is J.F.K. Stadium.  Three days before twice as many had come to hear Country Joe and the Fish, which might be a sad commentary on our musical taste these days, or lack thereof.  The band, composed of Basie men and augmented by a string section, struck up the overture.  The Garland standards poured forth and possibly Judy's strangest audience ever (there were as many rock and jazz buffs as Garland devotees) began to feel the electricity that comes from the legends of show business.  Judy appeared.  Then the legend took over and the rainbow glowed brightly.  FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE:  she sang it and you felt all the personal tragedies.  You felt all of it and, somehow, you felt she had conquered the darkness.  The rainbow was still alive and well, thank you.

The audience talked to Judy and she talked back.  It was a beautiful love affair in this ugly football stadium.  The crowd started leaving their seats and moved closer, for in this barn, she was just a pinpoint of light to most as they viewed from their seats.  Judy is a star and she acts the part.  Kisses were liberal, for her gyrating conductor, for the stagehands who brought the roses, and for her audience.  Curtain calls were many.  The band played.  The applause rang out.  The crowd did not leave until the lights went up.

Close by, there was a young man dressed in hippie attire, and he was shouting "Judy, I love you."  On this magical night, he was speaking for many of us.