Rock Concert

Decades after the rise of rock music in the 1950s, the rock concert retains its allure and its power as a unifying experienceâEUR"and as an influential multi-billion-dollar industry. In Rock Concert, acclaimed interviewer Marc Myers sets out to uncover the history of this compelling phenomenon, weaving together ground-breaking accounts from the people who were there.

Myers combines the tales of icons like Joan Baez, Ian Anderson, Alice Cooper, Steve Miller, Roger Waters, and Angus Young with figures such as the disc jockeys who first began playing rock on the radio, like Alan Freed in Cleveland and New York; the audio engineers that developed new technologies to accommodate ever-growing rock audiences; music journalists, like Rolling StoneâEUR(TM)s Cameron Crowe; and the promoters who organized it all, like Michael Lang, co-founder of Woodstock, to create a rounded and vivid account of live rockâEUR(TM)s stratospheric rise.

Rock Concert provides a fascinating, immediate look at the evolution of rock âEUR~nâEUR(TM) roll through the lens of live performances âEUR"spanning from the rise of R&B in the 1950s, through the hippie gatherings of the âEUR~60s, to the growing arena tours of the âEUR~70s and âEUR~80s. Elvis PresleyâEUR(TM)s gyrating hips, the British Invasion that brought the Beatles in the âEUR~60s, the Grateful DeadâEUR(TM)s free flowing jams, and Pink FloydâEUR(TM)s The Wall are just a few of the defining musical acts that drive this rich narrative. Featuring dozens of key players in the history of rock and filled with colorful anecdotes, Rock Concert will speak to anyone who has experienced the transcendence of live rock.