Рок-н-роллдың алғашқы ірі концерті: "Moondog Coronation Ball"

Landmark popular music event; regarded as the first major rock and roll concert

The Moondog Coronation Ball was a concert held at the Cleveland Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 21, 1952. It is generally accepted as the first major rock and roll concert.

Alan Freed "had joined WJW [ Radio] in 1951 as the host of a classical music program, but he took up a different kind of music at the suggestion of Cleveland record store owner Leo Mintz, who had noted with great interest the growing popularity, among young customers of all races, of rhythm and blues records by black musicians", according to the "History" website. The concert was held on March 21, 1952. More tickets were printed than the arena's actual capacity, in part due to counterfeiting and a printing error. With an estimated 20,000 individuals trying to crowd into an arena that held slightly more than half that — and worries that a riot might break out as people tried to crowd in — the fire authorities shut down the concert after the first song by opening act Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams ended. Freed made a public apology on WJW the next day; he referred to the event as the "ball" or "dance," not as a "concert." Accounts in the contemporary Cleveland newspapers are at odds with lore that circulates today about the event, scheduled to begin at 10 p. m. “The frustrated gathered outside, unable to buy a ticket at $1.75, their number increasing until it amounted to about 6,000” as estimated by Cleveland Police captain William Zimmerman. “About 9:30 they stormed the Arena, knocking down four panel doors, brushing police away and storming inside. Some two hours and 30 policemen later, Captain Zimmerman called it a night After ordering the ball ended, Capt. Zimmerman asked the crowd to leave. Police stood by as they slowly and reluctantly filed out.” Williams described sharing her concerns about the boisterous crowd with promoter Lewis Platt, who “laughed”; she noted that “[W]hen the Arena bar was ordered shut down at 10:30 I knew the crowd was disturbing police authority, too.”