Hawaii Dries Out For Concert

Torrential rains that have inundated Hawaii for almost two months subsided just long enough April 1st to allow Diamond Head crater near Honolulu to come alive with its first concert in almost 30 years.

Whether the mythical fire goddess Pele had anything to do with the break in the weather wasn’t certain, but thousands sporting tie dye and Hawaiian shirts cavorting in the mud were just glad for the break.

Still, the Diamond Head Crater Celebration had to be delayed by 40 minutes because a downpour the day before halted soundchecks, according to the Honolulu Advertiser. Storms again threatened the site the day of show, but didn’t materialize.

“The rains Friday really messed us up big time,” Armando Morales, WAR‘s production manager, told the paper. “All these soundchecks we were doing earlier, that was supposed to be done yesterday. We’re more than 24 hours behind today.”

Concertgoers were not allowed to walk in or climb the volcano’s grassy ridge and were shuttled in vans to the location to avoid traffic snarls.

The concert site was also limited to 7,500 people – about a quarter the size of previous crowds – and areas were cordoned off for police and medical personnel.

Organizers didn’t have a final attendance tally at press time because tickets, priced between $125 and $175, were still being sold during the event.

The clouds managed to break just long enough to get the celebration in. And fans, skewing towards the Baby Boom generation, were glad concerts have returned to the crater, even if the show lacked some of the more colorful trappings of an earlier time.

“The crater is our Woodstock,” said 49-year-old Eddie Knoebel, who was one of the teenagers who attended the legendary concerts in the 1960s and 1970s. “We want this back, baby.”

Linda Ronstadt headlined the Crater Celebration, which was kicked off by Yvonne Elliman singing her “Saturday Night Fever” hit “If I Can’t Have You.” Other featured acts were the Steve Miller Band, WAR, and the Honolulu Symphony.