N.C. Senator, Concert Promoter Tony Rand Dies

AP Photo / Gerry Broome, File – Tony Rand
2006 file photo

Tony Rand, a concert promoter and attorney who later become a North Carolina state senator, died May 1 at the age of 80. In an obituary published in the Charlotte Observer, it was noted that Rand promoted rock shows in the Tar Heel State in the early 1970s.

One event that stood out was the 1972 Peachtree Celebration. The music festival place Aug. 18 at the North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham and featured Three Dog Night, Fleetwood Mac, Poco, Rory Gallagher and Alice Cooper, among others. Admission was $8.

According to the obit, “Tony was responsible for collecting the cash proceeds from the show by riding his motorcycle around the speedway from gate to gate, and Tony’s law license came in handy when he interceded with the local police department after Alice Cooper’s python got loose in the hotel pool. It was a different time.”

The next year, Rand and his business partner, Lyndo Tippett, promoted a second Peachtree festival in Fayetteville, N.C., where Rand lived for more than 50 years. The bill included Santana, Foghat, Mott the Hoople and Savoy Brown. Rand joined the N.C. Senate in 1981 and served a total of 11 terms.