The August 5 show was threatened by hostile neighbors, inadequate roads and finally by torrential rains.

After months of haggling with property owners adjacent to the Westmoreland County Fairgrounds venue, promoters last week were granted a reprieve from the threat of an injunction when neighbors decided to drop their request.

Organizers barely had time to savor the victory when the rains came.

“It started raining on Wednesday (August 2) and it kept on raining,” a festival spokesperson told Pollstar. “But the sun came out the morning of the show and it ended up being 85 degrees and sunny.”

The Red Hot Chili Peppers closed the show, leaving the stage around 7 p.m. The skies opened up again two hours later, the spokesperson said.

“We had everyone out of the fairgrounds, off the roads and safely in their homes when the rain started.”

It was a good thing, too. The National Weather Service reported more than three inches of rain fell on the region, with Westmoreland County being among the hardest hit with flooding, electrical outages, and washed-out roads and bridges.

The festival went off with few hitches, though. Shuttle buses brought many of the 35,000 festival-goers to the fairgrounds to ease traffic burdens on rural roads leading to the site, and medical officer Steve Springer reported no drug overdoses or life-threatening injuries.

About 200 people were treated for minor injuries, mostly heat-related, though Springer said there were a few instances of broken bones caused by slips on adjacent hills.

Organizers said the 20,000-ticket allotment was sold out in June. Another 15,000 tickets were given away as part of a Rolling Rock beer promotion. The event was carried live on the Web and cable pay-per-view to a worldwide audience.

Besides the Chili Peppers, fans were treated to sets by Fuel, Moby, Filter, Marcy Playground, and Our Lady Peace.

Moby caused a stir with some acidic commentary directed at Republicans (“Uptight, crypto-fascist Nazis), “frat boys” (“Unleash the disco queen inside you!”) and a festival security guard who bounced a dancing fan from the stage (“Don’t let these meatheads treat you like that!”).

Also incurring the singer’s wrath was a stage announcer who reportedly encouraged the dumbest fad of this summer’s festival season by thanking “them women showing us their titties. That’s what Latrobe is all about!”

Moby immediately scolded the announcer, “I am a little disturbed when you have sleazy guys on stage encouraging women to get their breasts out!” He then turned to the females and urged them to show a little dignity. Flashing their breasts, he said, would only encourage the lowest sort of male behavior.

If Moby proved to be the conscience of the festival, the Chili Peppers were the congenial party hosts – arriving shirtless and sporting mohawks. They closed out the show with their now-notorious (thanks to rioting that broke out at Woodstock 1999) cover of Jimi Hendrix’ “Fire.”

But locals had no Woodstock to fear, as it turns out. Organizers were pleased enough with the festival that they are already planning to do it again next year, preferably in the same location. But local judge William Ober – the most outspoken of nearby residents vowing to shut down the Rolling Rock Town Fair – promises to continue the fight to ensure there isn’t a second one.

He won’t be able to testify against it as an eyewitness to the just-completed event, however.

Turns out he was on vacation in France, according to the festival spokesman.