'Straight into a storm': Sly Stone remembers wild Summerfest concert in his new memoir

To read Sly Stone's version, the wildest concert in the history of Milwaukee's Summerfest wasn't his fault — it was Summerfest's.

In his newly published memoir, "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" (Auwa Books), written with Ben Greenman, the pop and R&B legend, now 80, gives his side of the story on many of the big events in his often-turbulent life, from when Sly and the Family Stone headlined Woodstock to his decades-long crash and burn to his recently found sobriety.

Among the moments he recounts is his band's July 26, 1970, headlining gig at Summerfest. It appears to be the first time Stone has spoken out on that concert — a show that drew more than 100,000 people to Summerfest's new lakefront home, which ranks as one of the largest crowds ever at a concert in Milwaukee.

Or, as Stone calls it: "Hot time at the Summerfest."

Too big for Summerfest's new home?

In 1970, Summerfest was in its third year. After two years of holding events around the city, the festival was consolidated at one site: the former Nike missile base on Milwaukee's lakefront, what's now Maier Festival Park.

But the Big Gig was still a work in progress: The grounds weren't paved, stages were barely off the ground, and there weren't enough port-a-potties or food vendors.

Into this space for the 1970 festival, organizers booked an impressive lineup, including the James Brown Band, Chicago, Sarah Vaughan, Jose Feliciano, Bobby Sherman and Ramsey Lewis.

But the year's top attraction was Sly and the Family Stone. At the time, the eclectic rock-funk band was among the biggest acts in the world, with a slew of chart-topping hits including "Everyday People," "Dance to the Music," "Hot Fun in the Summertime" and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" and coming off an era-defining performance at Woodstock the summer before.

In his memoir, Stone says Summerfest knew what they were getting when they booked his band. They just didn't plan ahead for it.

"The city knew that kids would turn out for that one, that they would bring their blankets and fire up their joints and line the shores of Lake Michigan," Stone writes. "No one was prepared for how many kids, though."

Stone recounts how, during the opening set by Milwaukee band Yesterday's Children, the crowd rushed toward the stage — the kind of crowd-band connection Stone preferred. He says that he prohibited promoters from putting security guards in front of the stage.

"But people were passing out," Stone writes.

Getting Sly Stone to the stage by police boat

Meanwhile, he and the band were still at the Pfister Hotel, getting reports about the concert and the crushing crowd.

"We heard that babies had to be passed back to safety," Stone writes. "'(Expletive) that,' I said. I didn't want to head straight into a storm."

To get the band to the lakefront, Stone writes, the promoters first planned to use limos. But by the time the limos arrived, the traffic was too congested to get them there. Instead, he writes, they decided to ferry Stone to the concert site by police boat.

"We were late but we were there," Stone writes about the band finally taking the stage. "The microphones were weird. I took a shock on the mouth. And then it was a little bit of an angry game between us and the crowd and the promoters and the security."

Recounting the claim that Stone had refused to play unless the band got more marijuana, Stone writes, "I don't remember but it's not impossible."

The band played a few songs, including their first hit "Dance to the Music," "but the sound was bad and the day was hot and the crowd was restless," Stone writes, so the set ended quickly.

"Afterward," he writes, "police with nightsticks had to hold the crowd back so we could make our getaway."

Sly and the Family Stone head to Chicago, and more infamy

In the book, Stone also addresses the mayhem that accompanied the band's next gig: a free concert in Grant Park in Chicago on the following day.

There, Sly and the Family Stone never made it to the stage. After an unexpected opening act took the stage, the packed crowd started getting riled up as rumors spread that Stone and company weren't going to show up. A second opening act, the Flying Burrito Brothers, started setting up but never got a chance to play; people started throwing bottles and rocks, the police started wading into the crowd with nightsticks, "the crowd became a mob and the mob turned to mob violence," Stone writes.

Scores of nearby store windows were smashed, more than 150 people were injured and more than 160 people were arrested.

"The joke of it all was that I wasn't late," Stone recounts. "I was en route in a car with plenty of time to spare, hearing noises out the window, wondering what was up until someone told me. … I wanted to get onstage and calm the crowd. I would have hopped and switched to a police car to ride faster. But the cops wouldn't hear of it."

After the incidents in Milwaukee and Chicago, Stone writes, "cities were suspicious of us."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sly Stone remembers wild Summerfest concert in his new memoir