UNIVERSITY PROGRAM COUNCIL
WOODS QUAD CONCERTS, RAVE UP
April 20-22, 1973
By Phillip Rawls
Free concerts on Sunday afternoons at Woods Quad were already a tradition when I arrived at the University of Alabama in 1969. The concerts usually featured bands from Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Atlanta that were willing to play for free, including the Allman Joys, predecessors to the Allman Brothers Band. University Program Council would occasionally take the free shows up a notch by paying for a national act, such as Linda Ronstadt on her final tour with her backing band that became the Eagles.
In the spring of 1973, UPC decided to go big time with a three-day event on Easter weekend called the Rave Up. UPC had experienced a good year revenue-wise and had the money to present a big show like Woods Quad had never seen. The event would have professional sound and lighting instead of some local band loaning its PA system. Real professional lighting would allow it to continue past sundown, the usual stopping point for Woods Quad events.
The Marshall Tucker Band headlined Friday night, April 20. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and a Richard Nixon impersonator were featured Saturday night, April 21. County star Mel Tillis and an up-and-coming Charlie Daniels headlined Sunday, April 22. Local and regional acts filled out the full days of entertainment. The event had a real carnival atmosphere, with Johnny’s United Shows setting up rides and food stands in the parking lot adjacent to Woods Hall.
Rave Up drew the biggest crowds ever to Woods Quad. But it was too successful. Influential people living near the university, including Gulf States Paper CEO Jack Warner, complained about the loud music. So did the music department, which said the sound was bleeding into rehearsal studios and interfering with students’ practice times. University officials required UPC to turn down the volume for the final day.
On Easter Sunday morning as UPC members were preparing the stage for the final day’s activities, two police officers arrived with a black-and-white picture of a freshman student who had been reported missing. They asked if any UPC members had seen her the night before at the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band performance. No one recognized her.
A few hours later, police found the body of Paula Lee Ellis in a ditch in Northport. Friends said she was last seen leaving her dorm Saturday night to go see the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Police never solved the murder. University officials subsequently banned big music events from Woods Quad.
UPC brought back the Rave Up in the spring of 1974, but it had to be held indoors at Memorial Coliseum. It featured great performers, including Boz Scaggs, Lester Flatt and the return of Charlie Daniels, but it couldn’t match the carefree atmosphere of Woods Quad.